Bob Barr: "When the president does it, that means it is not illegal"

[DesEtoiles]

Look at this interesting quote from Bob Barr from 1998. Let's revive it:


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/barrtext121198.htm


While reverence for parallels with the Nixon impeachment is seductive but inappropriate, there are some points worth noting. In the Nixon case, for example, lying to Congress and to the American people in just such a manner, provoked a separate article of impeachment. Is the danger of such an attack on our constitutional processes any less dangerous today?

Sadly, I believe the case we are discussing today is but a small manifestation of President Clinton's utter and complete disregard for the rule of law. Throughout his presidency, his administration has been so successful at thwarting investigations and obstructing the work of Congress and the courts, that it may be decades before history reveals the vastness of his abuse of power, or the extent of the damage it has wrought.

President Clinton apparently subscribes to the same theory Richard Nixon articulated in a 1977 interview with David Frost. Nixon said "When the president does it, that means it is not illegal." That was dead wrong then, and it is dead wrong today -- wrong, that is, unless one subscribes to the principle that the president is not only above the law, but that he is the law.