Impeachment soup

The double-standards between what the Democrats were saying during the Nixon impeachment process and what they are saying now grow more glaring by the day.

One of the latest examples of demagoguery emanates from the John Conyers wing of the House Judiciary Committee. The effort to follow the letter of the Constitution in impeaching President Clinton is being characterized in the latest rhetorical overkill as “a coup.”

My friend Jerome Zeifman, former chief counsel of the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate investigation, reminds us that, should Clinton be removed from office through the impeachment process, he will be replaced by Democratic Vice President Al Gore, his running mate in 1992 and 1996. That’s hardly a coup.

Yet, many of the same Democrats now calling the current impeachment process a coup were in 1973-74 actually trying to engineer just that.

“Ironically,” says Zeifman, “as reflected in my recent book and personal diary, at the time of Watergate the position then taken by Mr. Conyers and the Congressional Black Caucus was an effort to replace Republican Nixon with a Democrat, then-Speaker Carl Albert.”

Zeifman recounts in a memo to Henry Hyde and Bob Barr yesterday that during the confirmation hearings on the nomination of Gerald Ford as vice president, Conyers, Rep. Robert Drinan, Elizabeth Holtzman and others opposed Nixon’s selection, favoring impeachment first, which would have made Albert the president.

“The present House Democrats who are characterizing the pending articles of impeachment as an attempt at a ‘coup’ are bringing dishonor on themselves and the Democratic Party,” says Zeifman, a Democrat who favors impeachment on all four counts.

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Is there any chance Clinton will actually be convicted in the Senate? John Fund of the Wall Street Journal had an interesting observation on Matt Drudge’s Fox News program this weekend.

“There won’t be a trial,” he said matter-of-factly.

Fund explained that any member of the Senate can move for adjournment of a trial before it even gets started. It takes only a majority vote to table it indefinitely. Only a handful of Republican votes would be needed to carry the day. Fund says he already knows of a couple GOP senators who would vote with the Democrats on such a motion.

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Who are the key votes to target by Thursday?

The squishy Republicans are, along with phone numbers, fax numbers and, if available, email addresses:

Brian Bibray (CA-49) 202-225-2040; 202-225-2948
[email protected]

Sherwood Boehlert (NY-23) 202-225-3665; 202-225-1891
[email protected]

Tom Campbell (CA-15) 202-225-2631; 202-225-6788
[email protected]

Michael Castle (DE) 202-2254165; 202-225-2719
[email protected]

Lincoln Diaz-Balart (FL-21) 202-225-4211; 202-225-8576

Jay Dickey (AR-4) 202-225-3772; 202-225-1314
[email protected]

Michael Forbes (NY-1) 202-225-3826; 202-225-3143
[email protected]

John Fox (PA13) 202-225-6111; 202-225-3155
[email protected]

Bob Franks (NJ-7) 202-225-5361; 202-225-9460
[email protected]

Wayne Gilchrest (MD-1) 202-225-5311; 202-225-0254

Benjamin Gilman (NY-20) 202-225-3776; 202-225-2541

David Hobson (OH-7) 202-225-4324

Sue Kelly (NY-19) 202-225-5441; 202-225-3289
[email protected]

Ray LaHood (IL-18) 202-225-6201; 202-225-9249

Steve LaTourette (OH-19) 202-225-5731; 202-225-3307

Jim Leach (IA-1) 202-225-6576; 202-225-1278
[email protected]

Frank LoBiondo (NJ-2) 202-225-6572; 202-225-3318
[email protected]

John McHugh (NY-24) 202-225-4611; 202-225-0621

Constance Morella (MD-8) 202-225-5341; 202-225-1389
[email protected]

Bob Ney (OH-18) 202-225-6265; 202-225-3394
[email protected]

John Porter (IL-10) 202-225-4835

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL-18) 202-225-3931;

Marge Roukema (NJ-5) 202-225-4465; 202-225-9048

Jim Saxon (NJ-3) 202-225-4765; 202-225-0778

Clay Shaw (FL-22) 202-225-3026; 202-225-8398

John Shimkus (IL-20) 202-225-5271; 202-225-5880
[email protected]

Joe Skeen (NM-2) 202-225-2365; 202-225-9599

W.J. “Billy” Tauzin (LA-3) 2-2-225-4031

James Walsh (NY-25) 202-225-3701; 202-225-4042

Zach Wamp (TN-3) 202-225-3271; 202-225-3494

Heather Wilson (NM-1) 202-225-6316; 202-225-4975

Democrats who are not sure:

Gary Condit (CA-18) 202-225-6131; 202-225-0819
[email protected]

Bud Cramer (AL-5) 202-225-4801;
[email protected]

Pat Danner (MO-6) 202-225-7041; 202-225-8221

Virgil Goode (VA-5) 202-225-4711; 202-225-5681
[email protected]

Bart Gordon (TN-6) 202-225-4231; 202-225-6887
[email protected]

Ralph Hall (TX-4) 202-225-6673; 202-225-3332
[email protected]

Lee Hamilton (IN-9) 202-225-5315; 202-225-1101
[email protected]

Chris John (LA-7) 202-225-2031; 202-225-5724
[email protected]

Jay Johnson (WI-8) 202-225-5665; 202-225-5729
[email protected]

Carolyn Maloney (CT-14) 202-225-7944; 202-225-4709
rep. [email protected]

Paul McHale (PA-15) 202-225-6411; 202-225-5320
[email protected]

Mike McIntyre (NC-7) 202-225-2731; 202-225-5773
[email protected]

James Moran (VA-8) 202-225-4376; 202-225-0017
[email protected]

John Murtha (PA-12) 202-225-2065;
[email protected]

Tim Roemer (IN-3) 202-225-3915; 202-225-6798
[email protected]

John Spratt (SC-5) 202-225-5501; 202-225-0464
rep. [email protected]

Charles Stenhold (TX-17) 202-225-6605; 202-225-2234
[email protected]

Gene Taylor (MS-5) 202-225-5772; 202-225-7074

James Traficant (OH-17) 202-225-5261; 202-225-3719
[email protected]

If you prefer to use a toll-free number to Congress to make your viewpoint known, a number has been provided very graciously by People for the American Way. To reach the Capitol switchboard, call 1-877-866-6836.