So. A BJ is impeachable...

[Wawannabe]

But Abuse of Power is not!?
What the actual fuck?

I believe the premise is the same.
What Clinton engaged in was an abuse of power over another.

The dolt withheld funds appropriated by Congress for his political gain. Abuse of power. Straight out!

[dewsgirl]

1. These people are hypocrites on a profound level.😳

[denbot]

2. Clinton lied about the affair, that was why he was impeached.

A consensual affair between adults is not abuse of power.

[NCLefty]

4. Sleeping with someone (esp. young intern) you're the boss of is pretty unethical.

For the Obvious Reasons. But no, not illegal.

They impeached him for perjury (for lying himself under oath) and obstruction of justice (for a variety of reasons that looked like witness tampering). Those were the legal clinch they needed.

[CaptYossarian]

17. Agreed. Otherwise they would retroactively impeach Jefferson for the Sally Hemings stuff.

Just ask Chuck Grassley. He was there at the time.

[malaise]

6. Don the Con has lied about every fucking thing

He lied to Mueller over and over and had others lie as well. He lied about the phone call, he lied about the reasons for withholding congressionally approved money - no one lies like Don the Con. And he has been impeached.

[rickford66]

32. His written answers to Mueller were under oath.

We should see them.

[malaise]

33. Agree 100%

[Groundhawg]

3. No one has ever been impeached for getting a BJ

[Wawannabe]

5. Well. Thanks for your input. Helpful as it was.

I fucking know. Gosh. Maybe I should self delete.

[USALiberal]

29. Good idea! nt

[Sherman A1]

30. Agreed

+1000

[Sherman A1]

7. Correct

It was for the cover up as I recall.

[Martin Eden]

20. It was for lying under oath

But he never should have been asked the question in the first place.

The Whitewater investigation was partisan in the first place, but everything Starr pursued after that was indeed a witch hunt.

[duforsure]

8. That's why trump refuses to testify under oath

He'd have to lie or admit he]s committed crimes, lots of crimes, then be charged like Clinton was for lying, only most of trumps crimes are serious felonies, and are threats to our national security. He's selling out our country to the highest bidders, to the really corrupt ones.

[Martin Eden]

21. Yep

Then we would need the equivalent of the blue dress.

[PJMcK]

9. Your history is quite a bit off

President Clinton was impeached for perjury in a civil deposition. Trump has been impeached because of a criminal act.

Clinton was not impeached because he had a consensual affair with Monica Lewinsky. He was impeached because he lied about it in a civil suit brought by Republican forces supporting Paula Jones' law suit against the president.

In fact, he didn't actually lie about the affair. President Clinton was asked if he had sex with Ms. Lewinsky. Like any wily lawyer, Clinton asked what the questioner meant, i.e., what is sex. The questioner provided a list of sexual acts which, incredibly, did not include oral sex. By the definition of the questioner, President Clinton did not have sex with Ms. Lewinsky.

Of course, the legal parsing was ultimately meaningless because a blow job is sex.

However, President Clinton did not abuse his presidential power. He did not use his power as a boss over an employee to have sex. He didn't promise her a promotion or threaten her with a demotion if she didn't put out. He wasn't impeached for cheating on his wife.

Your analogy is flawed and Trump is in a whole different category of criminality.

[greymattermom]

12. I always remember that.

So, given that oral sex wasn't on the list given by the lawyer, did Clinton commit perjury?

[PJMcK]

13. Of course he did!

The legal parsing of the definition of sex was bogus from the start. A blow job is sex, period. Clinton lied in the deposition.

Clinton was impeached and not convicted by the Senate and he apologized to the nation for his lying.

However, his interactions with Ms. Lewinsky were not an abuse of power. He did not abuse his authority over a subordinate, unlike say, Harvey Weinstein or Bill Cosby.

The fact is that Clinton was set up in a perjury trap. Remember that Kenneth Starr's investigation was about the Whitewater investment deal that ultimately lost money for the Clintons. There was ultimately no evidence of wrong-doing by the Clintons. Starr's uncontrolled and undisciplined investigation was always intended to be disruptive of the Clinton Presidency. That Starr was able to turn over every rock and only found a foolish personal relationship demonstrates the desperation Republicans had to undermine a Democratic president.

Trump is in a whole different league. His presidency is riddled with criminality and unconstitutional behaviors.

Convict the motherfucker!

[John1956PA]

27. I agree with PJMcK, however Clinton testified he could not recall if he had been alone with Lewinsky

In a TV interview at the time, Alan Dershowitz, who supported Bill Clinton, opined that Clinton's testimony that he did not recall being alone with Monica was more troubling than Clinton's testimony that he never had sex with her.

[DAngelo136]

18. One more item to add...

The civil suit brought by Paula Jones (aided and abetted by Republican forces seeking him to resign) was for his actions while Governor of Arkansas. Which would be levels away from abusing his power as President of the United States.

[PJMcK]

19. Exactly

Thanks for the reminder!

[groundloop]

25. As rabidly as GOPers went after Clinton it's amazing they found NOTHING to harass Pres. Obama over

The instant President Obama was elected I was absolutely certain that GOPers would find at least one bullshit reason to go after him the way they did Clinton. Alas, there was nothing and all they could do was throw a roadblock at everything he tried to do.

[Martin Eden]

22. Spot-on. n/t

[VOX]

37. Another add: Linda Tripp wearing a wire as instructed by her publisher, Lucianne Goldberg.

That act certainly played a bigger role than the “Grab ‘em by the...” videotape of His Majesty Trump.

From Wikipedia:
<snip>
The Tripp Tapes
Goldberg met Linda Tripp in 1993 or 1994 while working on the proposal for the book on the death of Clinton aide Vince Foster. The two women became friends, and in 1997 Goldberg advised Tripp to secretly record former White House intern, Monica Lewinsky, talking about her sexual relationship with President Bill Clinton. Goldberg mistakenly advised Tripp that it was legal to record phone conversations in Maryland without the consent of the other party.

Goldberg urged Tripp to take the resulting 20 hours of tapes to Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr who had a broad mandate to investigate improprieties by Clinton. Goldberg also brought the tapes to the attention of lawyers working on the Paula Jones sexual harassment case against Clinton. The tapes became crucial to Starr's investigation on whether Clinton committed perjury during a sworn deposition when he denied his affair with Lewinsky, which led to his impeachment by the House and acquittal by the Senate.
<snip>

[Fullduplexxx]

10. He wasn't impeached over a bj he was impeached for lying to congress

J

[Cyrano]

11. Does this mean that Trump has to be impeached 5000 + times

[PJMcK]

14. Trump's lies exceed 16,000 (n/t)

[Kaiserguy]

15. At this point I believe

the lie count is around 16,000 of course he didn't lie under oath or did he after all he took an oath to preserve and protect the constitution which he is not doing. But then the Republicans in the House and the Senate also took that oath and are not upholding it.

[PJMcK]

16. Not quite correct

President Clinton lied in a civil deposition. He did not lie to Congress.

The House impeached Clinton for his perjury in the deposition. He never testified before Congress.

The distinction is tremendously important because the nature of Clinton's perjury is so minor compared to Trump's criminality.

[BlueMTexpat]

23. Thank you for your very clear

explanations: here and above.

Too many people have never understood this situation.

It is your last sentence that is crucial.

And yet, those GOPers who were so eager to convict Clinton of the former are now willing to stick their heads in the sand for the latter.

At the Senate trial, all Dems held firm and even some Republicans broke ranks with their party to vote "Not Guilty." Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe were among them. I believe that Collins is the only Republican who did so who is still in the Senate today. But I didn't verify all of them, so I could be wrong. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_of_Bill_Clinton#Verdict

But Collins has certainly changed since then. Whatever principles she might once have had have been long since trampled into the dust under McConnell's tenure.

EVERY SINGLE GOPer who is up for reelection in 2020 and who does NOT vote for Trump's impeachment MUST GO.

The same goes for any Dems.

[Fullduplexxx]

26. Yes that is true thanks

[maxsolomon]

34. I can't tell you how many people I have to explain this to.

Sure, it was Perjury, but in a civil deposition; it had no bearing on his duties as President.

[MichMan]

36. Clinton's perjury was in the context of a sexual harassment suit against him by Paula Jones

[UniteFightBack]

24. Lying about a blowjob is impeachable, but bribery, extortion and breaking your oath,

soliciting foreign aid to interfere in a campaign as well as a ton of other shit IS NOT.

IT'S NOT....when you are part of the cover up party.

I have to tell you I'm feeling really bad today.
Really feeling bad about the Russiapublicans and there is like 5% good faith on that side.
We are in real trouble when one party is completely corrupt and the other party is talking about fantasy policy while the Republic crumbles.

[Squinch]

28. I always like to add: A CONSENSUAL blow job between TWO ADULTS. Clinton

wasn't in the right, but two adults get to do what they want to do together whatever our opinion of it is.

A president just can't lie about it.

But for him it was one lie. Trump is a walking lie. In addition to a guy who is trying to sell us all to line his pockets.

[Zambero]

31. If the esteemed Mr. Douchewitz says it's so....

then it MUST be absolute bullshit!

[Initech]

35. Republican logic: It's not abuse of power if everyone does it!