Should Clinton have resigned?

[CaughtintheMiddle1990]

It's amazing to watch the footage of him leaving, walking to Marine 1 with the new President Ford and Mrs. Ford...a red carpet rolled out for him and Pat as they left...with hundreds of onlookers all over the WH waving goodbye. Even in the midst of what some would call disgrace, it was somehow dignified.

[Novaheart]

Who cares?

[Sonnabend]

He should not have resigned. He should have been convicted and jailed for perjury

[KhrushchevsShoe]

Interesting angle with the sympathy factor. I hadn't really considered that before. I have to wonder whether there would be enough sympathy for him to have spared him. The country was soooooo angry at the time. Just about everyone in the country was furious with Nixon. There was just so much malaise at the time: gas prices were climbing, there was gas rationing that gave us long gas lines and generally just inconvenienced people, interest rates were sky-high, American cars were a complete joke, it seems like everyone who actually had a job was on strike, we were still at war in Vietnam and it was on the TV every night, and this was all coming right after the '60s, which was still a sore spot for a whole lot of people in this country, including a lot of sore wounds from the lingering racial tension in the country. I'm sure there would have been some sympathy for Nixon, but there were a whole lot of people out there who would have been glad to see Nixon just die and go away.

I don't know if just un-checked, brutal honesty would have been a salvation for Nixon. The country was just traumatized by this. You have to remember that this was still a relatively "innocent" time for Americans. Absent 24-hour news channels and such, Beltway scandals just didn't really leak out like they do nowadays. Americans simply had never felt so betrayed before. Sure, much of the same lies, deception, scandal, and corruption existed in DC long before, but nothing like this had ever really blown up before. People in the country just weren't aware of much of it before Nixon. I think that more unvarnished telling of everything that had transpired in the Oval Office would have just angered people even more.

First, I thought that was a really good post that helps people understand the climate then.

Second, its probably on some level true that the overall grip the scandal had was such a boon for the media that they now spend immeasurable efforts trying to create another one of equal magnitude. Notice how every petty scandal nowadays seems to end in "-gate", part of me always thinks its just wishful thinking on the media's part. They want another Watergate, they want that unflinching attention of the population.

The internet has of course made this unbelievably worse as print, TV and radio media do have some standards to make claims that are remotely true, while trying to exact recourse on a blog spewing lies to cook up a scandal is difficult at best.

I mean, is it any surprise that all three presidents who have existed during the era of widespread internet usage have had some horrible (made up) issue that demands immeadiate removal of office? Clinton had Lewinsky, Bush had Florida and now Obama has his citizenship (among other things). Unfortunately I think people have kept at each others throat instead of the media's so much that they refuse to "waste" good political ammunition by questioning the motives of those who provide it to them.

[txradioguy]

Looking back at Monicagate, should Clinton have resigned in 1998? I seem to recall reading some GOP senators were calling on him to resign.

Likewise, on the other hand, should Nixon have stayed on and fought it out in 1974--even if it did land in a conviction by the Senate?

Personally my opinion is no, Clinton shouldn't have resigned, and I'm glad he fought it out...and Nixon should've fought it out as well.

He shouldn't have resigned over the Lewinsky thing. There were far worse things he did that they should have gone after him for, like perjury and illegal campaign cash from the ChiComs. But after he skated on the Monicagate stuff, there was no way the American people would let the Republicans get a second bite at the apple.

[txradioguy]

Who cares?

Riiiight. Because only "impeachable offenses" by Republicans should ever get rehashed ad naseum?

[RobJohnson]

I'm not so concerned about Clinton's lack of self-control as much as I'm concerned about the fact that he cost tax payers a lot of money with his lie. Some want to blame it all on the DA, but that's just wrong. That's saying Clinton had no responsibility.

In the moral sense, yes I think he should have resigned. In reality, that might have been disastrous for the country. People feared what would happen to the economy and in other situations if the President suddenly resigned. I have to say no matter who the President is, resignation might be disastrous.

I blame the blue dress. :D

[Odysseus]

Only reason it was "too late" by 1968 was because the dumbasses in Congress and people like Cronkite basicly making it look like we couldn't win, when in fact we WERE winning the War under Nixon.

Very true, but that's what you get with a Quisling press.

Nixon had to dissuaded from using tactical nukes against Vietnam.

I'm not sure that would have been a bad idea. In a country the size of North Vietnam, tactical nukes would have had strategic effects. A nuclear strike would have ended the conflict and the Soviets would not have done anything except wring their hands.

First, I thought that was a really good post that helps people understand the climate then.

Second, its probably on some level true that the overall grip the scandal had was such a boon for the media that they now spend immeasurable efforts trying to create another one of equal magnitude. Notice how every petty scandal nowadays seems to end in "-gate", part of me always thinks its just wishful thinking on the media's part. They want another Watergate, they want that unflinching attention of the population.

The internet has of course made this unbelievably worse as print, TV and radio media do have some standards to make claims that are remotely true, while trying to exact recourse on a blog spewing lies to cook up a scandal is difficult at best.

I mean, is it any surprise that all three presidents who have existed during the era of widespread internet usage have had some horrible (made up) issue that demands immeadiate removal of office? Clinton had Lewinsky, Bush had Florida and now Obama has his citizenship (among other things). Unfortunately I think people have kept at each others throat instead of the media's so much that they refuse to "waste" good political ammunition by questioning the motives of those who provide it to them.

Except that Clinton's scandals weren't "made up." He lied under oath, suborned perjury and obstructed justice. These are crimes, regardless of whether or not the admissions are embarrassing. If Clinton had simply settled the Jones case (as he eventually did) instead of trying to fix it by corrupting the process, he'd have only had the Travel Office firings, the illegal use of FBI files of opposition party leaders, the wholesale barbecuing of the Branch Davidians, the sale of sensitive technology to the Chinese in return for illegal campaign contributions and the sleazy pardon deals to taint his otherwise squeaky clean administration.

[KhrushchevsShoe]

That's what the country really needed, some good old fashioned nuclear holocaust to bring everyone together.

[CaughtintheMiddle1990]

That's what the country really needed, some good old fashioned nuclear holocaust to bring everyone together.

Worked in WWII.