Comments on: Avoiding Bad Precedents http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2007/07/avoiding-bad-pr.html Dispatches from a Small Business Sun, 12 Feb 2012 09:39:47 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Ken King | King Marketing http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2007/07/avoiding-bad-pr.html/comment-page-1#comment-6317 Ken King | King Marketing Sat, 28 Jul 2007 14:07:57 +0000 http://coyote-blog.com/wordpress/2007/07/avoiding-bad-pr.html#comment-6317 <p>The roman analogy cuts both ways - it is also a dangerous precedent to let the executive branch unilaterally change the interpretation of the constitution, give itself a wide range of new powers and routinely assert that these powers are not subject to legislative or judicial review. </p> <p>Impeachment is part of the system of checks and balances put in place to prevent this kind of abuse of power and it shouldn't be set aside simply because some legislators over-reached a decade ago. </p> <p>I'm not necessarily advocating impeachment hearings, but effective prosecution of legitimate offences with real consequences would put the cork back in the bottle - not just with regard to impeachment, but also in restricting the power of the executive branch.</p> The roman analogy cuts both ways – it is also a dangerous precedent to let the executive branch unilaterally change the interpretation of the constitution, give itself a wide range of new powers and routinely assert that these powers are not subject to legislative or judicial review.

Impeachment is part of the system of checks and balances put in place to prevent this kind of abuse of power and it shouldn’t be set aside simply because some legislators over-reached a decade ago.

I’m not necessarily advocating impeachment hearings, but effective prosecution of legitimate offences with real consequences would put the cork back in the bottle – not just with regard to impeachment, but also in restricting the power of the executive branch.

]]> By: MP http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2007/07/avoiding-bad-pr.html/comment-page-1#comment-6316 MP Fri, 27 Jul 2007 14:48:28 +0000 http://coyote-blog.com/wordpress/2007/07/avoiding-bad-pr.html#comment-6316 <p>I agree that the impeachment of Clinton was probably a mistake, but would say that the Nixon attempted impeachment was what broke tradition (AJ's long forgotten to most by then). Obstruction of justice was the offense in both cases, Clinton's perjury essentially being obstruction in a sexual harassment case. But point taken. It should not be a political tool.</p> I agree that the impeachment of Clinton was probably a mistake, but would say that the Nixon attempted impeachment was what broke tradition (AJ’s long forgotten to most by then). Obstruction of justice was the offense in both cases, Clinton’s perjury essentially being obstruction in a sexual harassment case. But point taken. It should not be a political tool.

]]> By: Michael Miller http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2007/07/avoiding-bad-pr.html/comment-page-1#comment-6315 Michael Miller Fri, 27 Jul 2007 08:20:07 +0000 http://coyote-blog.com/wordpress/2007/07/avoiding-bad-pr.html#comment-6315 <p>The statute of limitations had run out but the investigations turned up credible evidence that Clinton had raped at least one woman...giving credence to the above comment but the underlying reason Clinton was impeached was for the 'shady' transfer of state of the art ballistic missle guidence technology to the Chinese. That was his real crime against the Republic and I believe that the matter should not have been dropped and that Clinton should have been prosecuted on that after he left office. </p> <p>But as a general principle I agree that impeachment should only be used when a very serious crime has been commited. The Republicans erred by failing to charge Clinton with his true crime. </p> <p>MikeM</p> The statute of limitations had run out but the investigations turned up credible evidence that Clinton had raped at least one woman…giving credence to the above comment but the underlying reason Clinton was impeached was for the ‘shady’ transfer of state of the art ballistic missle guidence technology to the Chinese. That was his real crime against the Republic and I believe that the matter should not have been dropped and that Clinton should have been prosecuted on that after he left office.

But as a general principle I agree that impeachment should only be used when a very serious crime has been commited. The Republicans erred by failing to charge Clinton with his true crime.

MikeM

]]> By: Technomad http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2007/07/avoiding-bad-pr.html/comment-page-1#comment-6314 Technomad Fri, 27 Jul 2007 06:46:07 +0000 http://coyote-blog.com/wordpress/2007/07/avoiding-bad-pr.html#comment-6314 <p>The same objections could be brought against Andrew Johnson's impeachment. The trouble with Clinton was that even though a lot of people recognized him as, essentially, a sociopathic slime, he'd learned a lot from Nixon and made it extremely hard to nail him for the real reasons, so they grabbed (unwisely, in my view) onto the whole Monica Lewinsky thing. Had they held off until the Chinese donations became known, they could have had a better chance of removing him. </p> The same objections could be brought against Andrew Johnson’s impeachment. The trouble with Clinton was that even though a lot of people recognized him as, essentially, a sociopathic slime, he’d learned a lot from Nixon and made it extremely hard to nail him for the real reasons, so they grabbed (unwisely, in my view) onto the whole Monica Lewinsky thing. Had they held off until the Chinese donations became known, they could have had a better chance of removing him.

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