Talk of impeachment

By now we’ve all seen the front-page picture in the weekend BDN showing Bill Clinton, his back to the camera, walking dejectedly away after his latest attempt to look us in the eye and make us believe he isn’t lying.

The majority of the people do not understand how politics in this country works, so when pollsters ask questions, the people take the easy way out and answer. They think he should be left alone, but deep down they hope he gets what he deserves, which is why there is no public outcry toward Congress for voting to impeach.

To answer against Clinton would mean taking a stand and defending right from wrong. People do not like confrontation but we all had better look closely at all our politicians and start holding them to higher standards regardless of their party. This is our country, our money and our lives that are affected by their decisions. Vernon Anderson Jr. Island Falls

President Clinton’s lamentable behavior cannot and must not be ignored, but it does not constitute grounds for impeachment. Conducting and trying to conceal an illicit affair is, of course, morally repugnant; but it is hardly equivalent to overthrowing the constitutional form of government.

On the other hand, the majority’s partisan and unscrupulous steam-rolling comes a lot closer to perverting the governmental process. It is obvious — no more stunningly so than in the House Judiciary Committee proceedings — that the Republicans are hell-bent on staging a political coup and nullifying the twice-expressed will of the electorate.

Tellingly illustrative of this determination is their well-publicized plan, being orchestrated by Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, to deny our representatives — and through each of them, each of us — the option of casting a vote for censure in the House, rather than sending the matter for an ignominious trial in the Senate. That is a far more serious “manifest injury to the people of the United States” and by far the greater threat to the country. Alice Kehoe Augusta

This is a serious message to the 435 members of the U.S. House of Representtives: Perjury is lying to God — a very high crime; therefore an impeachable offense. Carle G. Gray Sullivan