[oregontim]

And unfortunately for all of us during the Covid pandemic, the debasement of impeachment this time around led to this president's disregard for the law and sense of empowerment that left him unchecked on his actions related to national response to crisis.

This is my last comment on this subject, because I think we are for sure in Terry rule area.

• I absolutely believe Clinton should have been removed from office. I absolutely believe Trump should have been removed from office. I evaluate their actions as at least misdemeanors worthy of removal. They were retained in office for political reasons, nothing more. The grounds for removal were substantial and not political. The act of retaining them in office clearly was. The bar for presidential behavior should be very high. Getting rid of a president who lies to the American people for his own political/personal reasons is imperative in all cases, period. We can do much better than that.
  

• In today's Senate, Nixon probably would have survived. There aren't enough Republicans willing to hold honor above party. There used to be. Be aware that Nixon was willing to take it to trial if he thought he could win. The Republicans who told him he couldn't win because they would vote to remove him stood up for what was good for the nation, not what was good for the party.
  
• Under these conditions, Trump is correct. He could shoot somebody in broad daylight on 5th Avenue and get away with it.
  
• We as a nation are completely screwed as long as we keep electing politicians of no character. It almost doesn't matter what your political philosophy is as long as you put party above upright behavior. No matter how you organize a government and no matter what the laws are, it can't be well run by people with no character.
  

Apologies for adding formatting ... the long paragraphs are hard to parse.

I totally agree with all of the above. Well said. However, I took out the part that says the Democrats are as bad.

For the record, I never thought I'd agree with the impeachment of Clinton, but with the way you've rolled it into this argument, I do agree. For the first time in 20+ years. Straight-faced unequivocal lying to the people ought to mean impeachment. And the presidency should be reserved for people of character, just as you suggest.

And I too apologize for pure politics. I couldn't resist agreeing.

[oregontim]

And unfortunately for all of us during the Covid pandemic, the debasement of impeachment this time around led to this president's disregard for the law and sense of empowerment that left him unchecked on his actions related to national response to crisis.

This is my last comment on this subject, because I think we are for sure in Terry rule area.

• I absolutely believe Clinton should have been removed from office. I absolutely believe Trump should have been removed from office. I evaluate their actions as at least misdemeanors worthy of removal. They were retained in office for political reasons, nothing more. The grounds for removal were substantial and not political. The act of retaining them in office clearly was. The bar for presidential behavior should be very high. Getting rid of a president who lies to the American people for his own political/personal reasons is imperative in all cases, period. We can do much better than that.
  

• In today's Senate, Nixon probably would have survived. There aren't enough Republicans willing to hold honor above party. There used to be. Be aware that Nixon was willing to take it to trial if he thought he could win. The Republicans who told him he couldn't win because they would vote to remove him stood up for what was good for the nation, not what was good for the party.
  
• Under these conditions, Trump is correct. He could shoot somebody in broad daylight on 5th Avenue and get away with it.
  
• We as a nation are completely screwed as long as we keep electing politicians of no character. It almost doesn't matter what your political philosophy is as long as you put party above upright behavior. No matter how you organize a government and no matter what the laws are, it can't be well run by people with no character.
  

Apologies for adding formatting ... the long paragraphs are hard to parse.

I totally agree with all of the above. Well said. However, I took out the part that says the Democrats are as bad.

For the record, I never thought I'd agree with the impeachment of Clinton, but with the way you've rolled it into this argument, I do agree. For the first time in 20+ years. Straight-faced unequivocal lying to the people ought to mean impeachment. And the presidency should be reserved for people of character, just as you suggest.

And I too apologize for pure politics. I couldn't resist agreeing.