Archive: Opinions

Memories of the previous impeachment. Was it 1999? Standing on the Ithaca Commons on a Saturday around noon, snow blowing around two of us: Me, dressed warmly, with a triumphant cigar in my mouth, and my radio colleague, in cowboy hat, and pink tutu, also a cigar in mouth, holding a sign which read: "Because I made a stupid bet with a talk show host, that's why!!". Cars honking wildly as they turned from State Street to North Cayuga Street.

What happened, you ask?? Q-Country's morning host bet me (political animal extraordinaire and morning host of WHCU Morning Report) that Billy Jeff Clinton would be convicted in a Senate trial after being impeached (basically, accused/indicted) by the House, and my contrarian posit that conviction vote would fail to reach the required two thirds majority. We made the bet on air, both on QCountry and WHCU.

It was as much an educational exercise for our listeners as anything. Most people didn't (and many still don't) understand the impeachment process and both of us felt that a daily one or two minutes of good-natured ribbing as well as a quick 'down and dirty' rundown of the actual daily Senate doings would be good radio, and indeed it was.

So, as the story goes, I won the bet and my colleague (Chris Allinger) had to wear a tutu and cowboy hat on the Commons....as it turned out, in the snow, on a Saturday morning.

Now, with a little help from an acquaintance of mine at the Wall Street Journal (you couldn't get this from the other 'local' Journal, could you?), Ben Zimmer, I'd like to help the Lansing Star readers with the word 'impeach', since we so rarely get to use it, watch it play out, argue about it.

After Nancy Pelosi's press conference when she let the congressional hounds loose, the word 'impeach' became the top search on Google, Yahoo, Wikipedia, etc. On the Merriam-Webster dictionary site, it was reported that the search rate for 'impeach' jumped by a factor of 36.

OK, kids, quiet down now. 'Impeach' means to accuse a public official of misconduct by bringing formal charges. Yes, it can be a lawmaker as well as a judge or president, and the judicial impeachment has occurred more frequently recently. Chris Collins, the low-life congressman from Buffalo who was convicted last week of stock manipulation avoided 'impeachment' by his colleagues in Congress by resigning this week, just as Nixon did in 1974.

An impeachment does not remove a president from office. He, too, is entitled to due process, and that requires a two-thirds vote in the Senate following a trial presided over by the Chief Justice. Yes, we do have recent memories of this, for if Billy Jeff wasn't tried by the Senate in 1999, we would have had to hark back to 1868 with Andrew Johnson, the hard-luck (and hard -drinking) successor to the martyred Abraham Lincoln.

The origins of the word impeach are thus: the Latin root is 'impedicare' (no, that's not a new medical plan espoused by the Democrats) which means, literally, 'to put in shackles', and with the root 'ped' it comes to mean ensnaring someone by the foot/feet. I sense the Trump haters raising their fists at this and hissing "Yes!" boisterously.

It has been misused by some to imply 'attack' or 'accuse'.

The term and legal sense came directly from the British House of Commons, as an indictment which would then lead to a trial in the House of Lords. Since there is no formal British Constitution, it is all done by precedent, and our Founding Fathers lifted the process and the term (including high crimes and misdemeanors) directly from Parliament when writing our Constitution in 1787.

Out of history, and lexicography, and into one stray thought about this whole messy mess called 'impeachment inquiry'. I will never defend the chest-thumper-in-chief, especially as he abandons the Kurds to another dictator's whims, among other sins, as I stand merely an observer, feeling that we as Americans may very well have brought this on ourselves, regardless of whether you voted for him or not.

But, I will dip my toe into the dangerous waters of prediction. Every revelation of this sh**sh** is going to damage Joe Biden as much as Donald Trump. And, every candidate still standing in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, or wherever, knows this. Every virtual nail in Donald Trump's political coffin (if indeed there is such a thing; I wonder about that, too, but some predictions regarding a trial in the Senate are dangerous in these 'interesting times') is also a nail in Joe Biden's last political hurrah. And I am almost positive that Biden cannot stay in the 'race' until Super Tuesday next year. He may even be out by the South Carolina primary.

I have my ideas about the upshot of that potentially explosive development (which will be totally independent of the potential trial in the Senate) but I will keep my own counsel on those thoughts which many, if they heard me mumble them right now, would think me a serious candidate for lithium. We'll see, we'll see, and keep watch. The fat lady hasn't even cleared her throat, yet.

---

Three short comments/follow-up on previous 'Thoughts' columns:

1) Remember my speculation about Putin and the Russian/KGB interference in our 2016 election? This, from the Los Angeles Times: Putin was a panelist in Moscow last week on energy issues with the Western press allowed to present questions. A reporter from MSNBC asked Putin (tongue planted firmly in cheek?) if he planned to 'interfere in the U.S. 2020 election'? I'm not making this up. He moved close to the microphone and said, conspiratorially: "I'll tell you a secret. Yes, we will definitely interfere. But, don't tell anyone, it's a secret." He grinned after this. Again, I point out this was reported by the LA Times.

2) My rants about an Ithaca 'drug injection site' favored by the progressive leader of the People's State of Ithaca now have a further story to tell you. A Philadelphia judge has ruled that a non-profit's plan to open a supervised site for injection of drugs in Philly (that city of brotherly love where I grew up) does not break federal law. Of course this case will make its way to the Supreme Court since it is a federal law (1986) which is being questioned, making it illegal to 'knowingly host illegal drug use'. Once word gets out in Ithaca you can be sure the apologists for heroin and opioids and 'freedom' will be citing this case as reason to open Ithaca's own 'shooting gallery'. Suggestion: If they do open it, see if it can be placed next door to the mayor's residence, instead of on State Street where it probably will be proposed.

3) Finally (sigh) my column about e-sports (which many said they had never heard of until I wrote of it). Well, not only are there now semi-professional millennials forming sponsored leagues and making a basket-ful of moolah, the Washington Post has now launched a gaming and e-sports section starting on October 15th, sponsored by Geico. It's called 'Launcher' and will be analyzing the industry and its people, companies, teams and trends. Your high schooler will know about these things and topics, as will your favorite neighborhood gambling types.

I'm not saying this column has the inside track on what's happening in the world; far from it. But somehow I do get to spot some weird stories that indicate trends, or potential strangenesses as this world gets weird and more head-scratching-ly peculiar. My grandmother once said (God bless her soul) that she got up in the morning, almost 90 years old, "To see what happens next". Bless her, so do I. Thanks for listening.