CG,
I agree, it would be very difficult to impeach the president. I thought the whole Clinton attempt was a worthless waste of time and money.
The following is exactly why I am against it. Unless there is a clearly defined Constitutional charge and an absolute and verifiable reason, I'm not going for it. (Yes, I was being a sarcastic smart ass earlier.) Desiring for someone to get the worst possible punishment is like you said, an emotional reacton.
Has Bush been a bad president? Hell yes. Can we impeach him for it? Very doubtful. Can we ever find resolve in that? Only in the history books.
My personal preference is to spend our tax dollars to build a fence and hire some more immigration officers, instead of waste money on a witch hunt.
However, I am intrigued by guidelines of impeachable offences and the speculation of Bush nearing the threshold of an offense.
http://www.ardemgaz.com/prev/clinton/A1dstarr2.html
Starr spent $7 million investigating Clinton during impeachment period
KAREN GULLO
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Copyright © 1999 Associated Press.
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
WASHINGTON -- Independent counsel Kenneth Starr spent $7.2 million investigating President Clinton during the six-month period that included the Senate impeachment trial.
That brings expenses so far for Starr's five-year investigation of the president, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and their associates to $47 million. More than a quarter of that was spent during the Monica Lewinsky investigation and the impeachment.
With the investigation continuing, Starr is on the brink of becoming the most expensive independent counsel ever.
Independent counsel Lawrence Walsh spent $48.5 million on a six-year investigation of whether the Reagan administration attempted arms-for-hostages deals with Iran and assisted Contra rebels fighting Nicaragua's leftist government.
Starr's expenses for the six-month period ending March 31 included $5.7 million for salaries, travel and rent and $1.5 million for costs of U.S. Marshals Service, FBI and Justice Department employees detailed to Starr's office, the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, said in a report released Thursday.
Clinton's impeachment trial in the Senate began the first week of January and ended in acquittal on Feb. 12.
In 1994, Starr began investigating 1980s Arkansas land deals involving the Clintons. In January 1998, Starr's investigation expanded to include Clinton's relationship with Lewinsky, a former White House intern.
Starr spent more than $13 million during the year that covered most of the Lewinsky investigation and the impeachment, the office's figures show.
Though the law creating the independent counsel post expired June 30, investigations already under way are allowed to continue.
Starr plans to leave the job soon, and several of his deputies have interviewed with a three-judge panel to take his place, courthouse employees have said.
The General Accounting Office report, updated every six months, showed that seven other special investigations -- five active and two closed -- spent a combined $7.3 million during the period:
Carol Elder Bruce, appointed to investigate allegations that Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt lied to Congress, spent $2.4 million. Babbitt has not been charged.
Donald C. Smaltz, independent counsel investigating former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy, spent $1.8 million. Espy was acquitted.
Independent Counsel David M. Barrett's inquiry of allegations that Henry Cisneros, the former secretary of Housing and Urban Development, lied to the FBI about payments to a former mistress cost $1.6 million. Cisneros pleaded guilty Sept. 7 to a misdemeanor.
Ralph I. Lancaster Jr.'s investigation of allegations that Labor Secretary Alexis Herman engaged in influence peddling and solicited illegal campaign contributions spent $1.1 million. The investigation continues.
An investigation by prosecutors Arlin M. Adams and Larry D. Thompson of Reagan administration-era corruption at the Department of Housing and Urban Development spent $382,043.
Daniel S. Pearson, whose investigation of financial dealings of the late Commerce Secretary Ron Brown ended when Brown died in an April 1996 plane crash, spent $42,381.
Curtis E. von Kann, who investigated and cleared a former Clinton White House official, Eli J. Segal, of conflict-of-interest allegations, spent $22,632.
This article was published on Saturday, October 2, 1999