Is lying an impeachable offense?

[Cyrano]

So let me get this straight. Every word that comes out of King George's mouth for six years is a lie, but he doesn't get impeached.

Bill Clinton gets a blow job, lies about it, congress goes ape shit, and he gets impeached. (Yeah, I know, Clinton lied under oath and King George didn't -- unless you count the oath of office.) How about if we examine this from a different perspective?

There's an old story about Pierre, the French tour-bus driver who's a really bitter guy. His bus is loaded, he tilts his head to the right and says, "This is the Louvre. I, Pierre, did six paintings that are displayed here. Do they call me Pierre the Artist. NO!"

Moments later, they pass the Seine, Pierre points at a bridge and says, "I, Pierre built this bridge. Do they call me Pierre the Engineer? NO!"

Next stop, a new skyscraper. "I Pierre designed this building. Do they call me Pierre the Architect? NO! -- But, suck one cock ..."

I suppose the moral to this story is that you don't have to lie under oath to be a cocksucker.

[rpannier]

1. Lying...No

Lying under oath or to protect a criminal act...Yes.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

2. Even Clinton's lying wasn't an impeachable offense

Historians down the road will look back at that horror show and see it for what it was - a craven rush on the part of sexually-deprived/depraved rightwingnuts to thwart the success of a popular Democrat President who was not only getting blown, but having fun while getting blown, something they'd never experienced - in either way.

[fooj]

4. I like the way you articulated that. Thanks.

Peace.

[femmocrat]

5. True... he lied in a civil matter which wasn't an impeachable act.

Or so I remember....

[sutz12]

7. You left out the part about being a good president, too...

[rzemanfl]

10. Clinton's mistake was lying about the blowjob, rather than

bragging about it. If he'd gone on TV and announced "last night I had a blowjob from a 24 year-old woman" all the men in the country would have said "Bullshit." Ten women would have gone on TV saying they were the one and they were going to write a book about it and pose for Playboy. Monica would have been lost in the crowd.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

12. Guess what I'd have done if I were elected President?

Invite those oiled-up, loincloth-wearing, sturdy, young Democrat intern boys one after the other into my Oval Office.

[rzemanfl]

16. Who sells loincloths these days? n/t

[OldLeftieLawyer]

17. OK,

so I meant Depends.

Nitpicker.

[rzemanfl]

21. Turning in and turning off the nitpicking for tonight. n/t

[femmocrat]

3. Lying to Congress should be impeachable.

I think that is a "high crime" or "misdemeanor". But getting Congress to impeach the (fill-in-the-blank) is another matter.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

14. Lying to the American people

should also be an impeachable offense, don't you think? Especially when you're standing ass-deep in the blood of thousands of Americans and Iraqis?

Welcome to DU, by the way!

[AndyA]

6. Obstruction of justice

When you lie to a Federal Prosecutor, even if you're not under oath, it's obstruction of justice...a FELONY.

If Bush lied to Patrick Fitzgerald, it's a FELONY. Oath or no oath.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

13. Yeah, see, but if Fuckface lied

about getting a blowjob, it would sound like this:

"Ah got a blowjob."

[rzemanfl]

18. You're in fine form tonight. I case you missed it, google

Pink's "Dear Mr. President" and listen to it. Protest songs are still being written.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

20. That's a great song

Hell, even our Rolling Stones got into last year with "Little Neocon."

Plus, you go weak in the head whenever I get on the subject of Fuckface and blowjobs - admit it.

[rzemanfl]

22. Hey, you are never going to write another "imagine..." get used

to it.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

25. I know

Being dead has cut down on my productivity in ways you would not believe.

[rzemanfl]

19. You left out "from a gurl." n/t

[OldLeftieLawyer]

27. No,

I did not.

[rzemanfl]

28. Far be it for me to argue with the departed. n/t

[Rocknrule]

8. Only if you're a Dem

[Fountain79]

9. He lied under oath to a grand jury...

that is a crime. If lying by itself would be a crime, no one would even bother having first dates.

[Suich]

11. ...*snort*

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[beyurslf]

15. Depends. Is it a Dem who lied about a BJ or Rep who lied about war?

[immoderate]

23. An impeachable offense is whatever Congress says it is.

Lying to get us into a war could be impeachable. That's why the Constitution is deliberately vague about what are "high crimes and misdemeanors." There are foul deeds that only a president could perform. Since these are unique circumstance there might not be laws, which are ususally aimed at the masses, for the president to break. Remember, impeachment is firing. One can get fired without breaking a law. Breaking an oath to defend the Constitution could be reason.

If Congress impeaches, and the Senate convicts, for whatever reason, he's out with no recourse, except perhaps a coup.

--IMM

[WindChill]

24. During the Clinton impeachment

the cable networks brought on one expert after another on Constitutional law. Most of it was pretty banal as I remember but one thing that I thought was interesting was the idea that "misdemeanors" in the "high crimes and misdemeanors" part of the impeachment section meant something very different than we understand "misdemeanor" today. At the time the Constitution was written, "misdemeanor" seems to have meant something more like bad behavior, immorality, that kind of thing. Over the years we've attached a different meaning or connotation to that word and think of it now as a crime.

The point is that the impeachment language doesn't require a crime to have been committed or found. I think this is well supported by the idea that impeachment is a political remedy, not a judicial one. So if that's a correct interpretation, then anything could be considered an impeachable offense.

[Cyrano]

26. I appreciate everyone's comments. But I must confess my true aim in the OP

I was calling George W. Bush a cocksucker in the non-sexual sense of the word. Unfortunately, it's his most non-despicable trait. But I don't really want to get started down that road. Skinner, (DU's owner), might just ban me for using up all the available space on his site.

Anyhow, as Shakespeare said, "Brevity is the soul of wit." In my case, he was half right.