The Gortons and Slades - Washington Secretary of State

high cRiMes oR MisdeMeAnoRs? 319
the Web, then Starr craftily leaked the story to The Washington Post, with
a spin that had the president suborning perjury. Lewinsky had confided
her affair to a fair-weather friend and allegedly said the president had
urged her to lie if she was asked to testify in the Paula Jones case. A week
later, with Hillary at his side, Clinton called a press conference. Punctuating
each sentence with a jabbing index finger, he indignantly declared:
“I want to say one thing to the American people. I want you to listen to
me. I’m going to say this again: I did not have sexual relations with that
woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie, not a single time.
Never. These allegations are false.”
To paraphrase Clinton’s second-most famous sound bite, it depends on
what fellatio is. Sexual relations or not, he would later admit, it was wrong.
And he did it “for the worst possible reason—just because I could.”
The single-minded salaciousness of the Starr Report and the wideranging
impeachment inquiry authorized by the House produced a backlash
in the 1998 midterm elections. Defying all precedent, the embattled
president’s party rallied. Democrats picked up five seats in the House,
where the GOP’s majority was already thin, and lost none in the Senate.
Hillary Clinton had been “a one-woman campaign machine,” and Black
voters turned out en masse. Polls indicated a solid majority of Americans
opposed impeachment. Within a month, Clinton’s job approval rating
reached its apex: 73 percent. 3
Dogged by his own moral lapses and polarizing image, Gingrich was
already in trouble. The latest disappointment at the polls stoked the discontent
that had been growing in the Republican ranks for two years. The
dissidents included Gorton’s friend, Congressman Steve Largent of Oklahoma,
the Seattle Seahawks’ Hall of Fame pass-receiver. Largent likened
the election to hitting an iceberg and said the “question is whether we
retain the crew of the Titanic or we look for some new leadership.” Gingrich
resigned as speaker three days after the election and also quickly
resolved to leave Congress, despite having won an 11 th term. 4
on dec. 19, 1998, after 131⁄2 hours of bruising debate, the House impeached
a president for the first time in 130 years, approving two of the
four charges presented for debate. Gorton believed the strongest was
abuse of power, but that article was rejected. The House concluded that
Clinton lied to the grand jury about both his relationship with Lewinsky
and the Arkansas sexual harassment case. Further, he had obstructed
justice by concealing evidence and encouraging Lewinsky and others to
commit perjury.