In these times of near chaos in the leadership of this country, and mass hysteria in the media; it is important to reflect, calmly and fairly, on the issues at hand. It is really very simple - did the President lie under oath, both to a federal civil court, and then to a federal grand jury? Did the President ask others to lie under oath, either explicitly or with a wink and a nod? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then the President has committed a crime and should be removed from office.
It is pretty apparent, given the President's admission that he had an "improper" relationship with an intern in his office; and given the intern's testimony to a federal grand jury; that the President lied under oath and therefore committed perjury. This to me is the most clear cut of the charges against him, and to me, the most important. The President argues that he told the truth in the civil trial and again in the federal grand jury, based upon his interpretation of a narrow definition of sex; which was given to him in the civil case. The definition of sex given to the President is as follows:
For the purposes of this deposition, a person engages in "sexual relations" when the person knowingly engages in or causes . . . contact with the genitalia, anus, groin, breast, inner thigh, or buttocks of any person with an intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person. . . . "Contact" means intentional touching, either directly or through clothing.(1)
Based on this definition, the President swore under oath, to a civil court and then to a federal grand jury, that he had not had sex. Even under the most lenient and forgiving of interpretations, one would have to conclude that the President lied through his teeth. There are reasons for his lying: one, he is an inveterate liar; two, he thought that the intern in question wouldn't talk and had no idea that her conversations with a friend were being taped, thereby providing concrete evidence; three, he had no idea that the intern would keep a dress with semen on it (or had no recollection of spooging on the dress in the first place); four, he never thought that the Secret Service would ever be compelled to testify as witnesses against him. Thanks to these unforeseen circumstances, the President, in my mind, is guilty of perjury; above and beyond a reasonable doubt.
So, here is what we know about the President so far - we know that laying his hand on a Bible and saying the words: "I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God"; means very little to him. One then can only wonder what laying his hand on a Bible and reciting the words: "I will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States" meant to the President. Probably very little as well; and that is the main reason for booting him out of office. Oaths are important, even in these days of absolute cynicism. If you have a leader who doesn't take an oath seriously, he will fuck you over - guaranteed. If the President is allowed to stay in office after clearly committing perjury, he will take that as a sign that any and every conduct is permissible and possible; all he has to do is bite his lower lip and say that he has sinned and all will be forgiven (at least in his mind). We cannot trust this man now, nor in the future. The debate should not be whether the President gets to keep his job or not, but whether he goes to jail or not. The loss of his job should be a forgone conclusion, and the least of his worries.
I know that Presidents have lied to the American people before; I'm not that naive. LBJ lied about the Tonkin Gulf incident (at least the second one) to allow him to widen the war in Vietnam. FDR lied (or at least didn't disclose) the extent of the aid and support he was giving Britain before the U.S. entry into World War II. Ronald Reagan lied about funneling money to the Contras in Nicaragua. The difference between this current President's lies and those of these past Presidents, is that the past Presidents were all trying to accomplish a goal that in their hearts and minds (however misguided they may or may not have been) was good for the country and the world; whereas the current President was lying just to save his own ass. There was no great or grand scheme to save the country that the President couldn't disclose to the public; there were just the lies about blow jobs he received from in employee less than half his age. Unfortunately for the President, the lies were under oath. Being such a first class schmuck should by itself be grounds for removal from office; but fortunately we don't have to depend on that - perjury will suffice.
(1)From the Ken Starr Report
"Law, being a sign of Corruption in Man; many laws are signs of Corruption of a State."
JSC