WASHINGTON, D.C. - Walter Crewcut
Along mostly party lines, the House of Representatives charged President William Jefferson Clinton with high crimes and misdemeanors. The House voted on four articles of impeachment, approving two - perjury and obstruction of justice. Clinton became only the second president in US history to be impeached, joining Andrew Johnson, another Southern Democrat.
In a speech after the vote, surrounded by Democratic members of the House, Clinton said "We must stop the politics of personal destruction. We must get rid of the poisonous venom of excessive partisanship, obsessive animosity and uncontrolled anger. That is not what America deserves. That is not what America is about."
House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt said, "We must come together and stop the divisiveness, especially now that our young people are at war in Iraq." (See related story below.) Gephardt added that "However, we won't be able to join together until we've wiped the Republicans from the face of the Earth. They're evil. They're scum. They're vile, vindictive bastards who bleep bleep bleep animals. May their mothers all rot in hell. If they've got mothers, which I doubt."
In an emotional ending to the speech, Clinton sniffled and said "We've got to get back to doing the American people. I mean, uhh, get back to working on the American people. That is doing the wreck of the American people. Oh hell, you know what I mean."