Senator Coburns response

[dwmorris]

I recently wrote Senator Coburn.  Not because I expected anything to happen.  I just felt like expressing my opinion.

Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky and his subsequent denial of the affair is of little concern compared to violating the law by ordering wire taps without a court order or taking money 100,000 from a special interest lobbyist.

So I recommended impeachment because it seemed to be th Republican's tool for trying to discredit Bill Clinton.

Here is his response.  Exactly as I expected and notably completely ignoring the spying without a court order issue.


Dear Mr. Morris:

Thank you for your e-mail regarding impeachment proceedings for President
Bush.

I am opposed to any effort to impeach the President based upon his
decision to go to War with Iraq.  There are no grounds that exist for one
to legitimately seek the impeachment of George W. Bush.

   Impeachment proceedings have only occurred twice in the history of our
Republic. The rarity of impeachment underscores what I believe to be the
central importance of elected representatives exercising great caution
when contemplating impeachment.  Impeachment is not meant as a partisan
political weapon nor should it be used as a vehicle to discredit an
individual at the nation's ultimate expense.  It should be used as the
Founding Fathers wished - as a way to uphold the moral authority of the
office of the president and serve as a check on the power of the executive
should that person through criminal misconduct no longer be able to carry
out the laws of the United States.

   The calls for impeachment against the President today are politically
motivated efforts by members of the minority party to remove him from
office.  The primary reason cited for this is the President's mishandling
of pre-Iraq War intelligence. The bi-partisan Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence already has conducted an investigation into pre-Iraq war
intelligence.  This committee found no evidence intelligence was distorted
to make the case for war.  The Robb-Silberman Commission also reached the
same conclusion and found, in addition, the intelligence presented to
senators was less dramatic than that seen by the President.  This
intelligence led 77 senators to support the war resolution.  I am
convinced the President made his decision to go to Iraq based upon the
information he was presented at the time.  Even President Clinton -
operating upon the same intelligence - reached the conclusion in 1998 that
Saddam Hussein should be removed.  Given these facts, I am more than
convinced the President is not in any danger of being impeached by
Congress.

   Once again, thank you very much for contacting me.


                  Sincerely,                                                A
                  Tom Coburn
                  United States Senator