The reason why Bill Clinton was impeached turns out to be not very mysterious: So-called "moderate Republicans" looked at the evidence and decided the president had perjured himself. They made the difference.
But most of the media couldn't bring themselves to accept this simple explanation. They believed that "moderate Republican" was code for "almost a Democrat" or "spinelessly willing to follow whatever politically expedient directions are issued by the New York Times editorial page." And -- let's be honest -- this is a view shared by many conservatives and even on occasion by THE SCRAPBOOK, which has called moderate Republicans "squishy." Oops. Missed that call.
The mistaken analysis of the moderate Republicans sent the media and hysterical House Democrats off on a wild goose chase to prove that evil right-wingers had somehow intimidated, hoodwinked, or body-snatched the moderates. The Washington Post's usually level-headed analyst Tom Edsall, for instance, wrote an embarrassingly obtuse news analysis last week on how the secret movers and shakers of the drive for impeachment were American Spectator editor R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr., Georgia congressman Bob Barr, and the eminent jurist Robert Bork, all of whom share the distinction of having called for the president's impeachment before the Monica Lewinsky episode. Edsall hardly needed to spell out his subtext: Look, all you moderate Republicans, at the loony right-wing company you're keeping and come to your senses!
Meanwhile, Edsall's colleagues tried without success to prove that House whip Tom "The Hammer" DeLay had held a gun to the heads of the moderates. Except that, his nickname notwithstanding, DeLay hadn't. As a poignant account in the New York Times had it: "Mr. DeLay is not working the phones this week. He is not calling in chits, mobilizing his 64 deputy and assistant whips or orchestrating indirect communication through his staff. In fact, he shows no evidence of whipping this one at all." Gee -- how exactly was DeLay getting his way, then? In the immortal explanation of Peter T. King, a New York Republican and one of the handful of moderates who voted against impeachment: "Everybody knows [DeLay's] reputation of being the Hammer, and it may help him so much he doesn't have to do anything."
With such mysterious invisible powers, DeLay is odds-on favorite to become the Democrats' new bogeyman. And, God knows, they're desperate to find a new GOP voodoo doll now that Newt Gingrich has retired.
Indeed, just a day before impeachment, THE SCRAPBOOK received an anonymous fax containing five pages of talking points with which to attack House Republicans. The headline? "The Gingrich Precedent." Who can blame whatever Democratic oppo outfit prepared this fax for not wanting to put its name to it, given that Newt has hardly been seen in public since he announced his resignation? Time to find some fresh enemies, guys. And time for some fresh thinking about "moderate Republicans."