1998: Tweety wants Clinton censure. 2006: Is Bush censure "legal or not?"

Bush_Eats_Beef

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Fri Mar-17-06 08:07 AM
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1998: Tweety wants Clinton censure. 2006: Is Bush censure "legal or not?"

1998: Matthews proposed censure of Clinton, demanded historical footnote; 2006: Matthews questions if censure of Bush is "even legal or not"

Summary: Chris Matthews claimed that "there's a big question about whether it's even legal or not in the Senate" to censure President Bush, as Sen. Russ Feingold recently proposed, over Bush's authorization of warrantless domestic surveillance. But Matthews said something very different about the issue of censure in the context of former President Bill Clinton, at that time taking credit for first promoting the idea of censuring Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky controversy: "I'm not bragging, but I believe I was the first person to talk about the notion of censure because nobody else talked about it."

During the March 15 broadcast of MSNBC's Hardball, host Chris Matthews claimed during an interview with Democratic adviser Howard Wolfson that "there's a big question about whether it's even legal or not in the Senate" to censure President Bush, as Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) recently proposed, over Bush's authorization of warrantless domestic surveillance, in apparent violation of the 1978 Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Act (FISA). But Matthews said something very different about the issue of censure in the context of former President Bill Clinton, at that time taking credit for first promoting the idea of censuring Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky controversy. On the December 30, 1998, year-end review edition of Hardball, then broadcast on CNBC, Matthews said: "I'm not bragging, but I believe I was the first person to talk about the notion of censure because nobody else talked about it."

In fact, as Matthews reminded viewers during the 1998 wrap-up, he proposed the notion of censuring Clinton during an interview with then-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) that aired in March of that year. Matthews asked Lott, "Why don't you just pass ... a vote to censure Clinton if he does something wrong instead of impeach him? Isn't there a middle ground?" Lott responded: "Well, that -- that is -- yeah. Yeah. Sure." Matthews also asked, "Is that legal?" Lott responded: "That is an option, yes." After playing a clip of his interview with Lott, Matthews asked American University history professor Allan Lichtman, who is currently a Democratic candidate for a U.S. Senate seat for Maryland, "Do I get a page in the history books for that or a footnote maybe?" Lichtman assured Matthews that there was precedent -- President Andrew Johnson was censured by the Senate before being impeached by the House in 1868. Lichtman then lauded Matthews's political acumen: "Chris, you know your history, and you're a prophet all at the same time." Matthews replied, "Thank you very much."

From the March 15 broadcast of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews:

MATTHEWS: Russ Feingold, the United States senator from Wisconsin, has called for the censure -- that means something short of impeachment, there's a big question whether it's even legal or not in the Senate -- of President Bush over the issue of his use of the National Security Agency to intercept electronic communications between here and other countries but involving Americans. Is that a big enough issue or misbehavior or misconduct to warrant a formal censure by the Senate?