WHAT IF THEY HAD WON?

Ah, summertime! Congress is not in session, and the election season has yet to really catch fire, so the political junkies in the press are flailing about looking for stories. And you just know that Bill Clinton will oblige. According to Drudge, Bill Clinton tells Dan Blather that his (Clinton's, not Rather's) successful fight against conviction after having been impeached is a "badge of honor."

Now I remember why I disliked Clinton. He lied under oath. That's perjury, or at least it would be if I did it. And yet, according to Clinton, beating the rap is a badge of honor. I suppose you have to have a pair of brass ones to even consider running for the office to begin with.

That said, Clinton should never have been impeached. Not because he didn't perjure himself, and not because that is an insignificant offense. Impeachment was a truly bad move because the leaders of the impeachment fight knew or should have known going in that they could not convict Clinton in the Senate. The inability to convict meant that the post impeachment fallout would, having failed to remove him, cripple Clinton for the remainder of his term. Love them or hate them, ineffective Presidents are a luxury America can no longer afford.

And Jesus H. Christ, what if they had won? Gore would have been the incumbent going into the 2000 election. Given the incredibly thin margin by which he lost to Bush, that fact alone would have been more than enough to assure a different result in any number of states, including Florida. The 2004 talks with the Taliban concerning the extradition of Osama bin Laden in connection with the September '01, June '02 and December '03 terrorist attacks in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago would, I have no doubt, be characterized as frank.