補習-Life Limitates Farce
This eloquent speech was given on the floor of
the House of Representatives by Representative Richard Gephardt of Missouri, the
House Democratic leader, shortly before the House voted on four articles of
impeachment against President Bill Clinton, Saturday, December 19, 1998.
The four articles charged Clinton with perjury, obstruction of justice,
and abuse of power, resulting from his attempt to conceal an extramarital affair
in the White House with Monica Lewinsky when she was an intern and after she
became a paid employee.
Gephardt called for a resolution of censure against the President instead
of impeachment and also pleaded for a change in the political atmosphere in
Washington in which attacks on personal conduct, past and present, had become
part of the daily discourse.
Preceding Gephardt's speech, House speaker-designate Bob Livingston, a
Republican from Louisiana, made a stunning announcement. Livingston first called
on President Clinton to resign and then announced he would step down himself
because of his own extramarital affairs which had been revealed on the eve of
the impeachment vote.
Several weeks earlier, House Judiciary Chairman Henry Hyde, a Republican
from Illinois, had been forced to confront allegations of an extramarital affair
that had occurred many years ago. Several other members of Congress had been
confronted with similar rumors and allegations.
Mr. Speaker and members of the House, I stood on this floor
yesterday and implored all of us to say that the politics of slash-and-burn must
end. I implored all of you that we must turn away from the politics of personal
destruction and return to the politics of values.
It is with that same passion that I say to all of you today that the
gentleman from Louisiana, Bob Livingston, is a worthy and good and honorable
man.
I believe his decision to retire is a terrible capitulation to the
negative forces that are consuming our political system and our country.
And I pray with all my heart that he will reconsider this decision.
Our founding fathers created a system of government of men, not of
angels. No one standing in this House today can pass a Puritanical test of
purity that some are demanding that our elected leaders take.
If we demand that mere mortals live up to this standard, we will see our
seats of government lay empty, and we will see the best, most able people
unfairly cast out of public service.
We need to stop destroying imperfect people at the altar of an
unobtainable morality.
We need to start living up to the standards which the public, in its
infinite wisdom, understands that imperfect people must strive towards, but too
often fall short.
We are now rapidly descending into a politics where life imitates farce.
Fratricide dominates our public debate and America is held hostage to tactics of
smear and fear.
Let all of us here today say no to resignation, no to impeachment, no to
hatred, no to intolerance of each other, and no to vicious self-righteousness.
We need to start healing. We need to start binding up our wounds. We need
to end this downward spiral which will culminate in the death of representative
democracy.
I believe this healing can start today by changing the course we've
begun.
This is exactly why we need this today to be bipartisan. This is why we
ask the opportunity to vote on a bipartisan censure resolution, to begin the
process of healing our nation and healing our people.
We are on the brink of the abyss. The only way we stop this insanity is
through the force of our own will.
The only way we stop this spiral is for all of us to finally say --
enough.
Let us step back from the abyss and let's begin a new politics of respect
and fairness and decency which raises what has come before.
May God have mercy on this Congress and may Congress have the wisdom and
the courage and the goodness to save itself today.
Richard Gephardt - December 19, 1998
