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| REGIONAL COMMENTATORS | |
 December 14, 1998 
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Media correspondent Terence Smith talks with the NewsHour's regional commentators about how the impeachment debate is playing in their area.
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Public sentiment. |
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TERENCE SMITH: Welcome to you all. And let me ask first perhaps Lee Cullum, the sentiment in your area, does it reflect the figures in Andy Kohut's poll, does that appear to be the case? LEE CULLUM: Yes, Terry, I think it is the case. The Dallas Morning News has come out with censure. I would imagine that there's a great deal of support for that position here in the country. I think that a poll taken last September, which showed that 63 percent of people in Texas thought Bill Clinton was doing a good job, probably still holds true. I don't think the voters have wavered in that respect, so I would imagine censure would be well supported here in Dallas, so, of course, there are those - this is a very Republican state - of course there are those who do, indeed, want impeachment. TERENCE SMITH: Bob Kittle, what about the view in San Diego?
TERENCE SMITH: Susan Albright, is the view different there and around Minneapolis?
TERENCE SMITH: Cynthia Tucker, what about your area? CYNTHIA TUCKER: I think that the views here, Clarence, are probably very similar to those in Dallas and San Diego. The Atlanta region tends to be conservative. Certainly the suburbs that ring the city tend to be conservative. After all, this is the region that gave the country both Newt Gingrich and Bob Barr. Yet, the majority of the letters that we have gotten into the office over the last week support the president. Interestingly, many of those letters are from people who say that they have been strong Republican voters, but they're disgusted with the Republican Party over this issue, and they say that if this continues, that the House insist on impeachment, they will not vote Republican again. TERENCE SMITH: Patrick McGuigan, I deliberately waited to speak to you at the end because the previous four - their papers have all supported the notion of censure. Yours is unique, supporting impeachment. What about the sentiment in Oklahoma?
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| Do the people care? | ||||||||||||||
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TERENCE SMITH: Well, you've raised the question of whether people are seriously engaged with this. Lee Cullum, let me ask you, is this something that people are now fully absorbed with, perhaps in contrast to earlier?
TERENCE SMITH: Bob Kittle, I find it surprising - I wonder if you do - here is a clearly historic moment - nearly unique in modern history. And yet, people don't seem to take it that way. What's your view and those of people in San Diego? ROBERT KITTLE: I think you're right, Terry. People have been slow to recognize the gravity of the situation. But I think they are recognizing it now. I think the fact that we had a larger volume of letters to the editor over the weekend - my phone's been ringing more from readers to speak on this issue. I think over the weekend it - there was a delay but I think Americans - San Diegans, at least - are beginning to recognize it. We're facing a very serious question now. This is no longer just bickering between Republicans and the president or Democrats and Republicans. We're talking about whether we're going to remove a president from office. Certainly, that is - as you say - a very historic action. But it's something that affects people. I hear people are now saying, what would that do to the stock market. They begin to understand there's a connection in their everyday lives to what the impeachment process is all about, so I think it's a little bit delayed, but I think it's coming, and I think in the next couple of days, as we leave it up to the vote in the House on the House floor, Americans are going to make themselves heard on this. TERENCE SMITH: Susan Albright, do you have any sense of that?
TERENCE SMITH: Cynthia Tucker, the president made another effort at explaining himself and apologizing the other day. Did it seem to do him any good? |
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| The president's apology. | ||||||||||||||
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TERENCE SMITH: Lee Cullum, you mentioned the Republicans in your area. Is there anything, in your view, that the president could say that would change minds? LEE CULLUM: Nothing whatsoever, Terry. And I think the moment has long since past when Bill Clinton could say or do anything that would alter his fate. That doesn't mean that he necessarily will be impeached. It just means that there's nothing he can say now that will change the situation. I think the die is cast. We will simply have to see what the fates will allow. TERENCE SMITH: Patrick McGuigan, you have been calling for his resignation or impeachment for some time. Is there anything that the president can say to you or the people in Oklahoma that might change their minds?
TERENCE SMITH: Susan Albright, you've not been in favor of impeachment. Your paper hasn't been. But what's your sense of the way it's moving towards this vote on the House floor later this week? SUSAN ALBRIGHT: I'm worried about it. I don't think he did anything that comes close to what the Constitution had in mind for impeachment. But I'm seeing things -- Representative Shays today's seeking a meeting with the president - various people seeming to be calling for a resignation more than they did a week ago. I'm worried about this actually going to an impeachment. I don't think it should. |
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To impeach or not to impeach. |
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TERENCE SMITH: In fact, I wonder if any of you believes that the House will note for the impeachment this week - this Thursday or Friday. Great silence there. SUSAN ALBRIGHT: I have my hopes. LEE CULLUM: I believe the House will vote for impeachment. I favor censure myself, but I believe the House will vote for impeachment, Terry.
CYNTHIA TUCKER: I don't think that again that there's going to be anything that is going to change the voters' minds. There is no new information that is going to come forward out of a Senate trial. We already know what the president did, and the majority of the voters have already made up their minds that that does not fit the constitutional requirement of high crimes. Now, I do think that a Senate trial will be protracted. Many national issues of great importance will be ignored, and that could create an even greater backlash against the Republicans. TERENCE SMITH: Okay. Thank you all. It's obvious that the momentum is building. And we will follow it. Thank you. |
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TERENCE
SMITH: For a further look at how all this is playing outside the belt
way, we turn to NewsHour regulars Lee Cullum of the Dallas Morning
News, Robert Kittle of the San Diego Union Tribune, Cynthia
Tucker of the Atlanta Constitution, and Patrick McGuigan of the
Daily Oklahoma. Joining them tonight is Susan Albright of the
Minneapolis Star Tribune.
ROBERT
KITTLE: I think the view here, Terry, reflects the numbers that Andy
Kohut was showing you. This is also a Republican-leaning city. San Diego
County voted for Bob Dole over Bill Clinton in 1996. But the last poll
that my newspaper did was in October; it showed that only 13 percent
of San Diego County residents believed the president should be impeached
for this. I don't think it's changed any. Over the weekend we received
about 350 letters to the editor on this subject, and they are running
about two to one against impeachment. So I think the national numbers
are reflected in San Diego County. 
SUSAN
ALBRIGHT: No. I think it is not different. We saw a rise in letters
too in our shop today. And we're getting both. They're heating up on
both sides. We're getting the wake up America calls such as Wexler wanted,
but we're also getting the other side. So both sides are writing more.
PATRICK
MC GUIGAN: Well, the sentiment here is not shockingly different than
what my colleagues have shared, although I think it's a closer question
in people's mind when you add it all up. There's a higher percentage
supportive of impeachment here than elsewhere. But this is not the number
one issue on people's radar screen. I think there's a "don't rock the
boat" mentality. I will say this - that the majority for a long time
- the majority of letters to the editor - have been supportive of the
president's removal, either through resignation or impeachment. And
that has sustained itself right through today. So in that respect we're
different, and I think Oklahoma is more supportive of impeachment, but
I wouldn't - I can't make the case. I don't have polling data. But there's
a strong majority in favor of it.
LEE
CULLUM: Terry, of course, people are talking about it - there's no doubt
about that. Are they riveted to the story? No, I don't think they are.
I think Andy Kohut's assessment is quite right. I think people are feeling
happy about the holidays. I noticed that retail shopping is up about
3 percent this year over last year, so they're not spending wildly,
but they're spending confidently. It's very strange. I don't know whether
they realize that the president is very likely to survive in the Senate
and, therefore, they don't have to worry too much about the House. He
has to worry about his place in history, but they're not concerned about
that. That could be part of what's going on. I don't sense the same
kind of anguish associated with this story that we felt at the time
of Watergate. 
SUSAN
ALBRIGHT: Yes. I think what people have said so far I agree with. It
seems to me that a lot of people are thinking about Christmas and other
things. I think they don't have a real sense that we're actually going
to go through this, that maybe as Schumer said last week - Charles Schumer
in the hearings - people think they're going to quit playing chicken
and everything will be all right. But I'm not sure it will be.
CYNTHIA
TUCKER: Well, I can't tell that it made any difference in the opinions
we've heard from our letter writers or from our callers. Quite frankly,
there was nothing that the president said in his re-apology that was
dramatically different from what he has said before. So I don't think
people were necessarily expecting anything that would change their minds.
I think the people are pretty firmly entrenched. There has always been
a core of our readers who want Bill Clinton removed from office no matter
what. Again, Bob Barr, who is from Georgia, first raised impeachment
last fall, even before Monica Lewinsky's name was ever made public.
So there is that core group that we hear from. But I think the larger
group of voters long ago made up their minds that Clinton should not
be removed from office over these offenses, and I don't think that anything
that they have heard over the last several days has changed their minds.
PATRICK
McGUIGAN: Well, as a legal and political question I think the president's
behavior has put him in a very difficult position. I will say that much
like the moderate Republicans that were looking for something the other
day, maybe even as late as Friday, I continue to be dismayed by this
man's inability to use the "L" word or the "P" word, lying or perjury.
An admission on either of those - there's no doubt - would leave him
exposed for future legal proceedings, but it might give him some boost
with Republican swing votes and with less ardent conservatives in his
present situation. But I don't think we're going to get that, and I
don't think we're resignation, which would probably be the best solution
for the country. So we're going to have to walk through this process
together. 
TERENCE
SMITH: Well, that seems to be the drift in the reporting that is going
on. And if that happens, do you anticipate - have you heard from people
in your area - whether their attitudes might change? 
