Newspapers Urge President to Quit

Newspapers Urge President to Quit Outrageous, out of the question? Of course.

Then again, here's what happened in the summer of 1998 when the president was named Clinton. Dozens of editorial pages clamored for him to quit (see this list). "He should resign," the Philadelphia Inquirer declared, "because his repeated, reckless deceits have dishonored his presidency beyond repair."By Greg Mitchell(January 03, 2006) -- What did "I" do? On Dec. 21, I wrote a little news story for this site about the sudden appearance of the "I" word -- impeachment, that is -- in reputable publications. The outrage over revelations about President Bush's approval of spying on Americans without a warrant was then at its height, before subsiding to its current level of what-will-they-think-of-next cynicism.We got a lot of negative mail about that article, even though we didn't take a position on the matter, but simply pointed out that the "I" word was now being uttered in some surprising places (Barron's magazine?). Certainly, it's no "slam dunk" -- to coin a phrase -- that the president should be impeached, and most Democrats don't even want it to happen, either because they think they can make hay in the November elections with Bush still in office, and/or they fear a short but perhaps brutal reign of our own King Richard I.Still, it amazes me when people make fun of the very notion that a president under a dark cloud might be asked to leave office, or given a push, in light of the very recent experience involving one William Jefferson Clinton. This seems especially poignant, in light of President Clinton leaving office with an approval rating over 60%, while the current occupant of the White House sits at around 40%. Then there's the perennial debate over the relative demerits of fooling around with an intern vs. fooling an entire country into going to war based on false evidence (and anything else you'd care to add on top of that).In any case, while still not taking a position on impeachment, I thought it would be interesting to look back at how the press reacted to the Clinton Crisis of 1998. Did newspaper editorials condemn Clinton for his screwing around, and lying about it, and leave it at that, or did they come out squarely for his exit from office?What follows, from an Associated Press rundown on September 15, 1998, is a long list of newspapers that "called for President Clinton's resignation." AP added that some of those listed "did so before the release of Kenneth Starr's report on Sept. 11."Indeed, the Philadelphia Inquirer responded to the coming of the Starr report this way: "Bill Clinton should resign. He should resign because his repeated, reckless deceits have dishonored his presidency beyond repair."The Los Angeles Times pointed out: "The picture of Clinton that now emerges is that of a middle-aged man with a pathetic inability to control his sexual fancies."The New York Times, on its Howell Raines-led editorial page, thundered that until the Starr turn, "no citizen ... could have grasped the completeness of President Clinton's mendacity or the magnitude of his recklessness." Yet a Washington Post poll that month showed that while a majority of Americans wanted Congress to censure Clinton, they did not want it to boot him out of office.Here is that AP partial list of newspapers calling for Clinton to quit (other papers no doubt joined in later):NATIONAL:USA TodayALABAMA:The Mobile RegisterMontgomery AdvertiserARIZONA:Tucson CitizenCALIFORNIA:San Jose Mercury NewsThe Orange County RegisterThe North (San Diego) County TimesThe Record, StocktonCOLORADO:The Denver PostCONNECTICUT:The Day of New LondonNorwich BulletinDISTRICT OF COLUMBIAThe Washington TimesFLORIDA:The Orlando SentinelThe Tampa TribuneGEORGIA:The Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionThe Augusta ChronicleILLINOIS:Chicago TribuneINDIANA:The Indianapolis StarChronicle-Tribune of MarionSouth Bend TribuneThe Times of Northwest IndianaIOWA:The Des Moines RegisterKANSAS:The Topeka Capital-JournalLOUISIANA:The Times-Picayune of New OrleansThe News-Star, MonroeMICHIGAN:The Grand Rapids PressDetroit Free PressMINNESOTA:Post-Bulletin of RochesterMISSISSIPPI:Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, TupeloMISSOURI:Jefferson City News-TribuneNEBRASKA:Lincoln Journal StarNEVADA:Reno Gazette-JournalNEW JERSEYThe Trentonian, TrentonNEW MEXICO:Albuquerque JournalThe Santa Fe New MexicanNEW YORK:Sunday Freeman of KingstonUtica Observer-DispatchNORTH CAROLINA:The Herald-Sun of DurhamWinston-Salem JournalOHIO:The Repository, CantonThe Cincinnati EnquirerThe Cincinnati PostOKLAHOMA:The Daily Oklahoman, Oklahoma CityTulsa WorldOREGON:Statesman Journal, SalemPENNSYLVANIA:The Philadelphia InquirerThe Pittsburgh Post-GazetteSOUTH CAROLINA:The State, ColumbiaSOUTH DAKOTA:Argus Leader, Sioux FallsTEXAS:San Antonio Express-NewsEl Paso TimesUTAH:Standard-Examiner, OgdenThe Spectrum, St. GeorgeThe Salt Lake Tribune, Salt Lake CityDeseret News, Salt Lake CityVIRGINIA:Daily Press of Newport NewsWASHINGTON:The Seattle TimesWISCONSIN:The Post-Crescent, AppletonThe Journal Times, Racine
Greg Mitchell (gmitchell@editorandpublisher. ) is editor of E&P and author of numerous books on politics and history, including "Tricky Dick and the Pink Lady."


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