Impeach him, Cannon urges
Panel nears a 'yea' recommendation for impeachment

WASHINGTON -- In a pivotal day reached only twice before in the nation's history, Republicans are primed to muscle through the House Judiciary Committee an impeachment resolution that advocates removal of a president from office.

Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, told the committee Friday it must back impeachment of President Clinton for perjury or U.S. Constitutional law will unravel.And he used an unusual surprise witness to help him make that point during his opening statement on the final committee impeachment debate: the late President John F. Kennedy.

Cannon presented -- twice, for emphasis -- a video of a statement by Kennedy four days before his assassination. Kennedy said presidents "have the obligation of implementing the orders of the courts."

Kennedy added that if a president did not do that, "he would begin to unwind this most extraordinary constitutional system of ours."

Cannon said, "Our system can take a lot of abuse. It is resilient. It can handle strong, spirited debates over issues, even violent conflicts like the Civil War.

"But attempts to make a sacred oath flexible is like introducing solvent into a system that is glued together: the whole system comes apart," he said.

Cannon also quoted early Supreme Court Justice John Jay, who said, "When oaths cease to be sacred, our dearest and most valuable rights become insecure."

But Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, D-Texas, said the charge that Clinton had abused his presidential powers was "preposterous" and urged her colleagues to instead vote to censure Clinton, saying it was "right, punitive and just."

Only twice before has the committee taken such a grave vote against a president, recommending impeachment of Richard M. Nixon in 1974 and Andrew Johnson in 1868. Nixon resigned before the House could act. Johnson was impeached by the House and acquitted by a single vote in a Senate trial.

Republican moderates will determine Clinton's fate on the House floor. Democrats fought for their support with an alternate proposal in committee to censure the president, a resolution the committee is virtually certain to reject in a vote, expected Saturday.

The articles accuse the president of lying under oath to a grand jury, lying under oath in the Paula Jones civil lawsuit, obstruction of justice and abuse of power. All of Clinton's actions were designed, they say, to conceal his extramarital affair with a former White House intern half his age, Monica Lewinsky.