(5 of 8)
But no Republican, not even Ken Starr, cut through the President's mortar as efficiently as David Schippers, a Democrat hired by Hyde as majority counsel. In an angry, sarcastic and merciless presentation delivered in a penetrating Chicago twang, Schippers drilled holes in Clinton's words, deeds and character, arguing that the President had lied repeatedly under oath, obstructed justice by helping Lewinsky get a job and encouraged everyone around him to do the same. "He lied to the people, he lied to his Cabinet, he lied to his top aides, and now he's lied under oath to the Congress of the U.S. There's no one left to lie to."
Schippers played a tape recording of Clinton's testimony in the Jones case, and the committee room went silent as Clinton hemmed and hawed over whether he was ever alone with Lewinsky. Clinton sat stony-faced through another piece of tape when his lawyer, Bob Bennett, insisted to the judge that Lewinsky had signed an affidavit stating that she and the President had never had sex. And Schippers referred to the famous Clintonian phrase "it depends on what the meaning of is is" from the August session with the grand jury. "That single declaration," Schippers said, "reveals more about the character of the President than perhaps anything else in the record... Can you imagine dealing with such a person on any important matter?"
The Republican express slowed only briefly when, on Friday, Democrats complained that Hyde and his allies were dodging their request to specify exactly which of the President's many sworn statements about Lewinsky were perjurious. The reason, argued Barney Frank of Massachusetts, was that the offending statements were all about sex, and there was no way for the Republicans to dress up something so salacious except by hiding it. "Did the President touch her here or did he not touch her here?" said Frank. "They do not want to take that to the [House] floor and to the Senate. That's their dilemma. Because if they are specific, they are trivial."
Hyde dismissed the complaint, and the committee proceeded with voting on the articles, along party lines. "This vote says something about us," said Hyde on Friday night. "It answers the question, Just who are we, and what do we stand for? Is the President one of us, or is he a sovereign? We vote for our honor, which is the only thing we get to take with us to the grave."
All the while, as the public morality play went on in the Judiciary Committee, the private drama unfolded in hundreds of conversations among moderate Republicans, their party leaders and staff members stranded in the empty halls of the Capitol. Both sides insisted they weren't whipping the vote, but behind the scenes, every manner of pressure was applied: DeLay and his lieutenants worked from Texas and Washington, tracking down members who during the recess were overseas or unreachable. Committee chairmen gently reminded members of old favors. In a clever bit of jujitsu, Republicans claimed the White House was trying to buy support with oblique suggestions that a vote for Clinton might free up funds for disaster relief. In fact, the Republicans had more to trade, but the Democrats had lots more to lose, which probably made it a fair fight.