The Conservative Revolution 321William Rehnquist presiding. To begin the proceedings, Hyde re-
minded the senators of their duty as impartial jurors. Other members
of the prosecuting committee argued that Clinton had lied under oath
to a federal judge, had disgraced his office, and deserved punishment
like any other citizen. The defense was a high- powered group of eight
lawyers, headed by Charles Ruff, the White House counsel. Ruff in-
sisted that the vision of the managers was far too dark. “I believe it to
be a vision more focused on retribution,” he said, “more designed to
achieve partisan ends.” The vision of the defense is far different, he
continued. “We know the pain the president has caused our society and
his family and his friends, but we know, too, how much the president
has done for this country.”
Any comparison of the presentations by the prosecution and defense
left little doubt that the House prosecutors failed to convince the sena-
tors to vote to remove Clinton from office. To the public at large it ap-
peared to be a matter of partisan hatred for a morally fl awed President
and a desire to exact retribution. On February 9 , 1999 , after nearly fi ve
weeks of testimony and deliberation, the senators voted against re-
moval and acquitted Clinton. Ten Republicans and all forty-fi ve Demo-
crats voted not guilty to the charge of perjury; fi fty senators voted not
guilty to the charge of obstruction of justice, but another fi fty voted
guilty. Later Clinton expressed his “profound” regret for what he had
imposed on Congress and the American people.
The intense bitterness and partisanship of the scandal and trial car-
ried over into the presidential election of 2000. The Democrats nomi-
nated Al Gore of Tennessee, the sitting Vice President, to head their
ticket, along with Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, the fi rst
Jewish vice presidential candidate. The Republicans chose Governor
George W. Bush of Texas, son of the former President; and Richard
Cheney of Wyoming, who had been Secretary of Defense under Presi-
dent George H. W. Bush. A third party, the Green Party, emerged and
put forward the consumer advocate Ralph Nader for the top position.
In the campaign Bush presented himself as an outsider who would
restore “honor and dignity” to the White House after Clinton had sul-
lied it. He insisted that he was a “uniter,” not a “divider,” a “compas-
sionate conservative.” Gore made the mistake of distancing himself
from Clinton and thereby losing the ability to claim credit for the