Censure Clinton, say new polls

WASHINGTON, Sept 14 (UNI) — A majority of Americans now believe President Bill Clinton probably broke the law and should be censured but not forced from office for lying about his sexual relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, according to a new Washington Post survey.

At the same time, the poll found that most Americans continue to praise Mr Clinton’s stewardship of the nation’s economy and the overall job he is doing as President — even as they increasingly question his personal behaviour and express growing doubts about his long-term ability to lead.

Mr Clinton’s job approval rating stood at 59 per cent in the new survey, down from 66 per cent in a post-ABC news poll three weeks ago. Seven in 10 said they approve of the job he is doing handling the economy. But only half of all Americans say they have a favourable impression of the President and his rating for honesty, integrity and personal morality fell to record lows.

A narrow majority in the ABC news poll, 53 per cent, said they favour impeachment hearings, although they are divided on whether Mr Clinton should be impeached. A majority in the CBS news poll, 56 per cent, and in the CNN poll, 59 per cent, said they favour censure by Congress. A Washington Post poll in today’s editions record 57 per cent favouring censure.

A majority of people said they don’t think Republicans and Democrats in Congress will be able to work together in a fair and bipartisan manner."This entire process is overwhelmingly political in nature and the consensus of the citizens of this country will be the determining factor in the way Congress responds," said Democratic National Committee Chairman Steve Grossman.

The spokesman for the Republican National Committee, Mr Mike Collins, said Americans are just beginning to absorb the detailed report. "But this is not about polls, as both Democrats and Republicans have said. This is about getting to the truth," Mr Collins said.

When people were asked, with no mention of the Starr report, whether impeachment hearings are necessary, a majority in the CBS poll said no. And almost two-thirds in the gallup poll said they don’t want Mr Clinton impeached.

Mr Orrin Hatch, the Republican Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Bob Kerrey, a Nebraska Democrat, said the President was not helping himself with the American public with his lawyers’ argument that he technically had no sexual relationship with Ms Lewinsky.

"Nobody believes that," Mr Hatch said on the CBS show "Face the Nation." Nobody wants to hear that."

The President’s aides have charged the Starr report was intended to embarrass the President, a claim that has support among the public.Almost two-thirds of Americans in the CBS poll said they think the Starr report has too many graphic sexual details. And six out of 10 said the report was intended mostly to embarrass the President and shouldn’t have been released to the public.

Analysts caution that such polls taken soon after an event may not pick up some shifts in public opinion, which can take longer to register.

The ABC phone survey of 508 adults on Saturday had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points. The CBS phone survey of 680 adults and the CNN phone survey of 902 adults, both on Saturday, had margins of error of plus or minus four percentage points.

Hillary keeps her feelings private

WASHINGTON, Sept 14 (AFP) - Friends of US First Lady Hillary Clinton say she has kept private her feelings about the scandal engulfing her husband, resisting pressure to comment on it publicly, Newsweek reports.

The First Lady, however, has not ruled out publicly forgiving her husband at some point in the future, according to her friends cited in the Newsweek story, which is due on newsstands today.

Mrs Hillary Clinton so far has issued no public statement about forgiving her husband, despite some evidence cited in the Newsweek report that she may have been indirectly pressurised to do so last week.

According to the news magazine, aides were furious on Wednesday when press leaks, apparently coming from White House staff, hinted that the First Lady would soon tell the nation she had forgiven her husband.

In fact, she had no such plans at that point, and the leaks were taken as an effort to pressurise her into making a public statement in support of her husband, according to Newsweek. Mrs Hillary Clinton was also reportedly irritated when Reverend Jesse Jackson spoke of her "pain and humiliation" after he visited the White House on the eve of President Clinton's August 17 grand jury testimony and address to the nation.

Meanwhile, US President Bill Clinton will not read the report by independent counsel Kenneth Starr on his relationship with Monica Lewinsky, the President's Deputy Chief of Staff John Podesta said yesterday on CNN television, says DPA. Mr Clinton was concentrating on the healing process and the country's problems and wished to put the episode behind him and look to the future, Mr Podesta said.

Mr Clinton's personal lawyer, David Kendall, in a fresh rebuttal of the Starr report on Saturday, asserted that it was full of salacious and unnecessary detail and that its principal purpose was to damage the president politically.

According to Reuters, Mr Clinton's private lawyer has been grilled extensively in a television interview on whether Mr Clinton may have lied, but legally did not commit perjury, when asked about his sexual affair with Monica Lewinsky.

In an exchange on ABC's 'This Week' yesterday, Mr Clinton's attorney David Kendall staunchly defended Mr Clinton's testimony as he fended off grilling questions from anchors SAM Donaldson, Cokie Roberts and George Will.

The intense debate focused on the legal definitions of a sexual relationship, of what is a lie and of what constitutes perjury. Mr Kendall repeatedly told the threesome "perjury is a crime in which you have to intentionally lie."