Political Quotes

“despite this dialog, as I indicated, scholars agree on two important points and a third issue where the weight of history suggests subtle practice. Let me speak to that. As we already have seen, the framers did not intend that the President could be impeached for maladministration alone. Second, a great deal of evidence from outside the convention shows that both the framers and the ratifiers saw ``high crimes and misdemeanors'' as pointing to offenses that are serious, not petty, offenses that are public or political, not private or personal. In 1829, William Rawle authored one of the early commentaries on the Constitution of the United States. In it, Rawle states that ``the legitimate causes of impeachment . . . can only have reference to public character and official duty. He went on to say: In general, those offences which may be committed equally by a private person as a public officer are not-- Emphasis, not-- the subjects of impeachment.…”