Voices

‘We had a constitutional duty to carry out. We did that. I think we did it in a fair way. We’ve done what we were required to do under the Constitution. . . . Censure is extra-constitutional, it’s outside the Constitution.’

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.)

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‘I think there is an overwhelming feeling in that chamber that the independent counsel statute either should be fixed or killed. . . . There has simply been too much abuse. There have been too many people devastated by it; that we have seen really an unbridled exercise of power by the independent counsels.’

Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.)

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‘I think instantly this nation, at this very moment, must do everything it can to heal the problems that were caused by this president. He is a weakened president. . . . Censure will drag this issue on. We’ve got to end the pain, heal the nation and get back to our work.’

Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.)

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‘Who’s to cast the first stone? We’ve got bigger things to worry about. Get the drugs, get the guns, get the crack babies. . . . All that tax money that could have been put to some good use! We’ve got homeless.’

Import negotiator Claudia Ricks

Los Angeles

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‘I don’t wish [independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr] personal ill. But I wish him all the professional ill imaginable.’

Democratic strategist James Carville