Still Time for Censure

As Senate Republican support for convicting President Clinton on impeachment charges continues to decline, the appeal of a censure motion that would denounce his behavior gains steam. But a number of senators, led by Phil Gramm (R-Texas), are determined to use any parliamentary device at hand to keep censure off the agenda.

A Senate vote on the two impeachment articles is set for no later than Friday and Clinton’s acquittal is justified. The circumstances of his wrongdoing are clearly not of such weight that would merit the supreme sanction of removing him from office. What’s important from here on is that there be no confusion between acquittal and exoneration.

If a censure motion is not brought up for consideration immediately after the impeachment votes fail, as expected, the Senate won’t have another chance until it returns from a weeklong recess. By then, the censure effort could have lost a lot of momentum.

The strongest argument against censure is that it might set a dangerous precedent by inviting partisan majorities in future congresses to frivolously or vindictively smear a president over policy or personal differences. That’s a reasonable concern, but it ought not to be allowed to block condemnation of Clinton now for behavior that a national consensus finds wrong and debasing to the presidency. What Clinton did and said should not have led to his impeachment, but it should have invited severe condemnation from Congress. There is still time to do that.

Gramm and others worry that to keep open the censure option would present an easy way out to senators who may be wavering on voting for conviction on the impeachment articles. In the House, Republican hard-liners made the identical claim when they refused to allow a censure motion to be voted upon. So, by narrow partisan margins, the House adopted the articles of impeachment that led to the fiasco playing out in the Senate.

It now seems possible that one or even both impeachment articles might fail to win a simple majority, let alone garner the 67 votes needed to convict. That would be a humiliating rebuke to independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr and to House Republicans who bulled through impeachment based on his recommendations.

When Clinton dishonored his office he also gave his enemies the material they needed to fabricate the enormously costly and demeaning political sideshow of the last year. The Senate finally has the chance this week to openly and forcefully condemn Clinton’s misconduct. It should not be blocked from doing so.