You might be right on this date. It is a good sign that the GOP was already too far gone.
From my understanding, impeachments are more of a political action than a legal action. If enough Representatives really don't like the prez (or a Supreme Court Justice) AND are willing to hold up other business of House AND are willing to follow all the rules, then whatever burr that is under their saddle is a valid reason. Same for conviction from the Senate. But the Senate is obligated to go through the process when the House impeaches.
I will agree the attempted quid-pro-quo deal in the Ukraine affair was not sufficient grounds for impeachment. But the second attempt is another matter.
Too many Medium writers do not understand that election campaigns are not about the issues. Campaigns are about getting the party's soft support to cast a vote AND getting the other side's soft support to stay at home on election day.
Whether the Clinton impeachment was sufficient grounds is a matter of another discussion. The Senate had to deal with the impeachment.
At that point, the D Senators could have make a political decision. They should have realized that there was no political upside to acquitting Clinton. They were not going to get any extra votes for the acquittal. They were going to lose votes from people like myself who don't believe an elected politician should be having affairs with his female staff. Had I been an American voter in 2000, I would have stayed home on Election Day.
The acquittal caused at least 500,000 soft D supporters not make the trip to the voting booth. Another 10,000 D votes in Florida would have made the "hanging chad" a moot point. That would have changed the election result to a more sensible leader.
The D apologists might want to blame soft D supporters who want to see some moral backbone in their leaders. But the Democrats picked a political leader who had a known history of philandering and petty corruption when he was governor. The party has not taken responsibility for this mistake. And now USA is in 2023, with the possibility of a former president running the White House from a prison cell and/or with the ability to call in so much social disorder that makes January 6 look like a picnic.
If half of the D Senators voted for conviction in 1999, the signal would have been for elected politicians to hold on to some semblance of morality to maintain their career.
