Nixon Vets Could Tell Rashida Tlaib: This is No Motherf*cking Way to Impeach
Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s obscene outburst and President Trump’s paroxysms of vulgarity are reminders that more than just 40 years have passed since the House Judiciary Committee recommended the impeachment of President Richard Nixon. During the intervening time, our politics and language have become more tribal and acrid. America struggles to find a common narrative, and keeps coming up short.
Back then, the country had resoundingly reelected Nixon to a second term, and then got behind his impeachment. The pivot was organic. Nixon’s final days were marked by Gerald Ford, Nixon’s vice-president, playing golf with Tip O’Neil, the Democratic House majority leader. And no, it wasn’t just about the cameras.
Meanwhile, the Judiciary Committee recognized the gravity and solemnity of the task before it, and acted and spoke accordingly. Peter Rodino, the committee’s chairman, invoked Thomas Paine, and quoted the author of Common Sense on the House floor: