Richard Stallman resigns from the FSF

Posted Sep 22, 2019 10:46 UTC (Sun) by mfuzzey (subscriber, #57966)
In reply to: Richard Stallman resigns from the FSF by gfernandes
Parent article: Richard Stallman resigns from the FSF

Well I never understood the flack Clinton got for cheating on his wife.

I mean it's not a nice thing to do sure but it was a problem between him and his wife and not illegal so I don't see why it became a public problem.

Though I think part of it too was lying to a court when asked about it and that I *can* understand being a problem.

But Americans seem to have strange views on this type of thing to most Europeans.

Richard Stallman resigns from the FSF

Posted Sep 22, 2019 15:02 UTC (Sun) by madscientist (subscriber, #16861) [Link]

Clinton wasn't impeached for cheating. He was impeached for perjury (lying about it under oath--to a grand jury, not in open court) and obstruction of justice (for concealing gifts and suggesting others should avoid or change testimony). He was acquitted of all charges.

It became a public problem because the Republican-appointed special counsel investigator made it a witch-hunt when they couldn't prove the original crimes the special investigation was set up to look into (related to real estate deals etc.) They discovered the affair and decided they could box him into lying about it, and succeeded. There was nothing illegal about what he did, only in the fact that he lied about it.

As with everything in American politics it seems, the cover-up is what does you in not the act itself and no one ever seems to learn the lesson. Clinton's vaunted political instincts definitely failed him here: his ego was big enough to believe he could get away with it. He should have admitted the affair, said it was a private matter, then turned around and discredited the special counsel by saying he was just trying to dig up personal dirt on the president rather than finding real crimes. Even with Republicans sending out the report just before the elections, they ended up losing five seats on the House of Representatives so clearly the public was not on board.