BY xxxx
The Associated Press
NEW YORK -- President Clinton should appear in the well of the House and receive a "harshly worded rebuke" from Congress this year for his affair with Monica Lewinsky, former President Ford said in Sunday's New York Times.
Breaking his silence on Clinton, Ford said Clinton should appear before Congress and "accept full responsibility for his actions, as well as for his subsequent efforts to delay or impede the investigation of them."
"No spinning, no semantics, no evasiveness or blaming others for his plight," the former Republican president wrote in an op-ed piece in the Times.
"Let all this be done without partisan exploitation or mean-spiritedness. Let it be dignified, honest and, above all, cleansing. The result, I believe, would be the first moment of majesty in an otherwise squalid year."
Ford said an apology would be inadequate and a fine would trivialize Clinton's misconduct.
He said the House Judiciary Committee should finish a preliminary inquiry into possible grounds for impeachment by the end of the year. Afterward, he said, the House might consider his proposal as a substitute for proceeding with the impeachment process.
"Imagine a very different kind of Presidential appearance in the closing days of this year, not at the rostrum familiar to viewers from moments of triumph, but in the well of the House. Imagine a President receiving not an ovation from the people's representatives, but a harshly worded rebuke as rendered by members of both parties." Ford said Clinton has broken faith with the electorate.
"At 85, I have no personal or political agenda, nor do I have any interest in 'rescuing' Bill Clinton," said Ford, who pardoned Richard Nixon in 1974 from any possible criminal charges after he resigned in the face of impeachment. "But I do care, passionately, about rescuing the country I love from further turmoil or uncertainty." In a separate story, special counsel to the president, Gregory Craig, told the paper he welcomed Ford's comments and did not rule out the possibility of a rebuke.
"Gerald Ford is a man who has been there, who understands a situation like this and understands the importance of deferring to constitutional standards under all circumstances," he said.
Last month, two former presidents spoke out on Clinton's behavior. Jimmy Carter said he had "deplored and been deeply embarrassed about" Clinton's behavior with Lewinsky.
He predicted the House would vote to impeach Clinton but the Senate would not "marshal the two-thirds vote that will be required to remove the president."
George Bush said he was reluctant to criticize Clinton but, when pressed to answer whether Clinton had diminished the office of the president, he said, "I'm afraid, for now, it has been diminished." He quickly added that the office is strong, "bigger than any one person."
