"It's A Wonderful Life" Showed Conscience

Edited very slightly December 8, 2020

 

"It's A Wonderful Life" is a movie given by Frank Capra and the United States to the world.* It shows how conscience is important to holding people together. If you've never seen this movie, made just after the end of World War Two, please take the time to sit down and watch it, it will inspire you.** It will inspire you, unless of course, you love money more than anything, and thus you see communists lurking everywhere, including under your bed. If you think I'm joking, J. Edgar Hoover's FBI believed the film was the result of communist infiltration of Hollywood; after all, the main character, played by Jimmy Stewart, gave up money to help others, making him downright un-American in the eyes of the moneygrubbing ego maniacs who are constantly working to have the world orbiting around themselves. In today's America, I'm sure the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Michele Bachmann, Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs and Donald Trump see the picture as under the influence of communists, so beware, you may make their list if you like this movie. I hope I do make their list, since I'll call them what they are; a bunch of fascist propagandists, undoubtedly all in the possession of leather bound editions of "The Collected Works of Joseph Goebbels."***

I have to believe most of you have seen the movie at some point (but watch it again, we need reinforcement in our lives, and NOT from the merchants of hate and survival of the fittest), so I'll go through it briefly, including the ending. The movie centers around the life of small town resident George Bailey, played by James "Jimmy" Stewart. The Bailey family isn't against business, the father and uncle run a building and loan company that helps workers achieve the American dream of owning a home by pooling money to build homes for the town's non rich. The Baileys struggle to get by, just as their customers struggle in their lives, but the Baileys are always more than a little reluctant to foreclose on the town's people, although they are opposed in such beliefs by Mr. Potter, played by Lionel Barrymore, the town's richest man and the owner of just about everything in the town. George has many dreams, including the dream of leaving small town life and going off to do big things. His dreams often come into conflict with his conscience, but in the end, George's conscience wins, although his help to others brings hardship to himself, as "no good deed goes unpunished." In his childhood, George saved his younger brother who had fallen through the ice into a nearby pond. The result is, George loses the hearing in one ear due to the frigid water. As George prepares to go off and do big things, his father dies and George takes over the struggling building and loan business, which otherwise would have been liquidated, leaving the market to moneygrubbing Potter, who is constantly plotting the demise of the company. When the Great Depression strikes, George is about to leave for his honeymoon, but he chooses to remain in town and spend his own savings to keep the building and loan in business. The constant struggle to eke out a living and keep the business going takes its toll on George, and by the time World War Two ends, his troubles are capped off by the shortage of $8000 on the business accounts, money misplaced by his forgetful uncle (played by Thomas Mitchell). The ruthless and jealous Mr. Potter now moves in for the kill, accusing George of embezzlement and calling in the law. The distraught George turns on his family in anger and decides to end his own life.

As George prepares to jump off of a bridge, his guardian angel, played by English actor Henry Travers, who has been watching events unfold, intervenes and jumps into the swirling river first, as he knows George will quickly forget his own life when another person needs help. After the rescue, the angel, named Clarence, carrying a copy of "Tom Sawyer," tells a disbelieving George who he is. Clarence has been given the assignment of saving George so that he, Clarence, can then earn his wings, which the devoted, but less than resourceful angel has been unable to do for centuries. So Clarence gets another chance too! George, now again focused on his own troubles, gives Clarence an idea when he tells him, "I wish I'd never been born." Clarence grants the wish and George Bailey's history is wiped out. As George goes through town, no one knows him, including his own mother, and he sees the town has been renamed after Mr. Potter. All sorts of things are different, including a grave for his younger brother, who ended up dying, because George wasn't there to save him when he fell through the ice into the pond. The brother had helped save a transport ship full of men in World War II, but Clarence then tells George that all of the men on the transport died, because his brother hadn't been there to save them, because George hadn't been there to save his brother when they were kids. This is how events of people's lives link to other lives. The section of town where the homes had been built for average people is vacant and ringed with slums owned by Potter. After George tries to get his wife to understand who he is, she screams, bringing a police officer in pursuit of George, who heads back to the bridge to ask to be put back to his real life, troubled though it is.

George, unaware his real life is back, wants to slug his long time friend the policeman when he pulls up. When the officer calls him by name, George realizes his life is back and he cheerfully dashes through town to get home. He enters the house where a bank examiner and a detective with an arrest warrant are waiting for him. In comes George's wife (played by Donna Reed) and other family members. In a turn around from his always helping others, they are carrying money donated by the townspeople to help George this time. More people crowd the house to donate, and one man says, "I wouldn't have a roof over my head if weren't for you, George." People remember! A telegram arrives from a lifelong friend and successful businessman granting George a large line of credit. (Hm, he must be a communist too. Damn, they're everywhere!) With the line of credit and the donated money now available to George, the detective tears up the warrant and joins the celebration. George's brother arrives and offers a toast to his brother George, "the richest man in town." As they all sing, George looks down into the donation basket and sees Clarence's copy of "Tom Sawyer," complete with the inscription, "George, Remember no man is a failure who has friends. Thanks for the wings!"           

* Frank Capra produced and directed the movie.

** The movie is readily available on DVD.

*** Joseph Goebbels was Hitler's propagandist. Goebbels and his wife were fanatical Nazi nutcases to the very end, as after Hitler's suicide, they tragically killed their six beautiful young children in Hitler's Berlin bunker, and then, not so tragically, killed themselves.

Photo is of the 2 disc Paramount DVD release of 2007

WORD HISTORY:
Yarn-This word goes back to Indo European "ghor/gher," with the idea of "guts, intestines," which were then used for strings, chords. This gave its Old Germanic offspring "garnan," by which time the meaning had broadened to include "wool used to make string, thread, yarn." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "gearn," seemingly pronounced "ge-arn," which then became "yarn," as the "initial "ge" blended to become a "y" sound. The word also took on the meaning "a story," from the idea of putting ideas together into an understandable tale. Other Germanic languages have: German "Garn," Low German Saxon "Goorn," Dutch "garen," West Frisian "jern," Danish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish all have "garn."

It's About Coalitions Not Purity, Part Thirty-Two

"The Contentious Election of 2000," Part Two
"It All Comes Down To A Few Hundred Votes In Florida"

The 2000 election came at a time when the country was enjoying "relative peace and prosperity," as well as budget surpluses.* The surge in Web-based businesses, and the explosion in stock prices for such businesses, masked the trend of a general decline in what I'll call "working class jobs," as both technology and a shift in jobs to foreign countries was accelerating, making it difficult for wage increases for many workers. On top of that, the increase in health insurance costs for those who had it, previously, but not always, picked up by employers, began to be shifted to employees, as employers deducted a percentage of insurance costs from their workers' paychecks, and often, co-pays for certain procedures or prescriptions increased for those covered. This process too seemed to be accelerating. Further still, the price of oil and gasoline, which had fallen tremendously in the late 1990s,** began to escalate at a rapid pace, and gasoline prices surged toward or above $2.00 a gallon for a time, adding psychological pain to the pain in the pocketbook for many Americans. All of these things, as well as perhaps a "weariness" with the Clinton scandals and political battles, must have had an effect on the electorate and tilted the electoral vote ever so slightly towards Republican Bush.

The 2000 election showed that while most Americans were fairly satisfied with the times, and Bill Clinton's popularity increased, Clinton had failed to build a large lasting coalition among voters, although, as I noted in the previous segment, Al Gore did win the popular vote over George W. Bush (see further below). Bush and his campaign emphasized Clinton's scandals, saying Clinton had embarrassed the country and undermined the presidency. Gore tried as much as possible to play down the topic of Clinton's sex scandals, even to the point of sparingly utilizing the politically adept Clinton in his campaign. The use of American troops in military actions, especially in eastern Africa, was also a target of the Republican campaign, as Bush noted that the United States should not be involved in such operations. Bush chose long time Washington insider Dick Cheney to be his running mate, and Gore chose Senator Joe Lieberman, also a veteran of Washington politics. Cheney, who had served as Secretary of Defense under George Bush (Senior), added military and foreign policy experience, experience which George W. Bush lacked.

The election showed Al Gore receiving nearly 48.4% of the popular vote to George W. Bush's nearly 47.9%, but Green Party candidate Ralph Nader garnered more than 2.7%. The Gore-Lieberman ticket led the Bush-Cheney ticket by about a half million votes. In the Electoral College, however, Bush won 271 votes to Gore's 266.*** A number of states were very close, barely tilting one way or the other, but none was as close as Florida, where the entire presidency hung in the balance. On election night and in the wee hours of the next day, news agencies first declared Gore the winner in Florida, but then changed it to Bush, before backing away from declaring any winner there. To make matters worse, Gore called Bush to concede Florida and the presidency, only to withdraw the concession as Bush's lead in Florida continued to narrow. Florida had 25 electoral votes, far above what was needed for Gore to be the next president, and just barely enough to give Bush the presidency. In what became a saga lasting for weeks, Bush had a narrow lead of about 1700 votes in Florida's unofficial returns, out of about 6 million votes. After a mandatory recount, done by feeding ballots back through machines, and after the counting of outstanding ballots from military personnel stationed in foreign countries, Bush held a lead of less than 1000 votes. It would get closer. Ralph Nader received more than 97,000 votes in Florida.

The issues involved after this point are many and would require at least another article or two to explain, but with such a close vote count, EVERY discrepancy took on major meanings,**** so this is VERY basic here. Gore legally asked for ballots to be hand counted in certain counties, but Florida law allowed only one week from election day for counties to submit revised totals from recounts. Gore received a favorable decision from the Florida Supreme Court, which extended that deadline for about two weeks. All recounts were not complete by that date and Florida declared Bush the victor by 537 votes. Gore protested, as tens of thousands of ballots had been rejected by the ballot counting machines, and the Florida Supreme Court ordered those ballots to be hand counted, a process that gave Americans some new terminology in the expression "hanging chad;" that is, ballots where the dot to be punched out indicating a vote for a particular person or issue remained connected to the ballot in some fashion; "hanging" from the ballot. News reports showed people involved in the count holding up ballots to try to determine the intent of the voter. It was a mess! Eventually the U. S. Supreme Court stopped all recounts by a 5-4 vote, which awarded Florida to George W. Bush, as Florida then used previously certified results as the final official tally. George W. Bush took the oath of office in January 2001.

* I failed to note this in an earlier segment, but the budget surpluses looked larger than they actually were, because of Social Security being included in the overall federal budget numbers. Understand, that also means the budget deficits of previous years were really worse than most Americans realized, because of the inclusion of Social Security. What do I mean? Well, during that general era, Social Security was taking in more money than it paid out annually, thus, when added to the overall federal budget, it made surpluses look larger in the late 1990s, just as it had made federal deficits look smaller prior to that time.

** If my memory is right, and please note this caution, I seem to remember paying as little as about eighty-five cents a gallon for gasoline in maybe about 1998. 

*** One elector from Washington D.C. abstained in protest over the lack of representation in Congress for the District of Columbia, but had been a Gore voter, abstaining only when this one vote did not make a difference. The Electoral College provides for each state to receive one electoral vote for each congressional district within its boundaries, as well as one vote each for the two U.S. senators. So if state "XYZ" has eight congressional districts, it has ten electoral votes (8 +2). The smallest number of electoral votes a state can have is three. The District of Columbia, which has no voting member of the House of Representatives and no senators, was given three electoral votes. There are 538 electoral votes available nationwide; 435 congressional districts, and 100 senators, plus the three votes for the District of Columbia. A candidate needs at least 270 electoral votes to win the presidency, so George W. Bush was just over the line.

**** Just a few of the many issues involved were: first, a confusing ballot design in one heavily Democratic county had resulted in Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan receiving what was seen as an unusually large number of votes in that county, 3400, far more than he received in any other Florida county, and "over votes;" that is, where more than one candidate was selected for president. Buchanan received less than a half million votes nationwide, which represented less than a half a percent of the overall vote. Second, a controversial removal of voters from the rolls in Florida by Republican elected officials were found to be incorrect; that is, a number of voter names were removed from the rolls for being "felons," but they were not, and some such voters were never informed of their removal until they tried to vote on election day. Third, Republican Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, the state's chief election officer, was heavily involved in the Bush campaign.   

WORD HISTORY:
Stab-The origin of this word is uncertain to some, but I'm not one of them. It is really a variant form of "stub" used in part of Scotland as "stob," and borrowed into English usage in the 1300s. Up until then, English used forms of "stick" and "sting" to indicate the action of "stab." It goes back to Indo European "steupb," which had the notion of "hit, beat, knock, push." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "stubjaz," which had the same meanings, but also developed meanings for things from the result of being "hit or pushed." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "stybb," meaning a "tree stump;" that is, the remnant of a tree after been hit or knocked by humans, wind, lightning. This later became "stubb(e)," before the modern version. The verb developed from the noun, with the idea of making something "stubby" or leaving a "stub" after pulling, cutting, or hitting (plants, hair/whiskers, ticket), and of course, the OUCH part of hitting your toe or finger against something. So "stab" follows the same course, with the notion of "cutting, pushing a sharp object into something." The noun form of course comes from the idea of the result of  "being pierced by a sharp object."

It's About Coalitions Not Purity, Part Thirty-One

This was originally published in December 2012


"The Contentious Election of 2000" Part One

The election in 2000 was the most controversial in recent times. In a "relatively rare" event in American history, the losing candidate, Al Gore, won the popular vote over George W. Bush, but lost the electoral vote, which is the vote that really counts in American presidential elections.

Al Gore, then Vice President, was the consensus candidate of the Democratic Party and he easily won the party's nomination. The Republican nomination proved to be far more contested, as Senator John McCain of Arizona mounted a serious challenge for a time to Governor George W. Bush of Texas, who was the front runner for the GOP nomination. McCain stunned Bush in the New Hampshire primary, winning by a large margin there. McCain attracted moderate Republicans and independents, as New Hampshire permits independent voters to choose either the Democratic or Republican ballot in primaries. Bush needed a big win in South Carolina, and he got it, although his campaign left McCain embittered by allegations that the Bush campaign had used race and lies to clinch the primary vote in the conservative southern state, by implying that McCain had fathered a child with an African-American woman. How much this influenced the vote, if any, was unclear, but it clearly pointed to how much racial politics had become a part of the GOP.* McCain bounced back, winning a couple of primaries, but Bush won a decisive victory on so called "Super Tuesday" in March, by winning several key states. Generally speaking, McCain tended to do well in states where independents, or even Democrats, could choose the Republican primary ballot, and in states with more moderate Republican voters, and Bush did well in states with large numbers of conservative Republican voters. McCain decided to drop out of the race, leaving Bush with a clear path to the GOP nomination.

In other developments, the "Reform Party," founded by Ross Perot, nominated Pat Buchanan as its presidential nominee, in spite of Perot's personal disapproval of the nominee.** Further, in what may have decided the final outcome of the 2000 election, the Green Party chose Ralph Nader as its candidate. 

Next, in Part Two, "It All Comes Down To A Few Hundred Votes In Florida"

* In fairness, such racial politics had once been part of the Democratic Party, when the South was solidly Democratic, as I mentioned in some previous parts in this series.

** Buchanan's selection showed how Ross Perot had lost control of the movement he generally had started and how it became a coalition which attracted right wing elements. Perot originally had put emphasis on the budget deficits, blaming both parties for deficit spending, including the "voodoo economics" of the Reagan administration, and also criticizing trade deals which sent jobs and investments overseas. Perot had been much more libertarian on social issues, steering clear of them as much as possible, but Buchanan was well known for his tough stance, and rough talk, about many such issues (he was anti-abortion and anti gay rights, in particular). This further added to the Reform Party's coalition.  

WORD HISTORY:
Stub-This word goes back to Indo European "steupb," which had the notion of "hit, beat, knock, push." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "stubjaz," which had the same meanings, but also developed meanings for things from the result of being "hit or pushed." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "stybb," meaning a "tree stump;" that is, the remnant of a tree after been hit or knocked by humans, wind, lightning. This later became "stubb(e)," before the modern version, and it also broadened in meaning to short, fat objects, as does the derived adjective "stubby." The verb developed from the noun, with the idea of making something "stubby" or leaving a "stub" after pulling, cutting, or hitting (plants, hair/whiskers, tickets), and of course, the OUCH part of hitting your toe or finger against something ("I stubbed my toe!"). Other Germanic languages have: Danish and Norwegian "stubben, Swedish "stubbe," all generally still meaning "tree stump." Dutch had "stubbe" and Frisian once had "steb/stib." West Frisian has a couple of compounds containing "stub," but whether these are survivors of its previous form or borrowings, I'm not sure.

It's About Coalitions Not Purity, Part Thirty

"The Clinton Era and the 1990s Near An End"

During 1996, Congress and the President again crossed swords, this time over welfare reform. Some Republicans wanted very strict limits for the program, and the President vetoed a couple of attempts to impose such strong limits on the system, but negotiations produced a compromise bill passed by Congress and signed by the President which had a provision to require work, termed "Workfare," as a part of the new law.*

In the late 1990s, Republicans, along with some Democrats, pushed for deregulation of the banking industry by removing the "Glass-Steagall Act," a law, implemented in the era of the Great Depression, to prevent the mixing of investment banking (also termed "casino banking," as it can be highly risky) from "traditional" banking; that is, savings and checking accounts, car loans, etc. Democrat-turned Republican Phil Gramm, a senator from Texas, led the charge for the deregulation, which was then signed by President Clinton.**

Anti government sentiment had been on the rise, certainly not discouraged by conservative attacks on government at all levels, and the sentiment came accompanied by hate groups and fascist-like militia extremists. In 1995 a terrorist bomb attack on the Federal Building in Oklahoma City killed more than 160 and injured nearly 700. The main perpetrator, Timothy McVeigh, had ties to militia groups and seemingly hated the government over issues like taxes and gun control.***

Late in Clinton's presidency, he concentrated on trying to get an agreement between Israel and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, a festering sore and the source of world tensions for decades. The President met with the opposing sides, and after hopeful signs, the situation deteriorated, leaving the matter to continue to this day.****

Next, "The Contentious 2000 Election"

* The number of welfare recipients dropped thereafter, but the economy was steadily improving in the mid to late 1990s and the effects of trade agreements had not really fully hit home. Those agreements, in my opinion, cost many workers jobs, as operations shifted overseas. Coupled with technological changes, which also replaced many workers, these two things brought a later rise to welfare rolls in various forms, as well as a rise to poverty numbers. 

** In my opinion, this legislation had much to do with the financial collapse in 2008, the pressure for which continued to build during George W. Bush's time in office, and also led to the bank bailouts, trillion dollar deficits, and the almost catastrophic demise of the economy, a situation we have not fully exited even to this day. I don't recall the show ("maybe" The Today Show?), but in about 2009 or 2010 Bill Clinton actually said he regretted signing this legislation, but advisers like Bob Rubin, who had strong ties to Wall Street banks, urged him to sign it. Clinton's "admission" almost led old Randy to fall off of his seat. I give Republicans lots of hell, but I don't let Democrats off the hook for shameful mistakes.

*** As is so often the case, one thing leads to another, and the Oklahoma City bombing also traces back to a 1993 incident in Waco, Texas, but all of this is far beyond the scope of this article. For those interested, there are many sources on the subject, so check out your local library.

**** The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is far too complex for this article, so again, please go to your local library and see what sources they have available, which I'm sure will be substantial.
 
WORD HISTORY:
Hop-This is the verb meaning "to jump, to leap, to dance, to spring," and the derived noun meaning "a short distance jump." "Hop," the plant, usually in the plural, "hops," is assumed to be from another source. At first I didn't really buy this, but even some German sources have it, so I'll say it this way, hop "may" go back to Indo European "kheub," which had the notion of "to bend/bow." This gave Old Germanic "hup(p)ojanan," with the meaning "to spring, to leap, to jump, to dance." If the tie to Indo European "kheub" is correct, the Old Germanic meanings "may" come from the notion of stooping/crouching over before you hop/jump, with similar for dancing (we're not talking about "slow dancing, swaying to the music," here). The Germanic form is possibly the source of English "hope," and its relatives in the other Germanic languages, with the idea being "jump for joy at anticipation of positive news or events" (the history for "hope" was covered in Part 29 of this series on coalitions). Anyway, the Germanic form gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "hoppian," with the same meanings. This then became "hoppen," before the modern version. The noun was derived from the verb. The other Germanic languages have the following verb forms: standard German "hüpfen," some German dialects "hoppen" and "hupfen," Low German Saxon "hüppen," Dutch "huppen/hoppen," Icelandic "hoppa," Danish "hop," Norwegian "hoppe," and Swedish "hoppa." Apparently West Frisian doesn't use a form in the modern language; at least I could not find one.

It's About Coalitions Not Purity, Part Twenty-Nine

 "Sex Scandals and Impeachment"

I mentioned the soap opera atmosphere surrounding the political developments during Bill Clinton's two terms in office, and now the sexual element to that soap opera. As with the political matters, the claims of sexual improprieties are complex at times, and I will just give very basic sketches of events. You almost need a scorecard (no pun intended) to keep track of all the "players" (again, no pun intended). While there's no question in my mind Clinton used poor judgment in his dealings with some women, whether all of the allegations were totally true, I don't know, as most, if not all, of the accusers did interviews, articles, and books which garnered them substantial sums of money. Thoughts of dollar signs can make just about all of us go beyond the bounds of truth, if not out and out lying. The "devil" can be in the details, so if these events interest you, there are many sources for your further research, but be careful of the sources, as there were political (and legal) motives on both sides of these stories.

During the 1992 campaign, a woman named Gennifer Flowers alleged that she had had a long term sexual affair with Bill Clinton beginning in the 1970s. Clinton denied the charge, although Flowers then produced tapes of some phones calls between the two. Clinton later admitted to the affair, including in a later legal deposition. Midway through Clinton's first term a story broke involving a woman named Paula Jones, who alleged that Clinton, while governor of Arkansas in 1991, had propositioned her, after Arkansas State Troopers brought her to Clinton's hotel room. Jones filed a lawsuit against Clinton for sexual harassment in 1994. Jones' attorneys wanted to show that Clinton had exhibited a pattern of behavior over the years, thus more stories circulated about alleged Clinton affairs. This led to a claim by Kathleen Willey that Clinton had "assaulted" her in the Oval Office early in his first term. This brought Linda Tripp into the picture, an associate of Willey, who later testified that she believed Willey to have wanted a relationship with Clinton. Discrepancies in various stories and testimony by Willey became a part of the record in her case, although Willey gave a deposition in Paula Jones' lawsuit against Clinton. Willey has claimed fear of the Clintons and some of their supporters ever since, but that didn't scare her from publishing a book about the whole thing,  describing herself as being a "target" and in the "cross hairs" of the Clintons. 

Another acquaintance of Linda Tripp became the center of attention in all of the sexual issues involving President Clinton; that person was Monica Lewinsky. Lewinsky became an intern at the White House later in Clinton's first term. She and Clinton developed a relationship, complete with sex. During that time. Lewinsky was friends with Linda Tripp, to whom she related stories about her relationship with the President, bringing Tripp to secretly record those conversations. White House personnel had noted the closeness between Lewinsky and Clinton, and she was transferred out of the White House, but she was asked about her relationship with Clinton during the Paula Jones lawsuit (during Clinton's second term), which brought a denial of any sexual contact between her and President Clinton. This prompted Tripp to turn over the secret tapes (it all sounds like Watergate stuff, and Lewinsky's mother lived in the Watergate Apartments!) to Ken Starr, who was the Independent Counsel investigating the Clintons for the Whitewater matter covered in a previous segment of this series (hey, I told you this was like a soap opera). Starr then lumped all of these allegations together in his investigation, since Clinton had denied any sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky in a legal deposition for the Jones lawsuit, targeting the President for perjury. Clinton also very publicly, and very famously, shook his finger at the media in denial of any sexual relations with Lewinsky. Then a dress worn by Lewinsky during one of her "encounters" with Clinton was turned over to Ken Starr, complete with a semen stain from the President of the United States. Besides the sexual affairs, the legal gymnastics of Clinton became something for the comedians of the country, as Clinton talked about the definitions of both "is" and of "sex," or more precisely of "oral sex," claiming it was not "sex."

All the while, these sex stories had political implications, as Republicans, emboldened by their takeover of both houses of Congress in 1994, held various hearings on the whole matter, culminating in a vote to impeach the President by the House of Representatives in late 1998. Impeachment is really like an indictment, which is voted by the House, and the matter then goes to the Senate for trial, with two-thirds of the Senate needing to concur for conviction to remove a president from office, and this was not achieved and Clinton survived. Don't get too comfy, because I'm still not done.

Republican leader Newt Gingrich believed pressing the Lewinsky matter would benefit Republicans in the 1998 midterm election, but not only did this not materialize, Republicans LOST seats.* With Gingrich's popularity tumbling after the government shutdown and Bob Dole's defeat, Republican representatives began to plot Newt's removal as Speaker of the House. Further, Gingrich's own personal life came into full view, when it was suspected that he had an affair as he pushed the Clinton sex scandal for impeachment. With opposition building among Republicans, Gingrich resigned as Speaker and refused to take his House seat, to which he had been reelected in the 1998 election. His successor as Speaker was Bob Livingston, a congressman from Louisiana. He barely lasted long enough to say "hello," as it was reported he had had an extramarital affair. So the Republicans, self-righteous to the point of being obnoxious, were out to get Clinton for a sex scandal, but Clinton survived and TWO Republican leaders were gone... for SEX SCANDALS!

Just a personal observation. While the American people didn't like what Clinton had done, they also began to wonder if all of the talk of sex scandals had anything to do with governing the country. Once the Republican leadership showed how hypocritical it was ("do as we say, not as we do"), much of the public seemed to have decided it had had enough and sided with Clinton, however reluctantly. I also think many an American thought about some of the things they'd done in their own lives too, and all of the talk for months and months about sex scandals made many a person a bit uncomfortable.    

* The party in the White House during second terms typically loses seats in the House, something Gingrich counted on, but with added emphasis because of the Clinton sex scandal.  

WORD HISTORY:
Hope-The origins of this word are uncertain, but it "could" be derived from the same source as "hop," with the notion being "hop around or dance in anticipation or expectation ("hope") of positive news or events." Apparently it developed in the West Germanic dialects of what is now northern Germany; that is, the ancestral homeland of the dialects (Anglo-Saxon) that developed into English, and it then spread to the North Germanic dialects, and to the high dialects further south. It is also unclear which came first, the verb form or the noun, but Old English (Anglo-Saxon) had "hopian" (verb) and "hopa" (noun). Later the verb form became "hopen," before the modern version, and the noun became "hope" (the "e" may have still been pronounced as "eh" or "ah"), before the modern version, where the ending "e" is not pronounced and it simply signals that the interior vowel is long. Low German Saxon has "hapen" (verb) and "Hööp" (noun), standard German has "hoffen" (verb) and "Hoffnung" (noun),^ Dutch has "hopen" (verb) and "hoop" (noun), West Frisian has "hoopje" (verb) and "ferhoping" (noun), Danish has "håbe" (verb) and "håb" (noun), Norwegian has "håpe (verb) and "håp" (noun), and Swedish has "hoppas" (verb) and "hopp" (noun-often in "förhoppning"). Icelandic apparently does not use a form, at least not with the same or similar meaning to the other Germanic languages. 

^ One of the characteristics of the "high" Germanic dialects was the frequent change in pronunciation of "p" to "f," "ff" or "pf," which occurred more than a thousand years ago.