November 3, 1998: The Voters Tell the Republicans to Leave President Clinton Alone

November 3, 1998: The Republican Party was counting on this Election Day, to send a message to the leader of the Democratic Party, President Bill Clinton: Resign, because the people are against you. If you don't, we will impeach you in the U.S. House of Representatives, and convict you in a trial in the U.S. Senate.

There was reason to believe it would work out that way. Clinton had fallen into an ugly scandal, due to how he covered up his extramarital affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. They had spent almost the entire calendar year telling the country how the President was "immoral," while they, the Republicans -- the Party of Watergate and Iran-Contra -- stood for the Constitution of the United States and "the rule of law."

In addition, this was Year 6 of Clinton's Presidency. Off-year Congressional elections are usually bad for the Party in the White House, and Year 6 elections have, historically, been even worse than Year 2 elections. In the 20th Century, Year 6 elections were bad for Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938, for the Administration of FDR and Harry Truman in 1946 if you count FDR's 3rd election in 1940 as a restart, For Truman in 1950, for Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1958, for the Administration of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966, for the Administration of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford in 1974, and for Ronald Reagan in 1986.

So the idea that the Republicans, already in control of both houses of Congress, would increase their numbers at such a level to make it overwhelming for Clinton was strong.

Instead, the voters heard Clinton's self-defense -- claiming that it was a private matter, that no laws were broken, and that it was nobody's business but his and his family's -- and saw that Clinton was actually doing a very good job as President, and bucked the Year 6 trend. The Democrats actually gained 5 seats in the House, and broke even in the Senate.

Among the new Senators elected were Democrats Chuck Schumer of New York (a "promoted" Congressman who beat 3-term incumbent "Senator Pothole" Al D'Amato), Evan Bayh of Indiana (the outgoing Governor and the son of former Senator Birch Bayh) and John Edwards of North Carolina; and Republicans Jim Bunning of Kentucky (a promoted Congressman and a pitcher in the Baseball Hall of Fame) and George Voinovich of Ohio (a former Governor and Mayor of Cleveland).

This was a stunning result, and it sent a message not to the Democrats in general, or to Clinton in particular, but to the Republicans: The President is doing a great job, and his private life is just that, private, so leave him alone.

Did the Republicans listen? No: They doubled down, and impeached him, anyway. But they didn't come close to convicting him in the Senate, and he served out his term.

One other note: In Wisconsin, Republican Paul Ryan became the 1st person born after I was elected to Congress. The Republicans nominated him for Vice President under Mitt Romney in 2012, and in no way can Romney's loss be blamed on Ryan. He was Speaker of the House in the 2015-16 and 2017-18 terms, before resigning.

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November 3, 1998 was, like all modern American Election Days, a Tuesday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. And the NBA team owners had locked the players out, so the new season was not able to start on time.

There were 4 games in the NHL:

* The New Jersey Devils beat their arch-rivals, the New York Rangers, 3-1 at the Continental Airlines Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Boston Bruins, 4-2 at the Marine Midland Arena (now the KeyBank Center) in Buffalo.

* The Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins, intra-State rivals, played to a tie, 4-4 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* And the Calgary Flames beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-2 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

August 30, 2012: Clint Eastwood and the Empty Chair

August 30, 2012: The Republican National Convention wraps up at the Tampa Bay Times Forum in Tampa. (UPDATE: It's now named the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa. Mitt Romney is nominated for President. A former Governor of Massachusetts, and the son of George Romney, a Governor of Michigan who had run for President in 1968, he had finished 2nd in Delegates to Senator John McCain in the 2008 Republican race.

Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, Chairman of the House Budget Committee is nominated for Vice President. Born on January 29, 1970, Ryan had first been elected to Congress in 1998, and was the first member of Congress born after I was.

Neither Romney nor Ryan gave an especially good speech. Indeed, it was a dull Convention. But, for the Republicans, that's still better than having a Convention full of bigotry, as in San Francisco in 1964, Houston in 1992, Madison Square Garden in 2004, and, eventually, Cleveland in 2016.

Among the other speakers was Clint Eastwood. Known for playing Western heroes and modern-day policemen, and being absolutely uncompromising in both, he was, himself, a Republican politician: In 1986, tired of what he saw as annoying municipal regulations in his adoptive hometown of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, he ran for Mayor, in an election that was officially non-partisan, and won. He did everything he wanted to do in his 2-year term, and didn't run for re-election.

Everyone presumed that Clint was a Republican, but he never actually said so. It's just that, given the roles he played, and his public image, he seemed like one, to the point where, in his 1984 re-election campaign, President Ronald Reagan, quoted his line from the 1983 Dirty Harry film Sudden Impact: "Go ahead, make my day!"

But, like a lot of Republicans age 65 and up, Clint had enough money that he didn't need Social Security and Medicare, so he didn't care about Democrats fighting for them and Republicans wanting to cut them. So, in 2012, at the age of 82 -- older, it should be pointed out, than any Presidential nominee has ever been -- for the 1st time, he accepted an invitation to speak at a Republican National Convention.

It was not one of his best acting performances.

He started off okay, telling the crowd, who was giving him a standing ovation, "Save a little for Mitt." Then he talked about how not everybody in Hollywood was a leftist, citing his contemporary, Jon Voight.

But then, he pointed to an empty chair next to the podium, and saidL

So, I've got Mr. Obama sitting here. And he's -- I just was going to ask him a couple of questions. But, you know, about, I remember, three-and-a-half years ago, when Mr. Obama won the election.

And though I wasn't a big supporter, I was watching that night when he was having that thing, and they were talking about hope and change and they were talking about, yes we can, and it was dark outdoors, and it was nice, and people were lighting candles. And they were saying, you know, I just thought, this is great. Everybody's crying. Oprah was crying.

I was even crying. And then finally — I haven't cried that hard since I found out that there's 23 million unemployed people in this country.

Now that is something to cry for because that is a disgrace, a national disgrace, and we haven't done enough, obviously — this administration hasn't done enough to cure that. Whatever interest they have is not strong enough, and I think possibly now it may be time for somebody else to come along and solve the problem.

If he had simply not had the chair there, and left out the first line, that would have been a fair line of criticism. But he went on acting as if Obama was sitting in that empty chair:

So, so, Mr. President, how do you, how do you handle, how do you handle promises that you've made when you were running for election and how do you handle, how do you handle it?

I mean, what do you say to people? Do you just, you know, I know, people were wondering. You don't? You don't handle it.

Well, I know even some of the people in your own party were very disappointed when you didn't close Gitmo. And I thought, well, closing Gitmo, why close that? We spent so much money on it. But, I thought maybe as an excuse.

Oh, What do you mean shut up?

OK, I thought it was just because somebody had the stupid idea of trying terrorists in downtown New York City. Maybe that was it.

And he went on like that. As I said, he was 82. Was he going senile? 

The Man With No Name became The Man With No Game, endorsing Mitt Romney, The Man With No Shame.

Here's what Eastwood should have said: "I know what you're thinkin', Paul Ryan, you punk: 'Did I tell six lies in my acceptance speech, or only five?' Well, to tell you the truth -- which would be a nice change of pace -- in all this excitement, I've forgotten myself. But seeing as how you're gonna be debating Joe Biden, one of the most powerful debaters in the world, and he can talk your ear clean off, you gotta ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?"

In the 2020 Presidential election, Eastwood endorsed Michael Bloomberg, a businessman and a former Mayor of New York, who had started as a Republican, but became an independent, and had finally entered the Democratic Primaries. Eastwood said he wished he that Donald Trump would act "in a more genteel way, without tweeting and calling people names. I would personally like for him to not bring himself to that level."

In a 2012 episode of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History, "Epic" Lloyd Ahlquist played Clint Eastwood, against YouTuber and visual artist Mike Diva as Bruce Lee. Lee's last line was, "A man who argues with people who aren't even there is more fit to rap against this fucking chair!" And Lee kicked a chair at the camera. Eastwood shot it.

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August 30, 2012 was a Thursday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Mets lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-2 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Kyle Kendrick outpitched Jon Niese. Kevin Frandsen went 4-for-5 with an RBI.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-3 at U.S. Cellular Field (now Rate Field) in Chicago.

* The Washington Nationals beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 8-1 at Nationals Park in Washington.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 2-0 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. Carlos Villanueva allowed 5 hits over 6 innings, and 3 relievers completed the 5-hit shutout. Kelly Johnson doubled home both runs in the bottom of the 1st inning.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Cleveland Indians, 12-7 at Progressive Field in Cleveland.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 12-11 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The Cubs scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th to win it, on a double by David DeJesus, a walk by Luis Valbuena, an RBI single by Starlin Castro, and RBI double by Anthony Rizzo, and an RBI single by Alfonso Soriano.

The Cubs hit no home runs, but DeJesus and Valbuena each had 3 hits. For the Brewers, Jonathan Lucroy went 3-for-5 with a home run and 7 RBIs; Ryan Braun and Cody Ransom each went 3-for-4 with a home run, a walk, and 2 RBIs; and Rickie Weeks went 5-for-5.

* The Seattle Mariners beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-4 at Target Field in Minneapolis.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Detroit Tigers, 2-1 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Houston Astros, 8-4 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston.

* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-2 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Zack Greinke outpitched Jon Lester. Albert Pujols went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs. Mike Trout went 0-for-3 with a walk. David Ortiz did not play. I guess his steroid supplier didn't make the trip to the Coast.

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 2-0 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Ian Kennedy pitched 6 1/3rd innings of 2-hit shutout ball, and 3 relievers completed a 5-hit shutout, to outpitch Clayton Kershaw. Chris Young provided the only runs of the game with a 2-run home run in the top of the 4th.

* And the New York Yankees, the Atlanta Braves, the Cincinnati Reds, the Colorado Rockies, the Miami Marlins, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the San Diego Padres and the Texas Rangers were not scheduled.

There were also 15 college football games played that night. Only 1 involved a team nationally ranked: Number 9 South Carolina beat Vanderbilt, 17-13 at Vanderbilt Stadium (now FirstBank Stadium) in Nashville.