Clinton’s Words of Remorse Fall on Deaf Ears

WASHINGTON —  President Clinton tried Friday to slow the momentum toward impeachment, publicly expressing remorse again for his “errors of word and deed” in the Monica S. Lewinsky scandal, and he said for the first time that he is ready to accept censure from Congress as punishment.

But his pitch seemed to fall flat with the audience that matters most--undecided House Republicans--because Clinton went no further than he has in the past on whether he lied in his testimony about the matter.

“While the president’s speech was an expansion of an apology, it did not include admissions of facts,” said Rep. Michael N. Castle (R-Del.), one of the Republican moderates whose support Clinton needs to defeat impeachment. “It will probably not change votes one way or another.”

The president’s advisors said that he decided to make the public statement before leaving on a trip for the Middle East because he wants Congress and the public to know how deeply he regrets his misconduct with the young woman.

“I never should have misled the country, the Congress, my friends or my family” about the relationship, Clinton said. “Quite simply, I gave in to my shame.” He read his statement to the press in the Rose Garden and then walked back into the White House without answering questions.

Evidence that Clinton’s plea was falling on deaf ears in Congress was not long in coming. Within minutes, the House Judiciary Committee voted along party lines to approve the first article of impeachment against him. Other House Republicans then began expressing their dissatisfaction.

“If that is his best shot, it may be too little, too late,” said Ken Johnson, a spokesman for Rep. W.J. “Billy” Tauzin (R-La.), who has yet to declare his intentions. “He still remains evasive. He appears unwilling or unable to admit he broke a law.”

Rep. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), who had pledged to vote against impeachment if Clinton admitted criminal wrongdoing, said that he is still awaiting a full admission. “The president did not address what I think is essential, that he did in fact violate the law,” said Graham, a member of the House Judiciary Committee.

Clinton will need to win over about 15 of the two dozen undecided moderate Republicans to avert impeachment in the full House next week. Four previously uncommitted members declared themselves for impeachment Friday.

Friends and aides to Clinton are actively lobbying members on his behalf.

“The fight for votes will go well into next week,” one senior White House strategist said.

Hopes That Talk Would Rouse Support

White House officials hoped that Friday’s talk would help rouse public support for the president and put more pressure on moderate Republicans to reject impeachment.

“The more the people understand what is going on in the Congress, the more they study the facts and understand the law and the Constitution, the better we think we’ll do,” said Douglas Sosnik, a top political advisor to the president.

White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said he believed the speech had done some good. “We’ve gotten positive feedback from members,” he said.

But some Democrats remain pessimistic that public opinion polls, which have long been running strongly against impeachment, will make a difference.

“Unfortunately thus far the views of the American public have not had much of an effect on the partisan majority,” Rep. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) told CNN. “I am fearful that his statement will not have much of an effect on them. I believe if the vote were held right now, impeachment would pass.”

Clinton had not made extended remarks on the Lewinsky matter or impeachment proceedings in the last few weeks as the Judiciary Committee debated the evidence and approached its vote.

He said he wanted the public and Congress to know “that I am profoundly sorry for all I have done wrong in words and deeds.”

He said that he had been “condemned by my accusers with harsh words and while it’s hard to hear yourself called deceitful and manipulative, remember Ben Franklin’s admonition that our critics are our friends, for they do show us our faults.

“Mere words cannot fully express the profound remorse I feel for what our country is going through and for what members of both parties in Congress are now forced to deal with,” he said.

Clinton said he understood that “accountability demands consequences.” He said he is ready to accept the “rebuke and censure” of Congress, if members consider that punishment appropriate. Clinton’s allies have been trying to negotiate some form of censure on his behalf but House leaders thus far have not agreed to allow a vote on anything but impeachment articles.

Some Democratic strategists said that wavering Republicans may expect more from Clinton than he will be able to deliver. Although Clinton’s attorneys this week for the first time acknowledged that reasonable people might conclude he had been untruthful in his Lewinsky testimony, Clinton himself would not go that far Friday. He again said only that he had “misled” his questioners.

“What some of these people want is for him to commit hara-kiri and I don’t think he’s going to do that,” said Mark Mellman, a Democratic political consultant. “I don’t think there’s anything that he can say that’s going to affect most of these Republicans.”

Democrats Urged Different Timing

House Democrats had urged Clinton to make his public statement closer to the time of the vote.

“The worry is that having done this early, it gave more time for the Republicans to shoot holes in whatever he was going to say,” said a Democratic strategist. But White House advisors were concerned about losing too many moderates in next week’s House vote if they waited.

White House Chief of Staff John Podesta on Thursday called Rep. Bob Livingston of Louisiana, speaker-designate of the House, to sound him out on the outlook for a censure vote. Livingston refused to discuss the matter, his spokesman said.

But some Republicans said that they will insist on a censure vote if impeachment fails.

“A lot of Republicans, including my boss, are turned off by the idea that Clinton could get off scot-free if articles of impeachment fail,” said Johnson, Tauzin’s spokesman.

Clinton Losing Ground in House

Clinton’s new apology came as he was losing precious ground in the member-by-member battle for support in the House.

Three undecided moderate Republicans the White House had been courting said Friday that they would vote for impeachment: Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) and Rep. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.). Also announcing his support for impeachment within an hour of Clinton’s talk was Rep. Rodney P. Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.).

A day earlier, two other Republicans sought by the White House jumped ship: Reps. Charlie Norwood (R-Ga.) and Jack Metcalf (R-Wash.).

White House officials brushed off the significance of those announcements, saying that they were not really counting on those members to support Clinton. But a House Democratic strategist acknowledged disappointment at the loss of Metcalf, whom they had considered persuadable because he had a tough reelection fight this year and hails from a district that Clinton carried in both 1992 and 1996.

The president still has a chance to make another public appeal Wednesday after he returns from abroad.

Times staff writers Richard A. Serrano and Ronald Brownstein contributed to this story.