Congressional Republicans are working to snuff out new talk of a punishment for President Bill Clinton short of impeachment, an idea floated by Democrats as polls indicate that most Americans want Clinton to remain in office. Both parties jockeyed for political advantage as the leaders of the House and its Judiciary Committee confronted each other yesterday over the political nastiness that has clouded the opening days of an impeachment review. Republicans intend to bring a formal inquiry of impeachment to the House floor within the next two weeks, AP reported. "The decision about cutting a deal is very, very premature," Henry Hyde, the Republican chairman of the Judiciary Committee, told reporters Tuesday. "It makes an interesting story, but I don't know of any substance to it." Renewed discussion of a lesser penalty -- perhaps a congressional censure and a fine -- came from Democrats, who believe it is possible to avoid an exhausting congressional inquiry into Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky. "The president has to accept this problem is not going to go away and I think Republicans have to face the reality that an overwhelming majority of the American people do not want the Clinton presidency to end and are likely to resist, with vigour, attempts to impeach him," Democratic Senator Robert Torricelli said. "That would indicate to me that reasonable people should come together." Hyde said any deal on a punishment would have to be made in the Senate, which conducts a trial if the House approves articles of impeachment. However, with some Democrats suggesting that Clinton appear before Congress to make an apology, Hyde said the president "would be welcomed" if he asked to appear at Judiciary Committee hearings. But Hyde doused any hope of such an appearance without the approval first of a formal impeachment inquiry. A resolution to authorise an inquiry is expected before the House in early October and is virtually certain to pass, AP said. According to several Republican sources work has begun on drafting the terms of an impeachment investigation, along with rules to empower the panel to conduct its own investigation of the facts. Polls taken after Clinton's televised grand jury testimony on Monday show that two-thirds of Americans surveyed thought he was evasive in his answers but most did not want him removed from office. The percentage who thought the president should be impeached and removed from office, 41 per cent, had not grown significantly in the past week but had increased by 11 points in an ABC poll since 13 September, just after Kenneth Star's report was made public. "Poll taking is an art and not a science," Hyde told reporters in response to Clinton's overall favourable numbers, including a job approval rating that ranged from 60 to 68 per cent in several polls. Meanwhile the response of newspapers across the Middle East to the sex-and-lies scandal engulfing the US president ranged from tepid expressions of support to condemnation. The worldwide broadcast of Clinton's grand jury testimony caused some to sound alarms and others to dismiss the event, some to absolve the president and others to brand him a rogue. An alarmed Jordanian commentator saw a "wounded" and "dangerous" Clinton ready to replicate the recent bombings of Sudan and Afghanistan "to make the people forget his televised scandal." The Jordan Times took the cynical view that "according to the dominant values of American civilisation -- personal material gratification and public exhibitionist entertainment -- Bill Clinton has probably achieved the height of success." The Lebanese Al-Anwar bemoaned the superpower president "paralysed in the White House," no longer able to rule his country, let alone the world, after his public humiliation. Other Beirut newspapers came up with such headlines as "Humiliation campaign continues," "American president stripped before millions" and "Washington airs its dirty laundry on television". The Qatari newspaper Al-Watan lashed out at Clinton "the adulterer." "The fact that an adulterer like Clinton holds the reins of power in the United States should be no surprise for a licentious American society whose values are reflected in its president's behaviour," the newspaper wrote.
