Henry Hyde, Leader of Clinton Impeachment, Dies at 83
The man behind the Clinton impeachment and 16 years of blocking federal funding for abortions died this morning at 83. Hyde, a Chicago Republican on the Hill since '75, suffered cardiac arrest after being admitted to the hospital for renal heart failure on November 25. W honored him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom earlier this month, calling him a "defender of life in all its forms." According to the Family Research Council, his cheerleader if there ever were one, remembers him as "a figure without parallel in Congress, a man admired as an orator, honored as a leader, and distinguished as an intellectual force who shaped domestic and foreign policy throughout his career. But even that description falls short of capturing the essence of what Hyde accomplished during his 32 years in the House of Representatives, and long before that in the United States Navy in World War II, at Georgetown University and Loyola University Law School, as a trial attorney, member of the Illinois House of Representatives, and, for those who knew him well, as a stellar athlete."
We will remember him for his position on the Iraq: Lashing our interests to the indiscriminate promotion of democracy is a tempting but unwarranted strategy, more a leap of faith than a sober calculation. There are other negative consequences as well. A broad and energetic promotion of democracy in other countries that will not enjoy our long-term and guiding presence may equate not to peace and stability but to revolution.
Iraq, henry hyde
