Whle the rest of the United States is watching the Alito hearings, worrying about the war in Iraq, and following the Abramoff scandals, the Nation is boldly trudging forward with their pipe dream du jour:
Finally, it has started. People have begun to speak of impeaching President George W. Bush–not in hushed whispers but openly, in newspapers, on the Internet, in ordinary conversations and even in Congress. As a former member of Congress who sat on the House Judiciary Committee during the impeachment proceedings against President Richard Nixon, I believe they are right to do so.
***Mobilizing the nation and Congress in support of investigations and the impeachment of President Bush is a critical task that has already begun, but it must intensify and grow. The American people stopped the Vietnam War–against the wishes of the President–and forced a reluctant Congress to act on the impeachment of President Nixon. And they can do the same with President Bush. The task has three elements: building public and Congressional support, getting Congress to undertake investigations into various aspects of presidential misconduct and changing the party makeup of Congress in the 2006 elections.
Drumming up public support means organizing rallies, spearheading letter-writing campaigns to newspapers, organizing petition drives, door-knocking in neighborhoods, handing out leaflets and deploying the full range of mobilizing tactics. Organizations like AfterDowningStreet.org and ImpeachPac.org, actively working on a campaign for impeachment, are able to draw on a remarkably solid base of public support. A Zogby poll taken in November–before the wiretap scandal–showed more than 50 percent of those questioned favored impeachment of President Bush if he lied about the war in Iraq.
Gotta love the editorial choices and timing of the Nation. BTW- Does Katrina van den Heuvel know who her congressman is yet?
The Disenfranchised Voter
I wouldn’t even want Bush impeached. Cheney as President? No thank you.
Now if they were to go out together, thus making Hassert President I would actually be fine with that.
Marcus Wellby
It will never work. All we need is some footage of a weeping Laura Bush and any impeachment hearings would come crashing to a halt.
Paddy O'Shea
The rest of the United States is watching the Alito hearings?
Dude, you have simply got to get out more.
Ancient Purple
Best snark of the day!
Krista
Brrr…did it just get evil in here?
The Disenfranchised Voter
*cues Imperial March Theme Music
Mr Furious
I wouldn’t even want Bush impeached. Cheney as President? No thank you.
Cheney already IS President. Seriously. How would this change anything? Having this fact out in the open might actuallly slow things down for these maniacs, as Cheney ain’t charming the heartland like reg’ler guy George.
I don’t mean this in the same old “Bush is just a puppet” way. But Cheney really is a powerful VP, and calls a lot of shots. I frankly find him operating under the radar more detrimental than if he had to be out in front.
Pull the mask off.
The Disenfranchised Voter
You make valid points Furious. Though I still believe things would be worse if Cheney were elevated to the level of President.
fwiffo
For the record, polling shows that support for impeaching Bush is a lot higher than it ever was for Clinton. That’s not saying a whole lot though, since Clinton’s impeachment was one of the stupidest, most petulant things EVER. But at least the allegations (leaving aside if he’s guilty) against Bush are serious. E.g. lying about evidence to start a war, violating the law to spy on US citizens without a warrant, authorizing the torture of prisoners of war, bribery, etc. versus “getting a hummer from a chunky intern and lying about it.”
Lines
do interns come in creamy?
Krista
Must…resist….perverted…..response…
Oh fuck it.
It all depends on how cute the President is.
The Disenfranchised Voter
Hahaha.
Geek, Esq.
I wish my cohorts on the left side of the divide would just recognize that lame ducks aren’t worth this kind of effort.
There’s a Congress to win.
Lines
Calls for impeachment are so yesterday.
Krista
I do apologize if I’ve offended anybody. I’m hopped up on Robaxacet right now, so my judgment is impaired. (Threw my back out lifting Dreyfus into bed. Little tank.)
The Other Steve
Cheney is to Bush as Agnew was to Nixon. Insurance against impeachment.
Sojourner
How stupid is this. Everyone knows that presidents can only be impeached for sexual indiscretions. Not something as trivial as lies and spies.
srv
You know, all that Bush loyalty really only goes one way. If GW were threatened, he’d be singing like a canary about Dick.
But then he’d just appoint Jeb or Condi as his VP, and that would be enough to stop the Dems.
Pooh
Krista, you rock…
Halffasthero
The article appears to be very well written. As to whether he should be impeached, frankly, too many things in his presidency have been mired in total incompetence. The war was a stupid move, the tax cuts were way overdone, he couldn’t run or choose people to run a catastrophe, he is not respected by our allies anymore. This spying incident is just more of the same proof that he is unfit. The man is challenged, to say the least. To hear people say that he has been doing a great job as president is to be willing to lower the standard of what constitutes a good job to basement level. Better yet, calling him a bad president is an insult to bad presidents.
Impeach him? I think he should just resign to avoid screwing things up anymore.
Otto Man
True. But as we saw with Agnew, sometimes the VP can get booted out of office before the president.
I’m not exactly sure why John thinks impeachment charges against Bush are unfounded. They won’t happen as long as the GOP controls the House, but the underlying grounds are certainly there. The president admitted breaking the law in FISA. A similar transgression was worth an article of impeachment against Nixon, and Nixon never owned up to it. As far as the law goes, this is clear cut. The politics, of course, are murkier.
Krista
Pooh – thanks! :)
Jess
Krista, I think I just threw MY back out laughing at your skanky humor! Thanks a bunch. Keep taking that Robaxacet, and pass some along to us!
Kimmitt
I’m glad the meme is getting out there. If the current bar is “got some from an intern,” then “lied us into a pointless war” has got to be past it.
Skip
It seems unimaginable that Bush would allowed to do anything so stupid as to warrant impeachment, much less anything that could make its way through a Republican-controlled Congress.
But then I live near Washington and I see what these people do on highways every day.
moflicky
Lying to a grand jury in a rape case, of which Clinton was the target.
But, as the Plame case teaches us, it’s of no matter that the grand jury didn’t bring charges from the investigation, it’s the lying that’s the problem.
I’m sure all you guys think scooter should get off with a handslap like Bubba, right?
Sojourner
Too late.
delf
My back windshield sports a bumper sticker that says:
He lied to start a war
Impeach Him
I live in the Dallas area and have had it on there since late spring this year.
Have had several positive comments about it.
And two people called me an idiot.
BIRDZILLA
IMPEACH TED KENNEDY
Kimmitt
Yes, we know Clinton was a target. That’s kind of the point. That there was no meaning to the case other than that Clinton was a target.