Today’s New York Times confirms what I posted yesterday. Democrats are mobilizing to impeach President Bush should they win control of congress this year. Here’s a snippet:
Last year, Representative John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee and a member of the panel when it weighed proceedings against President Richard M. Nixon in 1974, proposed an initial inquiry into a censure or impeachment of Mr. Bush over the war. So far, the Conyers proposal has attracted support from about two dozen of the chamber’s 201 Democrats.
ImpeachPAC, a grass-roots group based in New York City that grew out of the last election, is agitating for the idea. In the last few months, local governments in San Francisco, Santa Cruz and Arcata, Calif., and in several towns in Vermont have passed resolutions calling for impeachment. Harper’s Magazine, the writer Garrison Keillor, the former Watergate figure John Dean, Barbra Streisand and the actor Richard Dreyfuss have expressed their support as well (source).
These two paragraphs represent only that which has bubbled to the surface. Make no mistake. This is the tip of the iceberg. The base of the Democrat party will agitate for President Bush’s impeachment should they win control of congress.
This is a no-win proposition for the Democrats. I hope they keep it up.
One Comment
Isaac
I really enjoy your blog. I don’t think i’ve posted before, but I check in often.
I probably agree with you that it is a bad idea for the dems to be talking about impeachment. there are many moderate dems/reps who might vote for them to keep bush in check (ending the rubber stamp that he’s had for 5 years, although, its kind of ending anyway due to his approval rating) but would balk at an impeachment.
I’m not surprised that the talk is going around though. You reap what you sow, and the GOP has put their foot on the neck of the dems since 9/11. They have controlled the entire agenda by maintaining insane unity at the country’s expense (no veto’s by GW, congress never standing up to the pres., dubious redistricting, KStreet proj., etc.)that the dems are going to try to hit back as hard as possible. As usual, the reactive (violent?) response is not the best.
lastly, with regard to GW, I don’t think he should be impeached because of the NSA wiretapping issue. If art. of imp. are raised, it has to be regarding Iraq. If he lied to us before the war, impeach him. But, if he didn’t lie, then he and his team are clearly incompetent. Their pre-war estimates were so far off that if they were not lying regarding timetable, expense, expectations, etc. then they are no good at their jobs. I expect my secretary of defense to know whether a conflict will last 3 years (as it has) or closer to six weeks (as he predicted). I expect the administration to know whether a war is going to cost $200b and counting (which it is) or app. $10b (which wolfowitz predicted).
If bush didn’t lie regarding Iraq, then I think the voters should decide what direction we go in 08.
sorry comment is so long. great blog.