Defective Yeti is usually a great site to go to for the amusing anecdote, joke, bon mot, game review, or Bad Review Revue. But today Matthew Baldwin says everything I have to say about the coming election and next couple of years of politics. Curse him!
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***Dave, that same rationale–that it would be too divisive for the country–was used to keep from impeaching President Reagan when he stomped all over the American constitution with his Iran Contra shenanigans.
Many of the people in the current administration (Rumsfeld and Cheney come to mind) were part of the Reagan administration. What they took out of Iran Contra was if you lied consistently and closed ranks, then you could get away with anything. They learned that you could attack the core of the American system and there would not be any repercussions.
It’s pretty clear now that the current government holds the American constitution in little regard. Let them get away with that and another generation of people–the Rumsfelds and the Cheneys of the future–have absorbed an interesting lesson that will play out if *they* rise to power.
If all men are truly created equal, then no man is above the law, not even the American President.
Funny. I was actually pondering a post about the whole impeachment question.
There’s a number of ways to look at it, I think. From a purely political standpoint — (a) is it likely to be successful, and (b) is it likely to have a positive or negative impact on the Dems chances in the future — I think it would be a mistake. The populace is simply not behind it. If the Dems win one, or both, houses of Congress, it will be by narrow margins, and in a number of districts that are traditionally GOP. This election is shaping up to be mostly about getting rid of Republicans, but the numbers aren’t going to be anywhere large enough for either party to (legitmately) claim a mandate. Waltzing in like they own the place and “now the payback begins” is not going to succeed (even if they take the Senate they won’t have the 2/3 supermajority needed to really drive stuff through), and will not endear themselves to the voters.
Then there’s the matter of justice. I agree that Bush has been a bad president, that the willingness of him and his Administration to simply act as they want, set whatever precedents they want, etc., has been appalling. Has it actually cross the line to flat-out impeachable offenses, though? I’m not convinced. The evidence in Watergate, and in Iran-Contra, was much more convincing.
Now, what I *do* expect to see, and would welcome, would be some investigations, some “belated oversight” from Congress as to what the hell the Administration has been doing. Will smoking guns arise from that? Maybe so, at which point discussion of impeachment proceedings is in order. But right now, even if both houses go Democratic? I don’t think it will succeed, and I really don’t think the public will see it as any more than politics, not justice. And that will discredit the whole idea of criticizing Bush’s actions as effectively as the shrill left has already done.
To my mind, the Democrats have three goals here:
1. Apply the brakes to the Adminstration’s policies. Roll back the ones that can be (and that make sense to).
2. Develop and sell an alternative for the future (something other than “Stop the GOP”). Remember, 2008 is coming quickly.
3. Mete out any warrented punishment to wrongdoings of the current Administration.
I think they need to be prioritized in that order, or else the Dems’ victory will be very short-lived, and I fear for what will come next.