Bush's impeachable offense | Missing: political will to impeach him

[kskiska]

Yes, the president committed a federal crime by wiretapping Americans, say constitutional scholars, former intelligence officers and politicians. What's missing is the political will to impeach him.

By Michelle Goldberg

Dec. 22, 2005 | On Tuesday, Dec. 20, Washington Post polling editor Richard Morin participated in an online chat with readers. The liberal blog MyDD urged its users to take part, and evidently they did. In previous days, legal experts had declared that Bush had committed a federal crime by authorizing the surveillance of American citizens without a court order, and Morin was grilled about the issue of impeachment.

First, someone from Naperville, Ill., asked Morin why the Post hasn't polled on public support for impeaching Bush. "This question makes me mad," Morin replied. Someone else repeated the question and Morin typed, "Getting madder." It came up again, and he wrote, "Madder still."

Finally, a fourth person asked it, and he answered: "e do not ask about impeachment because it is not a serious option or a topic of considered discussion -- witness the fact that no member of congressional Democratic leadership or any of the serious Democratic presidential candidates in '08 are calling for Bush's impeachment. When it is or they are, we will ask about it in our polls."

(snip)

"The fact is, the federal law is perfectly clear," Turley says. "At the heart of this operation was a federal crime. The president has already conceded that he personally ordered that crime and renewed that order at least 30 times. This would clearly satisfy the standard of high crimes and misdemeanors for the purpose of an impeachment."

more…
http://salon.com/news/feature/2005/12/22/impeach/

[Fovea]

1. I would think that a responsible journalist would realize

that if the 4th branch of government will not act as a safety valve and emergency brake to despotism, that the expression of political will will come with riot, arson, gunfire, and tragedy.

Sadly, they seem to be waiting for America to explode. I guess not enough of them remember 1968.

[Miss Chybil]

2. They're not waiting for us to explode. They think they can keep it

from happening by printing fairy tales and holding back on the truth. They're just trying to "protect" us, don't you know?

[Fovea]

3. Even China could not stop the cycle

of building and collapse.
But an enlightened process can make the
collapses small, and controlled.

And the alternative to that is fire, wrack, and ruin.
There are no exceptions in the whole scope of history.

[bemildred]

4. An impeachable offense is whatever Congress says it is.

We already proved that twice, with Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, both of which were revenge impeachments, whereas much worse criminals in the White House have walked away many times, or have cut a plea and got a slap on the wrist.