Why has there been no motion toward impeachment?

[jokerman93]

Are we going to have to pay some nasty neocon intern nincompoop to give Bush a hum-job to go with his pretzels and beer before anyone notices the abuse of executive power that is occuring???

Just wondering.

Why aren't (at least) Sens. Byrd and Kennedy making noises in this direction yet?

Any ideas from the DU Greek chorus?

[Guaranteed]

1. Simply because

it wouldn't work. At least not YET.

[Ernesto]

3. Agreed

The Repukes would never let it happen unless they were receiving huge pressure from their constituants.

[Occulus]

16. Or unless *

did something so horrible as to be unavoidable.

[madrchsod]

2. the house is republican...

no way will they ever bring impeachment hearings. bush and his thugs will never be brought to justice on any charges that could be impeachable. people will "disappear" before anyone is brought up on charges. that`s just the way it is....

[TheBlob]

4. Yup!

This is one of the reasons the 2002 election was so important to Bush.
The more Repubs there are in the House the further Bush gets from accountability.

[rasputin1952]

12. Bingo!...

n/t

[speckledgator]

5. Why...that would be

blasphemy! ummm heresy... ummm treason! well, it just wouldn't be right

[jokerman93]

6. Wow

I get the picture. Yeah.

[Maine-i-acs]

7. President CHENEY?

Is that what could happen? I shudder to think.

[Bozola]

8. The reason is quite simple, actually

Dennis Hastert is the Speaker of the House, Tom DeLay is the Majority Leader, and Roy Blunt is the Majority Whip.

All impeachment proceedings START in the House. They are TRIED in the Senate.

Expecting the Republiscum Congress to impeach Bush is really expecting Bush to impeach himself. It isn't going to happen.

[elperromagico]

9. You've got it

There are a few reasons:
1. Bush hasn't been fellated (that we know about) by someone other than his wife.
2. There's a Republican majority in the Senate and the House.
3. The Republicans haven't spent eight years investigating Bush, only to find nothing that would stand up in a court of law.
4. In a "time of war," as the Republicans tell us, any attack on Bush's policies is an attack on not only him, but on his wife, his children, his brothers, his mother, his father, his living sister, his dead sister, the American flag, Abraham Lincoln, apple pie, Bob Hope, every troop that has ever fought for this country, and Jesus Christ.

It would take a scandal of Nixonian proportions to unseat Bush, and I doubt even that would do the trick. So many of Bush's people (Rummy and Dick "Thrombosis" Cheney in particular) are old Nixonites... they have learned their lesson and they know how to get out of a tricky spot.

Impeaching him would be nearly impossible right now; we're better off just trying to impeach him the old-fashioned way, at the ballot box. Or, at the very least, we must hope for a Dem majority in '04 and '06.

[Zero Gravitas]

10. Impeachment is political

Impeachment is 100% political. Sure * deserves to be impeach for being the treasonous corrupt incompetent that he is, but with the Repiglicans controlling the House and Senate its not going to happen.

Reagan should have been impeached over the Iran/Contra treason, but wasn't because Tip O'Niell was a smart politician who realised that impeaching a (realtively) popular President during (relatively) good economic times would be counter productive.

Clinton never should have been impeached but was because Newt Gingrich wasn't 1/10th as smart as Tip O'Niell.

[LoneStarLiberal]

11. To Further Some of the Points Made Here...

To take the consideration (the correct consideration) other posters have made here about the role the House plays in impeachment proceedings, I would argue that not only does the Republican majority in the House (which will eventually increase by 6 or 7 seats thanks to the Republican stick-up on redistricting in my state) insulate Bush from anything but the most incompetent directly-accountable felon-level crimes, but it also means that should one of our candidates win next year, that same body will be once more eager to roast him or her on the spit.

Anyone who ever tells you that the Presidency is more important than the House or that the Senate is more important than the House JUST DOESN'T GET IT. Remind them of this situation.

[DuctapeFatwa]

13. That would be terrorism

Any opposition or resistance to bush or sharon regimes is terrorism.

You are with or you are with the terrorists.

[jokerman93]

14. Thank you all

for those great answers. I'll tell you, this site has been an incredible resource for my education as an informed American.

I'm really glad I found DU.

Thanks again for your willingness to share your knowledge and insights with me.

[quaker bill]

15. Too many republicans up on the hill

But then again, one republican is too many to my mind....