impeach

Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor of The Nation, writes on her blog that "the I-word" is picking up some traction in mainstream media circles.

The I-word has moved from the marginal to the mainstream--although columnists like Charles "torture-is-fine-by-me" Krauthammer would like us to believe that "only the most brazen and reckless and partisan" could support the idea. In fact, as Michelle Goldberg reports in Salon, "in the past few days, impeachment "has become a topic of considered discussion among constitutional scholars and experts (including a few Republicans), former intelligence officers, and even a few politicians." Even a moderately liberal columnist like Newsweek's Alter sounds like The Nation, observing: "We're seeing clearly now that Bush thought 9/11 gave him license to act like a dictator."

As Editor & Publisher recently reported, the idea of impeaching Bush has entered the mainstream media's circulatory system--with each day producing more op-eds and articles on the subject. Joining the chorus on Christmas Eve, conservative business magazine Barron's published a lengthy editorial excoriating the president for committing a potentially impeachable offense. "If we don't discuss the program and lack of authority of it," wrote Barron's editorial page editor Thomas Donlan, "we are meeting the enemy--in the mirror."

Public opinion is also growing more comfortable with the idea of impeaching this president. A Zogby International poll conducted this summer found that 42 percent of Americans felt that impeaching Bush would be justified if it was shown that he had manipulated intelligence in going to war in Iraq. (John Zogby admitted that "it was much higher than I expected.") By November, the number of those who favored impeaching Bush stood at 53 percent--if it was in fact proven that Bush had lied about the basis for invading Iraq. (And these polls were taken before the revelations of Bush's domestic spying.)

Check out vanden Heuvel's informative post, full of links.

Writing in Common Dreams, Elizabeth de la Vega, a former federal prosecutor and a progressive writer, reminds us that we have to call for Bush's impeachment - and an end to the occupation of Iraq - despite the odds of success. De la Vega compares the fight to re-establish democracy in the US to her sister's decision to have cancer treatment:

Throughout her ordeal, one of my sister's persistent concerns was what other people would think. Would her medical colleagues consider her irrational, if not crazy, to pursue treatments that were so uncomfortable and painful, not to say unproven or improbable in terms of success? And what would her patients think? Kathy would call me regularly and ask just these questions.

In the end, though, she answered them herself. As long as there was uncertainty, the slightest possibility that she could land at the odds-defying edge of that bell curve and have a longer life, it made sense to her to do anything she could bear to do, regardless of what others thought.

Her interesting essay is in response to readers' reactions to an earlier piece she wrote:

I have to admit that some of the responses to my recent article The White House Criminal Conspiracy (published in the Nation and posted at Tomdispatch.com), in which I argued that the Bush administration should be brought to account in Congress or a court of law for defrauding the American people into war, kept me up at night. No, not the ones that questioned my sanity or sobriety. The letters that have given pause are from people who wholeheartedly agree that the Bush administration lied about the war. Yet there's "zero chance," these writers contend, that a completely Republican-controlled government will ever do anything about it, so it's pointless to pursue the matter. While lying awake beside my sleeping husband with my dog staring up at me in the dark, I've wondered, is that true? Is it futile, or foolish, to act when there is little apparent chance of success?

I struggle with this, too.

I believe in the eternal struggle for justice, in our responsibility to join that battle wherever we find it, in the importance of small symbolic acts, in the power of organized people to make change. At the same time, I despair at our odds. I don't go so far as to think, what's the point, we can't win, so why try. My activist sensibility is to strong to permit that. But regarding a goal like impeachment, I don't feel hopeful. What's more, I don't know if removing Moron from the White House would necessarily topple the junta.

But those are just feelings. They are easily ignored.

Who cares what our chances? The man living in the White House is a criminal. We must demand impeachment.

"Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it." Mohandas K. Gandhi

Lots of impeachment info and links over at After Downing Street. Google "impeach bush" for lots of other good sites.