Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Impeachment is looking better and better...

...at least of Cheney, maybe.

Two months ago, I went to an impeachment forum in Princeton attended by Mark Crispin Miller. He is a strong advocate for impeachment, and at the time I was not. My thinking was that as long as the Democrats now control Congress, the most important issue [for me, at least] was ending the war, and having a time-tabled plan for leaving Iraq. Impeachment, while important, was not something I thought the American people would tolerate with GW’s term ending on January 20, 2009.

Miller made a good case for impeachment. There are certainly many reasons to impeach Bush/Cheney: The war in Iraq. Signing statements. Outing of a CIA operative. The firing of federal prosecutors along political lines. Spying on American citizens.

But, I thought, the political “To Do” list for Congress should have as its number one item: Ending the war. And I thought that Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Senator Harry Reid would agree with me. So, I thought.

Well, the Democrats rolled over on war funding in June. They are willing to wait another month or so for a report on the “progress” in Iraq. It is kind of weird to think that “progress” includes more than 3600 American troops dead, and more than $450 billion in cost.

And now they are willing to allow the Bush administration to spy on Americans. Rep. Rush Holt had the best take on the issue: "Legislation should not be passed in response to fear-mongering."

So, if the Democrats are not going to actually end the war---the key reason why they won back Congress ---maybe impeachment should be on the table.

After all, the Democrats are not doing anything else of importance.

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