-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: March 27, 2007 1:50:37 PM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: IMPEACH
IMPEACHMENT THREAT IS REAL
John Nichols
The Nation, March 27, 2007
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/03/27/opinion/main2612221.shtml
Former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough had me on his MSNBC
show Monday night to talk about impeachment.
It was smart, civil discussion that treated the prospect of
impeaching the president as a serious matter.
Scarborough took the lead in suggesting that Bush's biggest problem
might be that Republicans in the House and Senate who — fearful of
the threat Bush poses to their political survival — do not appear
to be rallying 'round the president. The host's sentiments were
echoed by two other guests, columnist Mike Barnicle and Salon's
Joan Walsh.
The impetus for the show was Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel's ongoing
discussion of the impeachment prospect — Hagel's not quite a
supporter of sanctioning Bush, more a speculator about the prospect
— and a new column by Robert Novak that suggests Bush has dwindling
support within the congressional wing of the GOP.
Speaking about impeachment on ABC's "This Week," Hagel said, "Any
president who says 'I don't care' or 'I will not respond to what
the people of this country are saying about Iraq or anything else'
or 'I don't care what the Congress does, I am going to proceed' —
if a president really believes that, then there (are) ways to deal
with that."
Novak wrote "The I-word (incompetence) is used by Republicans in
describing the Bush administration generally. Several of them I
talked to described a trifecta of incompetence: the Walter Reed
hospital scandal, the FBI's misuse of the Patriot Act and the U.S.
attorneys firing fiasco. 'We always have claimed that we were the
party of better management,' one House leader told me. 'How can we
claim that anymore?'"
Scarborough drew the two statements together for the purpose of
asking whether Bush could count on Republicans to block moves by
Congressional Democrats to hold Bush to account for high crimes and
misdemeanors.
When a conservative commentator who was on the frontlines of Newt
Gingrich's "Republican revolution" entertains a thoughtful
conversation about the politics and processes of impeachment on a
major cable news network, it should be clear that the cloistered
conversation about sanctioning this president has begun to open up.
No, Scarborough is not jumping on the impeachment bandwagon.
He is simply treating the prospect seriously, as did CNN's Wolf
Blitzer earlier in the day.
What I told Scarborough is what I have been saying in public forums
for the past several weeks: We are nearing an impeachment moment.
The Alberto Gonzales scandal, the under-covered but very real
controversy involving abuses of the Patriot Act and the president's
increasingly belligerent refusals to treat Congress as a co-equal
branch of government are putting the discussion of presidential
accountability onto the table from which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
has tried to remove it.
Does this mean Bush and Cheney will be impeached? That, of course,
will be decided by the people. Impeachment at its best is always an
organic process; it needs popular support or it fizzles — as with
the attempt by House Republican leaders to remove former President
Clinton in a process that, fairly or not, seemed to be all about
blue dresses.
While the people saved Clinton — by signaling to their
representatives that they opposed sanctioning a president's
personal morals — it does not appear that they are inclined to
protect Bush.
With each new revelation about what Gonzales did at the behest of
the Bush White House to politicize prosecutions by U.S. Attorneys,
the revulsion with the way this president has disregarded the
Constitution and the rule of law becomes more intense. And citizens
are not cutting their president much slack.
A new USA Today/Gallup Poll — conducted over the weekend — shows
that, by close to a 3-to-1 margin, Americans want Congress to issue
subpoenas to force White House officials to testify in the Gonzales
case. Sixty-eight percent of those surveyed say the president
should drop his claim of executive privilege in this matter, while
only 26 percent agree with the reasoning Bush has used to try and
block a meaningful inquiry.
If the president wants to get in a fight with Congress over how to
read the Constitution, it appears that the people will back
Congress. And that backing is what will begin to restore the
backbones of House members who, despite Pelosi's attempts to quiet
talk of impeachment, are getting more and more intrigued by the
prospect of holding this president to account.
As Hagel says, "This is not a monarchy. There are ways to deal with
(executive excess). And I would hope the president understands that."
If Bush doesn't recognize this reality now, he soon will.
AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's
free from AOL at AOL.com.
www.ctrl.org
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv.aol.com/
<A HREF="http://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv.aol.com/";>ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
