May 03 2006
Impeachment Is Left’s Top Issue
I have said it many times, but the left continues to make the case we need to vote Democrat so we can impeach the man who took the War on Terrorism to the terrorists, cleaned up two cesspools of Islamic hate, stopped nuclear proliferation in many other nations, kept our economy alive, and did more than three Presidents.
For some time, opponents of the Iraq War have been calling for impeachment. You could see their signs at marches, but given Republican control of the House, it was hard to take the idea seriously.
In recent months, though, impeachment calls have gained a new seriousness – and wider public support – and for good reason: This November, a shift of only 15 House seats would give Democrats control of the House and of the Judiciary Committee. Rep. John Conyers (D., Mich.), who would become Judiciary Committee chair, has already submitted a bill calling for an investigation into impeachable crimes, and would certainly welcome an impeachment bill.
More important, over the last five years, Bush has become the Willie Sutton of constitutional violators. While the impeachment of President Bill Clinton for lying about sex was a case of frivolous political harassment, this president’s many “high crimes and misdemeanors” pose such a threat to basic freedoms, and to the system of checks and balances, that not to impeach would be irresponsible.
Earth to lunatic left: the ‘war’ is over with Iraq. They are now our ally and helping us to kill Al Qaeda. However, please continue your lick-spittle rants about impeachment. The Reps and Bush need another history breaking election.
The Left is deranged.
The Left is digging a hole for itself of historical proportions, and nothing can stop them All we can do now is toss ’em a shovel.
Oh the horror! This is what the left thinks is his greatest crime. Oh the horror!
The same is true of this president’s perhaps greatest crime: his failure to deal with, and his willful obstruction of efforts to ward off, global warming.
Oh the horror!
Sarc/off
This has been their plan all along. Valerie fed the false WMD information to Judith Miller who ran exclusive stories for the NYT on the run up to the war. We all know that the NYT would not have done this just to help make the case for war for Bush. They excused themselves for the false reporting, but did not fire Judith Miller.
Judith Miller knew Valerie Plame because she was her source for all of the false exclusives she wrote about Iraq’s WMD. The recent revelation about Valerie working on Iran’s Nuclear program is just a red herring to divert attention from her role as Judith Miller’s source on the WMD false reporting Valerie provided.
SBD
How about a little reality check here. Iraq and even Afghanistan are FUBAR, the fighting in Iraq is creating more and more terrorists, and the spending in Iraq has eclipsed the money wasted in Vietnam.
Bush should be impeached for at least these four rock-solid reasons:
1. According to the Downing Street Memo, he fixed intelligence to lead the U.S. into war. (This was confirmed on 60 minutes two days ago–that Bush was not following, but manipulating CIA intelligence. John McCain, among others, knew this ahead of time too.)
2. Bush’s advisors Karl Rove* and Lewis Libby leaked the name of a covert CIA agent in political retaliation for Joseph Wilson’s exposure of Bush’s State of the Union lie.
3. The Executive authorization of torture at Abu Ghraib and in Guantanamo Bay.
4. Bush has used the NSA to spy on Americans without a warrant in violation of the Fourth Amendment and 1978 FISA Act.
After Bush’s impeachment he should be tried internationally for war crimes. And there should be a South-African style Truth and Reconciliation commission for his supporter to come forward for amnesty and national reunification.
Boilingmad: Other than points 1 through 4 and the stuff you say before and after, your reply isn’t too bad.
Impeachment isn’t to be used because a president is unpopular. Harry Truman’s approval ratings were about 10 points lower than Bush’s are now and they went from the 80’s to the 20’s in less than a year.
You might want to read up on what people were saying about Truman as he created NSA, CIA, the Joint Chiefs, etc. while body bags were streaming back from Korea. It might help you to gain some perspective.
Our troops in Iraq are currently there under UN mandate at the request of the government of Iraq. We are currently in Iraq under mandate of UN Security Council Resolution 1637. Withdrawal from Iraq would be counter to the desires of the UN Security Council and the government of Iraq. Withdrawal would only satisfy one particular domestic political orientation.
If you want to go for an internation trial for crimes against humanity, you might make more headway against Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe or just about anyone in a leadership position in Sudan.
The Downing Street Memo means nothing. In fact if you actually bother to read the damn thing they say they are concerned about Saddam using weapons.
Besides it was the Democrats like Clinton, and Wilson and Plame and Tenet and Berger etc who were responsible for most of the intel. Maybe they should impeach Clinton again.
Boilingmad:
It’s obvious that you know nothing about NSA, Iraq, impeachment, or the law.
How about reading up a little so you can get up to speed with everyone else on the site? This is an excellent blog to use for that purpose.
I realize that this is not the liberal/left way, but your temper-tantrums are only exceeded by your colossal ignorance on almost every subject on which you attempt to speak/shout.
Liberals keep getting waxed in elections because they are so stupendously ignorant of things military, poitical, intelligence gathering, crime fighting, and yes, the law. Don’t take my word for it, just scan any of the lefty blogs- sophistry and slogans trump fact in nearly every instance. When reason fails, shrillness and name-calling are ready substitutes. You are children in a roomful of adults, bored by conversations that you can’t understand.
Meanwhile, politicians and candidates deemed “unelectable” by our fair and balanced press keep finding ways to win by taking positions that “scientific” media polls show to be clearly unpopular.
The truth hurts, ’twas always so. But the truth will set you free- and maybe just erase a few of your myths along the way.
Gee can we have Bush’s impeachment trial after we have Jay Rockefellor’s trial for treason?
BRING IT ON!
If the Dems want to run on an “Elect us and we’ll impeach Bush” platform I say GO FOR IT!
The numbers opposing impeachment are in the high 60’s. Such a losing strategy may be the only thing that can save the Republicans in November.
Boiling Mad:
1. DSM turns on the phrase “twisting intelligence” – something the notetaker has said refers not to manufacturing intelligence but rather to the public relations aspect of highlighting Iraq WMD at the expense of Saddam’s nuclear program and his ties to terror.
2. There is not one shred of proof that they outed Valerie Plame as part of a revenge scenario. There is plenty of proof via the reporters they leaked to that they were trying to set the record straight as a result of the proven lies of Joe Wilson.
3. “Executive authorization?” The Gonazlez memos laid out options for the Bush administration. Some of those options included borderline torture techniques – over the borderline if one looks at the Geneva convention.
What you’re missing is the fact that THOSE MEMOS NEVER BECAME ADMINISTRATION POLICY! That in the end, Bush said we would generally follow the Geneva protocols. The fact that we haven’t is a travesty and yes, you can hold the Bush Administration responsible in the sense that it happened on their watch. But to say the President ordered torture is not proven by the facts nor by history.
4. Not going to go through all the legal blather but suffice it to say you don’t know what the NSA program did and neither do I. That’s because it’s procedures are still secret – despite all the wild speculation on the left on what it COULD have been. When you prove to me that it violated FISA based on facts, I’ll believe it. Until then, hold your water.
Thus does your impeachment “case” fall apart as easily as my graham cracker in coffee.
The left’s wet dream that will never come. Conyers as head of Judiciary, not this year or the next.
Rick,,
Great fisking of BM’s post! However, BM can’t hold his/her water. It is obvious from BM’s rant he/she is wetting his/her pants already.
A little reality check here, even if you take it as gospel that the dems are going to win every seat they think they are going to win in both the house and the senate, houston they still have a problem.
The only thing they could do is get impeachment proceedings underway, but the chance of a conviction, unless someone dumps a truckload of not even discussed evidence , is to say the least remote.
BM,
Your point 1 cites 60 minutes as a backup source. Does that come right before or right after the TANG memo credibility for source data? Your other points follow suit the same way.
AJ let be one of many to congratulate you on your analysis of this issue. This is particulary spectacular in the view of the fact that we only a have a limited “open source” realm of data to deal with.
I would love to have the access to put up data mining analysis similar to Able Danger on this case, because I believe it would expose even more.
If all these shortcomings are available even with redacted documents, it brings some concerns to mind.
If this prosecution is to be validated as the weak case it is, why was it brought to begin with…and did anyone push for it with prior knowledge that it was a weak case, but it didn’t matter, because after all it would occupy the time and resources of all who defended it. In essence was this a red herring of the first degree?
The only troubling thing with this logic is that it really is plausable.
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