Putting George Out Of Our Misery

by pessimist

I know that our Wrong-Wing Wregular$ are crowing about the temporary respite before the econo-political Katrina hits, but things are getting so bad that even some of the Good Orange County (CA) Republicans I work with are beginning to become afraid of what's coming. These GOC(CA)Rs all voted for Bu$h - both times - and he's losing their support. They can see, for example, the nascent housing slowdown affecting their retirement plans, and they are blaming Bu$h for not doing the right things to protect their investments (their words, not mine).

They don't yet support the Democrats, nor do they feel that the Dems can do much for them (like many non-Republicans), but they aren't happy with George. They feel stuck. Helpless. Caught in a trap.

I have a solution to their problem that they might want to consider.

If Democratic candidate Tony Trupiano wins a Michigan House seat this fall, he pledges that one of his first acts will be to introduce articles of impeachment against President Bush.

A graphic on this page shows that when Zogby polled likely voters over the Clinton impeachment in 1998, only 27% supported that action. Today, Zogby reports that 51% say that impeachment is called for.

All across the nation, local governments and other political organizations are calling for the impeachment of King George (fear not - they aren't forgetting Unka Dickie!). On March 1, 2006, San Francisco's city supervisors passed a resolution asking the city's Democratic congressional delegation to seek the impeachment of President Bush.

The supervisors' vote might not generate the ridicule one would expect from conservative talk radio, said Michael Harrison, editor of Talkers Magazine.

"I don't think the vote will be a joke because George Bush is in more trouble with his conservative backers than ever, particularly talk radio hosts," said Harrison, whose magazine covers the talk radio business.

I have some evidence to support this contention of Harrison.

CNN - hardly a bastion of progressive politics - harbors columnist Jack Cafferty, who has presented comments from viewers calling for Bu$h'$ impeachment.

Those Marxist-Leninistas at Free-Market News Network - which recently named David Quamann as their 'Gun Rights Commentator' ("A very frustrated citizen of these United States trying to do all I can think of to stem the tide of the Liberal gun grabbers.") and added 'Libertarian Visionary' Michael Gilson-De Lemos to their staff - are calling for impeachment.

The real (and openly avowed) Marxists at PoliticalAffairs.net are in complete agreement. “The people, united, will never be defeated.”

All across the political spectrum, impeachment is being promoted. From the far left of Angela Davis across to very business-friendly Barron's, impeachment is the recommended remedy for what ails America.

The same thing is found when looking at political candidates. In Vermont, GOP Congressional candidate Dennis Morrisseau calls for impeachment, while Carl Sheeler, a former Marine captain running as a Democratic candidate in the Rhode Island primary, has paid for billboards along Interstate 95 in Rhode Island calling for Bush’s impeachment.

Wisconsin Democrats are in favor of impeachment, and at least 27 incumbent Congressmembers have made a public stand in support of that position.

Outside the Too Party System, the Greens are calling for impeachment along with The Veterans For Peace and Former Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman.

San Francisco isn't the only community calling for impeachment in the last several days. Five Vermont communities - Newfane, Brookfield, Dummerston, Marlboro and Putney - call on Vermont's lone member of the U.S. House, independent Rep. Bernie Sanders, to file articles of impeachment against President Bush. Another - Rockingham - is considering it:

"The president has broken the law and he has to be told that this will not be tolerated," [Saxtons River resident Maya] Costley said. "People have to stand up and say something and make that statement. We want Congress to stand up and fulfill the task that should be done."

Individual Red State citizens are taking up the call. In Red State Indiana, Royal Rock of Elkhart had this to say:

Here in Elkhart County, the only party is the Republican Party. A lot of folks wouldn't think of voting any other way. We need to get this Republican Congress out of office and elect people who hopefully will impeach Bush.

In Red State Kentucky, an anonymous commenter said in the The Advocate-Messenger of Danville: Impeach Bush [login required for full article]

In Red State North Carolina, Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy was recently seen wearing an "Impeach Bush" button. And ...

The local activist group The Ranging Grannies even have written a song in honor of the local impeachment movement. Sung to the tune of I've Been Working on the Railroad, the little ditty takes potshots at Bush and all his senior staff. "We are calling for impeachment, all the live-long day," the song goes. "We are calling for impeachment, just to send the crooks away."

Stanley Saltz of Delray Beach, Florida, declares:

The only recourse we Americans have is to demand (and I do mean demand) the resignation of the president and his vice president and his entire staff for not doing their job.

In Blue State Maine, Cindy Guilmette of Athens says, "The secrecy and blatant disregard for integrity of this administration is outrageous. Impeach Bush.

Pembroke, New Hampshire citizen Cynthia Fleming-Wood said:

"My question is, how much more are the U.S. citizens expected to suffer at the hands of this band of thugs? Bush has broken his sworn oath at every turn. He holds the law and the citizens in contempt, unless they come from his base, the 'have-mores', as he calls them. He does nothing as thousands sit, abandoned, in the waters of Katrina, he uses our soldiers as disposable pawns in his game of greed, he refuses to condemn the torture of prisoners, he uses illegal surveillance and he lies at every turn."

In New Jersey, Cherry Hill resident E. A. Bramble excoriates the Congress:

Congress has ducked its responsibility in the past. It's time for our senators and representatives to stop being politicians and start being statesmen. And maybe it's about time they started thinking about impeaching Bush.

That isn't considered very likely, according to AL Kennedy of The Guardian , who posed:

Bush faces similar [impeachment] moves [as Tony Blair] from concerned citizens, jurists, military men and a handful of Democrats gathered round a nascent vertebra. He's also assailed by the apocalyptic fallout from Plamegate, Abramoffgate, Cunninghamgate - and may not be as untouchable as Samuel Alito maintains, or able to recommend "crushing the testicles of the person's [suspect's] child" with complete impunity, as the lawyer John Yoo suggests.

Still, it's extremely unlikely - even with so much blood in the water - that many politicians on either side of the Atlantic will press to invoke legislation designed to curb the actions of politicians or punish their crimes. This isn't only because so many UK and US legislators are complicit in so many worldclass transgressions. This is one of the few occasions when elected representatives really will act on principle - the principle being that (whatever it is) they should always get away with it.

According Arkansas Democrat-Gazette columnist Gene Lyons, the real conservatives are missing in action - deliberately:

Recently, former Republican Rep. Bob Barr, one-time House impeachment manager against President Clinton, put this question to a Conservative Political Action Committee convention near Washington: "Do we truly remain a society that believes that ... every president must abide by the law of this country? I, as a conservative, say yes. I hope you as conservatives say yes."

The Washington Post reports that Barr was greeted by stony silence.

I guess they feel "they should always get away with it"?

They can sit on their a$$et$ if they want, for others are taking action. Actor Richard Dreyfuss is calling for impeachment as is Prairie Home Companion star Garrison Keillor, who declares:

"The U.S. Constitution provides a simple ultimate way to hold him to account for war crimes and the failure to attend to the country's defense. Impeach him and let the Senate hear the evidence."

Keillor has supporters:

I agree with Garrison Keillor: President George W. Bush should be impeached. It is the only way for the United States to get its reputation back. - Zeki Ergas Chêne Bougeries, Switzerland

What better way to get the answers than to impeach Bush? Let the president try and tell us why he has been such a poor performer. If he was the CEO of a major corporation he would have been out of his job a long time ago. But this will happen only if the people themselves take to the streets of Washington in peaceful protest.
- Richard Stern, Geneva

[I]t will take much more outrage on the part of the American electorate for this to happen. What is startling, however, is that the level of national outrage has remained, at best, tepid. Have we become so disillusioned by America's leaders that we just do not care? Or is it that we feel powerless in the face of the mediocrity of our leaders?
- Marc Cendron, Boston

Certainly, something resembling this is the case in some circles. But, despite David Horowitz' campaign to stifle non-conservative discussion on the college campuses of America, students from Yale to University of California Santa Barbara are actively debating the proposition that:

Impeachment constitutes an indictment, not a conviction. The standard to impeach need only be that there is reason to believe a crime may have been committed.

Some communities are in full agreement, pleading for the the action to get underway as quickly as possible:

We are beyond the point of merely asking for help in ridding our country of perhaps the greatest threat to its future: President George W. Bush. We are demanding, as deeply concerned American citizens, that Congress take immediate action to impeach Bush. Not tomorrow, not the next day, but today - now - before it's too late.

A blind man could see where all this is leading and it's not to a place that most people would want to go, largely because it's a place that will no longer be recognizable in its previous form as the land of the free and home of the brave. Let's put all this another way: If we are correct and Bush is not above the law, then he has broken the law, at least in the domestic spying arena, and he should be prosecuted.

If he is correct, then we no longer live in the United States of America because we no longer have a government of laws by the people, of the people, for the people, but one that does the bidding of a dictator or a king. King George Bush.

A student at University of California Irvine - deep in the heart of Richard Nixon's Good Orange County (CA) Republican political stronghold - has another take on the impeachment situation:

Bush has shown that he’s on a mission, a mission that we keep preventing him from accomplishing. Can’t you see? The poor man is trying to get fired.

Being the president is tough and Bush just does not want the job anymore.

I support my president and his wishes, so that is why I hope to convince readers that Bush should indeed be thrown out of office.

I'm convinced! I hope you are as well.

It is time to push for impeachment - the alternatives are all very much worse.

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