Twitter
StumbleUpon
Facebook
Delicious
Digg
Newsvine
Google
Yahoo
TechnoratiWhy I Believe Bush Must Go
Nixon Was Bad. These Guys Are Worse
As we enter the eighth year of the Bush-Cheney administration, I have belatedly and painfully concluded that the only honorable course for me is to urge the impeachment of the president and the vice president.
After the 1972 presidential election, I stood clear of calls to impeach President Richard M. Nixon for his misconduct during the campaign. I thought that my joining the impeachment effort would be seen as an expression of personal vengeance toward the president who had defeated me.
Today I have made a different choice.
Of course, there seems to be little bipartisan support for impeachment. The political scene is marked by narrow and sometimes superficial partisanship, especially among Republicans, and a lack of courage and statesmanship on the part of too many Democratic politicians. So the chances of a bipartisan impeachment and conviction are not promising.
But what are the facts?
Bush and Cheney are clearly guilty of numerous impeachable offenses. They have repeatedly violated the Constitution. They have transgressed national and international law. They have lied to the American people time after time. Their conduct and their barbaric policies have reduced our beloved country to a historic low in the eyes of people around the world. These are truly "high crimes and misdemeanors," to use the constitutional standard.
From the beginning, the Bush-Cheney team's assumption of power was the product of questionable elections that probably should have been officially challenged -- perhaps even by a congressional investigation.
In a more fundamental sense, American democracy has been derailed throughout the Bush-Cheney regime. The dominant commitment of the administration has been a murderous, illegal, nonsensical war against Iraq. That irresponsible venture has killed almost 4,000 Americans, left many times that number mentally or physically crippled, claimed the lives of an estimated 600,000 Iraqis (according to a careful October 2006 study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health) and laid waste their country. The financial cost to the United States is now $250 million a day and is expected to exceed a total of $1 trillion, most of which we have borrowed from the Chinese and others as our national debt has now climbed above $9 trillion -- by far the highest in our national history.
All of this has been done without the declaration of war from Congress that the Constitution clearly requires, in defiance of the U.N. Charter and in violation of international law. This reckless disregard for life and property, as well as constitutional law, has been accompanied by the abuse of prisoners, including systematic torture, in direct violation of the Geneva Conventions of 1949.
I have not been heavily involved in singing the praises of the Nixon administration. But the case for impeaching Bush and Cheney is far stronger than was the case against Nixon and Vice President Spiro T. Agnew after the 1972 election. The nation would be much more secure and productive under a Nixon presidency than with Bush. Indeed, has any administration in our national history been so damaging as the Bush-Cheney era?
How could a once-admired, great nation fall into such a quagmire of killing, immorality and lawlessness?
It happened in part because the Bush-Cheney team repeatedly deceived Congress, the press and the public into believing that Saddam Hussein had nuclear arms and other horrifying banned weapons that were an "imminent threat" to the United States. The administration also led the public to believe that Iraq was involved in the 9/11 attacks -- another blatant falsehood. Many times in recent years, I have recalled Jefferson's observation: "Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just."
The basic strategy of the administration has been to encourage a climate of fear, letting it exploit the 2001 al-Qaeda attacks not only to justify the invasion of Iraq but also to excuse such dangerous misbehavior as the illegal tapping of our telephones by government agents. The same fear-mongering has led government spokesmen and cooperative members of the press to imply that we are at war with the entire Arab and Muslim world -- more than a billion people.
Another shocking perversion has been the shipping of prisoners scooped off the streets of Afghanistan to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and other countries without benefit of our time-tested laws of habeas corpus.
Although the president was advised by the intelligence agencies last August that Iran had no program to develop nuclear weapons, he continued to lie to the country and the world. This is the same strategy of deception that brought us into war in the Arabian Desert and could lead us into an unjustified invasion of Iran. I can say with some professional knowledge and experience that if Bush invades yet another Muslim oil state, it would mark the end of U.S. influence in the crucial Middle East for decades.
Ironically, while Bush and Cheney made counterterrorism the battle cry of their administration, their policies -- especially the war in Iraq -- have increased the terrorist threat and reduced the security of the United States. Consider the difference between the policies of the first President Bush and those of his son. When the Iraqi army marched into Kuwait in August 1990, President George H.W. Bush gathered the support of the entire world, including the United Nations, the European Union and most of the Arab League, to quickly expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait. The Saudis and Japanese paid most of the cost. Instead of getting bogged down in a costly occupation, the administration established a policy of containing the Baathist regime with international arms inspectors, no-fly zones and economic sanctions. Iraq was left as a stable country with little or no capacity to threaten others.
Today, after five years of clumsy, mistaken policies and U.S. military occupation, Iraq has become a breeding ground of terrorism and bloody civil strife. It is no secret that former president Bush, his secretary of state, James A. Baker III, and his national security adviser, Gen. Brent Scowcroft, all opposed the 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq.
In addition to the shocking breakdown of presidential legal and moral responsibility, there is the scandalous neglect and mishandling of the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe. The veteran CNN commentator Jack Cafferty condenses it to a sentence: "I have never ever seen anything as badly bungled and poorly handled as this situation in New Orleans." Any impeachment proceeding must include a careful and critical look at the collapse of presidential leadership in response to perhaps the worst natural disaster in U.S. history.
Impeachment is unlikely, of course. But we must still urge Congress to act. Impeachment, quite simply, is the procedure written into the Constitution to deal with presidents who violate the Constitution and the laws of the land. It is also a way to signal to the American people and the world that some of us feel strongly enough about the present drift of our country to support the impeachment of the false prophets who have led us astray. This, I believe, is the rightful course for an American patriot.
As former representative Elizabeth Holtzman, who played a key role in the Nixon impeachment proceedings, wrote two years ago, "it wasn't until the most recent revelations that President Bush directed the wiretapping of hundreds, possibly thousands, of Americans, in violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) -- and argued that, as Commander in Chief, he had the right in the interests of national security to override our country's laws -- that I felt the same sinking feeling in my stomach as I did during Watergate. . . . A President, any President, who maintains that he is above the law -- and repeatedly violates the law -- thereby commits high crimes and misdemeanors."
I believe we have a chance to heal the wounds the nation has suffered in the opening decade of the 21st century. This recovery may take a generation and will depend on the election of a series of rational presidents and Congresses. At age 85, I won't be around to witness the completion of the difficult rebuilding of our sorely damaged country, but I'd like to hold on long enough to see the healing begin.
There has never been a day in my adult life when I would not have sacrificed that life to save the United States from genuine danger, such as the ones we faced when I served as a bomber pilot in World War II. We must be a great nation because from time to time, we make gigantic blunders, but so far, we have survived and recovered.
anmcgove@dwu.edu
© 2007 The Washington Post
111 Comments so far
Show AllWe know what the traditional penalty is for treason. This is exactly what Dubya, Shooter, and every other past and present senior official in this administration deserve - to hang by the neck from the nearest tree ASAP.
So glad Americans have come to their senses at last - it's taken you nearly eight years.
Lets hope the next would-be champion on a white charger isn't just another Tony Blair, trumpeting an endless stream of bright ideas to Change the World, and actually delivering pretty well zilch.
Good Luck !
Country housewife, Herefordshire, England
Pelosi and Reid are the face of the Democratic Party, conniving, corrupt and dishonest. A vote for a Democrat is a vote for Bush & Cheney. Wake up. VOTE SHEEHAN. VOTE THIRD PARTY.
I lost my scholarship at a catholic college, because I wanted to establish a campaign office for George McGovern there. I supposed I should have known better. However, I, with Massachusetts, had the last laugh.
Yes, yes, impeach these creeps--then make sure we replace them with leaders that will respect and support the Constitution, embrace the Bill of Rights, and care for ALL of the people residing in this nation.
Yes, the US may have survived a lot of blunders, but I am starting to believe the country may not survive disastrous wholesale re-fabrication of the country by Bush/Cheney, certainly not as the country it once was.
When I heard this morning about the previous president of Peru now being held accountable for the numerous crimes during his term in office years earlier, I have HOPE that bush and cheney WILL see the inside of a jail cell --- and it can't be soon enough. Put on the shackles and scurry the dark ones into the chamber of doom where they have earned their permanent residence.
I agree with your sentiments, Chunga's Revenge. The empire will fall, but I never wanted to live in one either anyway. I know the US and it's complacent Americans have karma coming. And it's not good. But in another way, it IS good because we all needed to WAKE UP and stop watching 'reality' tv shows and PAY ATTENTION to what our government has been doing with our tax dollars behind our backs. NO MORE will we take this. But we all need to learn the lesson because many are still sleeping. And so the lesson shall come. Fasten your seatbelts.
mirf59,
Thanks for the compliment. My thoughts exactly on the interactions. It may be like a molecular formula.
But I have to say I'm keenly interested in the 8th cousin tracing to Obama. That suggests that these people are very deeply interested in genealogy, and my guess is that it's not because it's a fun hobby to login to Ancestry.com, they venerate their ancestors (like the Japanese and traditional cultures), etc.
Is it a call for morality?
George McGovern, a one-time US presidential contender, insists that Bush and Cheney are guilty of numerous impeachable offences for repeatedly violating the Constitution and transgression of national and international law. As well as nonsensical war against Iraq which has resulted into killing of some 4000 Americans and 600,000 Iraqis butchered. And that all of this has been done without the declaration of war from Congress as well as; it is in defiance of the U.N. Charter and in violation of international law. The reckless disregard for life and property in foreign lands and constitutional law, has been accompanied by the abuse of prisoners, including systematic torture, in direct violation of the Geneva Conventions of 1949.
He also claims that the conduct and their barbaric policies have reduced the image of United States to a historic low in the eyes of people around the world. Is he trying to give; morality a call?
But has he really tried to peep behind the closed doors and found the real forces at work behind this; which tends these figures like Bush and Cheney to remain on their toes all the time. This may be his; a hypocritical face not to reveal the truth; that it is in fact the policy of 'American Adventurism' at its play; which is complexity of deep seeded policies and the mind set of US of securing US hegemony in the world; that is what which should matter him the most and be point of contention for him.
American adventurism is strife; it is the fearsome agenda of all the debates held concerning the future of humanity in the entire world. The divisive policies implied in execution through deception and fallacy by US is awful. The dismantling of sovereign states and to bring the havoc in the lives of millions and millions of defence less destitute people and to dislodge them and wipe them off from the face of earth; just in pursuance of rapacious greed of US;, are the crimes against humanity?
Anarchy, mayhem in the house of adversaries and media manipulation in order to upkeep the climate of fear of terror, in our own society is the order of the day. The evidence of government sponsored terror and how they use the fear of terror to control own society is seen bursting out at the seams. This horrific climate is keeping the world in its grips; now for decades.
We find that US top political parties; Conservative as well as Democrats; both are in full agreement in pursuing this common dream of their hegemonic aspiration in the world.
Today it is Bush and Cheney's team and tomorrow we will have another set of figures; we will find that they are pushing the same evil policies forward.
* My killers they don't change; only they change their faces and flags.
*What a strenuous journey of mine; even my milestones and traversed spans; all travel with me.(Habib Jalib)
-----------------------------
Love for all, Hatred for none
Paul B,
Love your list of ten above. Don't forget the interactions. Those factors are not all mutually exclusive.
For example, maybe it's
ruling elite + crocodile brain = Iraqi Freedom
Or, perhaps it's
(0.20) ruling elite + (0.35) crocodile brain + (0.25) peak oil + (0.30) nihilism - (0.10) Colbert Ratings
This is what the field of statistics is for. We can model it.
Of course, unless MSM is a nonloading variable in the regression, the results will sadly not be reported.
I think the one explanation we can rule out is cold rationality.
Of course, I would start with the simplest explanation -- the goal is to maximize the lifetime wealth of the wealthy by any means within one's power.
It may be just as simple as that.
I would say that this is the 1st and most important thing americans want (or that they would admit tha if the process started).
Damn, I miss Senators McGovern, Wellstone and Irvin.
Chunga's Revenge,
Fascinating -- Obama is Cheney's wife's 8th cousin. I admit to being interested in genealogy and have invested many hours on it -- but tracing out to 8th cousins? Holy buckets, the Dynastic Families are keenly interested in this "hobby" aren't they?
So indeed, this is another theory to add to the laundry list to explain the total lack of action in Congress, Tony Blair, the new French leader, etc.. Like Europe since the Bronze Age, it's all run by a network of interrelated royalty.
(That'll overlap with both co-option by Big Money, and the syndicated network explanations.)
Where is the President of Terror Dick Cheney? He usually has an answer for everything. Why don't he come one those fake Sunday morning news shows and tell us how things are going to be?
We should be thought of that way, ijdavis, because that is how we are. We started out with genocide and slavery; democracy and freedom have always been a facade for the most part. Germany deserved its loathed status, and so do we. We shouldn't be a world leader. We can barely take care of ourselves.
I think most of us on CommonDreams realize most Americans are like Good Germans. But many of the comments on this site strongly suggest to me that even of those of us on the left have a problem, what with us tearing each other apart for supporting or not supporting specific parties or candidates. We can be almost as totalitarian as the Republicans, and I suggest one can't build real progress or true liberality on such a foundation. Is it better to be a wolf than a sheep? (Moderates can be totalitarian too, I might add. Centrism is a bias just as leftism and rightism are.)
What does America have in common with Germany? John Taylor gatto and Alice Miller have suggested it's Prussian-style schooling and abusive parenting. I think that's the main (but not exclusive) cause. We're not alone in that of course, but it seems to be pronounced in out two cases.
Can we reform? If we admit we have a problem. Changing our figurehead (/daddy) won't do it. If you pay your taxes, like I do, then you have blood on your hands, like I do. (I try to avoid the self-soothing delusions of righteousness most people seem to wallow in.)
It seems to me America needs psychological help. We shouldn't be a world leader. And maybe the nation needs to be divided and weakened, MeAlsoToo. It might do us some good. It would certainly do the rest of the world some good. Should I desire unity with fascists?
As for political solutions, I think Malfoyd is on the right track with his comment.
Impeach? No, try the bastards as war criminals. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Gonzales, et al. And next in line: every Republican and Democrat that has helped to enable their war crimes...
"If for some reason you are not willing to lead, leave it to the rest of us. Please get out of the way." (Kevin Conrad)
chunga , here i am standing corrected ,again. i mistakingly have been saying that obama was dick's cousin and you have shown he is lynne cheney's cousin. apples and pears...it's still too close for comfort , for me .
Pelosi has insisted that impeachment is off the table. One major reason given by some Democrats has been that they don't have the numbers.
I did a bit of research on Goggle and found that surprisingly they were telling the truth.
In a nation of 300 million, there are about 6 million Jewish-Americans. At the same time, the Congress comprising a total of 535 members contains a whopping 43 Jewish-Americans. If 6 million have 43 reps, then a small calculation would show that the remaining US population (300 m – 6 m =294 m) should proportionally have 2117 reps and not just 535 – 43 = 492.
How they have managed to get such a disproportional number of members in the Congress is a credit to their intelligence. Perhaps they really are the chosen people because instead of 10 reps which is the fair share for 6 million, 33 more are chosen as Congress members.
Now, the reason why Pelosi does not have the numbers is that these 43 Congress members (10 in Senate, 33 in House) have their own friends among other reps who could be arm-twisted to do their bidding. The 43 and their friends in the Congress would never allow impeachment as long as Mr Bush is doing Israel's bidding by attacking Arabs/Muslim nations and trashing Palestinians.
Fortunately, you don't have to look far for AIPAC in this—the AIPAC is in our House!
Please don't try to anti-Semitic me. I love intelligent people. They've grabbed t all the good places: in the Administration, in Pentagon, in banks, the media, the Hollywood, the whole shebang. I really respect them.
Another pissant, 'insider', spreader of Dissonance and 'Problem masquerading as Solution'...
Does McGovern coordinate with 'other such-leaders' like Uncle-TomH for this counter-productive crap and false-flag Propaganda, or do they just get their 'marching orders' the same-day and from same damn think-tank?
America doesn't need any further-Division and Dissonance...but we DO need 'Unity'.
Again, "judge them by their Fruits" and apply "Quo Bono"...
We need to network and reach-out to Others, not 'draw lines in the Sand' and fall for this "divide and conquer", nonsense.
[There will-be/can-be no real-'Impeachment', ever, or of anyone...not while MOST are complicit in shared-Criminality -- which goes-back MUCH further than most-imagine: Click my Name above]
Don't you mean the Bush-Clinton dynasty, Mr McGovern?
Who was that you endorsed again, Hillary Clinton?
Ain't in what you say--it is in what you do.
Thanks theytoldyouwhat, here is another link about Sibel Edmmonds.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/10/25/60minutes/main526954.shtml
AndyUK: politics as we know it, are always going to be controlled by the elite. How do we overcome this situation?
Each individual weans him/herself off the opiates dispensed by elites. Training takes place in K-12 civics classrooms. Field trips for the kids to legislative sessions and board meetings to harass and instill fear in the bureaucrats.
It was very interesting to read the comments of Doom n Gloom and Paul Bramscher, because I have felt that for some time now (particularly the last ten years), that politicians from most parties, on both sides of the Atlantic have taken courses of action, which have outraged the rest of the World and a majority of the general populace within their own countries. It also seems that the media has a vested interest in protecting the ruling party, and there is very little reporting of public dissent.
So, to echo the thoughts of people on this site - have the politicians been blackmailed? Have they all been vetted by clandestine groups (Bildeburg for instance), to make sure that they will be "on message" if they get into power? Is there a Western World mafia who control US/UK politics?
Why did a politician such as Tony Blair (intelligent, lucid, loved by the media when he came to power in 1997) decide to align himself with one of the most right wing neo-conservative administrations in US history, when one would have thought they had opposite political views?
Any of the reasons given by Paul Bramscher could be valid, but if true could mean that politics as we know it, are always going to be controlled by the elite.
How do we overcome this situation?
Is impeaching Bush enough? No, it is time for the entire country to take responsibility for its crimes. It must do the following:
1. Publicly admit its crime of violating the UN Charter, which prohibits aggression against sovereign states. (Tip: forget about 'winning')
2. Ask the UN, without any US participation, to assemble a peacekeeping force to replace US troops within Iraq to assist toward a political solution to the problems caused by the invasion, and to be fully funded by the US.
3. Ask the UN, again without US participation, to assess war reparations against the US for the illegal invasion of Iraq. (Remember: forget about 'winning')
4. Make a commitment to acquiesce to an international task force charged with eliminating all nuclear weapons in the world, and conducting regular inspections to ensure ongoing compliance from all nations.
Enough hand wringing. Time to do the right thing and face up to America's war crimes.
"I have signed the Wexler petition. McGovern is 100% right! Our country is becoming a Third World Nation under GWB."
Maybe that is a good thing. As a matter of fact, the majority of the countries in the world are Third World Nations (although the term is actually nowadays considered 'politically incorrect'). This may mean that the people of the United States can develop more of a solidarity with people elsewhere in the world and will act less as if they are 'the chosen ones'. Welcome to the World Community !
If lying to the public were an impeachable offense, we'd lose just about every public "servant."
While it is always encouraging to read of someone whom one respects support impeachment for the criminal(s) I can't help but say, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? Some of us have been saying and working for this for years. Nevertheless--welcome aboard--Now what other action will you take Mr. McGovern? A letter is not enough.
vern , good for mcgovern if he did back hillary , right now , she looks like the lesser of evils , she isn't dick cheney's cousin , is she ? mealsotoo , i share your skepticism , mcgovern and hayden could rightfully be accused of being 'company' men... the problem is that we the people are in a position where we must judge everyone by their "fruits" and mcgovern and hayden have not produced the stinking, rotting ,fly buzzing fruit that many others have . look how many people here are nader heads , nader is ambidextrous , gets his palms greased by all sides.
McGovern gives one excellent reason why we should ALL call for impeachment of these criminals... and that is to let the rest of the world know that SANE Americans do not approve of their actions!
The amount of damage they have done to the image of America world wide will take decades to repair... if it is ever repaired at all.
Is this true? Obummer is Dick Cheney's cousin? http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21340764/
I knew there was something fishy with this guy, no more ruling elite!
Vote Green in 2008.
"ACCOUNTABILITY ACCOUNTABLE ACCOUNT" These words apply to every citizen in America except Bush and Chaney.
The MSM (main stream media) has assured us that there will be no Accountability required for Bush and Chaney. This administration has the self-willed authority to undermine all of the values and morals that our fathers have given their lives to establish.
This further implies that anyone supporting this position is willfully violating the will of the People to remove a Representative chosen by the Citizens of a nation.
Impeachment is the order of the Peoples. We advise our other Representatives to be Accountable to the People as per your sworn Oath.
I can't forgive the US until you guys fix this. Impeachment would demonsttrate a lot to the rational world.
George.
You were the last mainstream presidential candidate I spent time and effort to get elected.
Ever since, each Democratic presidential candidate has gone increasingly to the Right; when in power, they have increasingly implemented the Republican Party's long-term political agenda: welfare reform, NAFTA, and so on.
"Any of the reasons given by Paul Bramscher could be valid, but if true could mean that politics as we know it, are always going to be controlled by the elite.
How do we overcome this situation?"
Get rid of politicians. Global Online Democracy (G.O.D.), direct and decentralized, makes them obsolete.
I cannot say any more than what has already been said above, other than:
Get Rid Of These Bums, ASAP!!!!
"ron , we have to stop needing hero's and settle for some real humane and wise and brave humans …. hero's are doomed to fall short and to fail miserably."
I would just like to second this.
And, I believe that everyone is capable of wise and humane action when armed with real information rather than the crafted illusions that define our modern political and corporate/military culture.
Sibel Edmonds, the former FBI translator who has been under a Bush administration gag order for the past 5 years, has now begun to disclose some of the classified information she has been prohibited from revealing.
In the article, just filed tonight, Edmonds reveals details overheard on wiretaps she translated during her time at the FBI, just after 9/11. Her disclosures to the Times reveal a maze of nuclear black market espionage involving U.S. Defense and State Department officials, that resulted in the sale and propagation of nuclear secrets to Turkish and Israeli interests. In turn, that information was then sold to Pakistan and used by A.Q. Kahn for development of nuclear weapons. The secrets were subsequently proliferated to Iran, Libya, North Korea, and potentially al-Qaeda's Osama bin Laden, just weeks prior to September 11th, 2001.
In late October, Edmonds had told The BRAD BLOG she was prepared to reveal the information to any major U.S. broadcast media outlet, after feeling that she had exhausted all efforts to see the disturbing information properly investigated by U.S. Government agencies. She had, in fact, spent years in classified interviews with high-ranking officials from the FBI, DoJ, 9/11 Commission and both houses of the U.S. Congress, in hopes of seeing accountability brought concerning the issues of national security, which the DoJ's own Inspector General had described as "credible," "serious," and "warrant[ing] a thorough and careful review by the FBI."
Despite broken promises for hearings on her case by U.S. Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA), support from Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Patrick Leahy (D-MI), and a number of mainstream exposés several years ago detailing aspects of her story before she was willing to break her unprecedented "States Secrets Privilege" gag order, none of the American broadcast media outlets took her up on her offer.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article3137695.ece
ron , we have to stop needing hero's and settle for some real humane and wise and brave humans .... hero's are doomed to fall short and to fail miserably.
Sen. McGovern, I admire you and what you have done for our country. Everything you say in your article is true. But what took you so long to say it? We needed leaders like you to stand up a long time ago, so that others could follow your lead. Now, as the 2008 election nears, there will be even less incentive for politicians to respond to your call. You could have helped the impeachment movement when it might have done some good. Now, unfortunately, it is too little too late.
"The political scene is marked by narrow and sometimes superficial partisanship, especially among Republicans, and a lack of courage and statesmanship on the part of too many Democratic politicians."
That's an understatement! The majority in both parties are a bunch of gutless wonders who have been performing the "lockstep" dance with George Bush and his gang of perverted choreographers for years. Those who haven't danced along with him can be counted on less than one hand.
The last few Congresses under the Bush Administration will be remembered as the ones responsible for defiling the rule of law, destroying "the people's" constitutional protections, and turning our republic into a dictatorship.
IMPEACH - NOW!
Dennis Kucinich for President, 2008.
Thank you, Senator McGovern. I hope you will continue to push for impeachment along with Elizabeth Holtzman and other former political leaders who have the courage and integrity to take action against the barbarians.
Good idea Paul and I think it's worth discussing them all. I would suggest one other. The American economic situation is so dire that they do not want to risk collapsing the economy by bringing up impeachment charges.
Doom n Gloom,
Let's draw up 10 possible cases for testing:
1) All of Congress is co-opted by the same Big Money. In this analysis, they aren't frozen in fear, they're frozen in greed. How many millionaires are in Congress now? Over 25% according to an earlier CD article: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0630-05.htm. OR
2) Congress has been Manchurian'd. Not chemically or hypnotically (as in the Manchurian Candidate), but by a "cult of intelligence". They're regularly given information (mostly sheer fantasy), but it's marked Top Secret, and seems extremely credible. They're operating with a hallucinatory world view. OR
3) Perhaps our oil supply or some other key resource is going to run out in 5-20 years and they're panicking. OR
4) Some unavoidable asteroid is on a collision course, and they just see the futility of everything. They're nihilists. OR
5) The Fourth Estate is the Fifth Column. OR
6) They're well-meaning empire builders, arrogant, have grown up with priviledged upbringings, are ordinarily accustomed to having other people actually do things (so they're failing), and think they're really working for our best interests. They're just horribly incompetent (see Hanlon's Razor). A lot of reptilian intelligence, but no wisdom. OR
7) It's a worldwide organized crime network, or banking dynasty. OR
8. They've all been blackmailed. OR
9) The whole culture is so spoilt that nobody with an honest bone in his body is (a) interested in running for office or (b) would ever make it through the MSM's media blackout on their campaign. In this analysis, they don't magically "go bad" when they get to DC: they're spoiled goods from the get-go. OR
10) Americans (and many others) are too lazy, too apathetic, too easily fooled, too politicially illiterate, too easily convinced into acting contrary to their own class-interests.
If we start building explanations like this, we can start testing them -- to see the merits or lack thereof.
Impeach,LMFAO, the murdering slime of the bush family and his adminstration should be executed for the massive amounts of heinous crimes they commit on a daily basis. Isn't war profiteering a crime or can we just kill millions of peolpe anywhere, anytime, anyplace? The needless destruction the bush family has caused world-wide all for war profiteering is incomprehensible. Not to mention the trillions of dollars of our tax money flushed down the toilet, I mean spent of war contractors.
It is easy to get bush and Osama mixed up when you are discussing terror and terrorists. It is hard to imagine how much money the bush cartel has made from 9/11.
Munch 1's idea is as good an any. Something is amiss and we cannot put our finger on it. I do not understand the resistance to impeachment by Congress. Something is deeply wrong. There must be some deadly serious issue that we are not aware of. Congress seems frozen in fear. What do they know that we do not?
badminton , there have been several huge protests all over this nation , for many years and not one minute of media time was given to any of them.now we all know the answer to the proverbial joke "if a tree falls in the forest and nobody is there to hear it , does it still make a noise ?" the answer is , no , without the media , we cease to exist...at the most , we are kept to a minimum....we must press on , anyway , because it is not an overblown thing to say , that are lives depend on it ! impeachment is imperative , it is not a choice.
This is a good forum but there is too much preaching to the choir. We all know how bad Bush and Cheney are. Enough talk! Time for action! Let's all work to make it happen. What we need are militant protests by millions of Americans aimed at shutting down all business activity. Surround every state capital and demand immediate impeachment of the Bush-Cheney gang. A national strike may be effective if enough people participate. To get results the citizens need to apply pressure.
p.s. i'm sorry moonraven , your friends call for you ,and we all need your input.you are missed....peace. sara
lino , hard to know the guys in the white hats from the guys in the black hats and the crowd in the gray hats. when dennis kucinich conceded , i now have to wonder about him too ,didnt seem to go about it in his usual patented kucinich-way ,he broke character....maybe he was just another shill...
nader2000 , good summation...and i am afraid even munch1 , is correct. this is a conspiracy so vast and all encompassing , that it is impossible to wrap anything around , i voted for mcgovern as my second choice...but compared with the leadership we are offered in these dark times , mcgovern seems almost pristine in comparison. i don' t think he even is a lesser evil , if you worked for him and he was a jackass , i still think he was just a common garden-variety jackass and not one of the' dark overlords ".correct me ,if i am wrong.
so, mr. mcgovern, you have said it all. and we all agree. however, it is you, not us, who has the resources, who still has the contacts, who has the leadership skills to make this happen. why not get behind mr. kucinich's proposals? why not get the ball rolling? you obviously see here that you will have your own army of support. we are far beyond just writing and reading and talking about this debacle of a presidency.
and moonraven, where are you? your comments are sorely missed.
Impeach them AFTER they are out of office? Pardon an impeachment??
We got some real constitutional scholars here, it would seem...
Why wasn't this written years ago? Where were you, George, before the 2004 election? You were the first and last politician I ever admired and my first vote ever was cast for you. Make up for lost time by following up with vigor! Go onto all of the talk shows - get on Fox - and then do it again and again - pound the impeachment drum until the public wakes up. I want to see you recognized as the one who stood up and demanded impeachment with effectiveness (Kucinich has been ineffective). Make us proud of you again - become the greatest ex-President ever. You were a World War II hero. Please go to work and become a hero again. You will be the only double-hero in American history. Don't relax now that this article has been published - follow-up and bring this criminal administration to an end before its time is up. You are our last hope.
Why I Believe... the Electoral Process Is Fake
It is.
I worked for McGovern. He is a complete phony (and every bit of a rude and arrogant elitist).
Address the corporate military order. It rules this society regardless of who is elected. It ruled while Clinton held the post of First Distracter, and it rules now as George Bush and Cheney pretend to decide/implement (even more laughable, write) policy.
Wake up people. You live in a military ruled society. And, in this military ruled society, deception is a primal part of keeping the program running smoothly.
Your elections are fake. Your politicians are selected and counseled, just as Hitler was by the German and English army.
Wake up people. It is time to realize, the vote will not bring about greater environmental or social sanity. Only a strong dose of reality (perceived by most) has the chance to do that.
Bush is a distraction. He did not decide to go to war with Iraq! I was working in security in the nineties. That decision was already taken well before Bush was elected and much spending was geared to preparing systems to be tested in that renewed theatre.
Military decisions are NOT made by politicians. They are made in board rooms and they are made by those who have only one interest, keeping and expanding dominance over all… which translates into a program of general and selective genocide being practiced against the majority.
mr. mcgovern , i know that you are extremely well-versed in the art of democracy ,which is why i hold you in high esteem. i know that you know that the mullarky bush fed to the populace and the crap huckabee is trying to pass off as democracy , is NOT democracy.without the separation of church and state and the continued enforcement of our amendment rights , there can be no such thing as democracy.separation of church and state is a cornerstone to freedom.bush/cheney are using the phrase "delivering democracy " as code for 'delivering death.' they are beyond evil , and impeachment is not just an option ,it is an absolute ! they cannot and must not be allowed to just 'get away'. !!! please put your experience and your clout in unity , with the handful of good men and women left to us , that are not so easily bought and don't owe their allegiance to some dark and secret order.
Again and again, I catch myself thinking too much like the liberal/progressive, and not like the neocons. I cry, "Impeach!" and someone says, "But if you impeach Bush, then we'll have Cheney!" So they try to get the ball rolling for impeaching Cheney, and I wonder why they don't impeach Bush too.
Here's the Rub:
1. Impeach Bush first, and you get Cheney for president. Don't want that.
2. Impeach Cheney first, too soon, and Bush will pardon him. Don't want that.
3. Impeach them both, and they may create an even larger crisis by instituting martial law, etc.
4. So here's the plan: Impeach, but do so late enough that the House can wrap up the proceedings and hand it on to the Senate for a trial (the second step, after the House impeaches). Then have a Senate trial for Cheney and/or Bush when they're out of office, hopefully with a Democrat as president, and we avoid a pardon for Cheney.
The founding fathers didn't foresee this sort of thing because the loser in the presidential election often became VP.
But when the Pres. and VP are both complicit, this has to be done carefully....
In one year, Bush IS going.
We ought to immediately replace the House Speaker and the Senate Majority Leader with new fresh faces. This will help Democatic candidates in the fall election. Pelosi and Reid have become a chain around the neck of the Democratic Party.
We need this change NOW!
I applaud Senator McGovern's article, as I applaud him (and voted for him in '72!) for his outspokenness, but...
As a nation, we're not merely close to the cliff's edge, we've already fallen off. The only course of action, now, is to wait for the inevitable crash-landing, then pick up the pieces and start over. The Empire is in a free-fall.
Not to mention that the majority of members in Congress are just as impeachable as Bush and Cheney, for giving them a green light and a blank check.
Right on Alex.There was a petition going round here last week calling for the removal of Pelosi.
http://www.petitiononline.com/everyman/petition.html
Oh here it is.
I suspect McGovern knows he is not being completely candid in stating the comparison between Papa Bush and Baby Bush re Iraq.
Bush I laid a trap for Saddam Hussein and then slammed it down on Saddam's paw after the Kuwait invasion, making sure there was no diplomatic resolution of the crisis. He used America's Cold War legacy high tech army to kill about 150,000 Iraqi conscripts (mostly Shia and Kurds) and to destroy the civilian infrastructure of Iraq's relatively prosperous prewar society. The UN had approved sanctions before the war in hopes of averting war, and Papa Bush refused to let them be lifted after the war to prevent rebuilding of the destroyed infrastructure. Hundreds of thousands died as a result. Bill Clinton, to his eternal shame, kept this genocidal policy basically in place, although it was softened considerably by the oil-for-food program.
Baby Bush took the torture of Iraq up a notch with his illegal and unjustified invasion, and the ethnic civil war that has followed along with the continuing violence of the US military in response to national resistance. The estimate of 600,000 Iraqis dead from the invasion and its aftermath is on top of the already-elevated post-1990 mortality, and is now not one but two years out of date.
The best estimate one can really make for the total death toll is about a million for Bush I and Clinton, plus another million for Bush II. That's a tenth of the Iraqi people.
If Bush and Cheney were impeached, Nancy Pelosi would become president. We now know that she has secretly condoned, aided, abetted, connived at, misprisoned and otherwise supported both war crimes, including torture, forced disappearance and murder, and unconstitutional invasions of privacy of millions of Americans. Her public rhetoric notwithstanding, these facts reveal her to be a closet neocon with no respect for international and American law or the Constitution. While I favor the impeachment and removal, as well as criminal trial, of Bush and Cheney, any such initiative must incorporate replacement of the Speaker with an ethical person.
This is how Nixon's downfall began--here a little there a little and suddenly the avalanche (propeled forward by the testimionies of Butterfield and Dean) blew Nixon away. What is important here is not what McGovern is saying--what is important here is that he is being given space in the Sunday Washington Post to say it.
Also of significance are the efforts of the likes of Ray McGovern (CIA and no relation) and Scott Ritter (Marine intel officer). Both these guys are connected to organizations who share in the monopoly on the legitimate uses of force by the State (indeed they are members of the security state aparatus).
Their coming out so forcefully and with such determination could signal a dissenting schism within the security state establishment capable of taking out both Bush and Cheney so we can have...? Madam Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and after her either Hillary or Barack O --groan, it just seems to go from one bad choice to another.
mr. mcgovern , i was thrilled to see an article here at cd , written by you. i have the highest regard for you and you have been missed. the weapons of mass destruction , have been occupying the white house and "delivering democracy",without just cause or provocation. i don't believe impeachment is a choice it is absolutely necessary , there is NO choice, we must impeach !!
Do you remember the first action that Bush the Inferior did the day he took office? He sealed the presidential records of Raygun and his dear old dad. Think ya know why?
Maybe impeachment should have started a LONG, LONG time ago!
ijdavis: Impeach Bush and Cheney for their numerous crimes against humanity, or as a nation stand remembered as being both accomplice too, and supportive of those crimes against humanity.
DLD: Sad to say the average voter is looking at the coming elections to fix everything and haven't the foresight to see what damage is done on the world arena by not impeaching Bush and Cheney and thus rejecting as a Nation their evil.
amen.
and amen.
Not only are Bush and Cheney evil, they are idiots. Yes, Cheney too. Their policies are destroying our country.
The U.S. will never dominate Central Asia. It isn't going to happen, period, and the attempts to do so will only result in tragedy and sorrow for our nation and people.
Trying to get a secure pipeline through the rugged and impenetrable geography of the big mountains of south Central Asia is an unparalleled boondoggle. And that is the real motivation, by the way, for the Reichstag fire attacks of 9/11/2001 so the U.S. Army could be employed to implement the idiotic pipe dream of a pipeline through Afghanistan and Pakistan (the tribal areas) to the Arabian Sea so Caspian oil could go to U.S. linked multinational oil conglomerates instead of China and Russia.
They've already lost. China has completed a pipeline to transport oil from the Caspian Basin, and so has Russia.
Impeach, convict, indict, convict,and imprison these fools.
Do you know that the head of the heroin mafia in Afghanistan is the puppet president Karzai's brother?
Yes, Halliburton and C.I.A. linked heroin and opium traders are doing great. So in Bush's warped mind, all these catastrophic blunders are big successes.
ijdavis: Impeach Bush and Cheney for their numerous crimes against humanity, or as a nation stand remembered as being both accomplice too, and supportive of those crimes against humanity.
DLD: Sad to say the average voter is looking at the coming elections to fix everything and haven't the foresight to see what damage is done on the world arena by not impeaching Bush and Cheney and thus rejecting as a Nation their evil.
amen.
and amen.
I wrote this E mail to Nancy Pelosi in May 05 .Why does it take so long for well intentioned people like Mr McGovern to speak up? Our leadership is craven.
"Dear representative Pelosi.
in my opinion, the complete lack of spine the Democratic party at large has demonstrated, has amply justified the need for a third party. It is equally clear that the Democratic party has colluded with the Republican party to ensure no third party gets any traction. That means both parties are feeding from the same corrupt money trough, with no end in sight.
I understand the mindset that says, we don't need to bring up the impeachment issue it will only revitalize the Republican base, etc etc .
There is a completely different issue, however, quite outside the party groupthink: I believe Bush and other members of this administration are also war criminals, and only America's power and "exceptionalism" precludes their being sent to Le Hague. Anyone who accepts their actions ,from Fixing the intelligence, to invasion of a sovereign country, massive murder of innocents, in Iraq, is offering aid and assistence to war criminals. Impeachment would at least show willingness to confront evil in this nation.
Sincerely ...............5/14/06"
With the "election" of Dubya & Co., Americans finally learned what it is like to be governed by the sort of corrupt elite morons who run third world nations. Unlike the majority of the Americas, the US had been fortunate to have competent leadership during traumatic times. Our luck ran out this time around. We must heed McGovern's call just so future generations do not look upon us with the same disdain that we have for prior generations that allowed slavery, racial discrimination, etc.
it is not too late , to impeach ,and it must happen before they leave office.yes , it is too late for all the thousands of lives wasted,lost and the shame of it being all based on lies and all unnecessary. the people of iraq were never our enemies,until bush made them into enemies ,to serve his masters in halliburton and dubai. we were used and the people of iraq were murdered in cold blood.IMPEACHMENT,it is overdue , but it still MUST happen !! IMPEACH !!
Nixon was an otherwise competent, paranoid with delusions of majesty. Bu$h the inferior is an idiot for listening to Shotgun Dick, Rummy, Riceroni, Turd blossom and the rest of the gang. He is immoral or rather amoral. I really don't think he considers the results of his actions from a moral basis. Right is what feathers the nest of the elite BECAUSE they are superior and DESERVE to rule the lazy riff raff who are not bright enough to even deserve a logical explanation of the actions of the ruling class. This appears to be straight from momma Bu$h.
Good leaders make mistakes sometimes and usually admit them. George McGovern should have been president rather than a second dose of Nixon. Bu$h the inferior should have been punished for being AWOL from the national guard or better yet sent to Vietnam with the double dose of blacks that were sent.
Almost anyone would have been better than Bu$h the inferior, 42 consecutive previous presidents were. The next one will be better if only by default.
I don't know REBEL FARMER, if there is a statute of limitations on impeachment? My wild guess is, you can't impeach someone who has already left office. You could sure have them prosecuted for crimes though. The thing is, we should impeach him now, the other thing is, I doubt it will happen. We'll see how Jose Rogriguez does when he testifies this month. His testimony may force Conyers to put impeachment on the table for both Cheney and Bush.
REBEL FARMER: Impeachment is like an indictment, done by the House after hearings etc. If "impeached/indicted" then a vote must be taken in the Senate. If a majority say he's guilty then the only punishment is removal from office. Of course, once out of office criminal proceedings could be brought in a court of law.
Well done, colleen!
mr. mcgovern , where have you been ?i voted for you , and would have gladly voted for you , again .the majority of people in this nation ,desperately want bush/cheney impeached and have wanted it for a very long time ! bush/cheney need to be impeached , yesterday and definitely before they leave office...it would not bode well for the people of the united states if the criminals that have occupied our highest offices are allowed to get away with their lies , their thievery and their misdirected, misguided and illegal war.
As Ron Paul said last night, his opponents give lip service to the Constitution, but don't abide by it.
George Bush is the perfect example, but I doubt anything will touch him legally, since he has such good friends in high places.
Another good cataloguing of the crimes of this regime. We have seen more and more of this lately, including an editorial in our Oregonian along the lines of the recent one in the NYT. Although it seems that it may be too little, too late, to mobilize the opposition needed to sweep them away, as they so richly deserve, we desperately need to cleanse our souls before moving ahead.
I recall the bromide from the world of finance that says, "If you owe the bank thousands of dollars, the bank owns you. However, if you owe the bank billions, you own the bank". It seems that the Bush regime has taken this to heart in the realm of power politics. With their unrelenting criminal actions pushed through on the back of 9/11 with so little opposition from the Congress and the public, we are now in an extreme situation where we are all so complicit in this 'indebtedness' of moral posture, that we cannot now foreclose on their enterprise without embracing our own moral bankruptcy in allowing this to happen. So we avert our eyes from the war, the torture, and all the unresolved scandals of this administration, and hope for the arrival of a savior that will sweep this away without any moral cost to us. Perhaps that is partly responsible for the Obama/Huckabee phenomenon we saw this week in Iowa, and the sense of relief among the public and the pundits in the media, that they can now direct attention away from our current criminal regime and their responsibility for it. The last thing anyone really wants to do is to take responsibility for this abominable regime by confronting their crimes with any direct accountability. We prefer to look to the future, to "change", and hope this new wave will bring in the redemptive new direction we all crave.
Cheap grace will not save us!
We must impeach them all, air all their crimes for the world to see, and declare that it will never again happen here!!
I am afraid I do not hold the first President Bush so harmless.
Rather than go through the UN process -- at a time when the UN was achieving success after success -- he did invade Panama, perhaps setting a poor example for our former ally, Saddam Hussein, in his dispute with Kuwait. And Bush I did betray the Kurds and others who sought their independence from Saddam after Gulf War I.
More important, perhaps, is that the first President Bush adopted the policy, apparently followed by Bill Clinton as well with his bombings of Iraq in 1998, of holding Saddam personally responsible for any terrorist attacks against U.S. interests that resulted from our removal of Saddam's forces from Kuwait.
Impeachment? Maybe. But if you listened to the Repulican candidates debate on ABC last night, I think we have a more urgent concern. I believe all the candidates said we would have been attacked on 9/11 regardless of whether we had ever waged Gulf War I, which seems nothing short of delusional to me.
We probably all have in our families members (whom we may have seen in recent days) who are similarly unable or unwilling to confront reality, to see or admit the dark sides of some of their relatives. Ditto the GOP candidates concerning US foreign policy.
I am struck most by the THOUGHTLESSNESS of the Bush/Cheney policies, and the ARROGANT IGNORANCE, especially about the difficulties and costs of a military occupation. After all, we have a president who was SURPRISED to find the US was so unpopular in the Middle East!!! I think as far as Bush II was concerned, the removal of Saddam Hussein really was "Mission Accomplished."
Thank you Mr. McGovern. If the voters had any sense at all, you'd have been in the White House instead of Nixon.
There is so much talk about impeachment, but absolutely nothing is done. It SHOULD be done soon, the sooner the better before Bush and Israel have Iran bombed:
Israel to brief George Bush on options for Iran strike:
By Uzi Mahnaimi, Tel Aviv
01/06/08 "The Times" -- - -ISRAELI security officials are to brief President George W Bush on their latest intelligence about Iran's nuclear programme - and how it could be destroyed - when he begins a tour of the Middle East in Jerusalem this week.
Ehud Barak, the defence minister, is said to want to convince him that an Israeli military strike against uranium enrichment facilities in Iran would be feasible if diplomatic efforts failed to halt nuclear operations. A range of military options has been prepared.
Last month it was revealed that the US National Intelligence Estimate report, drawing together information from 16 agencies, had concluded that Iran stopped a secret nuclear weapon programme in 2003.
Israeli intelligence is understood to agree that the project was halted around the time of America's invasion of Iraq, but has "rock solid" information that it has since started up again.
While security officials are reluctant to reveal all their intelligence, fearing that leaks could jeopardise the element of surprise in any future attack, they are expected to present the president with fresh details of Iran's enrichment of uranium - which could be used for civil or military purposes - and the development of missiles that could carry nuclear warheads.
In an interview with the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot this weekend, Bush argued that in spite of the US intelligence assessment, Iran still posed a threat.
"I read the intelligence report carefully," Bush said. "In essence, what the report said was that Iran had a secret plan to develop nuclear weapons.
"I'm saying that a state which adopted a nontransparent policy and had a secret plan for developing nuclear weapons could easily develop an alternative plan for the same purpose. So to conclude from the intelligence report that there is no Iranian plan to develop nuclear weapons will be only a partial truth."
Israeli security officials believe the only way to prevent uranium enrichment to military grade is to destroy Iranian installations. Many Israelis are eager to know whether America would give their country the green light to attack, as it did last September when Israel struck a mysterious nuclear site in Syria.
Bush refused to be drawn when asked whether he would support an Israeli attack. "My message to all countries in the region is that we are able to solve the problem in a diplomatic way," he said, "but all options are on the table."
Unfortunately it's too little too late. Everybody will be focused on the Presidential race and these two criminals (Bush/Cheney) will get to fade away into the background with the Billions they have stolen from the taxpayers.
i posted this over at the Washington Post ..and I hope you also will call upon newspapers and columnists to demand impeachment. Clearly the politicians are not listening and we need more voices calling for impeachment. My post at the Washington Post:
America under the Bush administration has lost credibility as a moral nation.
The bright white line of morality was crossed when innocent people were taken off the streets and sent to be tortured, some of them died.
Now there is a cover up with destroyed evidence and courts that will not hear cases. But anyone with access to the internet can find out what has happened with the testimonies of people who survived the torture and who went to courts in other nations for redress for these crimes committed by Americans in positions of power.
This is a very shameful time in American history.
There is no way to remain on the fence with the level of immorality that the Bush administration has committed.
Columnists and newspapers in America who are avoiding condemning this use of torture, in contravention to the Geneva Convention, lose all credibility.
The Washington Post should be calling for impeachment or give a justification why you support a president that has put in place a system that has tortured innocent people.
Disgrace upon the Washington Post and the columnists who will not call for impeachment.
Did anyone else notice the absence of Dennis in the debates last night?This morning I wore tasteful jewelry to church that bore this simple message: IMPEACH. Thank you George for sending the message so forcefully.
"The basic strategy of the administration has been to encourage a climate of fear, letting it exploit the 2001 al-Qaeda attacks..."
As good as this long overdue piece is, it falls way short. Of course they should be impeached. But it is much worse than we are led to believe in this plea for impeachment. Maybe this is strategic. It is fairly obvious that the Israeli-Bush Administration is responsible for blowing up the world trade center, and firing a missile into the Pentagon-- not al Qaeda.
Last night Hillary asserted that she represented CHANGE. Yes, Hillary and the status quo Cave Party represent change all right by telling us that Impeachment is OFF THE TABLE. Insteat of fillibuster two of the worst Supreme Court justices in history, Alito and the new Chief Justice, they clear the way for their appointments FOR LIFE. Instead of providing a LIVING WAGE they serve up a MINIMUM WAGE THAT IS PATHETIC. Instead of voting against Bush Homeland Security Bill that permits BIG BROTHER access to our information without WARRANT, the CAVE PARTY helps Bush enact it. Instead of cutting off funding in IRAQ, Bush says JUMP and the DO NOTHING DEMS LIKE HILLARY ask HOW HIGH? The only CHANGE being served up in this election is LIP SERVICE.
Most Americans have no idea of how the resistance against impeachment looks from abroad. The Clinton impeachment made a laughingstock of the USA around the globe. Now would be the time to demonstrate that Americans know what's REALLY impeachable. This "impeachment is off the table" nonsense only reinforces the international belief that America exists for the entertainment value it represents: we are all cheering for a suitable closing chapter to this "America Story"--namely, the USA going down in flames.
George McGovern: The Always-Integrity hero of this nation.
The entire bush administration (including the resignees) MUST absolutely be held responsible for the atrocities, lies, torture, genocide and BLATANT disregard of the Constitution committed in our name...the PEOPLE of these United States. Anything less than impeachment and indictment is JUST NOT ACCEPTABLE. If we accept anything less, WE CAN NO LONGER CALL OURSELVES A NATION OR AMERICANS. If the dictates of the Constitution are ignored, we are not the United States of America. We are something else. You may from that day forward...the day WE, THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, ACCEPT that impeachment is truly off the table....call yourselves what you wish. But, in the name of the founders of this country, do not have the audacity (and I include myself) to call yourselves AMERICANS.
That may be one of the downsides with democracy itself. Voting encourages them. Being "represented" is the other half of the coin "not being able to represent yourself."
I watched a Nova/PBS DVD on the Vikings last night, and it was commented that the best early Chieftains were those who shared the most of their wealth. Presumably, those who were most stingy were either summarily removed from power, or experienced the most powerful vote of all: their underlings voted with their feet.
That may be what we're really lacking today -- the ability to easily vote with our feet. Packing worldly belongings, saying goodbye to work, friends and extended family, moving to a foreign country, etc. isn't something to be done lightly or frequently.
The first time I voted was for Mcgovern. Watergate had already happened and the public disregarded it with a vengence. It he had been elected this would be a different world. Always the evil creeps get elected or installed, whatever.
The Constitution doesn't give Congress the option to take impeachment off of the table. This is their duty and by choosing not to do it, they are in violation of the Constitution themselves.
I heard somewhere that there is no statute of limitation for impeachment. Is that correct?