Tipping Point on Impeachment is Approaching

When someone as conservative as Rep. Michaud calls for impeachment hearings, and accuses the vice president of abuse of power--an impeachable offense under the Constitution--it is no longer so easy for the media to write the idea off as "extremism" or as a "fringe" idea. It also makes it easier for other members of Congress to step up and take a stand in defense of the Constitution--perhaps even an independent-minded, principled Republican or two.

Michaud is likely taking this plunge into impeachment politics because he realizes impeachment has become a popular issue among voters in Maine, where an independent candidate, peace activist Laurie Dobson, is mounting a campaign for Senate against Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, and Democratic Challenger, Rep. Tom Allen, with impeachment as a key campaign theme. With November 2008 growing closer, other members of the House elsewhere across the nation may also start to see being pro-impeachment as a winning position.

Speaker Pelosi, who faces a re-election herself from independent candidate Cindy Sheehan in her San Francisco district, and whose poll numbers now show her to have a higher negative rating than a positive support rating, is on the wrong side of history and on the wrong side of the Constitution. She may end up being ignored by her caucus.

This impeachment thing could still happen.

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DAVE LINDORFF is a Philly-based journalist and columnist. His latest book, co-authored by Barbara Olshansky, is "The Case for Impeachment" (St. Martin's Press, 2006 and now in paperback). His work is available at www.thiscantbehappening.net

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