"Sworn Duty" is Correct
Representatives Robert Wexler and Dennis Kucinich have the right idea on impeachment. It comes straight out of the Constitution. As Wexler pointed out, impeachment of a President for high crimes and misdemeanors is a "sworn duty" of Congress.
Just because Republicans abused this prerogative for completely political and petty purposes does not absolve Congress of its Constitutional responsibilities. The precedent set by this Democratic majority will forever be remembered as one of the worst abdications of duty in American history.
You mock the idea of impeachment when you say "...And still, some in Congress feel the nation is just itching for another presidential impeachment." Score: Congress- 1, Sun-Sentinel- 0.
In December, even before the economy was so plainly sinking, and before new revelations of Executive wrongdoing were put on public display in former Bush Press Secretary Scott McClellan's new book What Happened, a scientific poll conducted by American Research Group found that 45% of Americans were in favor of impeachment proceedings against Bush, and 54% would back impeachment proceedings against Cheney. That's not just an itch, that's a rash of epidemic proportions.
And contrary to your belief that impeachment is worthless and unnecessary because Bush has "only a few months left in office," it is absolutely essential to preserving not only the Constitution, as set forth explicitly in lawmakers' oaths of office, but to preserving the powers and responsibilities of Congress itself, as a separate and co-equal branch of our democracy's system of government.
Just because a criminal is already in jail for burglary doesn't mean we shouldn't try him for murder, if the case is there to make. Just because German war criminal Joseph Goebbels was already in prison did not mean that he shouldn't be tried for war crimes (many of which happen to be precisely the matter at hand in these articles of impeachment).
The most important function of impeachment is not necessarily the removal of a President, but to keep Executive power in check. Just like Reagan's lauded philosophy of practicing diplomacy from a position of strength, if one branch of government unilaterally disarms, it loses any power to effect meaningful change and becomes toothless in its ability to enforce Constitutionally mandated checks and balances.
But the most compelling reason for moving to impeach George W. Bush is very simple:
If the many horrendous crimes of this President are not worthy of impeachment, what is?
Sincerely,
JC Garrett
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