Excuse #5: We need to focus on ending the war.
OK, but if you focus on ending the war for two full years and don't actually end it, I wish you luck getting people to turn out next November. When Congress moved toward impeachment of Nixon, it found the nerve to end a war, and he backed off on his veto threats. Congress passed a menu of progressive legislation in part because of, not despite, the impeachment threat hanging over Nixon. And ultimately of course impeachment is going to be needed to end the current occupation of Iraq.
Excuse #6: Impeachment would be divisive.
Actually that's not true among Democrats. Eighty percent favor impeachment. But as far as bipartisan harmony on Capitol Hill goes, the dangers of creating divisiveness is sort of like the danger of violence breaking out if we leave Iraq. It's too late already! And it's too late because the Republicans never give a damn for bipartisan harmony. Were they in the majority with a Democratic president holding the all-time record for unpopularity, they would long ago have impeached him and forced every Democratic Congress member to either defend him or run away from their own party. Does anybody remember Al Gore picking Joe Lieberman as a running mate and pretending he'd never met Bill Clinton? That was the result of an impeachment without a Senate conviction. (John Nichols says: impeachment is not a constitutional crisis. It's the cure for the one we're in. Aspirin is not a headache crisis. Impeachment is not a constitutional crisis.)
Excuse #7: We don't have the votes in the House to impeach.
Well, you would if Pelosi whipped on it. And Congress members back bills all the time that are not predicted to pass. If their colleagues fail to join them, that's between their colleagues and their colleagues' constituents. And again, impeachment usually does its work without getting all the way to impeachment. A move to impeach for refusal to comply with subpoenas, for example, might result in compliance with subpoenas. And it is the only thing that might. Holding people in contempt through the courts will take forever and probably fail. Inherent contempt is a tool Congress doesn't have the backbone for. And Congress is not about to use either type of contempt against Bush or Cheney.
Excuse #8: We don't have the votes in the Senate to convict.
Well, you might if you put the crimes on television and if the house impeached. But you would do good for the nation and Democrats would do good for their party even with a Senate acquittal. Nothing would better identify for the public the Senators who need to be thrown out of office. And impeachment even without conviction would reverse the public perception of Democrats as having no spine. They may hold even in the next election without impeaching anyone or getting us out of Iraq, but if they want to win new seats, and if they want to win the White House with a large enough margin to not have the election stolen, they will reverse their current position and act!
Excuse #9: I won't sign onto Kucinich's bill because he hasn't asked me to, and he's a liberal, and he's running for president.
Well, yes, dear Congressman or Congresswoman, but this is the government of the world's largest and most powerful empire. This isn't high school. We expect you to sign onto a bill based on the merits of it, or to introduce your own.
Excuse #10: You can't impeach over policy differences because you don't like war. You have to impeach for a crime.
Well, Kucinich's bill charges Cheney with the felony that involves misleading Congress and with the crime of threatening war on Iran. Cheney is on videotape doing so. Conyers' book lists lots of felonies. But in fact, not every crime is an impeachable offense and not every impeachable offense is a crime. When Nixon cheated on his taxes or Clinton cheated on his wife and lied about it under oath, no impeachable offenses were committed. When Nixon lied to the public or when Bush ignored warnings prior to 9/11, no crimes were committed, but the offenses were impeachable.
Excuse #11: If I backed impeachment, the media would be mean to me.
Yes, Congressman; Yes, Congresswoman. And if you don't people will die. Which is worse? A majority backs impeachment now for Cheney and a majority or close to it for Bush. Those numbers will go up, not down, if you act, regardless of what the media says. You know those 18 percent of Americans who approve of the job you're doing? Even they don't like the media. No campaign email raises more money than one that begins, "Fox News just attacked me."
That's 11 excuses so far. I think those 11 can be refuted. The next four are harder to get around.
Excuse #12: Impeachment would make Bush and Cheney sympathetic and rally people around them.
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