Impeachment:A Different View

There is talk of impeachment in the air. Pelosi and Reid have said it is off the table. Cindy Sheehan says that it can't be off the table. A number of people will tell you that Bush and Cheney have committed "high crimes and misdemeanors" and must be impeached. Some of us just want them gone, particularly now that we have a Democrat as Speaker of the House and in line for the Oval Office after the Vice President.

The most thought provoking thing I have read on this is in the December 15th CommonDreams.org post Refocusing The Impeachment Movement . . . by John Dean

Dean discusses why impeachment of Bush and Cheney, although a just idea and one that is certainly deserved, would not work politically and then suggests that there are other officials that could/should be impeached and why.

To quote Dean:

Getting the necessary two-thirds supermajority in support of impeachment in today's Senate, which is virtually evenly-divided politically, is simply not possible. With forty-nine senators of the 110th Congress members in good standing with the Republican Party, . . .there are more than thirty-three GOP Senators who still would not vote to convict. ***Pelosi and Reid have long understood this reality, and rather than do to Bush and/or Cheney what Republicans did to Clinton - impeach him in the House merely because they had the power to do so and they wanted to tarnish him, only to lose their battle decisively in the Senate - they are simply not going to play the same game. ***The drive to impeach Bush and Cheney should, however, refocus its effort and energy into another undertaking - one that not only might succeed, but if it did, it would greatly benefit the nation and the well-being of all Americans.

Dean suggests that instead of a futile attempt on Bush and Cheney, we should impeach those of their subordinates whom the Constitution also allows. It would not take the effort of the entire House or Senate, using committees until time for the final vote; it would send a message to other administration subordinates that aiding and abetting unconstitutional behavior on the part of the elected officials carried a penalty; it would put a major crimp in the ability of the Disgraceful Duo to continue their current behavior; and it could prevent the individuals impeached ever being eligible for an "Office of honor" again in their lives. Since many of these people are young enough to, like Cheney and Rumsfeld, come back to haunt us in a future Republican administration, that might be the most important outcome of all.