sad
Representative John Conyers Jr. from Michigan assembled a report on the Bush administration’s ethical and legal transgressions over the past 6 years, presented it to Congress in December as a case for impeachment, and it was, of course, promptly ignored. This excerpt from a Harper’s Magainze essay about that report is worth a read.
I mean, if you’re feeling like you could really use something depressing to focus on just now.
Drawing on evidence furnished over the last four years by a sizable crowd of credible witnesses—government officials both extant and former, journalists, military officers, politicians, diplomats domestic and foreign—the authors of the report find a conspiracy to commit fraud, the administration talking out of all sides of its lying mouth, secretly planning a frivolous and unnecessary war while at the same time pretending in its public statements that nothing was further from the truth. The result has proved tragic, but on reading through the report’s corroborating testimony I sometimes could counter its inducements to mute rage with the thought that if the would-be lords of the flies weren’t in the business of killing people, they would be seen as a troupe of off-Broadway comedians in a third-rate theater of the absurd.
Before reading the report, I wouldn’t have expected to find myself thinking that such a course of action was either likely or possible; after reading the report, I don’t know why we would run the risk of not impeaching the man. We have before us in the White House a thief who steals the country’s good name and reputation for his private interest and personal use; a liar who seeks to instill in the American people a state of fear; a televangelist who engages the United States in a never-ending crusade against all the world’s evil, a wastrel who squanders a vast sum of the nation’s wealth on what turns out to be a recruiting drive certain to multiply the host of our enemies. In a word, a criminal—known to be armed and shown to be dangerous. Under the three-strike rule available to the courts in California, judges sentence people to life in jail for having stolen from Wal-Mart a set of golf clubs or a child’s tricycle. Who then calls strikes on President Bush, and how many more does he get before being sent down on waivers to one of the Texas Prison Leagues?
March 1st, 2006 at 9:35 pm
I’ll admit some ignorance here - if Bush is impeached, do we go down the line of succession? I was just thinking that Cheney may be the best impeachment insurance Bush can have. Of course if we could impeach both of them…
March 2nd, 2006 at 1:20 am
i signed up for John Conyers’s mailing list a while back. wish Democrats as a group would get some spine. *sigh*
to respond to Alex: given what happened to Clinton, i think all we need are impeachment proceedings, not necessarily kicking the man out of office entirely. the investigation itself would erode the administration’s credibility, to the point where they could at least do no further damage.
then someone else has to step up and provide some hope in 2008. i hate to use the word “electable,” but i think it’d have to be somebody who doesn’t scare moderate conservatives. y’think McCain would run again?
March 2nd, 2006 at 1:26 am
sorry, the second sentence in that comment was supposed to be: “it’s become a good way to find out about a lot about issues that *should* be top priority in Washington.”
March 2nd, 2006 at 1:46 am
Granted, I had little faith to begin with, but continued crap like this just obliterates any confidence I had in the man and those around him. I’d love to see him get impeached, if for no other reason than to restore *some* sense of faith in the position of the presidency. Restore dignity to the white house my ass. How anyone can believe what he says about much of anything at this point is beyond me. The thought of Cheney in power… i’m not sure if that scares me or not. I don’t think he’ll be alive much longer anyway, but I think an impeachment against his administration (whether he was the head-honcho or not) would effectively neuter what he could do for the remainder of the term. Lame duck indeed.
From what I hear, the repubs don’t care much for McCain. He doesn’t at all appeal to the religious right from what I understand and I think there’s worry that he’s too liberal on some issues. Of course, that’s probably the exact reason why he appeals to me so much
I think if it ended up him versus Hillary the repubs would still come out for him as the lesser of two evils, but who knows.
The mid-term elections this year should be telling about the direction the country feels like taking w/Bush as our leader.
March 2nd, 2006 at 2:57 am
I keep meaning to read the Harper’s article. Maybe I’ll do that right now.
I guess I don’t really see the benefit of impeachment. It wouldn’t accomplish anything and lets the fools of this country off too easy. A rather twisted side of me thinks that the people who voted for him should have to suffer for another 3 years. The American majority put him in office knowing exactly who he is… let them deal with their consciences the full term and maybe they’ll be less likely to make the same mistake again.
The cynic in me wants to watch him continue to fail just so I can see how the Sean Hannitys of the world figure out how to explain away his crimes.
March 2nd, 2006 at 8:37 pm
I’d agree with you more if *only* the fools of this country had to suffer more Jim
March 5th, 2006 at 8:06 am
[...] figure/field - sad [...]
March 7th, 2006 at 2:56 am
http://randomatmospheres.blogspot.com/2006/03/harpers-case.html