I’ve been reading more rumblings about the movement to impeach W. Parallels are being made to Nixon, as cited by a recent article in The Nation by former Congresswoman and member o the judiciary committee during the impeachment proceedings, Elizabeth Holtzman.
The strongest argument for impeachment is the recent alleged abuse of domestic wiretapping. The key here is the violation of the oreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) act, which as was passed after the whole debacle with Nixon. Congress realized that wiretaps were necessary and that in some cases secrecy needed to be maintained so the FISA had a provision were the taps were approved by secret court, further in the case of the emergency they could be approved 72 hours AFTER the tap had been started. Cringely had a nice write up about these and other types of wiretaps. It ends up that the vast majority of requests put to the FISA court are approved, mainly because the Department of Justice’s standard for submission was might than the court’s. Bush is claiming the ability to override the the law under his powers as the Commander In Chief (my reading of the Constitution is that that only applies to the military, but I’m just a lowly citizen of this country, what do I know). With the the kind of accept rate that has been seen from the court why do you not ask?
Holtzman beings up the issues of the Iraq war and torture as well. True that these have illegal leanings, but I don’t think they will hold up. This administration had ridden in the gray zone of the rule of law more than any I can remember. The NSDAP might have one-uped them though. You remember those guys. Germany, 1933 ring any bells?
The two questions though that nobody seems to be asking about the removal of the President from office are: “Do you really want Dick Cheney in the Oval Office?” and “Does it really matter?”
Sure you have to hang somebody an the guy up front is the easiest target. Really though if we want to get rid of the people causing all the real problems focusing on Bush is a waste of time. Yes, he’s the President and is responsible for all of this miss. But, look at the real state of the Presidency it’s way too complicated a job for one person to handle. You need to look at who has the power in the Republican party, why people are supporting them. Impeachment is a short-term fix, a bloody nose. Clinton’s impeachment was more of a waste of time and a dirty trick on the part of the conservatives. The progressives in Congress shouldn’t fall for the same ploy. Go to the grass roots, get the support that you need. Actually enact some change rather than just blowing hot air.
