Off The Table For Good Reason

[SalmonChantedEvening]

Let me begin by saying that impeachment is a wonderful thing. In fact I may be it’s biggest fan, because it provides the means for removing from office those who have disgraced themselves and the office they hold by committing criminal acts, via a thorough and not easily abused process. Also, it is a process that works best when not wielded as a weapon, but held in reserve as a people’s final choice when dealing with abuses of power.

Next month, we will be witness to a change of power that closes as many doors as it opens. Democrats will be in charge of all the mechanisms of the Legislative Branch and based on who has been given control of what committees and the directions that will be taken, one thing is certain: there will be investigations, dozens if not hundreds, pertaining to things from agriculture to ethics to energy to contracting to pick a card any card. Subpoena will be a word heard on a near daily basis, as Congress looks into what it was told was none of their business for the last six years.

There will be subpoenas issued that will be responded to in minutes, for they will be mere formalities. Research groups, journalists who aren’t worried about being on the guest list for the next cocktail party, bloggers like Kos and Larisa Alexandrova, DU and simliar liberal websites have research that is extensive, damning, and most importantly, there for the asking. And unlike the congress now whining about not knowing what they’ll do once the party ends, the incoming congress will not run from this information. Heck, they might even be able read it into a working microphone, in a room where lights don’t flicker on and off.

There will also be subpoenas that will be responded to with stonewalling and obstruction from those still in power in the Executive, and with the one phrase used most successfully with the rubber stamp crew soon to be gone, and that is National Security. I am of the opinion that this chestnut should be almost encouraged from the Cheney and Bush camps as a standard reply to requests for information, to the point that it becomes clear to the public that those using it have no interest in National Security, only in hiding from accountability behind words they cheapen, render useless and debase. Use it to the point that nobody save the True Believers trust these people when they trot it out to save their hides. Make them prove it. In private committees. Redact what you MUST, but get the goods. Over and over and over until it becomes routine, and most importantly, until all that can get out does. Make them look foolish whenever possible.

Yeah, I know…

Information is the key. It must be voluminous, accurate and compelling, not only to those in our own party who see impeachment as a subject best avoided, but also to as many GOP members as can be persuaded though seeing before them enough evidence to change their concern from defending the party, to one of saving this government from abuses unseen before in it’s history. I believe this to be entirely possible, based on factors not only resulting from the recent election, but from years of arm twisting and scare tactics from the far right, that have left many moderates angry and prepared to act in an atmosphere where they are free to act without fear of being ostracized or punished for doing what is right. Find out what they can bring to the table in the form of information and testimony. Build the case on such a grand scale that as opposed to what was done in the 90’s, and make the preponderance of evidence compel impeachment to be necessary, not the other way around. Make it an unavoidable necessity to as many of those on both sides of the aisle as possible, and to a public often skeptical of impeachment being used as a method of revenge and political grandstanding.


This, at least in my view, is how impeachment works best. Let the investigations begin, and for the time being, leave an empty place at the table. You never know who might show up.