It's Spring and Talk of Impeachment is in the Air

[laststeamtrain]

It's Spring and Talk of Impeachment is in the Air
By DAVE LINDORFF

The crocuses are up and the forsythia is starting to flower in my yard--a sure sign of spring. And on the corporate media front, suddenly we're reading about Sen. Russ Feingold's censure resolution against President Bush --a clear sign that the freezeout on talk of impeachment is starting to thaw, too.

Recall that when Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) filed a similar censure motion in the House last December--two actually, one against Bush and one against Vice President Cheney--it was virtually blacked out by the media, including the New York Times and Washington Post. Now, belatedly, the Times is mentioning the still languishing Conyers censure resolution--and his companion bill calling for a select committee to investigate possible impeachable crimes--in the article on Feingold's censure motion.

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Remember, back in the early days of Watergate, Republicans in the Congress rallied solidly in an effort to block any move towards impeachment of President Richard M. Nixon. The media, too, initially backed the president. Gradually, as the extent of his crimes became more apparent, at least some Republicans abandoned Nixon. The media, too, came around, once weak-kneed editors determined that it was safe to take a stand.

Of course, the success of Feingold's maneuver depends upon the public's paying attention, and acting on its concerns about administration crimes this November. That's when voters must oust enough Republicans from the House and Senate to give impeachment a fighting chance. It should be mentioned here that Feingold--a progressive senator in the mold of the late Sen. Paul Wellstone of Minnesota--has a personal agenda: he wants to be the Democratic nominee for president in 2008. Since he's not in the media-anointed "front-runner" pool that includes such tired Democratic Leadership Council hacks and Clinton clones as Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-New York), Bill Richardson (governor of New Mexico) and former vice president Al Gore, and since his positions on major issues, from opposing the Iraq War and the Patriot Act to opposing NAFTA, challenge the two-party consensus of what is "acceptable debate," Feingold needs something that will make him stand out, and that will grab headlines. This is exactly what Howard Dean did when, as a no-count governor from Vermont, he started opposing the Iraq War in 2004. For Feingold, it's impeachment.

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http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff03132006.html

[Independent_Liberal]

1. I love the smell of fresh homestyle impeachment in the morning.

Bring on the impeachment monster. John Conyers himself.

:D