'Impeachment' Talk, Appears in the Media at Last

[G_j]

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1222-07.htm

Published on Thursday, December 22, 2005 by Editor & Publisher

'Impeachment' Talk, Pro and Con, Appears in Media at Last


NEW YORK - Suddenly this week, scattered outposts in the media have started mentioning the “I” word, or at least the “IO” phrase: impeach or impeachable offense.

The sudden outbreak of anger or candor—or, some might say, foolishness—has been sparked by the uproar over revelations of a White House approved domestic spying program, with some conservatives joining in the shouting.

Ron Hutcheson, White House correspondent for Knight Ridder Newspapers (known as “Hutch” to the president), observed that "some legal experts asserted that Bush broke the law on a scale that could warrant his impeachment.” Indeed such talk from legal experts was common in print or on cable news.

Newsweek online noted a “chorus” of impeachment chat, and its Washington reporter, Howard Fineman, declared that Bush opponents are “calling him Nixon 2.0 and have already hauled forth no less an authority than John Dean to testify to the president’s dictatorial perfidy. The ‘I-word’ is out there, and, I predict, you are going to hear more of it next year — much more.”

When chief Washington Post pollster Richard Morin appeared for an online chat, a reader from Naperville, Ill., asked him why the Post hasn't polled on impeachment. "This question makes me mad," Morin replied. When a second participant made the same query, Morin fumed, "Getting madder." A third query brought the response: "Madder still."

..more..

[ticapnews]

1. Mr Morin, if you think you are mad

you ain't seen nothing yet.

[McLuhan]

2. I love your auto tag,ticapnews.

[gratuitous]

4. Yeah, Morin's all mad

Because the hoi polloi are presuming to tell him what is news. Mr. Morin, allow me to say for myself, that your anger over being told that impeachment of this maladroit president is nothing compared to the anger that a very large segment of the country has been feeling for more than five years. Of course, in your world of perfumed wigs and court cocktail parties, the idea that the unwashed masses chafe under the yoke put on them by their betters is fodder more for jokes than it is for concern.

But we have had enough. There might still be time for you to decide which side of the barricades the Washington Post is going to be on, I don't know. Cooler and more logical heads might still prevail and spare you the wrath you've earned, but I can't guarantee that.

[G_j]

6. hopefully

he'll be throwing a full scale tantrum

[KharmaTrain]

3. I'm Watching The Zogby Polls

I take their online surveys and have seen them edge closer to asking the "I" question. So far they've polled on favorability and the asshat's handling of Iraq, the economy and other selected issues. Now the question of trust is showing up regularly. From policy to credibility and with the latest revelations now into suspect and distrust. As the worm turns here, so will the polls. The change won't be overnight...and it shouldn't, but it will be ongoing and build as the combination of scandals and the right wing's irrational backlash against all the assaults will get hotter in the year to come.

Impeachment itself is an end-game that is right now only possible by the impossible...or at least what the "conventional wisdom" says is impossible. However, Democrats who expect to win by default...that disgust at Repugnicans is enough to win without some positive Democratic message and to run on "booosh hate" will find very short term gains and long term pains.

[npincus]

5. the Repugs really lowered the bar on impeachment -

lying about a blowjob- for G-d's sake. So, certainly it's about time it entered pulbic discourse.

Here's my post about the 'I' word mentioned on The Today Show: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2328401&mesg_id=2328401