Don't get distracted- impeachment now!

Carol Wolman
OpEdNews
April 10, 2007 at 10:04:36

Time magazine's current edition features an article entitled "An Administration's Epic Collapse".

Is Bush really going down?

The momentum seems to be in that direction.

Every week a new outrage comes to light- a coverup of pedophilia in Texas, political influence over US Attorneys in New Mexico, voter fraud in Ohio.
And yet in Washington, it's business as usual. New outrages keep occurring- Congress funds "the surge", Cheney lies once again about an Iraq-Al Qa'eda connection.

The current wisdom says that the key issue is Iraq, and that Congress is bravely standing up to Bush by insisting on a deadline for withdrawal. Bush is being macho and saying he'll veto any bill that sets a deadline. Pelosi defies Bush by visiting Syria.

This is all smoke and mirrors, as long as impeachment is off the table. Fighting with Bush legitimizes him. In fact, the House just passed legislation that gives Bush plenty of money for Iraq, and pretty much grants permission to attack Iran, by refusing to include language that would force him to go to Congress first. The Senate just backed down on the deadline issue. Bush is still king in Washington.
However, the people are clamoring for impeachment, and the media are starting to crack. Time magazine and Rosie O'Donnell- impeachment is in the air. The confrontation now needs to be between the people and our newly-elected Representatives in Congress.

While approval of Congress is higher than it's been in a while, it's still only 40%.

Less than half the people are happy with the 110th- it's not doing what it was elected to do- put a stop to Bush's self-serving, destructive military adventures.

The reason is fairly obvious- a thorough investigation of Bush crimes would implicate many Congresspeople, of both parties. Moreover, the Bush family are basically mafiosi, and will kill, blackmail, swiftboat, their perceived enemies ruthlessly. Examples are Carnahan, Wellstone, the anthraxing of Daschle and Leahy, Wilson/Plame, McKinney, and so forth. Bush set out to entangle Congress in his web and has succeeded well, through a combination of intimidation and bribery. Abramoff reportedly was central to this endeavor. Only 10% of the 110th Congress are freshmen, the rest have been around long enough to get ensnared.

While Congress dances with Bush, the 2008 presidential race is attracting lots of media attention and money. This is all wrong. The focus should be on the Congressional races. Every single member of the House of Representatives will be up for re-election in November 2008. We should be sending each one the message- "Get busy on impeachment if you want to keep your seat".

We should be developing strong candidates in every district who will challenge the incumbent on his/her record of collusion with Bush. Never mind that the presidency will change hands- the basic war policy will not change unless Bush is impeached.
The presidential race is a big distraction. So is the battle over a deadline for troop withdrawal from Iraq. We'll be out of Iraq quickly enough once Bush and Cheney are impeached, and not before. Keep the pressure on Congress. Impeachment now!

Impeachment is peaceful, legal and democratic.