Another Data Point

I’ve written this in other blogs, so I might as well put it in mine…

If anyone’s interested in impeachment, let’s start with Dick Cheney.

1. For starters, he’s the one behind the dangerous imperial presidency philosophy.
2. He’s also the policy side of Bush’s brain (Rove being the political hemisphere).
3. It’s also politically feasible in a way that impeachment of Bush isn’t:

• It won’t be branded as a Democratic tit for tat (and you know that’s how a presidential impeachment would play in the news media)
• it’s a decapitation (see point 2 above)
• it’s politically feasible — who likes Cheney?

As to the bill of impeachment, I’d start with Halliburton and work forward…

Speaking of Karl Rove (OK, I wasn’t, but everyone seems to be), GOP’s recent electoral failure points to the self-correcting nature of a health democracy.

Rove’s strategy of getting out the base and winning by 1% (or one vote) is largely predicated, I think, on the belief that a small base is sufficient because of a largely apathetic electorate.

We saw the limit of that theory on Nov. 7, 2006.The problem for the GOP is that the wreckage of the Bush Administration and its congressional abettors is so widely and deeply strewn around the country – and the world – that people were finally moved to demand some cleanup. If the Administration and Republican Congress had done even a mediocre job , Rove’s strategy might have held up.

But Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Rove have proven so corrupt, so governmentally inept, so venal, so mired in political calculation that they failed at the basic tasks of government, and no amount of political lipstick could make the public kiss that pig.

It took a while, but hooray for the people!

It’s been a wild ride for me, as for many progressives.

Nationally, the election exceeded my expectations. The recovery of both houses of Congress is fabulous. I’m hopeful the Democratic leadership will use subpoena power judiciously, not so much as to make it seem like a witch hunt, but enough to expose the damage caused by the Bush/Republican campaign of rotten legislation, bad policy and dishonesty.

This isn’t sex with an intern, folks, it’s been a full-scale assault on our system of government to consolidate power for old wealth in this country. Not only has this Administration threatened to condemn a large percentage of the population to declining standards of living, but it’s stifled the entrepreneurial energy of the nation. (More on this some other time.)

I also believe that Bush committed impeachable crimes against the constitution, but I think more good will be done by two years’ exposure of his deeply flawed and corrupting activities than by a traumatic impeachment. Moreover, I think the bogus impeachment of Clinton looks politically brilliant now, since a Bush impeachment would be widely seen — or at leat played in the media — as political payback, rather than the constitutional corrective it really would be.

[Note to David Brooks: You lost. America elected people in favor of a national health care policy, a forward-looking energy policy, and a decent minumum wage. They elected people of faith whose faith is not threatened by science. (See e.g.) Those are not your “conservative” values.]

I feel that we’ve killed the Bush/Rove campaign of government by smear, fear and secrecy. The task now is to bury it.

Regarding the Wisconsin vote, this was bittersweet. On the one hand, we

1. rejected the attempt to bring Washington’s failed policies to Wisconsin (via the Green, the Republican gubernatorial candidate), and re-elected Gov. Doyle
2. turned the state Congressional delegation over to the Democrats (two Senators and 5 of 8 U.S. Representatives),
3. gave a state senate majority to the Democrats,
   and reduced the GOP majority of the Assembly
4. overwhelmingly accepted referenda calling for withdrawal of American troops from Iraq

On the other hand, we

1. Passed an advisory referendum in favor of the death penalty; and
2. passed an amendment banning gay marriage and civil union

The first benighted referendum is mitigated by the election of a Governor and Senate that will not pass a death penalty amendment.

The second is more troubling, but I’m hopeful that it will eventually be rescinded when people recognize the harm it does to people they know and love, as well as the cultural harm caused by building discrimination into our constitution.

On the whole, Wednesday, Nov. 8, was a good day.

What was it Lincoln said about fooling the people?