I offer it sincerely. I know there's some animus on this thread, and I have tried to play a role in ameliorating it, in part by offering some of the oft-requested evidence.

Frankly, if skeptics demand evidence, and then sneer at it when it's presented, because they are of superior professional rank and because, well, impeachment is hard work....

Well, how are the rest of us supposed to respect that, in turn?

I've been saying since the election ended, "stop celebrating, the fight is not over".

We're still in a "fight to the death" (as Bush describes it) over Bush's unitary executive powers.

I've also downplayed the vindictive, punishment aspect of this. It's a real-time power-struggle for our freedom as Americans.

Senator Feingold has pointed out that this is a very dangerous "lame duck" session.

We're facing down a dictator, not a president.

they just don't know how!

to a head when they won't repond to the subpoenas....as Cheney has indicated...thats when the fesces strikes the whirling blades and the groundswell will take off.

My only addition, as a lawyer, is that people should understand why this is important.  It is important because the theory of the unitary executive may be considered -- by Representatives, Senators, scholars, etc. -- to be an adequate defense to all of the crimes that are being thrown about.  If the President's (and Vice-President's) actions are legally excused, then you have no high crime, no misdemeanor, no basis to impeach.  The precedent that is set by losing such a battle would be horrific.  We need to be able to defeat that defense.  k/o's insight that this is a theme that can bring us together is very helpful.

...is as good a place as any to focus our various forces.

I think the issue that will burst the "unitary executive" bubble is the torture issue, because it's a  radical break with clearly established law, and because of the precedent it thus attempts to establish. The domestic spying stuff is just as illegal, but there's more precedent for that... which makes it harder to confront now. Thus, the future problem with letting the new stuff slide now.

That's why we have to do this, and yeah, we better do it right. That said, I don't think it'll be so difficult, once the investigations are rolling. The stuff at Impeach for Peace is a starting point for investigations, though their idea of citizen-driven impreachment, based on legal precedent, is interesting.

Anyway, torture is flagrantly "un-American," it violates the American sensibility of "fair play," and it can be publicly pursued as such. Other stuff, like "illegal war," is trickier, because of the collusion of Congress, even if under false pretenses.