Hello all you anti-impeachers, I need your help. You see, I'm stupid and I can't figure out how you would answer the following simple questions. I can't figure out the answers because none of you has ever tried to answer them. Won't you enlighten me with your wisdom?
- When would you favor impeachment? What kind of Executive abuse is too much, even for you?
(See, I think it's absurd to never support impeachment, no matter what a President does. Silly, stupid me.)
- How can you ensure accountability without punishment?
(here I go thinking that threats are only credible if you're willing to follow through. I'm too simple-minded to see how you can change someone's behavior without using both the carrot AND the stick. I'm such a dummy.)
- How can you deter future Presidents from abusing their power if they know that not even this guy was impeached?
(here my young age/"long shadow of the future" betrays me- I'm worried about how Presidents will behave 10, 15, 20 years from now, knowing that Congress won't impeach a President for breaking the law and violating the Constitution today. I'm stupid for thinking about things beyond the next damned election. Bad monkey! No banana!)
- If "we can't see the votes now" is a valid argument, wouldn't that also have been a valid argument against filibustering Alito? Did you support Lieberman's stand to not filibuster Alito?
(I'm silly for assuming consistency in beliefs in Dems. Many Kossacks (and Kos himself) railed against Lieberman for not taking a "principled stand" in filibustering Alito. I wonder how many use the "we don't have the votes" argument as a stand-in for the real "I don't want to fight" argument that underlies it. No, my walnut-sized brain is incapable of figuring this out!)
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Won't you anti-impeachers please help a village idiot like myself figure these answers out? If not for me, then do it for the children (who will have to live with future lawbreaking, Constitution-violating Presidents).