Hat-tip to AntKat for the heads-up on Moyers’ important show tonight. It was a pleasure to watch. It was on my favorite topic: Impeachment.
I am a proud and avid consumer and producer of impeachment porn. Hey, the law can feel good too when it throbs with the beat of true justice; it doesn’t always need to manifest in blows, bullets, or bars! Like many here, I’ve been wondering how to actualize the justice of impeachment, how to materialize the dream of the right thing to do.
And when I heard Bruce Fein say this, I was finally really convinced that impeachment truly is a bipartisan issue that can appeal to people across the political spectrum, from end to end. Impeachment is spinnable for all, and winnable for all, from the early adopter types to the slow pokiest:
We do not want Hillary Clinton or John McCain or Rudy Giuliani or John Edwards to have that power. We need to impeach.
Yes, yes, impeachment is a bipartisan issue, and its time has come.
I loved it when John Nichols, author of THE GENIUS OF IMPEACHMENT, said:
Nancy Pelosi is wrong. She needs to change course now.
Let’s start to use the I word. They wanted us to know this word and they wanted us to use it.
Well, whether Nancy and the rest of the "realists" realize, impeachment is back on the table. It is being mentioned in the corporate media more and more. It is becoming "safe" to bring up impeachment. So let’s make it cool, and then let’s make it inevitable. Things can snowball very quickly.
Right now it’s Democratic pundits who are making the case for impeachment on the shows and in the press. We need to pressure our congresspeople to begin to risk the word. They are still politically scared of impeachment, but they can feel its rumbling, and cannot rule it out absolutely. Even today, here at dK, Senator Feingold seemed to caution against it, without definitively ruling it out.
Encourage your Democratic congresscritters to support beginning impeachment proceedings, or at least to begin discussing the possibility openly.
Dems shouldn’t make it about Bush when they go on the shows. They shouldn't even mention his name. They should make it about the presidency. They should echo Fein’s frame:
We do not think any President should have the power that this administration has grabbed, whether Democrat or Republican. We need to hold this administration accountable, and because it is stubbornly asserting absolute power and obstructing justice, we have no choice but to impeach. It's a matter of the presidency and the rule of law, not of partisanship.
This will "increase" the rationality of impeachment by stripping it of a partisan cast. And it will activate the fear of the Rs.
This is how we can make impeachment palatable even to Rs.
We know that Rs are more likely to be attracted to authoritarian types; that they are more likely to have the stimulation of their amygdalas overcome the tempering force of reason. In short, they respond to the politics of fear.
Well, let’s scare them. Even Shrub’s most rabid supporters are already running scared that they’re going to lose big in ’08 due to Bush’s abysmal approval ratings. They must be sweating bullets about Congress gaining an even bigger Democratic majority and a Democratic President being able to make some key SCOTUS picks.
They are terrified of a Democratic President. So let’s scare them with the image of a Democratic president all souped up on the power of the Unitary Executive. If you know any 28%ers (like my dear old dad), scare ‘em with this. I'm going to try it tomorrow.
The Democrats are going to spy on you! They’re going to read your mail! They can do whatever they want! They are going to refuse subpoenas! I know you like Bush, but do you want Hillary listening to your phone calls, and snooping in all your business?
Or you could go undercover when you're in a red zone and then slip a little "I" in. (This is not recommended for the faint-hearted.):
Hey, y’all, <this part hurts to write, but I am doing it for the sake of my so-called "style"> Bush is a great and noble president and history will remember him as the man who brought democracy to Iraq. He may have bent the rules, but he was tough and we could trust him to kick ass for America. But we can’t trust the Dems, and they’re probably gonna win. If we don’t do somthing now, probably Hillary Clinton is going to spy on you. She could break into your house and seize your property. She could hold you without charge. Lots of people are starting to talk about impeachment. I mean, Bush has only got a little while left anyway. I sure don’t want that Hillary or Obama spying on me.
Save the presidency from dictatorship. Impeach Bush.
Frankly, it scares me too. I don’t want any President to have these powers.
In fact, if I had the chance to ask the Democratic presidential candidates one question, it would be:
Do you believe the President has unconstitutionally consolidated Executive authority and if so, what specific legislation to you propose to rebalance presidential power?
Oh, maybe I will have that chance at Yearly Kos!
Impeachment: spin it however you need to. Since it is the just and right thing to do, you will find some angle from which it makes sense to everyone. Even in the red zone. Come early or come late, but come all.