I hear all the time X or Y cannot be done because we don't have the votes. For some reasons this does not stop republicans. Well this should not stop Democrats either.
As I was reading Medea Benjamin's article Congressman John Conyers Betrays the American People I stopped after reading
An hour later, they emerged stone-faced and disillusioned. Cindy said that Conyers had told them that "impeachment isn’t going to happen because we don’t have the votes" and that "our only recourse was to work to get a Democrat in the White House."
I lived through the the investigations into the Nixon White House and I find the argument about votes very strange. When the impeachment hearings started no one knew whether or not there would be articles of impeachment much less the votes to support them. Since the articles never made it to the full House we may never know if the votes were there. The point of investigatory hearings is to determine if articles of impeachment should be drawn up. The fact that before Congress, not Representative John Conyers, has determined he will not even investigate this administration for possible impeachment of President Bush is shocking. That he has magically determined the votes are not there is nonsense.
Despite the probable lack of votes to convict President Clinton, the Republicans not only forged ahead and investigated President Clinton, they impeached him. While I agreed with Senator Byrd that Democrats should listen to the evidence before deciding whether or not to convict, conviction seemed highly unlikely to me.
To me this argument about not having the votes is another example of Democratic Leadership cowardice in the face of Republican Hubris. How sad. This cowardice is causing me to re-evaluate if I want to remain a democrat.