Tony Snow declared the other day that impeachment proceedings against Attorney general Alberto Gonzales were toxic.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/...
"What we've been trying to do is to create a little air of dignity in this town, where at the very beginning of this Congress there was a lot of talk about getting work done, setting a new tone. And instead what have we gotten? We have got insults, insinuations, investigations and inquisitions....
"And what has happened is that there is generated this idea of, let's go on a fishing expedition and let's haul somebody up, and let's make insinuations without having firm proof. And what that does is it creates a toxic atmosphere....
Toxic? Like pouring acid on your face toxic? Like drinking a gallon of anti-freeze toxic? Like ripping at the heart of the constitution toxic? Oh, and that air of dignity? Enough said. Well, as a point of reference, let us examine Tony Snow's own words on the subject of impeachment.
Join me, won't you?
From a December 11, 1998 editorial, Tony Snow had this to say about Clinton's impeachment.
http://blog.radioleft.com/...
We have reached a rare point of clarity in our national discourse: The House Judiciary Committee will decide this week whether it is acceptable for a president to commit perjury.
President Clinton seems to be the only person in a position of authority who thinks he didn't lie repeatedly under oath during the course of our long national gross-out. In like manner, his legal team seems blissfully unaware of what the courts have said about such behavior in the past...
Wow, a rare point of national clarity. So is the difference that attorney general Gonzales is NOT the only person who thinks he didn't lie under oath? Toxic.
Nobody believes such nonsense, and that is why this case is critically important. Impeachment isn't a legal process. It doesn't turn on fine parsing of legal lingo. It is a political inquiry that challenges honorable men and women to express common-sense morality.
I agree Tony, I don't believe such nonsense either.
Alexander Hamilton expressed the point in The Federalist 65: The subjects of (an impeachment inquiry) are those offenses which proceed from the misconduct of public men or, in other words, from the abuse or violation of some public trust. They may with peculiar propriety be denominated political, as they relate chiefly to injuries done immediately to the society itself.
Lets enumerate some of the political considerations at work here. Suppose for a moment that Congress decided not to impeach or to censure as a way of avoiding tougher action. That would send a couple of immediate messages that it is acceptable under some circumstances to lie under oath, and that the president enjoys special privileges and immunities, including the luxury of evading punishment for unlawful behavior...
Suppose, just suppose, if congress does not decide to impeach or censure attorney general Gonzales. What immediate message would that send? Acceptable to lie to congress? That the President (Bush) enjoys special privileges and immunities, including the LUXURY of evading punishment for unlawful behavior... Profound, and truly prescient. That's a bit toxic, no?
When members of the Judiciary Committee, and then the House itself, vote on a perjury count, the action will mark our generations place in history. There is nothing easy about the case, but one can say it at least is straightforward. It doesn't involve Byzantine land deals in Arkansas. It doesn't depend on ones knowledge of our convoluted campaign-finance statutes. It doesn't even require the White House to produce long-lost records.
The issue is simple: Does Congress condone lying? If so, has the concept of truth become as quaint and meaningless as Arthurian chivalry?
Your exactly right Tony, the issue is simple. "Does congress condone lying? If so, has the concept of truth become as quaint and meaningless as Arthurian chivalry?" Tony Snow, 12/11/98 Toxic? Tony, toxic is the foul stench that emanates from the White House daily. The greatest power the world has ever seen has been ground down to a stand still in Iraq, trapped by a failed foreign policy, unbridled greed by the wealthiest Americans, unchecked power by those consumed by their own ego's, avarice and misplaced loyalties. That's toxic, Tony, very toxic.