Democratic Congressman Rick Larsen (WA-02) had a public meeting on the rural island where I live Sunday. Since he was first elected in 2000, he's never known anything but being crushed under the heel of the DeLay Mafia, and it was nice to see a new spring in his step; at times he seemed almost giddy with the prospect of actually being part of the majority. He kept saying "We've been in power for 23 days" when people pressed for action on an issue.
I think Larsen is an honest, hard-working guy. A bit too cautious for my taste, but probably the ideal Democrat for his district. He won re-election in November by 64%-36%, in a district that still has a sizable contingent of gun-totin' rednecks, farmers, loggers, fundies, and assorted other natural Republicans.
Predictably, much of Sunday's discussion was about Iraq (Larsen favors partial withdrawal and focusing on fighting terrorists, not babysitting a civil war), but the subject of impeachment came up too…
There was a lot of sentiment in the audience for impeachment, but Larsen would have none of it. He said repeatedly, in what almost sounded like a rehearsed speech, "I believe the American people elected a Democratic majority to make positive changes in their lives. If we took up impeachment, we would do nothing else for the next 2 years. I don't think that's what we were elected to do."
I gather most other Dems are singing from the same hymnal, which would appear to have Pelosi's fingerprints on it.
So, kids, keep the pressure on if, like me, you think Congress has a moral duty to impeach.