I don't want to cause any kind of a splash, it's Monday, I'm tired, and I doubt I could answer the number of comments most impeachment diaries generate.
Frankly, I envy those who are passionately devoted to one Presidential candidate or another, I do. I wish I could feel that way, feel I could look forward to the 2008 election and think it will solve the problems of our country.
But I just can't. And believe me, I have tried.
This is my personal reflection on America.
I am still unable to come to grips with the notion that anyone can accept another year of the Bush misAdministration, that the tiny incremental "victories" we've had mean anything at all, or that good news for our political party is inherently going to be good news for America.
I'm stunned that we were told in 2006 that we'd have investigations, that we then had investigations, and that there has been virtually no result from them -- no enforcement, no contempt charges. We have watched this misAdministration flaut the law and when folks bring it up we are told, "impeachment is off the table."
Seems to me that too many American values are off the table these days, justice being one of them.
When a Democrat, Kucinich, does manage to get impeachment discussed in the Congress, all folks seem to care about is that he's "wacky," that "omigod! He'd consider Ron Paul as a running mate!" I don't give a damn about Kucinich's Presidential aspirations, or anyone else's Presidential aspirations. I do care very much that there be some accountability for the incredible damage Bush and his minions have done to my country.
I see folks pushing their candidates and I just can't get into it, not at all. I am interested in what happens now, not in November of 2008. I wish that Hillary and Obama and Dodd and Biden would put forth the energy they are using in campaigning to work in the Senate to defeat this misAdministration and its quislings. That's what I would like.
I simply cannot believe those in power, those who supposedly represent us, would allow Mister Bush and Mister Cheney to simply walk off into the sunset with their billions of dollars, never to be held accountable for their reign of destruction. That New Orleans will not be avenged. That all those thousands dead and wounded, all the over a million Iraqis murdered, a country destroyed, will not be avenged. That justice will not be served.
I am nauseated that Karl Rove is allowed to be paid for spreading his poison in one of our biggest traditional media, Newsweek, when HE SHOULD BE IN JAIL.
I am sad that so many good Americans are placing more importance on a person than on the issues that affect us all, that personality and petty gossip has become important rather than what we believe this country should stand for.
I don't like to see anyone in the netroots carrying water for any representative, even the excellent ones, rather than constantly challenging them to do better and do more, to really be citizen journalists and always keep coming back to what needs to be done in America. To make the issues the important thing, to be advocates and activists and never cheerleaders, even when there is something to cheer about.
I'll never forget reading a story about Steve Gilliard (perhaps apocryphal, perhaps not) -- when there was the big bloggers meeting with Clinton, he would not attend. He didn't want to be hampered in his objectivity, he wanted to report freely on what he believed. I was awed by that notion, I respect that.
Are we really going to accept another year of Bush and his crew of criminals? I know there are those in Congress who want to impeach, it's not just Kucinich. No one denies that Bush and Cheney and many of their crew have committed impeachable offenses. We all know they have broken the law over and over again.
We have held investigations and allowed those who flaunted the will of Congress to get a free pass. Yes, Rove is working for Newsweek. A free pass. Scooter Libby has been pardoned by a criminal. Alberto Gonzalez is getting thousands of dollars for speeches. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
No, I can't get excited about the 2008 elections. I can't accept that we must go through another year of these criminals holding power and that no one will be held accountable, whether through impeachment hearings or real enforcement of the investigations that have been held.
The people who call themselves pragmatists say all the usual things, and seem very sanguine about the possibility of Bush and his crew never being held accountable.
But there's one thing they forget. There will be consequences if this happens. Bad ones. We will have allowed a poison to stay active in our halls of government, we will not have even pruned a branch, much less destroyed this evil at the root. There will be consequences that no amount of electoral victory can assuage.
So nothing to see here, folks. I wish I could get excited about the elections. I'm passionate about the issues, and about justice. But not about those who are running for office right now. That's a year away. Our party has work to do now. I hope they do it.