I hate to admit it, but I'm beginning to agree with those who are calling for the impeachment of President Bush. I've tried to resist the petty desire for vengance, to pay the Republicans back for their indecent impeachment of President Clinton. I've tried to remind myself that impeachment is an extraordinary action that our nation has undertaken just twice in its history. But the more I think about it, the more I agree with Ralph Nader:
"When you plunge our country into war on a platform of fabrications and deceptions, and you bring back thousands of American soldiers who are sick, injured or dead, and that war is unconstitutionally authorized to begin with, Mr. Bush's behavior qualifies for the high crimes and misdemeanor impeachment clause of the Constitution."Nader said this before watching 60 Minutes last night. Bob Woodward talked with Mike Wallace on tonight's 60 Minutes about his new book, "Plan of Attack," and added to the mounting evidence that should eventually lead to the impeachment of Bush & Cheney.
"Lying under oath is not a trivial offense, but it cannot compare with deceiving the American people night after night after night on national television, staging untruths and rejecting the advice of his advisers."
"Rumsfeld and Franks work out a deal essentially where Franks can spend any money he needs. And so he starts building runways and pipelines and doing all the preparations in Kuwait, specifically to make war possible,” says Woodward.When we impeach Bush, his appeals to his 'higher Father' will fall on deaf ears, I'm certain. Incidentally, can we impeach Bush & Cheney together?
“Gets to a point where in July, the end of July 2002, they need $700 million, a large amount of money for all these tasks. And the president approves it. But Congress doesn't know and it is done. They get the money from a supplemental appropriation for the Afghan War, which Congress has approved. …Some people are gonna look at a document called the Constitution which says that no money will be drawn from the Treasury unless appropriated by Congress. Congress was totally in the dark on this."
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Did Mr. Bush ask his father for any advice? “I asked the president about this. And President Bush said, ‘Well, no,’ and then he got defensive about it,” says Woodward. “Then he said something that really struck me. He said of his father, ‘He is the wrong father to appeal to for advice. The wrong father to go to, to appeal to in terms of strength.’ And then he said, ‘There's a higher Father that I appeal to.’"
... For those who missed Bush's hilarious press conference last week, he told a great lie about mustard gas found on a turkey farm, "Bush Makes Three Mistakes While Trying to Cite One." Calling them "mistakes" is euphemistic. Call a spade a spade.
... In case the impeachment movement can't gather steam in the Republican-led Congress, there is always the election: "Bush's beatability factor". I find it disturbing and sad that many Americans actually think that Bush is doing a great job and deserves to be elected in November. If the impeachment fails, we should at least send his dumb ass back to Crawford.