There's Godwin's Law, which we generally interpret to mean that we can't use the F-word (except when we ought to).
However, there's no law governing the I-word -- "impeachment" -- although the SCLM (let alone the VRWC) hasn't used it much since the days of The Clenis™. Jules Witcover used it in a column this past June, and David Broder used it just the other day, although in understated "cloud no bigger than a man's hand"-style.
Just today the I-word surfaced in the mainstream information flow, in an Op-Ed column in the LA Times. Robert Scheer based his case for impeachment on Bush's "big lie to justify going to war" -- the infamous 16 weasel words.
Legally, I don't think there's much to Scheer's column. If lying is illegal, then there won't be cells enough for all of us. Here, we've had an extensive and informed discussion on just this point:
Is uttering a falsehood in the constitutionally mandated State of the Union speech a felony under statute? (For example, USC Sec. 1001, or 18 USC Sec. 371.) John Dean says Yes, under 18 USC Sec. 371.
Maybe so. (I'm not a lawyer.)
But.
Impeach Bush? Not a good idea, I think.
Payback for the slow-moving, media-fuelled, VRWC-funded coup inflicted on us through the ginned up Clinton scandals, the impeachment, and the Florida coup would sure be good, clean fun... Ditto nailing Bush on his lies, especially the Big Lies...
But emotion shouldn't rule strategy. ("Revenge is a dish best served cold.") And since the Republicans control all three branches of government, impeachment is dead at the starting gate. It's just not on.
The one essential is to get a Democrat -- any Democrat -- into the White House in 2004. To do that, we're going to need all the resources we can get, and -- whether some of you like it or not -- we're going to need moderate voters. (If you want to think of a moderate voter as someone who hasn't done the hard work that you have, and therefore isn't nearly as committed or angry, that's fine. The point is to get their vote!)
Strategically, then, impeachment is both a diversion of precious resources, and a turn-off to voters we need to win.
Red meat for the base, sure. A hot-house for growing the memes more moderate sounding voices can transmit to the mainstream, sure. But no more than that.
Thoughts?
