Bush will NOT get impeached. BE REAL.

As long as Congress is controlled by Republicans, it will NEVER happen. If W held a press conference where he boinked a sheep, literally crapped on the Constitution, wiped his butt with the Declaration of Independence, went straight to the podium, and told everyone that he'd engineered 9/11 while smirking and waggling his undersized genitalia at the camera the whole time, he wouldn't get impeached by this Congress.

And not only that, we would get told by Coulter and Hannity and Limbaugh that a) sheep sex prevents unwanted pregancies; b) old documents ought to be recycled for the environment and c) they were just a bunch of NY liberals anyway. Then Pat Robertson would say that a) any document is toilet paper compared to the Bible and b) sheep sex is a small thing to worry about compared to evolution being in and prayer being out of American classrooms and c) they were just a bunch of godless NY liberals anyway. And freepers would all cheer for their president. The video "B-a-a-a, Bush Boinks" would be advertised on Free Republic, along with the instructional videos "Parchment: Your Butt's Friend," and "Don't Wag the Dog, Blow His Ass Up."

Every single "crisis" has been met with the reaction, "THIS IS IT!! BFEE IS DONE!!" and every single time, it has just faded away in the news. Bush didn't want a 9/11 commission. Faded away. State of the Union WMD talk. Faded away. Abu Ghraib. Faded away. Torture in general. Faded away. Cindy Sheehan. Faded away. CIA torture camps. Faded away. Scooter Libby. Faded away.

Every single time, BushCo has gotten up, said something spectacularly false, and hasn't been called on it. Controversy: Illegal wiretaps. Bush response: It ain't illegal. The President's authorized to do that. The true illegalers and terrist sympathizers are the folks who told everyone about it. Media response: repeat these obvious lies.

Here's the problem. In the interest of being "impartial," the media parrots Bush's lines. Then you've got the massive right wing noise machine that parrots his lines, and attacks the whistleblowers. Then the major Democrats either knuckle under, or get ZERO air time. Then the noise machine starts talking about how everyone's tired of hearing about this, at which point the media stops talking about it because they think they'll lose ratings (or because their corporate masters yank the chain) and the Democrats stop talking because they think they'll lose votes and hell, no one's listening in the media anyway.

BUSH WILL NEVER GET IMPEACHED. NEVER. He will serve out his term, and there might be some kind of crisis that forces him to stay on. Shoot, he'll blatantly deny the 4th Amendment. Who gives a damn about the 22nd? And if he doesn't stay, one of two things will happen: either he'll be replaced by the anointed favorite of the right wing noise machine, or a Democrat will be elected who is so thoroughly eviscerated by the media/noise machine having to clean up W's mess that he'll be a one-termer. This kind of thing will happen unless and until we have the equivalent mechanism of talk radio, a left-wing counterpart to Faux, think tanks, and all that crap that the Repukes have spent the past 35 years building.

And we are being real.

Let me break it down to the short version in case you didn't want to read the long rant. With every single branch of the goverment and the 4th estate controlled by the right wing, Bush WILL NOT GET IMPEACHED.

vote for impeachment! They will be just as afraid of getting tarnished by *'s illegalities as the dems were of getting painted as anti-american if they voted against the war. Just have to keep the pressure on until the scale tips. With so many scandals and failures building, he can't possibly run out the clock before the whole house of cards comes tumbling down.

(did i use enough cliches? lol)

*Bush's approval ratings have been in the toilet for awhile for a wide range of reasons. With CongressCritters up for reelection in less than a year, they'll be listening and catering to their constituents and "The People" are pissed with this latest domestic spying outrage. I used to think we'd have to wait until after the Dems reclaimed Congress in 06, but with this latest turn of events, Impeachment is on the table in a big and dramatic way.

When Clinton was impeached, the Repugs kept screaming "rule of law...rule of law...." Well, the tide's have turned and it's time for the Criminal In Chief to face the music.

(Did I match you in cliches? lol)

IMCPO, they are BLATANTLY breaking laws BECAUSE they know they can STEAL every election we have as long as they have their evoting machines. IF the machines are to be used in '06, they won't give a rats ass if the idiot's numbers are in the toilet because it won't affect THEIR reelection because they can hack the machines and change the votes! This ALL hinges on EVOTING MACHINES.

This is worse than the last 2 presidential impeachments I saw. He will be.

I'm a bit more optimistic than you.

With a fast growing new internet based news consortium (like IWTNEWS) and continually expanding Bush offenses plus the returning soldiers running as Democrats for office then I'd say Bush's future is uncertain.

Your opinions, stated as solid, unchangeable facts, put your defeatist attitude out there for all to see

We can scream this stuff all we want but as long as Frist and Hasert/Delay (lets face it, he is still the majority leader pulling the puppet strings of Blunt) are running the show we will not see impeachment.

of falling into the dungheap.

Therefore, the chances of the leadership allowing impeachment is still iffy. I echo what others have obviously stated - no impeachment until Dems re-take Congress again.

if the Dems do not take control of the House in 2006.

That's going to be tough. Not impossible, but it would require that Bush's problems continue to fester. But, they need not grow into another Watergate-sized debacle. In 1974, the Dems picked up 43 seats. While Iraq will probably fall off the scope, continued perceived erosion in the economy and an extension of the Bush Administration's scandals might be enough to do it. Don't forget, the Republicans picked up 25 seats in 2002, which pushed their lead to 30. Nixon's GOP has also picked up a lot of House seats in 1968 and 1972. See, below.

http://www.rhodescook.com/fit.tied.html (written in 2002)

In the last quarter century, the two biggest Democratic years came when Republican administrations were thrown on the defensive by the perception of recession. In 1982, the Democrats gained 26 House seats, the most for the party in any election since the Watergate year of 1974 (43).

SNIP

The president’s party in Congress almost always loses ground in midterm elections, an average of 25 seats in the House and four seats in the Senate in midterm voting since the end of World War II.

If the focus is only on postwar Republican presidents at their first midterm - Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1954, Richard Nixon in 1970, Ronald Reagan in 1982, and George Bush in 1990 - the average GOP loss is reduced to 16 seats in the House and none in the Senate.

on the other hand if the democrats get control don't be so certain

WE NEED A FRICKING MAJORITY. Sure, Hell will freeze over before Lieberman supports the impeachment BUT Lieberman is still a democrat and will vote for Reid as the majority. That's all I want from him - that's all we need.

Fight your asses off in the primaries but in the general election, if you're stuck with a 'not-so-liberal' democrat on your ticket consider this: You're not voting for the candidate, you're voting for Reid & Pelosi as majority leaders.

That's the most important reason to vote for even the worst democrats in 2006.

Get real is right. The president flagrantly broke the law and spying on American citizens.

The last democratic president was impeached by the republicans for lying about a personal, consensual sexual affair.

This is NOT about removing him from office. If the democrats allow this to stand, without formally calling for impeachment, we have completely rolled over and given in to the dictatorship of George W. Bush. We will be sending the message that we simply don't have the spine to stand up to them. I don't think Bush will be impeached, either, and I'd be willing to bet the vast majority of DUers don't think so, either. Get off that mindset...it's not about the removal from office. It's about the law, and upholding it, and expecting our leaders to do the same.

what is BFEE

BFEE

I know I'm a broken record but hell those 2 would rather pass an amendment that allows gays to marriages and all abortions be free & legal before they would ever consider bringing impeachment charges against Bush.

not expecting it to pass.

Put it on record, then demand the republicans explain, in all their 2006 campaign speeches, why the favor an American dictatorship, and a president who violates the law. That is the point. All of you people focusing on an impeachment as if anyone expects it to succeed are entirely missing the point of calling for said impeachment.

Maybe if we can fight our asses off and hand the democrats a majority then we can take it a step further.

I want this debated on the senate/house floor and it will not happen without at least one majority.

I'm not advocating supporting the DLC in the primaries - fight your asses off for the candidate of your choosing. But when the general elections come around we all have to fight for the democrat on the ticket.

Once we have the majority we can get this on the floor and debated!

I'm not advocating supporting the DLC any time. I agree, we need to get off our asses and fight. That starts with having the balls to actually file the impeachment papers and allow the republicans to stop it and explain why they support the lawlessness. Put them on the defensive.

As for the general elections, BushCo is already attempting Phase I of Operation Election Theft 06...fake polling which brings them to within a few points of 50% approval. Once they're within the MOE, Deibold handles the number-shifting which hands the GOP the "surprise" come-from-behind victory which they explain away with the very close poll numbers. Bet money on. Our votes are meaningless at this point. Stopping Bush will send a message to his cronies and contributors and co-conspirators that we're not actually spineless pussies. If we allow him to steal the 2006 election for the struggling local republicans, then he'll have further solidified their backing (and he'll once again demand payback).

This is way bigger than normal election-year politics. Remember, the Bush family is nipple-deep in CIA history. They know how to pull this shit off. Don't count on the 2006 elections for anything more than further amazed disappointment. Impeach Bush NOW.

I don't care what fricking letters they follow the rule should be simple:

Primary Election: Fight to get rid of DLC/Moderate Democrats
General Election: Fight to get rid of Republicans

When has the nation (present company excluded, of course) not rolled over and given in? Our only, and I mean ONLY hope for any kind of recourse is to get a majority in the House in 2006, and by 2006, this current scandal will be as old as the Whisky Rebellion as far as the media - who control how the nation thinks - is concerned.

only if his ass is thrown in jail first. Which is the smart thing to shoot for?

This is how Nixon came down. Republicans began to join with Dems.

heehee

There's no such thing as "never" if we all believe.

Yesterday, I made a horrible judgment call and posted that I thought Bush would rise in the polls because of his marketing onslaught. I got eviscerated by DU'ers and hoisted up for scorn.

You said everything today that I was feeling yesterday, and didn't articulate.

Good job on capturing a very real and present situation.

Thanks.

raising the issue at least makes the Republican scum in the house held accountable for not acting. It's a win/win either way. Bush violated the law(on many occasions for different things)...he should be impeached...the only thing that is different this time is that he actually admitted to violating the law.

He is toast.

I'm not discouraging Boxer from saying what she is saying. I'm just giving realities to the folks here at DU who for some bizarre reason think we can impeach Bush while tossing all the democrats we hate out on the streets.

Until we have a majority all we have is talk. It's damn good talk and maybe it's a rallying cry to help us fight harder for to get the majority in 2006. But if we keep talking about refusing to vote for DLCers mainly in the general elections then all Barbara Boxer is doing is converting Oxygen to Carbon Dioxide.

"Bush didn't want a 9/11 commission. Faded away. State of the Union WMD talk. Faded away. Abu Ghraib. Faded away. Torture in general. Faded away. Cindy Sheehan. Faded away. CIA torture camps. Faded away. Scooter Libby. Faded away."

Faded away MY ASS!!

Wake up!!

But that's because there are people like you who are paying attention on here.

Everywhere else, those things have faded, and unless the entire nation logs onto DU, that word doesn't keep going out. Not only that, people have Faux News and the Wall Street journal and Hannity to tell them that everything's all right, the USA is the BEST, baby! and the administration and everyone who supports everything they do are true red-blooded patriots!!

the same way at times too, but I doubt Fitzgerald is going to care what faux or other MSM are saying. Plus Congress is getting noisy too about it. If the impeachment was based on a popular vote, I'd be concerned.
I just wish more people would wake up. I was asleep until Katrina happened myself.

and this could be a rallying cry.

psst... pass the word ;->

peace

If we don't like the Democrat we currently have then fight our asses off in the primaries. But in NOv 2006 we fight for the right to bring this impeachment debate to the senate/house floor. I want a majority so much I feel it in my bones.

which is not all that likely in 2006.

Sorry to sound defeatist. I just don't think it will happen.

I suspect most Democrats will view it as too politically risky.

This has nothing to do with what is just or fair. Politics rarely is.

In a fair world the Supreme Court justices who usurped constitutional government and installed Bush in the first place would have been tried for treason.

I don't think there was a single Republican congresscritter who got put out of office based on his vote for Clinton's impeachment. Not a single one.

As I understand it there is a chance.. a chance we could get back the house and possibly the Senate. Even if the articles got through the house which I very seriously doubt they would NEVER get 2/3 of the Senate on board. I mean can you imagine even if we had a slim majority in the Senate somehow getting enough RW Senators to come over and vote for it given they would have just lost all of Congress.. they would burn in hell first.

I'm not even going to go into the complication of 2/3 of the Senate when you have to get DINOs like Liberman and Biden on board..

Its not happening people.. its just not.

I would more than settle for impeachment!!

Would be nice, though, wouldn't it?

Redstone

they just get out on bail anyways and then there's this whole "trial" thingy. We just want to give up. Is that ok?
If we give up and every person in the country gets screwed, that's ok, right?

wouldn't Darth then be our president? (Not that he isn't already.)

Let those words float around in your head for a little while, and think about what it means for the Republicans in 2006 and 2008. Bush is not particularly popular at the moment. Cheney is deeply unpopular, even with a lot of Republicans. His entire gig since 9/11 has been doing the dirty work, being the bad guy, saying the things that Bush couldn't say. A Cheney presidency would be an unmitigated disaster for the Republican party. All of a sudden Plamegate directly involves the president and his immediate staff. The president supports torture. And on and on and on. It would be political suicide for the Republicans. They know this. And they know the Democrats know it. All of this talk of impeachment is nothing more than trivial fluff to rile up the democratic base - us. C'mon, guys. If you're starting the process of impeachment, you don't announce it on Raw Story or Democracy NOW! Please see this for what it really is and don't get too worked up over it. It may eventually come to pass that Congress has no choice but to impeach (a la Nixon.) We aren't even remotely close to that point right now.

Since the media ain't our friends, we gotta make it happen. This is still a democracy, although our Bill of Rights has only 9 Amendments instead of 10 like it did before GWB+Criminals.

You of little faith. Cheney as pRez will also nearly kill the Reeps as a party. What's wrong with that?? I wouldn't be happy anyway myself until I knew that we've really, together as We The People, scrubbed the crawford scum out of our WH. Best wishes + xmas greetins to you.

Since the media ain't our friends, we gotta make it happen.

If anyone here knows how you go about convincing twenty Republican senators that it's in their best political interest to impeach the president in the absence of any truly massive public outcry for such action, I'd like to know.

This is still a democracy, although our Bill of Rights has only 9 Amendments instead of 10 like it did before GWB+Criminals.

More like7 or 8 at this point, isn't it?

Cheney as pRez will also nearly kill the Reeps as a party. What's wrong with that?

Umm... nothing. But you do understand that the Republicans know this, right? And therefore would be extremely disinclined to impeach.

I take it the glass is just fucking empty on your table, because you have shot the idea down before we even have a chance to formulate a plan. There is still a chance believe it or not that impeachment can happen. Have you forgotten that many on the extreme right, like Bob Barr, who is one of those hellfire and brimstone show-em-no-mercy types, are very much against this sort of thing. With just a few repugs in tow, he CAN be impeached. It is possible.

So just chill out, and have a :beer: or some coffee, anything, just don't forget to :toast: and keep your head up. This thing ain't over 'til it's over. Gotta keep the drum beat going if we expect to be heard. You are welcome to join us in the call for impeachment, but don't give up so easily. We have 2006 coming up and impeachment like anything that involves government has a way of take tons of time. So, see, it is possible.

At some point you've got to look at your cereal and say, "I'll be darned. That's not milk, it's piss!!" Then you stop eating the frickin' cornflakes. If impeachment is the cornflakes, then we've got to realize that the bowl has been full of piss for some time, and will continue to be full of piss until 2007 (following elections) AT EARLIEST.

Time after time after time, Bush's administration has done things that warrant impeachment. Time after time after time, he skates. And do you know why? Because he's got a House full of Republicans, who are NOT going to impeach under any circumstances. Hell, they're still letting Delay run things behind the scenes. Do you think a House that shows support for Delay is going to impeach Bush? HELL, no.

Bob Barr is irrelevant. You know why? Because he's not in office. If he was in office, he'd be supporting Bush. That's the way Republicans are. Criticism of anyone in the party is for those halcyon post-retirement years. I don't think there's a single Republican in office who will EVER vote for impeachment. That's a measure of my lack of faith in Republicans, and it's a lack of faith that I feel is very well justified.

Don't decide right now to join the growing steamroller of impeachment / resignation

Kick it around in your head. Talk it over w/a friend. Whatever, gotta go. Bye! :)

I love it, NOT Bob Barr, but I've spoken to MANY MANY GOPers who are now coming out of their closets and tell me that they're tired too of the iconoclasts in their party ruining America. They don't like the Iraq deal, they don't like losing jobs white collar and other, they don't like hi gas prices. They just don't like the GWB excesses, let alone the spying et al.

Before, they used to attack me and disagree and call names. Now that I've pointed out to them that this land is THEIRS too, they break away from the party line and start confessing that they also are unhappy with the GOP. Reeps, admitting this!!

This is what I mean by not being confrontational to the Repunks, no matter how they have done us in the past. If we approach them as citizen to citizen rather than Dem v. Reep, they DO understand and it will be easier to get them into our fold, not the Dem fold but the get rid of GWB fold. The more who are with us, the better to get rid of the new Krawford King.

Have a terrific day all. Keep this important dialogue going. CUL8R!! :)

I felt the same way when I was living in Tallahassee, surrounded by W sticker pimps. However, now that I'm up north, I go months without meeting anyone willing to admit they're republican. There is hope that we can regain Congress next year and impeach the bastard. It's good to remain sceptical and not get our hopes too high, but this really is possible. It CAN happen, and it just might.

IF THE DUDE WILL NOT WILLINGLY GO, HE DEFINITELY WILL NOT BE IMPEACHED, AGREED.

But, what's wrong with resignation? MILLIONS right now are impeachment-fighting-mad to get his sleazy chimp butt out of the WH sling Rove has created for him.

If MILLIONS of us are already hot enough NOW, we CAN get even maybe most of the 280 million of us to demand he go home at this very moment. Don't ever forget history --- LBJ dropped out of a 2nd term due to public pressure. Tricky Dick was FORCED OUT for high criimes and misdemeanors. King George is just a mere mortal, no matter what the WH press sec. may tell us. HE CAN GET HIS ESS THROWN OUT IF WE ALL WORK HARD ENOUGH FOR IT.

I've seen Republicans skate for a quarter century.

Reagan's campaign negotiates with Khomenei's regime to have American hostages returned only after he's elected? Skate.

Iran-contra? Skate.

George "out of the loop" Bush? Skate.

Vote fraud in Florida in 2000? Skate.

Impeding the 9/11 commission? Skate.

Going to war on lies? Skate.

Vote fraud in Florida AND Ohio in 2004? Skate.

Abu Ghraib? Skate.

CIA torture camps? Skate.

Scooter Libby? Skate in progress.

For a quarter century, I've seen Republicans do and say reprehensible things, and then turn around and accuse Democrats of doing the exact things they're guilty of. When I was 13, I could spot Reagan's campaign lies and couldn't figure out why in the world the Republicans got away with bald-faced deception. 25 years later, I'm still asking the question. That's why I'm a pessimist.

I ain't agin' ya, brothuh. I'm on the same side as you. I used to be pessimistic back in the day, for me, keeping my head jammed in the toilet bowl. I discovered that as I felt badly about the things of my life, bad followed me like a dog. Think pos. thoughts and dreams can come true, trite but true.

Passion. Work hard. Nonstop. Until the dickhead is gone and back in Crawford. It CAN happen. We gotta try as hard as we can. The very LEAST we can do is to try to oust him and keep on trying to oust him. Otherwise, we deserve every bit of the shit he + the WH shovel at us every day.

It's just too much. OK, if Bush resigns or whatever, than what? President Cheney? Impeach and remove him too? Than what? President Hastert? Ted Stevens? Condoleezza Rice? Rumsfeld's on the succession list. So's Gonzales.

We need to work hard to remove them all. If Bush goes, so what? He's just the figurehead at this point. The neo-conservative group is already entrenched into the governing structure - they've been voting in and appointing everyone and anyone that they can get that believes in their agenda / ideology.

I'm afraid to say that we need to return to "grass roots" politics. Federal / National politics will fail us if we do not have a good foundation. It's time to re-look at local elections, county, city, state - build from there. Yeah, it will take years to regain the momentum.

I agree with GYD. Get the articles of Impeachment going, get in on record. Whether Bush goes or not - no longer an issue.

But, being relatively new here, I never thought I'd see such pessimism abounding among the Dems here. Could that be a good reason why GWB has become King now and ruined the USA as a very nice place to live? Uh, YES.

Defeatism sucks in more defeat like a vacuum. Work hard and passionately for impeach / resignation. We still have the most power of all in our own hands. We CAN make these turds flush into the sewers of Crawford. We need to step out of the box, realize that NO ONE BUT GOD has more power than We The People, and take it from there. Cowards like GWB and Hannity and the rest will run like rats when they encounter a force stronger than the power they stole from us in 2000+2004.

If Dems don't understand this, then they NEED to get pushed around by the powers that be, cuz they may never be at the point where they're not gonna be pushed around anymore.

"SHOULD he be impeached?" If the answer is yes, then working for impeachment is the right thing to do.

If the laws of this country mean anything other than whatever is politically expedient at the moment, then working for impeachment is the right thing to do. If the common man is suspected of murder or embezzlement or stalking or whatever, there is no need of a political movement to have him arrested, it just happens. The same rules ought to apply to the government, but they don't. So we work to enforce them.

And many people said just what you're saying now.

They were wrong.

They're not going to impeach the guy even after he violated the Constitution and broke the law? Who the hell do they think they are? To the rest of the country they're all going to look like a bunch of damn thugs.

This absolute power thing is just fucking scary. I wish there was a way besides voting that we could get rid of these partisan assholes. Since they're being a liability to justice they should all be striped of their duties and impeached just like Bush. NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW.

or a Democrat will be elected who is so thoroughly eviscerated by the media/noise machine having to clean up W's mess that he'll be a one-termer.

Elections seem to go in cycles; the public can not stand one party having the presidency for more than two or three terms in a row. A Democrat WILL win in 2008, and almost certainly in 2012 as well ( and maybe 2016 - after that it will again be a repukes turn).