Monday, May 21, 2007

Impeachment: A Legitimate Check Against Imperial Power

by Len Hart, The Existentialist Cowboy

Those favoring the impeachment of George W. Bush must guard against GOP efforts to frame impeachment as an illegitimate effort to usurp the government. That would be the GOP way, after all. Democrats must make the legitimate case that the founders intended impeachment to be a check against unbridled executive power. Therefore, impeachment must be pursued with all due diligence and vigor. What Jimmy Carter said about the Bush regime was, in fact, quite moderate and restrained. In fact, Bush has departed widely from American values and has committed crimes in the process. He must be impeached.

Historically, impeachment movements have reigned in "out-of-control" executive branches just as the founders had intended. Often, the mere threat of impeachment has had beneficial effects. In Bush's case, only impeachment, trial and removal will do.I will go further than Carter: Bush is a rogue "President" who believes himself above the law, above supervision by Congress, beyond the power of the courts.

Then why do Democrats appear reluctant to pursue this remedy when now more than ever, the executive has clearly repudiated basic American values?
"The overt reversal of America's basic values as expressed by previous administrations, including those of George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon and others, has been the most disturbing to me."

- Former President Jimmy Carter, quoted by Associated Press

Predictably - because the "President's" very legitimacy is threatened - the Bushies have activated a full court press. The code words du jour are "sad", as in, it is sad that Carter has chosen to characterize Bush's regime in terms like "worst President ever". The most compelling code word, however, is "irrelevant", as in, Carter is "irrelevant", a text book ad hominem attack typical of a party whose consultants teach this odious tactic. Clearly, if Carter, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize were irrelevant, a failed regime would not find it necessary to so remind the world.

If there are any members of the GOP still supporting this utterly failed and criminal administration reading my blog, let me put it to you this way: the Bush administration is even worse than said by Carter. It is not merely failed, it is un-American. It has challenged and subverted the very principles of our founding. It has flouted the founders, the Constitution, the rule of law, due process of law, and the separation of powers. Impeachment is long overdue. It is not "sad" that Carter chose to speak. It is, rather, a ray of light amid a new dark age. Carter is not "irrelevant"; he is a statesman while the current occupant of the White House is a criminal awaiting impeachment, if not imprisonment for his crimes against the people of the United States, the people of Iraq, the people of the world.

In response to the attack on him by George W. Bush and the evil minions of the GOP fascist, crime syndicate, here is Nobel Laureate Jimmy Carter:

Bush is worst-ever president, Carter says


FORMER PRESIDENT BLASTS DIPLOMACY, ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY Former President Carter says President Bush's administration is "the worst in history" in international relations, taking aim at the White House's policy of pre-emptive war and its Middle East diplomacy.

The criticism from Carter also took aim at Bush's environmental policies and the administration's "quite disturbing" faith-based initiative funding.

"I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history," Carter told former Herald-Leader religion writer Frank Lockwood in an interview for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. "The overt reversal of America's basic values as expressed by previous administrations, including those of George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon and others, has been the most disturbing to me."

Carter spoke while promoting his new audiobook series, Sunday Mornings in Plains, a collection of weekly Bible lessons from his hometown of Plains, Ga.

"Apparently, Sunday mornings in Plains for former President Carter includes hurling reckless accusations at your fellow man," said Amber Wilkerson, Republican National Committee spokeswoman. She said it was hard to take Carter seriously because he also "challenged Ronald Reagan's strategy for the Cold War."

Douglas Brinkley, a Tulane University presidential historian and Carter biographer, described Carter's comments as unprecedented.

"This is the most forceful denunciation President Carter has ever made about an American president," Brinkley said. "When you call somebody the worst president, that's volatile. Those are fighting words."



6 comments:

SadButTrue said...

That Jimmy Carter interview was of course from CBC News, and viewable by only the small percentage of Americans who live near our borders. I was talking with a friend today who watches both American and Canadian television news programs every day, and we both lamented the difference in the coverage. It's really sad that those outside the US are BETTER informed about US political news than those inside.

For instance, take the explosive news surrounding the James Comey testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last Tuesday. This was as dramatic and relevant as a news story could be, but Media Matters was reporting as late as Friday that ABC and CBS television news still hadn't so much as mentioned it.

"I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crises. The great point is to bring them the real facts."
-- Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln would be spinning in his grave, not to mention Jefferson, Madison, et. al. How is an uninformed public supposed to fulfill their public duty as voters?

Anonymous said...

FuzzFlash sez...

Yes, Len and Sad, the sun has almost set.

It is powerful criticism indeed, when a President speaks the truth publicly to another president. Hasn't been a lot of it since 1779.

The democratic juggernaut of impeachment is gaining momentum, snail-like though it may be. It's time for all voices of protest to rise up and chorus harmoniously. Town by town, city by city, we need to start occupying some prominent public places. The situation is beyond the scope of card-carrying Dems and GOPpers of goodwill. These people move like sloths. America needs swifts of action as well as Swifts of quill. Minutemen and women of America to hasten the fall of The Imbecile King, George. (Agree with Mark Crispin Miller on all of his You-Tube last post, save the fact the W. is a functional cretin)

Sticking one's head out the window and sceaming that one is sick and tired of being fucked around by morons is a start. It's time to remove the kid gloves. We need to start occupying some prominent public places.
We The People must take it to the streets before the cowardly congressional Dems will be obliged to take the Road to Impeachment.

If Americans are too frighened to march, then they could sure hurt the The War Pigs and their MIC enablers by judicious use of their vehicles in creating strategic rolling freeway blockages, for instance. We The People could bring plenty of food and drink in our vehicles, and hang about. If there is concern that one's vehicle may be scratched in any melee, then buy a "ThrowAway" beater, and drive it to the demonstration. Plenty of those dinosaurs still clogging up used car yards.

If we don't take it up to these pricks then Jeffersonian Democracy is cactus.

SadButTrue said...

Inspired partly by this post and your last, Len, as well as an 'unscientific' MSNBC poll showing an astonishing 88% of respondents supporting impeachment, I have posted my own clarion call. The post is quite different in its approach from this one, focussing on the political reasons the Democrats MUST impeach, even if the perception is that they cannot secure a conviction in the Senate. Not least among these reasons is the fact that the Senate cohort in '08 includes 21 GOP and only 12 Democratic Senators. Those 21 will have a compelling political motive to avoid being seen as supporting this unpopular president, especially when his crimes are fully exposed to the public.

IMPEACH NOW!!

Marc McDonald said...

Let me see if I understand this correctly. When Clinton was president, Congress impeached him, despite the fact that the American public opposed impeachment (and indeed rated Clinton very highly in the polls).
By contrast, today Americans want Bush impeached for his serious crimes. And yet Congress won't do it. What's wrong with this picture?

Marc McDonald
BeggarsCanBeChoosers.com

Anonymous said...

MSNBC has a poll on impeaching Bush...almost half a million have posted, it is currently 88% for impeachment. I have never seen that many participants in any of these online polls. Is anybody listening in the main stream media?

benmerc

Unknown said...

SadButTrue said...

That Jimmy Carter interview was of course from CBC News, and viewable by only the small percentage of Americans who live near our borders.

Indeed, Americans have been ill-served by the media. We can blame Ronald Reagan for much of that. It was his administration that allowed the big conglomerates to gobble up indepenedent voices.

The democratic juggernaut of impeachment is gaining momentum, snail-like though it may be. It's time for all voices of protest to rise up and chorus harmoniously. Town by town, city by city, we need to start occupying some prominent public places.

As to be expected from you, Fuzz, you paid a vivid picture. I can't wait for the movie version. Jimmy Stewart would have been perfect in the lead. I am nostalgic for a better time, a better America.

Sticking one's head out the window and sceaming that one is sick and tired of being fucked around by morons is a start.

If that really happened, it would never be forgotten and it might even change things. It would at least restore our lost sense of community.

If we don't take it up to these pricks then Jeffersonian Democracy is cactus.

And I know a thing or two about cactus. They are full of pricks.

MSNBC poll showing an astonishing 88% of respondents supporting impeachment, I have posted my own clarion call.

Thanks, Sad, I will check it out. Impeach, we must. I can't see a future for America if it doesn't. All the wrong precedents will stand.