How much are we going to put up with from this man?
He lied to us about the reasons for invading Iraq; in fact, he lied several times, making up new fake reasons as the old fakes were exposed. Because of those lies, tens of thousands of people have died; Iraq is a shambles, slouching toward a Shiite theocracy, a training ground for every anti-American fanatic in existence.
He claims to be above the law due to a "war on terror" that he invented, after the Sept. 11 attacks, to bolster his power. Sure, there are terrorists out there, who would like to harm us. What he's doing isn't making them any less likely to attack us; quite the opposite.
He has authorized warrantless wiretaps on U.S. citizens (4th amendment, unreasonable searches and seizures), declared that he can hold suspects indefinitely without trial (6th amendment, speedy and public trial, confrontation of witnesses), and claims the right to "try" them before military tribunals (7th amendment, trial by jury). He ignores pretty much all the international treaties previous administrations signed in the twentieth century, including the Geneva Convention, just because.
And now we find that he feels his godly power as Commander in Chief allows him to declassify sensitive information on the spot, when he needs it to make the opponents of his policy look bad, and without letting anybody else know. I wondered when Mr. Libby would finger someone in the White House; well, he has. There's been some backing and filling, but the initial response was unbelievable: yes, the president was the source of the leak and he has a right to be... This is the man who was so self-righteous about leaks when the question was who told the NY Times about his wiretapping campaign.
Enough. Write your Congressman. Write your senators. Demand impeachment. I have. By God, if Bill Clinton can be impeached for lying about a blow job, surely a man who takes us to war on a lie is impeachable.
The argument against impeachment is that it would leave Dick Cheney in charge. That is daunting. The answer, then: impeach them both. Both are complicit in this mess. Get them both out, and put a caretaker in for the next few years. It's what we got after Nixon resigned; and you know, Gerald Ford looks pretty good right now.
On one level, I don't even care if it does leave Dead-Eye Dick in charge. I want that man to know that the American people believe he is a criminal and should not be in office. It is outrageous when you cannot believe a word the President of the United States says.
Gerald Ford comment is distressingly legit. And we're talking about a lot of warts, not to mention the fact that he's a Republican, which means a retrograde anchor regardless of the personal intentions of every Republican president post-Lincoln (cf. DDE, who for all his insight into the military-congressional-industrial complex was still a Republican bound by Republican ideology). Most recent example of this apparently insurmountable problem is presidential wannabe John McCain, away from whom Helen Thomas has ripped the curtain.
ReplyDeletehedra,
ReplyDeleteI like the idea, but I don’t think it goes far enough. Can you fire the whole government? I don’t have any faith in any of them. I was listening to a bit of the Diane Rheem show today and there was this senator (I didn’t catch his name) saying that the people of Iraq need to get their government running because it is hurting the Presidents numbers. He actually said, “I know it took us about 10 years to get our act together, but come on, can’t they hurry it up?” It seems that the government has become America-centric. I wasn’t aware the universe revolved around our country. I think we need a constitutional congress and change a few things.
A well written and impassioned plea. Thanks. Mr. Bush has declared that he's on a mission from God. Sure. Be that as it may, I agree we should go after both Bush and Cheney, which leaves us a rather depressing rogue's gallery of characters as replacements. http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0101032.html
ReplyDeleteBTW, my Representative and my 2 Senators are all very conservative Republicans who respond to my letters with screeds of the party line and nothing you say to them seems to make any sort of impression at all.
stephen, I had missed that appalling interview - what a remark. I personally have been thinking there were some small, weak signs that the ideas of political negotiation and compromise for the good of the country were beginning to take root in the scramble around the Iraqi presidency - although not, I'm afraid, in Al-Jaafari. And now this yo-yo - it's probably just as well you missed his name - is mouthing, "can't they hurry up? It's hurting the president's numbers." As I'm always saying, you couldn't make this stuff up.
ReplyDeleteIt did take us 10 years from articles of confederation to constitution, and if Iraq reaches a similar goal in a similar time, we'll all be luckier than any of us deserves.
cooper, I've said before, nobody scares me more than the man who thinks God is on his side. I don't know why the conviction that God is with one should so inevitably lead to atrocious behavior; you'd think it would cause you to pause and reflect.
And the reason you get such dreck from your representatives is that they don't read the mail themselves - they have a staffer or intern read the mail and return one of a series of potted form letters in reply. Dianne Feinstein is notorious for this; I've gotten replies from her that weren't even in the ballpark. I was quite surprised when my "impeach Bush now" note to Barbara Boxer got back a "thank you for your support for the Feingold censure motion" letter, that was closer to my point than I expected.
At least Feinstein and Boxer aren't doing anything with interns but having them answer the mail...
Perhaps the problem is they think God is on THEIR side, so they don't try to be on HIS?
ReplyDeleteI went to Diane's website. She was talking with Trent Lott. I should have known.
ReplyDeleteAbout the 10 years. Should we count the years of thought and discussion that went into what kind of country we would want to set up? Should we mention that WE chose to change our government while Iraq has had it forced upon them with no history of democracy? What kind of idiots are these people?
Sorry, back into time-out.
Cooper,
ReplyDeleteIf you want to cause them some anxiety, send a handwritten letter by snail mail. That registers highest on their Oh, shit meter. If it is brief and non-offputtingly articulate and well reasoned, it has the possibility of registering in a young aide's consciousness. There is always the possibility of cognitive dissonance in the younger idealists. No chance with the veterans.
E-mail campaigns are effective if they generate enough e-mails to frighten the pissants. Right now the Republican pissants are already frightened, giving our spineless Democrats company. What's good is that it is unfamiliar territory for the Republicans. Moderate Democrats have been there so long they don't panic, just cower. So while Republicans are self-destructing, Democrats have the actual option of standing up straight (good posture, dammit, good posture).
Steven,
First they would have to possess a clue regarding what Jesus was trying to get across.
Anonymous David