For all its emotional appeal, this
column has always opposed wasting
time and energy on the impeachment of President Bush. That’s not to say one couldn’t draw up a list of impeachable offenses, from taking the nation to war on false premises to countenancing such outrages against the Constitution as warrantless wiretaps, false imprisonment and torture. The votes, however, simply don’t exist. Congressional Republicans remain committed to Bush / Cheney, along with the party’s hard-core base. Dragging the nation through another fruitless, made-for-TV spectacle like the Clinton impeachment would look like cheap revenge. It would threaten to turn a grave constitutional remedy into a commonplace political sideshow. That said, Congress should quit pussyfooting around and impeach Attorney General Alberto Gonzales at once. Halfway measures like a special prosecutor would only produce more of what Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N. Y., characterizes as Gonzales’ strategy of “the half-truth, the partial truth and anything but the truth.” For once, I agree with Newt Gingrich. Appearing on “FOX News Sunday,” he declined to defend Gonzales against accusations of repeatedly lying to Congress.
Lotsa luck getting that done.
