A few years ago, the more progressive elements in the Blogosphere were pressing for impeachment of the President. They were upset that the traditional media were not going along.
Prior to the 2004 election, when you could not turn your head without seeing another poll result, major news and polling organizations refused to even ask about the impeament question, saying it was not part of the national political debate. In other words, nobody even took seriously the possibility that the President could be impeached.
Eventually, a group called AfterDowningStreet.org took up a collection and comissioned a poll. The poll showed that, by a margin of 50% to 44%, Americans wanted Congress to consider impeaching President Bush if he lied about the war in Iraq. That is not quite a majority, and a single poll does not necessarily tell you much. But it did show that the issue was not a trivial one. Even then, the traditional media ignored the issue.
Things are changing. Perhaps not fast enough, but they are changing. I noticed this article on the CBS News website:
Impeachment Threat Is Real
The Nation: Growing Scandals And Abuses Force Impeachment Into Discussion
March 27, 2007
[(The Nation) This column was written by John Nichols.]
Former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough had me on his MSNBC show Monday night to talk about impeachment.
It was smart, civil discussion that treated the prospect of impeaching the president as a serious matter.
Scarborough took the lead in suggesting that Bush's biggest problem might be that Republicans in the House and Senate who — fearful of the threat Bush poses to their political survival — do not appear to be rallying 'round the president. The host's sentiments were echoed by two other guests, columnist Mike Barnicle and Salon's Joan Walsh.
The impetus for the show was Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel's ongoing discussion of the impeachment prospect — Hagel's not quite a supporter of sanctioning Bush, more a speculator about the prospect — and a new column by Robert Novak that suggests Bush has dwindling support within the congressional wing of the GOP...
The article was published originally in The Nation, which clearly is a left-leaning (ok, fairly hard left) publication. But the point is that it was put up on the CBS site. Furthermore, the article discusses the fact that the subject was discussed, seriously, on an MSNBC talk show, hosted by a former Republican congressman. Later in the article, it is pointed out that the same subject now has been discussed on ABC and CNN.
In other words, most respectable large broadcast news organizations no longer view it as a taboo subject. Somene should tell Nancy Pelosi to get a clue.
Comments
Be careful what you wish for. Leaving aside the merits of impeachment, the likely practical effect would be to divert attention away from this administration's crimes and misdemeanors, and direct the public focus to the circus of impeachment itself. There would probably be a backlash among the ignorant beer-swilling public, and the current "Liberal moment" would be nipped in the bud.
Posted by: stumpy | March 29, 2007 11:41 AM
People need to contact their Representative and Senator if they want Congress to take action. Given the multiplier effect, where congress(wo)men take each comment as representative of X people who feel the same but chose to remain silent, each letter or email has a disproportionate effect.
I recently sent emails on the subject of initiating impeachment investigations to my (Republican) House Representative and my (Democratic) Senator. Unsurprisingly, I heard nothing back from the Republican Representative's staff, but I did receive a topical reply from my Senator.
Posted by: Jim Gitzlaff | March 29, 2007 1:08 PM
(1) I don't like Bush;
(2) Nor did my father, a 2nd generation Wall Street Conservative Republican;
(3) But impeachment would be a blunder.
At a crucial moment, Bush will reveal that our forces actually killed Bin Laden (maybe even in the Tora Bora bombing), have the DNA analysis of the body to prove it, and suddenly his support will shoot part of the way up.
Remember the "dead or alive" speech? That was foreshadowing...
You heard it here first...
Posted by: Jonathan Vos Post | March 31, 2007 3:24 PM