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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBill Curry: A democracy that can't look itself in the eye may not be long for this world
Bill Curry was White House counselor to President Bill Clinton and a two-time Democratic nominee for governor of Connecticut....Were arrived here for two reasons. One is that Mueller, without telling anyone, took it upon himself to limit the scope of his mandate in a way no one foresaw or even imagined. Having accepted the idea enshrined not in the Constitution or a law or a Supreme Court ruling, but only in a department memo that no president may be indicted while in office, not even under seal for later prosecution, Mueller decided it would be unfair to the president even to mention that hed committed multiple felonies. Till Mueller said it, no one, not even Bill Barr, had thought it.
The second reason is that Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic political and media establishments bungled their jobs from the first. Thats true not only of impeachment but of all matters pertaining to corruption. The media doesnt know how to cover it; Congress doesnt know how to investigate it; neither grasps its centrality to our politics or to the sad condition of our middle class, our democracy and our country.
...It is a poor tactician who thinks only of tactics. The job of Pelosi and her caucus now is to focus on duty. If they do, I think theyll be rewarded politically, but they must put that consideration aside, because other considerations so outweigh it. First is the magnitude of the crimes. Altogether, the crimes of Johnson, Nixon and Clinton dont equal Trumps. Hes the most corrupt president in history. He plotted with a foreign power to steal an election, which meets most Americans definition of treason. He obstructs justice, which violates his oath of office. His incessant lies shred democracys very fabric. Loyalty to country, the rule of law and the truth arent just "norms." They are core values. We must defend them.
Second is our need for a public record of Trumps crimes. When Pelosi says shed rather see Trump jailed, shes kicking the same can Mueller kicked to her. At least Mueller knew to whom he kicked it. For all Pelosi knows, a President Biden may decide bipartisanship means letting bygones be bygones. In an earlier column, I talked about the price we paid for our failure to investigate the lies that led to the Iraq War and the 2008 global financial meltdown. Deep down, we know if we fail to impeach, we may never know what happened, and that a democracy that cant look itself in the eye may not be long for this world. Most important is that these crimes are all ongoing. This isnt Whitewater, a look back at a failed real estate deal. Our democracy is under siege. While Trump and Putin laugh out loud, our next election is being stolen right out from under us. If you say we can stop it without resort to impeachment, you must say how.
More at https://www.salon.com/2019/07/16/last-chance-for-impeachment-next-week-robert-mueller-will-shape-history-but-how/
Hermit-The-Prog
(33,414 posts)The assault on our country is ongoing.
The House should be illuminating the crimes every day.
dweller
(23,661 posts)Mueller, Pelosi and Nadler all have choices to make. Within days of Muellers testimony, well know how they made them. Theres still time to impeach. Its risky, but not as risky as doing nothing. If this brazen racist kleptocrat steals the White House a second time, no one who shirked his duty will ever be forgiven. Its our last chance.
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kentuck
(111,110 posts)BeyondGeography
(39,379 posts)CrispyQ
(36,509 posts)I agree that if the House dems don't take action after Mueller it will be "case closed." And we will lose the House in 2020 & probably the WH, too, since we haven't done anything to shore up our electoral processes. We didn't have a record breaking midterm so that dem leadership could punt this issue back to the voters in 2020. Once again the dems will appear weak & people will ask, "What's the difference between the two parties?" We need a true opposition party & have needed one for 45 years, now, not a party that drifts to the center every time the GOP makes a hard right.