I think the only way to end this war is to impeach Bush

[LynneSin]

This was a letter on Joe Biden's website
http://biden.senate.gov/newsroom/details.cfm?id=264509&&

I was visiting Joe Biden's Senate site (he's my senator and I do that from time to time) and this comment he made just stopped me cold dead:

President Bush does not have a strategy for victory in Iraq. His strategy is to prevent defeat and to hand the problem off to his successor.

Bush knows if he ends this war now he will go down in history as the worst president ever. I mean, I know everyone here at DU already think that, but Bush is looking at the History books. Who gets the bulk of the blame for Vietnam? It started under Johnson and yet it's Nixon who gets the blame. How about Somalia in 1992? That was a sneaking attack done by Bush Sr and dropped into Clinton's lap. And yet people put the blame on Clinton for that one.

This war will not stop no matter what Congress does, no matter what the generals say. It will continue until Bush is out of the White House in hopes that once Bush is gone the shit will really hit the fan and the problem escalates to the point that the 45th president will get the bulk of the blame for this war. Perhaps that's why the Republicans don't have a strong field of candidates running for president. Who wants to takeover after Bush leaves this mess behind (and who knows move crawford to that land that was bought in Paraguay?)

[liberal renegade]

1. ITMFA! n/t

:puke:

[mtnsnake]

7. impeachthemotherfuckeralready

http://www.impeachthemotherfuckeralready.com/

[European Socialist]

2. I agree. And because of this "surge" stunt, the Dems need not play nice.

[Kagemusha]

3. Biden's got a point.

Besides that, well, if you've missed it, there's been talk started by Tony Snow that if Bush thinks Congress just plain votes wrong, like, to limit the numbers of troops in Iraq, to limit funding for the surge, etc, that he has the authority to simply decides they voted wrong and do what he wants to do anyway. This is considered the "Bush as King" approach.

...I didn't expect him to go that far, and Snow started off his statement by saying he wasn't a Constitutional lawyer. Like say, Obama. (And damn well Snow is not.) But just the hint of such a provocation makes impeachment a little closer than it was before... still highly unlikely, for reasons of pure politics, but my god, just saying that if Congress denies you the funds, you'll just take them, or implying it even, what a provocation.

OTOH, simply vetoing Congress' attempts to restrict the warmaking power is fully legal. It's just that Bush wouldn't have money to go beyond the last obscene defense supplemental, unless he borrows it in defiance of all legal authority to do so.

[onenote]

4. If Congress doesn't have the will to pass resolutions objecting to the "surge"

what are the chances that it has the will to impeach?

I'm not encouraged by what I'm seeing.

[billybob537]

5. He Obviously doesn't

give a rats ass what the Generals think. He cares even less what America thinks. He's on a mission from God, or those confused voices in his head that say,("You've never succeeded in anything, this is your big chance don't give up") But that might just be Cheney behind the curtian.

[nancyr]

6. He will do as he pleases.....regardless.

He will ignore facts and barge ahead just as he has always done. Who is going to stop him?

[Kagemusha]

8. Quick thought: There's a temptation for Dems to not stop him

Not that it's easy at all for Dems to actually do so but... well, Glenn Greenwald's Tuesday post, which I happened to be just catching up on, mentioned Biden's position that it's not constitutionally feasible to "micro-manage" the surge and if the Democrats weren't going to cut off ALL funding, they cannot cut of ANY. While that may be reassuring - i.e. it's all the Republicans' fault, full stop - it's a pretty uh, light on the legal facts, position. But given how hard it is to stop Bush - remember, he can just veto bills unless Republicans help with the overturning of those vetoes - it's tempting to just say, OK, you want rope to choke on? Have it.

I think that's how it'll go down but not because of preference, but because it's just too plain hard to stop Bush, so at the very least people will be put on the spot to support or oppose the permanent surge.