Support for impeachment in the face of 100% anti-impeachment propaganda like Marcos' and the rest of the Republican and Democratic establishment is INCREDIBLY strong.
http://january6th.org/oct2006-newsweek-poll-impeach.html">Newsweek finds that 51% want impeachment to be a prioity in the new Congress, and only 44% said "should not impeach."
State of DenialThe stark realities of our national predicament -- a stolen election; a constitution in breach; a nation terrorized into war, captives tortured; massive power in the hands of war criminals-- are intolerable.
To date, the insider assumptions and strategies have effectively maintained their state of denial.
Occasionally it appears that they "get" the monumental scale of the bushcheney abuses and damage, but then the moment passes, and they go back to the pretense of "politics as usual."
Getting RealThe Election was about One Thing
That one thing is a Person.
Bush.
He wasn't on the ballot, but had he been, voters would have sent Bush Co. packing with a resounding vote of "No Confidence." At least that's what the real excerpts tell us:
Curtis Gans
Director
http://spa.american.edu/csae">Center for the Study of the American Electorate
On
Politically Direct with David Benderhttp://podcast.rbn.com/airam/airam/download/archive/2006/11/aapd111006.mp3">MP3 -- Interview start time approx 18:30
Bender: Joining me now is Curtis Gans. He is the Director of the Center for the Study of the American Electorate at American University and he has just released a new study analyzing the turnout this past Tuesday, and there's some interesting and there are some very, very interesting shifts in the turnout from previous elections. Welcome to Politically Direct . . .
Gans: It's very good to talk to you David.
Bender: Curtis, I'm holding the study in my hand right now, and clearly one of the things that all the exit polls showed was that Iraq played a part and your own work bears that out -- that Iraq helped propel some degree of an increase in turnout in this last election.
Gans: I think that it is not simply Iraq, although Iraq started Bush's downhill. But
it is a gestalt around George Bush. it's being a pariah to other countries; it's people dying in what they increasing find is a vain fight; it's massive budgetary imbalances; it's a lack of compassionate conservatism; it's insecurity in jobs; it's the feeling that people have not been leveled with.Bender: You've been doing this for almost 30 years; studying the American electorate. And there is probably no greater expert than you. It's just a real pleasure to have you on this program. . .
It is the nation's outrage at what Bush has done to our country that drove Democrats to victory on Nov. 7th.
As a general proposition, Americans want the ideal of a bipartisan Congress in which reasonable people on "both sides" work together to find reasonable solutions.
But on Nov. 7th, the voice of the people declared that the most essential ingredient of that ideal -- reasonable people on "both sides" -- doesn't exist in Bush World. When they rejected Bush, his administration, and his rubber stamp Congress as intolerably incompetent/corrupt/extreme they were not calling for "bipartisanship" with Bush at the helm.
Their message was loud and clear: "We want out of Bush-World!"
Apparently DC Dems didn't get the message that was delivered. If they had, they'd be implementing strategies that tap into the power of the outrage that drove the "wave," instead of doing their best to suppress it.
The "conventional wisdom" and exhortations we've heard since the election -- "impeachment is off limits," "it's about issues, issues, issues," "suppress anger," "don't overreach," etc. -- aren't new. We heard them last month. We heard them last year. We have been hearing similar admonitions to be "pragmatic" and "tactical" or to "keep our powder dry" for decades because such admonitions are grounded in assumptions and patterns of thought that have resisted change for decades.
For the sake our national soul, the best thing the drivers of Democratic strategy could do would be to Get Out of Town, reconnect with reality, and listen to people like Curtis Gans and others who are calling on them to take a step back from tactical politics and get clear about the principles they are committed to and the goals they are passionate about:
Gans: Traditionally, at least for the last 30 years, they have essentially been very tactical; very programmatic. I don't think either one of those works. I think they have to have an articulation of Central American principles and what that means within a progressive Party.
. . .You know, what is a Democratic definition of liberty? What is Democratic definition of the common welfare? Etc.
Bender: This is a moment, clearly -- the people voted for accountability, there's no question about that. And the opportunity to show that the Democratic Party is the Party of the Constitution, I think will be a very popular position across the board, particularly with Independents, and maybe even some Republicans who still love this Constitution.
Gans: The concept of the Constitution and the People's Government is something that can unite the Democratic Party in ways it hasn't been united since the late 1960's
. . .
It will always come back to the same bottom line. The Constitution is under attack; Congress is sworn to defend it, impeachment is the weapon be gave them.
With great crises come great opportunities.
The failure of our Democratic leaders to stand up and fulfill their oath is deplorable, but what makes it so heartbreaking is that they are failing to seize an unprecedented opportunity. Impeachment is not just the right thing to, it is the winning thing to do.
Democratic leaders may never have a greater opportunity to engage and inspire the publicThe
biggest problem the Democratic Party has is the perception that Democrats are weak and unprincipled. It is hard to imagine a more effective way that Democrats can prove they are the party of strength and principle than to stand and fight for the Constitution.
What better time than now, when the principle of consent and the dictates of our Constitution are so desperately in need of a champion?
The Nov. 7th "wave" demonstrated the power of the public's growing dismay at the arrogant, irresponsible, and autocratic Bush Cheney White House. But the election could only give voters an indirect means of venting their anger, and as such, it did not fully tap into the anger or bring it into focus.
If they have the courage to stand up and make their case for impeachment, Democratic leaders would provide a voice and a focus that could energize voters across the political spectrum.
Countess elected bodies, good government groups, and citizens already recognize that the only way the nation can restore the institutions and Constitutional principles that Bush and Cheney have abused and subverted is through impeachment and removal. The numbers that are looking to Congress to act are growing.
Instead of being champions of the People and the Constitution, they choose the path of "responsible" and tactical appeasement. (As they wipe their foreheads in relief, believing they have dodged the Impeachment "bullet.")
The Democratic Party's failure to take up the fight for impeachment is symptomatic of a deeply ingrained pattern of self-defeating behavior. (We have seen the enemy, and
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=2964929">it is us). Their failure stand up and fulfill their is deplorable, but what makes it so heartbreaking is that they are failing to seize an unprecedented opportunity.
Every day that Members of Congress do nothing they betray their oath and demonstrate contempt for the concerned citizens who are calling on them to act. They may find that the price of their contempt is high. The citizens who are taking up the fight for impeachment are a very active bunch who will not quietly accept the dismissive contempt of their elected officials for long.
http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2260/">Democratic Do's and Don't
In These Times
By Rep. Jan Schakowsky
July 2005
. . .do what your mother said—or at least what my mother said—stand up straight. What people like least about progressives and Democrats is that
they think we’re squishy. They think Bush is tough, knows what he believes and is willing to fight for it. Americans like tough, even when they don’t entirely agree with the substance. Voters like tough; voters don’t like tentative.
Even if they can't shake their belief that impeachment is a loser for the party, their duty remains. We take oaths and make commitments to do hard and frightening things in advance so that when the time comes, we Just Do It, win or lose, however scary or difficult "It" may be.
And, if you are still not convinced, see
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/pat_k/8">We're Doomed! Doomed I Tell You! (An Impeachment Intervention).
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