McGovern was right in 1970 when he said the Senate had blood on their hands....

[madfloridian]

and he is right again that Bush needs to go.

George McGovern's powerful words in 1970 to the Senate are just as fitting today.

This chamber reeks of blood.

On September 1, 1970, Senator George McGovern spoke on the floor of the U.S. Senate when he introduced the McGovern-Hatfield Amendment. I can only imagine the rush the congressional leaders would have made to condemn his words.

Here is more about that amendment:

The McGovern-Hatfield amendment (alternately, Hatfield-McGovern amendment) was a proposed amendment in 1970 during the Vietnam War that, if passed, would have required the end of United States military operations in the Republic of Vietnam by December 31, 1970 and a complete withdrawal of American forces halfway through the next year. It was the most outstanding defiance of executive power regarding the war prior to 1971. The amendment was proposed by Senators George McGovern and Mark Hatfield, and was known as the "amendment to end the war."
McGovern Hatfield Amendment

Here is a part of the speech he gave then.

Every senator in this chamber is partly responsible for sending 50,000 young Americans to an early grave. This chamber reeks of blood. Every Senator here is partly responsible for that human wreckage at Walter Reed and Bethesda Naval and all across our land - young men without legs, or arms, or genitals, or faces or hopes."

"There are not very many of these blasted and broken boys who think this war is a glorious adventure. Do not talk to them about bugging out, or national honor or courage. It does not take any courage at all for a congressman, or a senator, or a president to wrap himself in the flag and say we are staying in Vietnam, because it is not our blood that is being shed. But we are responsible for those young men and their lives and their hopes."

"And if we do not end this damnable war those young men will some day curse us for our pitiful willingness to let the Executive carry the burden that the Constitution places on us."

He courageously continued his speaking out in the Washington Post today.
This time he is calling for Bush's impeachment.

Why I Believe Bush Must Go. Nixon Was Bad. These Guys Are Worse.

After the 1972 presidential election, I stood clear of calls to impeach President Richard M. Nixon for his misconduct during the campaign. I thought that my joining the impeachment effort would be seen as an expression of personal vengeance toward the president who had defeated me.

Today I have made a different choice.

..."Of course, there seems to be little bipartisan support for impeachment. The political scene is marked by narrow and sometimes superficial partisanship, especially among Republicans, and a lack of courage and statesmanship on the part of too many Democratic politicians. So the chances of a bipartisan impeachment and conviction are not promising.

In fact the Democratic Speaker of the House has declared impeachment off the table. McGovern continues:

....."From the beginning, the Bush-Cheney team's assumption of power was the product of questionable elections that probably should have been officially challenged -- perhaps even by a congressional investigation.

In a more fundamental sense, American democracy has been derailed throughout the Bush-Cheney regime. The dominant commitment of the administration has been a murderous, illegal, nonsensical war against Iraq. That irresponsible venture has killed almost 4,000 Americans, left many times that number mentally or physically crippled, claimed the lives of an estimated 600,000 Iraqis (according to a careful October 2006 study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health) and laid waste their country. The financial cost to the United States is now $250 million a day and is expected to exceed a total of $1 trillion, most of which we have borrowed from the Chinese and others as our national debt has now climbed above $9 trillion -- by far the highest in our national history.

He defines impeachment and continues:

Impeachment is unlikely, of course. But we must still urge Congress to act. Impeachment, quite simply, is the procedure written into the Constitution to deal with presidents who violate the Constitution and the laws of the land. It is also a way to signal to the American people and the world that some of us feel strongly enough about the present drift of our country to support the impeachment of the false prophets who have led us astray. This, I believe, is the rightful course for an American patriot.

I have been of divided opinion about impeachment, but now I am getting on board with it. The world expects it of us for the harm he has done to them.

[Swamp Rat]

1. IMPEACH!

[Tom Joad]

2. right now, the stench of the Congress and their chamber of death reeks to high heaven.

Since they are funding this illegal, immoral and criminal war against the people of Iraq.

[ClayZ]

3. Impeach! K and R

[orleans]

4. my god, yes! (k&r) n/t

[madfloridian]

5. The other day I heard Mike Barnicle on MSNBC say that Iraq was not a concern

anymore of most people here. He said that only a few people had family there or loved ones, and that to most it was not a real concern anymore.

How stunning he could say that, and Joe Scarborough and the lady interviewer never disputed him. Even our Democrats are saying the economy is the issue now. Of course it is, it has been....but they insult the intelligent among us when they say Iraq is no concern.

It shows the media for who they are.

It appears to be working, as not long before that Iraq was listed as the major concern in nearly all of these polls at this link. The latest one in December shows the change happening...the other issues are catching up with Iraq. But Iraq is still at the top. I would say propaganda works.

http://www.pollingreport.com:80/prioriti.htm

Pretend Iraq is no issue, and pretty soon it isn't.

[defendandprotect]

6. War in Iraq is bankrupting America --- anyone interested in another Grreat Depression?

Who might be?

Destruction of social programs that remain?

Disastrous unemployment --- loss of assets for Middle class and poor --- ???

More control over government for elites --- ???

[defendandprotect]

7. IMPEACH Bush and Cheney -- Thank you Sen. McGovern --- !!!

[EFerrari]

8. Yes, he was right. And the whores danced away from him. n/t

[madfloridian]

11. The party leaders often refer to us as the McGovern wing...like an insult.

I never was sure why they felt that way unless they wanted to continue the wars of empire.

[Sam Ervin jret]

9. If we do not impeach him now we are just going to have to track him down like the criminal he is

when he is out of office and convict the SOB and send him away for the rest of his life.

Why wait? Lives are at stake.

[Rex]

10. I don't see how they make it from room to room with all the dead bodies

piled up in the hallways. Guess they just step over and move on.