Reply #22: IMPEACHMENT. It's. Just. TIME. [View All]

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And I think we WILL have quite a few more of them on our side come January.

First: Reality, if they've tried to avoid or deny it or somehow talk their way around it, will hit them smack in the face when those lucky enough to have survived the election or didn't have to run return, and notice all the TRAPPINGS of power in the hands of the other guys. OUR guys. The gavel in Nancy Pelosi's hand. The best office real estate transferred - and their having to change their routines regarding how much farther they now have to walk to get back to their desks from the main room, and all other examples of the change in pecking order. Every time they walk by boehner's office door, OR mcconnell's office door, the plate on it will say MINORITY Leader, and that will sting. And it'll be there reminding them EVERY TIME THEY PASS BY.

Second: They will have heard a HUGE earful from their constituents. Once they go home for the holidays, they are a lot more accessible to the folks at home. Many MORE are mad as the war grows ever more sour, and our next death benchmark is THREE THOUSAND (think of the coverage THAT ALONE will get). A majority of constituents will be mad, and more vocal about it. And there will be a larger majority of these, since the numbers against the war are only growing BY THE DAY. They'll be encountered at the shopping centers and the airports and the dry cleaners and the grocery stores - "I hope you're going to stop this war, Mr. Congressman..." They won't be able to escape it. Because there's MORE of this all over the place. NOT less.

Third: Now that the November election is "so yesterday," they're all refocusing on how on earth they can possibly manipulate their way back into power. Now, they have more problems to solve. They not only have to try to keep the White House, they also have to get back the majorities they've now LOST in BOTH houses of Congress. Their job has just gotten more difficult, two unanticipated extra times over. There will be those who want even more ferocious dirty tricks and shit and stalemate and obstructionism, but the public doesn't seem to have the stomach for it. They're going to want to give the Dems a chance, and Pelosi's First 100 Hours agenda sounds pretty damned good. Plus, more of the survivors actually seem open to some measure of accountability. They can't stop it anyway. The guys who REALLY want accountability now have the majorities, AND subpoena power! There will be those who'll have the words of Oregon's Gordon Smith ringing loudly in their ears. Enough of them will start to realize that if they have ANY hope at all of rehabilitating their party and salvaging ANYTHING in 2008, maybe they better line up AGAINST the iceberg in the White House that their party's ship just struck.

And what WE have to do is ride that like a bucking bronc, and manage it, and encourage it. Help it grow. AND REMAIN VIGILANT.