Lindorff & Olshansky (Philadephia Inquirer): Impeachment Weighed Again

[Jack Rabbit]

From The Phildelphia Inquirer via CommonDreams.org
Dated Wednesday may 3

Impeachment Weighed Again
President Bush's actions threaten basic freedoms and the American system of checks and balances.
By Dave Lindorff and Barbara Olshansky

Who would have thought, just seven years after the Clinton impeachment farce, we'd again be considering impeachment? Yet here we are, five years into the Bush presidency, and again impeachment is in the air.

For some time, opponents of the Iraq War have been calling for impeachment. You could see their signs at marches, but given Republican control of the House, it was hard to take the idea seriously.

In recent months, though, impeachment calls have gained a new seriousness - and wider public support - and for good reason: this November, a shift of only 15 House seats would give Democrats control of the House and of the Judiciary Committee. Rep. John Conyers (D., Mich.), who would become Judiciary Committee chair, has already submitted a bill calling for an investigation into impeachable crimes, and would certainly welcome an impeachment bill.

More important, over the last five years, Bush has become the Willie Sutton of constitutional violators. While the impeachment of President Bill Clinton for lying about sex was a case of frivolous political harassment, this president's many "high crimes and misdemeanors" pose such a threat to basic freedoms, and to the system of checks and balances, that not to impeach would be irresponsible.

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