They Impeach Democrats, Don't They? (Mary Lyon)

[Tace]

Mary Lyon, From The Left -- World News Trust

-- There are double standards and then there are double standards.

One of the latest ones is as obvious as a punch in the nose. Geraldine Ferraro's comments about Barack Obama -- how he wouldn't be where he is now if he weren't black -- are painfully obvious. Ouch. Their undercurrent is a raw nerve in the American psyche. It's been one of the most talked-about stories of Mississippi Primary Day. All over the place, from radio to TV to the net and back again.

But that's just it. At least it's being talked about. We're openly gnashing our teeth and rending our garments and everyone understands, and understands why. Racism, the expression of it, and the miscommunication about it, is broadly acknowledged for its gravity as a painful problem across the country. Call it P.C., call it whatever. At least it's out there on the table and openly dissected, recognized as the most glaring shortcoming we collectively still just haven't quite gotten over. But we have evolved as a society to the extent that we're speaking about it in all company, polite or not.

On the other hand, there's another double standard that remains stuck in the back of the bus. No one wants to look at it, speak of it, deal with it in any way, or recognize it as a serious skeleton of injustice in our closets. It's the matter of impeachment, specifically impeaching Republicans. It seems we just don't dare go there. Granted, it's a relatively recent imbalance compared to many generations of gnawing race issues, but its obviously lopsided inequality is still well worth noting.

How come it's the prominent Democrat who's threatened with impeachment while the high-level Republican offender skates away scot-free? Once the mess surrounding ethically-hobbled Governor Eliot Spitzer of New York splattered all over the news, his opponents in the state legislature from Assembly Republican leader James Tedisco onward scrambled to every camera they could find, screaming an ultimatum - "resign or we will impeach you." What's this? GOP politicians actively flinging the "I-word" around in public? I wasn't sure they still remembered the word. After all, they certainly haven't exercised it much in the past seven-and-some years. These days it's the Penalty- that- Must- Not- Be- Named.

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http://www.worldnewstrust.com/commentary/they-impeach-democrats-don-t-they-mary-lyon.html

[calimary]

1. Thanks, Tace!!

:hi:

[Tace]

2. : )

[pat_k]

3. The heartbreak of Impeachophobia. . .

If only those afflicted with it were the only ones to suffer. Unfortunately, the impeachophobia of our so-called "leaders" in Congress has turned the USA into a War Criminal nation that spies on it's own citizens.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/pat_k/23">Impeachophobia has not only destroyed our identity as Americans, it is a cancer on the Democratic Party. It renders the Democratic "leadership" impotent. It earns Democrats the public's disdain. They sound like mealy-mouthed morally-confused morons when they accuse Bush of torture in one breath, and then declare their refusal do the ONLY thing capable of ending it in the next.

They are so cocksure that all they need to do is "keep their heads down" and let the Republicans take themselves down -- just as they were in 1986 when they refused to impeach Poppy Bush and Reagan for Iran Contra.

And we know http://journals.democraticunderground.com/pat_k/24">how well that worked out.

Their impeachophobia then made the horrors of today possible -- horrors that are beyond the worst we could have imagined. I shudder to think where their failure now will lead us.

Perhaps we can "cure" them in time. If we can't, perhaps Americans will remain more disgusted with the assault on the nation perpetrated by Republicans than the empty "opposition" and weakness of the Democratic "leadership." Tragically though, even if their failure doesn't cost electoral victories, without Impeachment nothing will "get better" in 2009. Failure to challenge bushchenyism now allows it to flourish. It is ONLY by impeachment that the scope of damage can be exposed. Without it, they are left to regroup and reemerge.

[Tace]

4. "I shudder to think where their failure now will lead us."

Me too.

[calimary]

8. Yeah, that's the REAL downside. That's why IMPEACHMENT is not

just an option, it's an essential.

If these bastards go out of office and into history unchecked, unpunished, facing no accountability or consequences for their MULTIPLE crimes - high crimes AND misdemeanors all - that leaves completely intact a template for later would-be bush/cheneys. There WILL be another bunch of them to come along - maybe in 10, 15, or 20 or so years, perhaps another generation down from here. And the first thing they'll do once they've jackbooted their own way in is to point to this era and to all the shit bush/cheney got away with, and say - "WELL???? We're just following precedent. If it was so bad and so criminal back then, why didn't you do something about it? I guess it must not have been such a bad thing, 'eh?"

GUARANTEED, that's what we're in for if we don't send this message to future presidents and wannabe presidents - that you just don't fucking do this shit, break and flout the law, or trample the Constitution, because you're gonna get smacked but good if you try. By not doing anything to stop it, we've essentially said, to history and everyone who comes after us, that - "hey, live it up! All bets are off! Do whatever the hell you feel like doing! Laws? You don't need no steeeeenking laws!"

[guyton]

5. impeachment off the table ... because ...

I was puzzled why impeachment was off-the-table until I remembered that a
whole lot of democrats voted for the war. The illegal, pre-emptive war.

Fear is a lousy reason for starting a war.

Gullibility isn't much of an excuse for murder.

Check out the list

House Vote <http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2002/roll455.xml>
Senate Vote <http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=107&session=2&vote=00237>

War crimes trials for all of 'em, I say.

[calimary]

7. Welcome to DU! I just found out this one made it into the Huffington Post!

Glad you're here!

Thanks for weighing in on my thread!

And you couldn't be more spot-on. I think a lot of 'em have blood on their hands - and IMPEACHMENT would certainly bring all that out. Well, TOUGH! So be it. I don't believe in rewarding bad behavior - from ANYBODY!!! Whether it's exhibited by my kids or my Congressperson. And if they're Dems (as mine is - Henry Waxman) they should have known better. WE certainly did.

[cascadiance]

6. We only impeach Democrats. Helen Thomas has said so!

Watch her say it here! :)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=385&topic_id=94364

[calimary]

9. Thanks! Always good to give props to The Great Helen.

She's my hero!