Bush VIOLATED the CONSTITUTION. Why Isn't He IMPEACHED??

[The Cleaner]

It can't get any more obvious than this. A federal judge yesterday ruled Bush's warrantless wiretapping unconstitutional. So why is he not impeached? Why no outcry?

Any guesses?

[jackstraw45]

1. Don't you get it?!?!

One little girl was MURDERED 10 years ago...can't a constitutional crisis WAIT?!?!

:sarcasm:

[KamaAina]

2. Because we don't control Congress -- yet.

"Wait'll next year..."

[ProdigalJunkMail]

3. why wasn't FDR impeached?

Internment of the Japanese was far worse...

sP

[MrCoffee]

11. Yes, but he had the sanction of the court.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

14. was a HUGE violation of constitutional rights

and the most basic thereof...he could still have been impeached and in my opinion should have been.

sP

[MannyGoldstein]

22. And Congress (eom)

[ProdigalJunkMail]

25. and so if the current congress and SCOTUS

say OK to Bush's little program? Wrong is wrong not matter WHO sanctions it...

sP

[MannyGoldstein]

26. Yes And No

As a matter of morality, you are correct.

As a matter of law, what SCOTUS decides is what's right. In this case, SCOTUS has decided that whether or not Congress agrees with the Executive has a lot to do with whether the Executive is right or wrong.

I hope that, over time, SCOTUS and morality get closer to each other.

[bdamomma]

4. cause no one is challenging *

it will take alot more than one judge to impeach his ass. they are war criminals all of them, I can just see Cheney rubbing his hands together and saying this is very easy to screw the american people, I am tired of being manipulated by these assholes.

[bluerum]

5. Can you say "republican control of all three branches" boys and girls.

Sure ya can. Go ahead.

[kurth]

6. JonBenet comes first

except when somebody tries to sneak bottled water onto an airplane, in which case we must make sure everyone is strip searched and the whole airport is secured at Flaming Red level.

[MoseyWalker]

7. fear

Repukes fear the Rove machine.

Dems in congress appear to fear the Rove machine.

People in their everyday lives think it's up to their "leaders" to take care of any "monkey" business, and don't realize that no one is doing anything.

Oh yeah. When does the gay marriage fight start up again?

[Rex]

8. Because he's not a Dem and didn't get a blowjob from an intern.

At least none that we know about. Evidently the way to get impeached is to have sexual relations and then lie about it on national TV.

[bowens43]

9. Silly question.

Republicans will not impeach Bush. They agree with him on this issue.

[Marr]

10. Can you imagine how this period of history will read?

One president is impeached for a blowjob by an extremist right wing Congress, while the next president can't even get impeached for lying the country into a war, spying on citizens without a warrant, etc. The guy even comes on national TELEVISION and admits to it- and promises to CONTINUE DOING IT until he leaves office. Congress is silent.

This whole Republican movement is going to go down as one of the most blatantly corrupt, power hungry groups in our history.

[paparush]

12. 'Cause WE have not occupied the streets of DC!!!!

Its going to take SERIOUS direct action... i mean thousand of citizens camping out in the halls of congress. Like Ghandi said, we are going to have to fill the jails. A tide of humanity needs to occupy Pennsylvania Avenue.

[bdamomma]

19. our bellies are too full yet, sorry to say, we have not

gotten to the that point, why???????? I don't know but for those who have a brain, mine is about to explode enough is enough, bush must go.

[paparush]

20. Yah...I really don't know what its gonna take..'course, I can't go to

DC on Monday 'cause I gotta go to work. My son has soccer practice on Tuesday and Thursday so that's shot. Weds my wife teaches a class. Friday we like to chill. Saturday I've got some work to do around the house. Sunday..um..yeah, I could probably spend a few hours in DC on Sunday.

Sadly..this is my reality. Am I ready to lose my job for my political beliefs? Am I ready to disrupt my family's routine? I honestly don't know.

[jobycom]

13. First, the Repubs control Congress. Second, it's not as clear cut

as that, impeachment-wise. Bush's crime is clearly not bribery or treason. It could be considered "High crimes," meaning (though the Republicans always obfuscate this one) crimes that directly attack the state, but it's not clearly that. In Nixon's case, Nixon was wiretapping friends and foes for the purpose of interfering with a criminal investigation, and just for plain old intimidation--he was trying to cheat the investigation, punish people who went against him, etc. That was more obviously an attack on the state, an attempt to damage the state in a way that promoted him above the state.

Bush's excuse, so far, is that he was spying on suspected terrorists for the purpose of protecting the state. So, his intentions were not to harm the state, but to fight terrorism. Which makes it less obviously a "high crime or misdemeanor." Of course, this would be enough for the Republicans to impeach a president, since they impeached one over giving an evasive answer in the evidentiary phase of a lawsuit thrown out as having no merit and to a question ruled irrelevant to the case by a higher court. But that's the Republicans--they have no souls, no honor, no intelligence, and nothing but a lot of corrupt money.

So, the Repubs won't impeach one of their own no matter what, and the Dems couldn't impeach Bush if they wanted to, and might not have a clear case against him anyway. But at least the Dems could investigate. And the Repubs should. If it is determined that Bush tapped the phones of opponents to swing an election, that would clearly be a high crime.

What we need is investigation, first, then, if there is evidence, an impeachment. Or, we could skip that and impeach him for using our troops in an illegal war, lying to the UN, committing war crimes using our name, stealing an election or two, and no telling what I've overlooked. We could, if we controlled Congress. Which is why we need a bunch of 'D's in Congress, whether they agree with us or not.

It's going to be hell if we take the House and miss the Senate by one vote, if Lieberman wins and sides with the Republicans. Hopefully that won't come to pass. If we take Congress... well, the nation and the world rides on us taking Congress. Lamont better pull it out.

[liberalmuse]

15. Excellent explanation!

Thanks! I even learned something new. :)

[rock]

16. Very good explanation

In addition, remember impeachment is not a legalistic process, but a political one (with legalistic results). Congress is not forced to impeach anyone, it's their choice. And as you say with a RepubliCON controlled congress, they won't do what's right.

[lonestarnot]

17. because he has many co-conspirators?

[Demeter]

23. It's That Vast, Right-Wing Conspiracy

Imagine having to round up 10's of thousands of littler fish to prevent the big ones from getting away. It would sure solve the unemployment problems--a true political patronage reversal of fortune! There'd be so many empty jobs, and perhaps not enough "qualified" to fill them, but when has that ever stopped the conspiracy? Should we have more scruples?

[lonestarnot]

35. One big net would do.

[MannyGoldstein]

18. Because Congress Doesn't Particularly Care

With few exceptions (Feingold, Conyers, ...) all that each Senator and Congressperson cares about is getting themselves re-elected. That's it.

There is now a total disconnect between the governance and politics.

Here is a list of Democrats who fled from censuring Bush. Notice that most of them voted to censure Clinton (which I happen to believe that he deserved), but couldn't bring themselves to censure a Bush's blatant violation of the Constitution, lying us into war, and so forth. How shameful.

The worst part - we're not going to do anything about it. We the Sheeple will keep electing the same self-absorbed pinheads.

BOHICA.

[Independent_Liberal]

31. We can make Bush a noose around the necks of the Republicans.

If they care about getting re-elected, we can just tell them, "You either impeach or be sent home." That might send them a message if getting re-elected matters so much.

I think one of the problems around here is that everybody at DU has to be so cynical and sarcastic all the time. A little cynicism and sarcasm is okay every once in a while, but I think DUers have a tendency to go overboard with it. It seems most of them would rather surrender and bitch and moan about everything instead of getting up and fighting. What a shame.

[Totallybushed]

21. Not that I don't

agree with you, I do. But lots of actions are found "unconstitutional", and nobody is ever punished for them. Evidence so obtained simply can't be used in a court of law.

[Justice Is Comin]

24. I would like to see him be the one on the ground

when Clint Eastwood says, "do you feel lucky punk?" That would be just peachy with me.

[spanone]

27. Because his own party runs both houses of Congress. Plain & Simple.

Congress has not had an ounce of oversight with regards to the Taliban in the White House.

[longship]

28. Uhhhh. Let's see....

Because the rubber stamp Repugs run Congress?

Yeah. That's why.

[Kip Humphrey]

29. Violating the Constitution is no longer a High Crime or Misdemeanor!

[Independent_Liberal]

30. Greg Palast said it won't happen until literally millions of people are in

the streets screaming their heads off for it.

[Cleita]

33. For those of us with Republican Congressional

representatives maybe we should start demanding that they investigate and impeach. Of course we should with the Democrats too. We are having a Constitutional crisis and these elected officials should be doing what is necessary to uphold the Constitution regardless of their party affiliations. I mean they swore to when they took office. Now, before the election in November is the time to flood their offices with letters, emails and telephone calls so that they get the message that they might end up on the scrap heap like Joe Lieberman.

[sakabatou]

32. Why isn't he impeached

Because Congress is still run bu Bush-bot Reps.

[EstimatedProphet]

34. Because the Federal court system doesn't impeach

that's congress's job, and all the Republicans there should be impeached too. However, they still have a majority.

[stepnw1f]

36. The GOP Controls Congress!!!!!

The GOP doesn't give a FUCK about the Constitution, our freedoms nor our lifestyle. They use and abuse this country of ours for personal gain. Wake up America you stupid fucks...