How is it that the right wing portrays anyone who talks about impeaching George W. Bush and Dick Cheney as nutcases, yet acted as though the impeachment of Bill Clinton was the most important action of government since the signing of the Constitution? How is it that they equate Clinton's actions, which were of a personal nature, with Bush and Cheney's, which have resulted in the deaths of thousands, not to mention a shredded Constitution?On Tuesday, more than 30 towns in Vermont passed resolutions calling for the impeachment of the president for misleading the nation on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and for engaging in illegal wiretapping, among other charges. 
Richard Nixon faced charges that were less severe, and he resigned when it became clear his impeachment was imminent. The political winds were against Nixon, and have been in Bush's favor, although that's changing.
Richard Nixon faced charges that were less severe, and he resigned when it became clear his impeachment was imminent. The political winds were against Nixon, and have been in Bush's favor, although that's changing.Most now believe - finally - that Bush and Cheney misled the country into war, and as the Iraq situation gets worse with each passing day, more Americans see the mess they've gotten the country into, and the question arises: How do you hold them accountable?
Republicans won't even let the Senate debate a resolution that would simply criticize the president's decisions on the war, so how can we expect them to allow impeachment to come up? Well, we can't. The House of Representatives could bring up the issue of impeachment - even though Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she is not in favor of it - but the Senate would never convict Bush, and so, unlike Nixon, Bush would never feel impeachment was imminent and would never resign.
So why are the good people of Vermont (and other states as well) pushing it? It's because average citizens have been so helpless to stop the Bush administration's destructive policies that passing resolutions of impeachment is the best way to channel and express their outrage. This president and vice president have so threatened the rule of law - and placed themselves above it - that impeachment, however improbable, is the only option left. Add to the mix the administration's constant breaking of the law, and you've got a case for high crimes and misdemeanors, the standard the Constitution requires for removal.It is indeed a topsy-turvy world when Bill Clinton could be impeached for not telling the truth about an affair, but George Bush cannot for starting a war under false pretenses and violating explicit laws about spying on U.S. citizens. People want to impeach Bush because of his policies and the substance of what he has done in office. Republicans impeached Bill Clinton because they didn't like him.
Clinton was villified by the right wing from the early days of his presidential campaign. Conservatives hated him for his baby-boomer background and intellectual openness. The cultural wars of the 1960s have never gone away, and they manifested in the 1990s battle between Clinton and the Republican-led Congress. (Right-wing extremist Pat Buchanan explicitly declared a "culture war" during the 1992 campaign. Newt Gingrich once called the Clintons "counter-culture McGoverniks." Sounds like a compliment where we're sitting.) They just didn't like him - or his wife - or approve of their lifestyle. So when they could embarass him publicly for having an affair, they did. Shut down the government! The president kissed a girl!
Today, there are plenty of people who don't like George Bush and Dick Cheney. Does that mean the president and vice president are bad people? We don't know. We'll never know if Bush cheats on his wife, is short-tempered with his children, or kicks his dog. To the extent that those things don't make him a hypocrite, they don't matter. What matters is the ideas behind the administration. Experts say Bush administration policies have actually made the country less safe in the wake of 9/11.
The wiretapping program clearly violates the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. And lying to the people, massaging intelligence reports to say what you want them to say and commiting the country to war has got to be high on the list of high crimes for any president. (Neil Young wrote a song about it last year, "Let's Impeach the President," and the lyrics spell out the reasons.)
The wiretapping program clearly violates the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. And lying to the people, massaging intelligence reports to say what you want them to say and commiting the country to war has got to be high on the list of high crimes for any president. (Neil Young wrote a song about it last year, "Let's Impeach the President," and the lyrics spell out the reasons.)Conservatives will always say "don't put the country through it," referring to impeachment. But it was okay when Clinton was president? It's okay to put the country through a mangling of the Constitution, a redistribution of wealth to those who need it least and an illegal and seemingly never-ending war? How much longer do we have to hear this Republican hypocrisy?
If there was any justice, impeachment proceedings would begin tomorrow and Bush and Cheney would be packing their bags. But the political reality is very different, despite what the people of Vermont (and many of the rest of us) might think. There are certainly those who would say Bush and Cheney are patriots, but how is patriotism defined? They haven't been loyal to the ideas that the nation was founded upon, or which it has fought to protect. They've shown disdain for the very concept of government, and against all reason and logic, have pushed ahead with politics and policies that divide the country and harm its citizens. Greater disrespect has never been paid to the nation's laws and traditions, and - absent impeachment - a greater confounding of justice has never been seen.
More info: The Impeachment of George W. Bush
