Posted on 11/18/2005 6:53:55 AM PST by teddyballgame
November 18, 2005 Will Democratic Charges That Bush 'Lied' Lead To His Impeachment? By Mort Kondracke
The 2006 election is shaping up to be a bitterly fought referendum on President Bush - to the point where, if Democrats win, they just might impeach him.
The "I-word" so far is mainly tossed around in the left-wing blogosphere: Barbra Streisand is calling for impeachment on her Web site, for example, as is an unofficial "progressive" site called Democrats.com. But Democratic accusations that Bush lied to get the United States into the Iraq war would seem to lead logically to demands for his removal from office.
The level of venom infusing the Iraq debate, already toxic, has escalated in the past few days as Bush defends himself against charges of lying and Democrats accuse him of "smearing" them and questioning their patriotism.
On Monday, for example, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) charged that Bush "dishonored America's veterans and those serving today" by playing "attack politics" in a Veterans Day speech.
In the speech, Bush quoted Kerry, before he voted for the Iraq war, as saying that Saddam Hussein's "deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction is a threat, and a great threat, to our national security." Bush added that it is "irresponsible" for Democrats to "rewrite the history" of how the United States went to war.
He said that the Democrats' "baseless attacks send the wrong signal to our troops and an enemy that is questioning our will." Kerry accused Bush of charging that Democrats were "unpatriotic." Kerry also asserted that Bush did not rely on faulty intelligence before the war, "as Democrats did," but waged "a concerted campaign to twist the intelligence to justify a war (he) had already decided to fight."
And, said Kerry, "How are the same Republicans who tried to impeach a president over whether he misled a nation about an affair going to pretend it does not matter if the administration intentionally misled the country into war?"
So, here we have the 2004 Democratic presidential candidate using the I-word in an attack on Bush, albeit indirectly. I'd bet it was a trial balloon, designed to get the idea out on the table without having to accept responsibility for actually recommending it.
The idea has been floated previously by some House liberals. Last month, Congressional Quarterly reported that Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said it "would be an impeachable offense" if evidence proved that Bush or Vice President Cheney authorized aides to mislead lawmakers.
In June, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, held a mock impeachment inquiry based on the "Downing Street memo" that claimed Bush had made up his mind to go to war even as he was saying that Hussein could still come into compliance with United Nations resolutions.
Kerry repeated that allegation on Monday in the course of charging that "the war in Iraq was and remains one of the great acts of misleading and deception in American history."
Newspapers also have quoted Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) as saying that "this administration has committed more impeachable offenses than any other government in history" and Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) as saying that "lying to the Congress about a large public purpose such as Iraq" fit the constitutional test of "high crimes and misdemeanors" better than lying about sex, the offense that led Republicans to impeach former President Bill Clinton.
To be sure, no party leader has mentioned impeachment, but it's clear that Democrats are eagerly searching for "smoking guns" - positive proof that Bush deceived Congress and/or that Cheney helped leak the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame, wife of Bush critic Joseph Wilson.
The "special investigations division" of the minority staff of the House Government Reform Committee has produced a 30-page report alleging that in 125 appearances before the war, Bush, Cheney and other top officials "made 11 misleading statements about the urgency of Iraq's threat, 81 misleading statements about Iraq's nuclear activities, 84 misleading statements about Iraq's chemical and biological capabilities and 61 misleading statements about Iraq's relationship with al Qaeda."
In response to Bush's assertions, backed by voluminous citations, that Democrats, too, looked at U.S. intelligence and declared that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, Democrats have shifted ground, declaring either that Bush had privileged information or purposely denied Congress evidence conflicting with his assertions.
The GOP response to that has been to accuse Democrats of partisanship - of accepting Clinton administration WMD assertions as true while now challenging Bush's. Some Republicans also are producing evidence to rebut charges that Bush withheld evidence that would have disproved his WMD claims.
Regardless of whether Democrats ever file articles of impeachment, it's now almost inevitable that Bush will be Topic A in the 2006 election, much as Clinton was in the 1994 and 1998 off-year elections.
In 1994, Republicans capitalized on the collapse of Clinton's health care agenda to win a net 52 House seats and regain control of both houses of Congress for the first time in 40 years. But in 1998, even though Clinton's approval rating descended as low as 39 percent after disclosures that he lied about his affair with Monica Lewinsky, Democrats gained five House seats after Republicans forecast that they would impeach him after the election - as they did.
"We overplayed our hand," said Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), who later became chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. "The Democrats had better watch out that they don't do the same."
So far, Democrats are at the edge of overplaying their hand. They are riding a wave of popular distrust with Bush's war policy, and they're doing everything possible to boost it. This week, as Senate Minority leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was interpreting the Senate as having cast a "vote of no confidence" in Bush's war policy, his spokesman, Jim Manley, declared that "the contrast between Democrats and Republicans could not be clearer.
"On the same day that Senate Democrats outlined a path for success in Iraq, Republicans launched another round of misleading smears in order to improve their fortunes," he said. Manley told me he had heard no discussion among Democratic Senators about impeaching Bush. But the level of contempt for Bush among Democrats certainly rivals that among Republicans for Clinton. If they think they have a "smoking gun," I doubt Democrats can restrain themselves.
Mort Kondracke is the Executive Editor of Roll Call.
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More Commentary • The Matter With Kansas - Charles Krauthammer • What I Learned This Week - Larry Kudlow • Bush's War Strategy Crumbling - E.J. Dionne
More from Mort Kondracke • U.S. Must Match Tsunami Relief Effort in Pakistan • It's Clear, No One Truly Wants to Reduce Deficits • Some Senators Act Like Adults; Leaders Are Kids
and the best since Lincoln.
You need to learn that you've got to fight these b@st@rds tooth and nail. Otherwise, you're going to get stabbed in the back, and the whole country will lose because of it. You owe it to all of us (not just conservatives, but mushy moderates and liberals, too) to fight back, and fight back HARD. We all lose if you're impeached for nothing. All of us.
Republicans in Congress have been disgusting, but I don't think they'd go so far as to vote to impeach the President.
If you remember, GHWB (41) was nervous about impeachment after the Gulf War. This is all about payback for Clintoon's impeachment. Rush predicted this back after GWB's election.
First of all, this as well as the next Supreme Court vacancy is exactly why we need to stand behind the President and the GOP in both the House and Senate.
All of the petty bickering and fracturing on the Right is going to flush our hopes right down the toilet. If the GOP does not maintain and increase their majority in the Senate, then that 5th vote on the Supreme Court will never happen. If Democrats get even a simple majority in the House they will impeach the President, and any Republican president who follows, so long as they have the power to do so. That is what the Democrats have become.
Of course, Clinton proved that impeachment doesn't matter. Bush would not be removed by the Senate, no matter what happens. The Senate can't muster 66 votes for anything, much less something as controversial and divisive as impeachment.
The game is rigged when the MSM deals the cards. If they somehow manage impeachment hearings... convene another kangaroo court... the poker-table is 'gonna get kicked over.
Ah that stupid Bush outsmarted us Dims again. ;-(
After watching the antics of Charlie Bass and his gang of Soros-funded "moderates", I'm not so sure of that any more.
Blaming Bush for this at this point is unfair.
One guy, taking on his own party, the opposition party and the big jerks in the press all by himself is a virtually impossible task. He has made mistakes.
But to be honest, if you go back and read all the speeches he has given that are completely ignored by the press unless they are outrageous you will see that it is hard to yell over the din of the mob.
He needs our help, not our blame at this juncture. There will be time for that later.
There are similar Clinton haters, certainly on FR, but I bet the visceral haterd of GWB goes much further in the Left than the hatred of Clinton did back in the day..
It is frustated blind hate portrayed by frustated blind out- of -power democrats...
For all the "Bush lied" rhetoric, I've to date seen absolutely NO PROOF of such. The White House and GOPers in the House and Senate had BETTER release document after document and video after video of FOREIGN leaders and the UN from BEFORE the Bush presidency that state a firm belief of Saddam having WMD. That this whole "Bush lied" garbage has gotten as far as it has is ridiculous beyond words and the White House should have nipped all this in the bud months ago.
This is serious and it is hardball. That is why you see Cheney and Bush coming out swinging. I think the Alito fight and any nonsense about impeachment is just what we need.
Watch the Pflame case drop into oblivion as the story shifts to reporters being the source. If this trial balloon from Kerry and others goes anywhere it goes front and center with MSM. Remember this is what the kook fringe of the Left wants and this is who runs their Party. The idea of winning the House so they can impeach Bush - raises $$$ and turns out their base.
I think this will happen anyway before the next elections. Some in 2006 and a lot more in 2008.
Able Danger
By all means, let's stir the pot. :) Welcome to FR.
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