Jul 3, 2007 
Digby asks a question I’ve been asking – would a failed impeachment hold them accountable?
As much as we all want to see some people impeached, the odds that two-thirds of the Senate would vote to remove Bush and Cheney from office are, well, remote. About 17 Republicans would have to cross the aisle and vote to remove. And I fear that if we go through the impeachment process, and the creatures are not convicted, it would amount to exoneration. It would send a message that whatever articles are brought do not rise to the level of being criminal or a threat to the Constitution.
But I wouldn’t rule it out. If it could be done, it would go a long way toward restoring faith in America. And I would do it even if the vote to convict doesn’t happen until the day before the 2009 inauguration. The rule of law and the integrity of the Constitution must be protected.
I’ve spent the past five years trying to do my little bit to shed light on the Bush Administration. We’ve come a long way. Five years ago, the Bushies were untouchable. The nation was being marched to war, and few dissenting voices were allowed access to mass media. In the 2002 midterms, Republicans would gain eight seats in the House and two seats in the Senate, the latter of which erased the Dems’ slender majority.
Today, the Dems’ slender majority in the Senate has been restored, and the Dems have a slightly larger majority in the House than the GOP enjoyed in 2003.
Today, Kate O’Beirne was ripped apart by Chris Matthews on Hardball.
And you must see David Schuster’s smackdown of Tucker Carlson.
Today on Countdown, Keith Olbermann called on the President and Vice President to resign.
See also today’s Dan Froomkin column, in which Froomkin discusses the appearance of corruption in the Scooter Libby case.
Was there a quid pro quo at work? Was Libby being repaid for falling on his sword and protecting his bosses from further scrutiny? Alternately, was he being repaid for his defense team’s abrupt decision in mid-trial not to drag Cheney into court, where he would have faced cross-examination by Fitzgerald? (See my March 8 column, Did Libby Make a Deal?)
So far, impeachment is mostly being discussed by liberal media — The Nation, The Huffington Post, etc.
But we’ve come a long way. The political landscape has changed. Many things are possible now that were not possible five years ago.
Our nation declared its independence 231 years ago tomorrow. The Founders affirmed that “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,” and “whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it.” But we are not asking to alter or abolish the form, but to protect the form by removing corrupt and increasingly despotic leaders.
Remember the words of John Paul Jones: “I have not yet begun to fight.” Even better, David Farragut: “Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!”
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