14 Reasons

This post, Articles of Impeachment against Bush and Cheney (Daily Kos), lists the most egregious offenses of the Bush junta over the last six years. Naturally, since it’s on the Daily Kos (which isn’t necessarily so much lefty as staunchly Democrat), they note that the impeachment must affect “both Bush and Cheney … It will not do any good for us to impeach Bush and have Cheney take the Oval Office”. A relatively obvious conclusion to which any analyst (who can think at least one move ahead) would have come. However, you’re scaring people away when you think two moves ahead and remind them that the “3rd person in succession … [is] … Nancy Pelosi”.

That notwithstanding, these are the most actionable offenses to date (if the Congress starts digging, they’ll probably find more):

1. Leaking classified information by disclosing the identity of Valerie Plame to reporters.
2. Lying to congress – passing false information about Iraq’s WMD capacities.
3. Extraordinary Renditions.
4. Detentions without Trial.
5. Torture.
6. Misappropriation of Funds.
7. Bombing Iraq without Congressional Approval.
8. Conspiracy to pass false information.
9. Lying about Niger connection.
10. Contempt of Congress.
11. Illegal wiretaps.
12. Concealment of the existance [sic] or nature of Domestic Intelligence Programs.
13. Destruction of Evidence.
14. The use of White Phosphorus in Iraq.

Doonesbury 11/19/2006That, my friends, is a helluva list. It’s got everything, really. Look at it, it’s the perfect legacy for a president who never succeeded at anything … until now. Hell, it’s during Bush’s presidency that people starting having such fond memories of Nixon. Bush bested Nixon at his own game and will go down as in history as the first president to make Americans care about politics in a generation.

Is it enough for an impeachment? Who the hell knows? It’s not like Bush cheated on his wife, then lied about it. Is it wise to go for an impeachment? Not really. It’s not like Bush and Cheney will agree to play nice or fair in either case. It’s far better to focus on issues that actually help people—a drawn-out battle over the next two years will do nothing to restore people’s faith in American democracy. That concept is perhaps shattered beyond repair. But the time, money and energy that would go into a revenge-taking could really be far better spent and focused on all of those things that the Democrats were promising us before the election and about which we have heard next to nothing since.