Depressing thought of the day
And no, it has nothing to do with the White House claiming that there was so obviously nothing
wrong about replacing US attorneys with partisan hacks that White House employees and aides have to be kept from testifying about the non-criminal activities. That would be better suited to a 'least surprising' story.
No, this is just another observation that should outrage the nation, but won't. Complete with dire implications about the fragility of American democracy. Yawn.
[T]here's one political factor to consider [regarding impeachment of Bush/Cheney]: much as their epic incompetence at running the government has discredited the very idea of government, making new government solutions substantially harder to get past a skeptical public, Republicans' impeachment of President Clinton in 1998 discredited the very idea of impeachment.
Say the word now, and many people think of "a partisan effort to drag the country through a ridiculously disingenuous show trial, trumping up phony claims of 'high crimes and misdemeanors,' for no reason other than revenge on your political enemies." It almost doesn't matter anymore what the president does; anyone who proposes impeachment is going to be greeted by many people with nothing but eye-rolling. Given that, short of killing a man on national television for looking at him funny, the president can do pretty much what he wants without worrying that he'll lose his job. It may take decades before impeachment is viewed as the product of principled and justified outrage at a president's unacceptable behavior in office.
Yet I still find myself completely stunned with the matter-of-fact way the GOP has eroded the foundations of democracy. For all their endless whining about the Clintons, the Republican party may well have simply brought about a new political climate which simply enables the occupants of the White House to commit crimes with impunity-- as has been the case for the last six years. BushCo's crimes dwarf those of the Nixon White House, but does anyone actually think they'll pay for those crimes?
NOTE: The comments to the post are much less pessimistic, in case you need a little lift.)
wrong about replacing US attorneys with partisan hacks that White House employees and aides have to be kept from testifying about the non-criminal activities. That would be better suited to a 'least surprising' story.
No, this is just another observation that should outrage the nation, but won't. Complete with dire implications about the fragility of American democracy. Yawn.
[T]here's one political factor to consider [regarding impeachment of Bush/Cheney]: much as their epic incompetence at running the government has discredited the very idea of government, making new government solutions substantially harder to get past a skeptical public, Republicans' impeachment of President Clinton in 1998 discredited the very idea of impeachment.
Say the word now, and many people think of "a partisan effort to drag the country through a ridiculously disingenuous show trial, trumping up phony claims of 'high crimes and misdemeanors,' for no reason other than revenge on your political enemies." It almost doesn't matter anymore what the president does; anyone who proposes impeachment is going to be greeted by many people with nothing but eye-rolling. Given that, short of killing a man on national television for looking at him funny, the president can do pretty much what he wants without worrying that he'll lose his job. It may take decades before impeachment is viewed as the product of principled and justified outrage at a president's unacceptable behavior in office.
Yet I still find myself completely stunned with the matter-of-fact way the GOP has eroded the foundations of democracy. For all their endless whining about the Clintons, the Republican party may well have simply brought about a new political climate which simply enables the occupants of the White House to commit crimes with impunity-- as has been the case for the last six years. BushCo's crimes dwarf those of the Nixon White House, but does anyone actually think they'll pay for those crimes?
NOTE: The comments to the post are much less pessimistic, in case you need a little lift.)
posted by Matt Sandwich | 2:35 PM
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