How to win big in November: impeach

(10 am – promoted by ek hornbeck)

On his program this morning Thom Hartmann mentioned some off-the-record conversations he had had with Democratic congressional insiders regarding the possibility of impeachment just 100 days or so away from November’s general election.

These insiders told Hartmann that the Democrats would not push for impeachment so close to the election because, as has been said so many times before, “impeachment would suck all of the oxygen out of the room.”  Their belief is that the traditional media, with their deranged sense of “balance,” would apportion all of their coverage of any impeachment hearings to the “Democratic” side of the ledger, and grant the bulk of the remaining, “Republican,” side of the ledger to coverage of John McCain.

In other words, media coverage would consist of two things: John McCain, and impeachment.

I cannot think of a better way to win in a landslide this November than for exactly that to happen.  Let me explain:

It has been said on many occasions that if the presidential election in November is a referendum on Barack Obama, we could be in for a tough scrape; if, however, the election is a referendum on John McCain, we win in a landslide. Why? Simple: The more attention is called to McCain’s (and, by extension, Republican) screw-ups, the worse he looks and the better any alternative looks. The transformation occurring over the past few news cycles demonstrates the truth of this position.  

John McCain is finding it more and more difficult to generate good press. Every time he opens his mouth he creates another opening for attack. Recently his lies and flip-flops and other assorted gaffes have led even the traditional media to challenge him and his campaign.

This is nothing new: Republicans generally over the past two election cycles have faced the same problem. Any time they open their mouths they are digging themselves into a hole.  This is simply because they have a track record of failure in service to the vast majority of the American people.  The only constituency for whom Republican hegemony in Congress and the White House has shown any benefit has been the wealthiest one-half of 1% of the country.

John McCain is a liar, a flip-flopper, a dimwit, a befuddled, angry, emotionally unbalanced, philandering, corrupt, unprincipled, power-hungry, disloyal, opportunistic politician who is no more a maverick that I am Santa Claus. These truths are coming out more and more, in spite of the best efforts of the McCain campaign and certain bastions of the traditional media. The more the traditional media focus on John McCain, the better for Barack Obama.  

So where do impeachment hearings fit into all of this? To begin impeachment hearings now would do nothing more than to expose for all the world to see – and in a way that has not previously been done, a way that cannot be ignored by the traditional media – the many wrongdoings of the BushCheney administration and its enablers – one of the biggest of whom has been John Sidney McCain Jr.

Not only will impeachment hearings between now and the general election remind Americans – and in many instances show many Americans for the very first time – how utterly corrupt, venal, selfish and anti-populist Republican legislators have been and are, they would also help all of the down-ticket races by equating the word “Republican” with “corruption” in a way that nothing to this point has been able to do.

This is the opportunity of a political lifetime, a confluence of events that will never occur again.  Republican members of Congress and all of the enablers of the BushCheney regime will be so busy dodging subpoenas, trying to answer questions about their choices and votes and actions, any campaigning they do will be merely an opportunity for their constituents and the media to demand further answers for their questionable activities.

If the Democratic leadership chooses not to take advantage of this unique opportunity, it will have shown itself to be a victim of the very politics of fear that has defined Republican rule over the past 7 1/2 years. Now, I fully recognize that impeachment should not be a political decision; it should reflect a sober assessment of the threats to the Constitution made by those in power who otherwise are unaccountable. However, in this case, serendipitously, impeachment would be not only the fitting and proper defense for the Constitution – the Constitution which every member of Congress is sworn to uphold and defend against all enemies foreign and domestic – but also a political tool the likes of which has never been seen before.

Democrats, if they are willing to seek justice and to defend the Constitution as they were sworn to do, can in so doing help to ensure a major sweep at the ballot box come November.

Also available in Orange