April 1, 2008, Profiles in political courage
I have been quite critical of the lack of political courage shown by the Democrats since re-taking control of Congress, but this morning's surprise announcement at a joint news conference with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers that articles of impeachment against the President for high crimes and misdemeanors will be presented to the House Judiciary Committee certainly puts an end to such criticism on my part. Pelosi and Conyers announced that their articles of impeachment "were much better than that lunatic Cynthia McKinney's" and "made a whole lot more sense than that idiot Kucinich's."
Apparently, what turned the tide from Speaker Pelosi having previously taken impeachment "off the table" was a recent revelation that President Bush had apparently engaged in oral sex with a White House intern in or near the Oval Office. Said Pelosi, "As we now know comparing the records of the Clinton presidency and the Bush presidency, one's conduct in the performance of their public office is utterly irrelevant, because only private conduct matters; hence, President Clinton's effective management of the national budget, his keeping us out of major foreign entanglements for most of his eight years in office, and the growth of the economy and America's standing in the world is of no moment compared to besmirching the holy sepulchre of the Oval Office with his engaging in private activity with a consenting adult... And while we would have gladly given Georgie-Dub (that's what I call him) a pass on the spying on all of us, the unprovoked and stupid wars, the torture, the signing statements designed to knowingly break the law, the Scooter Libby and Plame thing, the insane mismanagement of everything, the turning of the Justice Department into an arm of the RNC to go after prominent Democrats and give Republicans license to break the law... neither I nor the American people can possibly ever forgive him for... eeeeewwwwww..." Congressman Conyers added, "what she said."
White House spokesperson Dana Perino dismissed the impending articles of impeachment as "another political stunt in a long line of political stunts and obstructionism too and a complete lack of patriotism and stuff" and said that newly announced House Minority Leader Ralph Nader and Republican Senate Minority Leader Joe Liberman "would both lead a spirited fight to keep impeachment from ever reaching an up or down vote".