Impeach, rinse, repeat

2005.11.14 — Government | Politics | by Barton Castor

Altho I've defended George W Bush in the past, back last June I begged my fellow conservatives to impeach George W Bush and Dick Cheney so they could be replaced on the ticket by John McCain and a fiscal conservative to be named later. Why, oh why, didn't you listen? It's time now to impeach these clods or otherwise force them to resign.

First, let me reiterate that George W Bush and Dick Cheney are not conservatives. They don't believe in running a small government, in giving individuals the freedoms they are entitled to, or in minding their own business globally and domestically. They are neoconservatives who hijacked the party and ruined its good name. They betrayed the trust of the entire American people but especially of loyal Republicans who followed them thru unwise spending and unjust military excursions.

John McCain is still my man, one of the good guys in Congress, and for a "running mate," I'd pick Dick Lugar, another one of the good guys.

So how would it work without an election? Simple: same as Nixon.

First, Cheney would resign, citing health problems, under threat of impeachment for his role in the Plame-Wilson scandal as well as his numerous false statements about Iraq and frankly un-American support for torture. Agnew was forced out because of simple tax evasion. Imagine such a little thing bringing a veep down.

President Bush would be pressured to appoint John McCain as his vice-president as the logical choice of the most popular Republican (and the most powerful one not under criminal investigation). Gerald Ford replaced Agnew that way, altho popularity probably didn't have much to do with it.

Then Junior would be threatened with impeachment his own self, for all the astounding failures he is responsible for, directly or indirectly, most notably:

• First, Cheney would resign, citing health problems.... Then Junior would be threatened with impeachment his own self...

  Authorizing unconstitutional detainment of American citizens without due process
• Presenting discredited evidence about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction as a justification for pre-emptive war
• Dereliction of his duty to find and bring to justice the person actually responsible for the September 11 attacks on America: Usama bin Laden
• Failing to fire Rumsfeld and others for authorizing torture and running the Iraq War into the ground
• Failing to supervise the rebuilding of Iraq sufficiently to avoid looting, unrest, and the loss and embezzlement of billions of American dollars
• The miserable failure to maintain fiscal discipline, especially in wartime

Of course, he's probably in deep, deep denial of these failures, so, unlike Richard Nixon, he would probably have to actually be impeached before he was ashamed enough to resign. Too bad. That would make the Clinton apologists squeal with delight.

Vice-President McCain would ascend to the Oval Office the same way Agnew-replacement Gerald Ford did when Nixon hopped Marine 1 to Palookaville. Then McCain would name Dick Lugar as his veep, just as Ford replaced himself with Rockefeller. Of course, Rudy Giuliani would be a viable choice. He's not really a fiscal conservative, but I'm not picky.

We can't afford to be picky, America.

Think of it: a fiscally conservative, socially sensitive, sensibly hawkish McCain administration would turn this country around economically, act sanely and proactively about the environment and natural disasters, and get us out of Iraq as quickly and humanely as possible by leaving a constitutional authoritarian semi-theocracy (sorry, but a stable, secular democracy is pretty much too much to hope for anymore).

By the time the 2008 election rolls around, the McCain-Lugar administration will have won back the confidence of the American people and the respect of the world and be poised to win reelection.

And the Bush-Cheney administration would be a bad, half-forgotten dream.

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