Not that this is going to happen, but the other day a conservative Republican Congressman named Darrell Issa threw out an interesting idea: impeach Alberto Gonzales. Issa is a member of the House Judiciary Committee, so he’s not entirely blowing smoke. Still, even a hopping mad Congress didn’t exactly take up the battle cry of impeachment. Plus, it’s not even clear if the FBI’s ransacking of William Jefferson’s office was illegal. It was certainly arrogant, but arrogance is rarely punished and isn’t unconstitutional, or George Bush would have been impeached a month into his presidency.
Nevertheless, Issa’s outburst leads The Nation‘s John Nichols to a flight of fancy:
Add to that bill of particulars [i.e., the search of Jefferson’s office] clear evidence that the president, the
vice president and administration aides employed deceit and chicanery
to organize the invasion and occupation of two foreign countries
without a Declaration of War – or a plan – and the outline for articles
of impeachment begins to take shape.
Congressional Republicans cheapened impeachment with Bill Clinton. They run the danger of making impeachment proceedings a regular feature of second-term presidencies, like the lame duck watch or the Easter Egg hunt controversy. The impeachment buck, as it were, stops with Gonzales. The best argument against impeaching Bush: President Cheney.
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One-Way Street 