But so what, says Russ Feingold, the new McCainian-style gadfly of the Democratic Party. The president has, according to Feingold, committed an 'impeachable offense', but we shouldn't impeach him. Worse than Clinton (obviously), he says, and even worse than Nixon (!), but we shouldn't impeach him. We should 'censure'. Does this mean we shouldn't have impeached Nixon? I don't get it. Why is this not accepted as shameless, undisguised posturing? He's been on about this whole impeachment business for a few months, but I don't think he's gotten any better at closing the deal.
Here he he is on Meet the Press (again):
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Technorati Tags: Russ, Feingold, Meet, the, Press, Tim, Russert, Iraq, War, Timeline, Impeacment, George, W, Bush, Censure,
So I was sitting in my kitchen with my roommate from Norway when the whole Sears Tower Terror Plot story appeared on my television screen, courtesy of the BBC. There the two of us listened as national genuis and legal whiz Alberto Gonzales (who looks like a tiny little man) told us about the threat posed by the evil-doers. 'Home-grown terrorists', he said, 'may prove to be as dangerous as groups like al-Qaeda'. This was, he warned, 'a new brand of terrorism'. Dramatically, we were told that these men were on 'mission to wage war against the United States government': this was to be, according to Gonzales, a 'full ground war'.
It was at this point that we started laughing. My Norwegian friend told me that 'you Americans' are 'ridiculous'. And while I love my fellow Americans, I readily agreed. This Herald Sun article is a good run-down of the whole cockamamie affair. Who do these people think they're fooling at this point?
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Technorati Tags: Sears, Tower, Terrorism, Plot, Alberto, Gonzales, Chicago, Al, Qaeda, George, W, Bush, War, on, Terrorism, Miami, Florida
According to US News, several Friends of Jeb (FOJ) are 'pushing him as the perfect match for several Republicans already running for president, including Virginia Sen. George Allen, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani'. Two reasons citied: (1) popular in Florida; (2) smarter than his brother, the sitting president.
Two quick points. First, the latter qualification is setting the bar pretty low, it seems to me. Second, what potential republican presidential candidate in his right mind would want to be so closely affiliated with the name Bush and all that that entails at this stage in the game? Only George Allen could be so dumb as to think such a move would be savvy. Republican dissatisfaction with the president is fairly high, the legislative agenda is stalled on the Hill, and the war in Iraq (despite recent announcements about a troop drawdown, which reeks of electoral opportunism) continues to go south.
Elisabeth Bumiller ran a piece on a possible Jeb presidential run at some uncertain date in the future, and although the context here is different (vice president rather than president) the arguments she cited against a Jeb run still, it seems to me, apply:
'Republicans say that running on the heels of what has shaped up to be a dismal second term for his brother would be difficult, if not impossible. Even if the current President Bush's approval ratings were better, Republicans say that Jeb, for all his political popularity in Florida, would still have to define himself in the shadow of his brother's White House '.
Who in America wants more Bush? Don't answer that. In any event, Jeb has indicated that he does not want to run in 2008 because of the 'intense focus' it would bring to his family, members of which (including his wife and daughter) have run afoul of the law recently.
Republicans would probably do better to pick someone slightly less tainted. And they probably will.
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Technorati Tags: Jeb, Bush, Republican, Presidential, Candidates, George, W, Bush, George, Allen, Rudy, Guiliani, Florida, Washington, Whispers,
Marginal Footnotes 