Democrats courting disaster

By Libby

The Democratic party clearly just doesn't get it. Pelosi, in a conference call with some progressive bloggers indicated the party has no interest in impeaching Bush or Cheney.

Pelosi’s argument against impeachment was, simply, that it wouldn’t be worth expending the political capital and effort to push the process forward.

The Speaker seems to think pretending to exercise oversight is sufficient. She "specifically mentioned the subpoena power" as if that's going to be any more effective than starting impeachment proceedings. Arlen Specter is already backing down from a hard line on that, muttering something about taking what we can get from the White House. That would be bupkus. And the White House has already indicated they intend to ignore any subpoena on the grounds of executive privlege. Maybe the Dems will be able to hold them in contempt of Congress, but considering their bigger game plan, I'm not holding my breath.

Essentially, Pelosi argued that we need to push forward and get a Dem in the White House in 2008 to really start enacting serious change, noting that even with majorities in both Houses, the Dems’ power could not overcome the 60 Senate votes needed to beat a Bush veto, and that the courts would be particularly unfriendly to Democratic moves for criminal investigations unless they substantially “built the cases” for each move. “Let the process play out,” she said. “Oversight isn’t political, it’s patriotic.”

Unfortunately that's only true if oversight is exercised in good faith. It loses its impact if every move is weighed for political advantage over the good of the country. Under those circumstances, it politicizes a patriotic gesture and accomplishes nothing. That is not going to win the White House in 08 and it could damn well lose them their majority in Congress.

The Dems shouldn't get overly cheery about polls like this showing they have finally gained some cred on the terrorism issue. While people are trusting them more than the GOP, that's not saying much at this point. If nothing of substance gets accomplished in the next 18 months, the people are going to be looking for new parties. Particularly when the frontrunners like Obama are hewing to the party line that impeachment is not an option.

This administration can still do a lot of damage in its remaining months and there would be no more effective way of putting the brakes on our reckless leaders than the threat of impeachment. It would at least keep them busy. If the Dems can't see that, a group like Unity08 could take off.

My pal Michael van der Galien is already giving them a serious look. If the Dems continue to put politics over governance, I have a feeling he won't be the only one.