Hope for Impeachment?

A friend of mine asked me yesterday if there was any hope that Bush/Cheney would be impeached before they left office and I said: yes. The odds are still poor but they are improving every day as more and more information appears on the radar screens of the voting public and, slowly but slowly, eyes are flickering, synapses are firing and consciousness is dawning.

The only hope for impeachment would be for the Democrats to win at least one of the houses of Congress but the likelihood of that is increasing daily. This is fueled by the flood revelations of the corruption, incompetence and cronyism characteristic of this administration and the anger and frustration they engender.

Here are a few examples of the cracks in the wall which has been protecting these incompetent war-criminals:

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Glenn Greenwald who has been doing great work covering the illegal NSA eavesdropping scandal reports today that...

It appears almost certain that the Senate Intelligence Committee is going to vote tomorrow in favor of Sen. Rockefeller's motion to hold investigative hearings into the operational questions surrounding the NSA program. Sen. Snowe's office has been confirming that she intends to vote for the motion, which would guarantee that it passes at least 8-7.

That development is certainly what is causing Sen. Frist (undoubtedly directed by the White House) to resort to such extreme and frenzied threats in order to stave off what looks to be an inevitable investigation. They seem to be out of moves. After he single-handedly blocked an up-or-down vote on Sen. Rockefeller's motion on February 16, Sen. Roberts expressly promised to allow a vote to take place on March 7. Sen. Snowe previously proclaimed publicly that the Committee must investigate and has not backed off (despite what must be an avalanche of both promises and threats from the White House, which likely offered to send half the federal Treasury to Maine if she changed her mind).

[...]

It's a little difficult to imagine Snowe actually voting against the motion given her prior statement urging the Intelligence Committee to hold hearings (a statement also signed by Sen. Hagel), but given the pitiful history of the "independent" Republicans falling meekly and obediently into line behind every White House decree over the last five years, nothing is a foregone conclusion with them.

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Republican Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham got 8 years, 4 months for accepting bribes from defense contractors, Mitch Wade and Brent Wilkes but the foul stain is spreading. From Paul Kiel at the Daily Muck, we learn that...

the CIA has opened an investigation into Kyle "Dusty" Foggo's ties to Brent Wilkes. Wilkes bribed Duke Cunningham to get contracts - we know that. But Wilkes was much closer to Foggo. How close? From the San Diego Union Tribune:

Foggo and Wilkes attended school together at Hilltop High in Chula Vista and San Diego State University, served as best men in each other's weddings and named their sons after each other....

At ADCS corporate headquarters, Wilkes set aside an office next to his executive suite where Foggo could work when he leaves the CIA, according to several former ADCS employees and business associates.

The CIA has said that the investigation is just routine, "standard practice." But according to the SDUT's sources, the CIA did award some contracts to a company closely affiliated to Wilkes, Archer Logistics. Because the CIA is funded through a "black budget," those contracts are secret. (SDUT, ABC, Newsweek, AP, TPM)

Laura Rozen argues that the national security and counterintellige nce implications of the Duke Cunningham investigation are just beginning to be uncovered. (War & Piece)

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Wonkette reports on selective censorship -- the Marines in Iraq have certain web sited blocked (see below). It is already the case that U.S. Troops in Iraq: 72% Say End War in 2006 [Zogby]. So, it makes you wonder what the soldiers would think if they had access to more complete information:

• Wonkette – “Forbidden, this page (http://www.wonkette.com/) is categorized as: Forum/Bulletin Boards, Politics/Opinion.”
• Bill O’Reilly (www.billoreilly.com) – OK
• Air America (www.airamericaradio.com) – “Forbidden, this page (http://www.airamericaradio.com/) is categorized as: Internet Radio/TV, Politics/Opinion.”
• Rush Limbaugh (www.rushlimbaugh.com) – OK
• ABC News “The Note” – OK
• Website of the Al Franken Show (www.alfrankenshow.com) – “Forbidden, this page (http://www.airamericaradio.com/) is categorized as: Internet Radio/TV, Politics/Opinion.”
• G. Gordon Liddy Show (www.liddyshow.us) – OK

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Ralph Reed, former head of the national Christian Coalition, current candidate in the Georgia lieutenant governor's race and lifelong opponent of gambling has been exposed as a liar by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution which reveals, as Paul Kiel says...

that he knew that he was working for an online gambling company named eLottery, Inc. when he helped kill the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act.

He's said, of course, that he did not know.

But really, that just makes him sound sloppy. Let's give the man his due: he very carefully and skillfully obscured his relationship with Jack Abramoff's gaming clients. He knew that it would have been bad for his reputation, and thus for business. So he took a number of key steps to leave no paper trail:

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And, of course, there is the video evidence that Bush was warned about the risks of Katrina before he claimed that no one could have predicted the breach levees. As more and more examples of the mendacity and incompetence are presented, Bush's numbers continue to tumble. And, to the extent that Republicans running for re-election stick with (cover for) him, their chances of re-election go down the toilet with him. It is in this that I see the silver lining and hope for impeachment. It's only by recognizing what wrongs have been done that there is any hope that we can start to right them.