Month: July 2007

Extraordinarily Good

by digby

Following up DB’s post below, I have to note that my 13th post ever on this blog was about Laura Ingraham whining on Reliable Sources about liberal media bias.

From January 4th 2003,

KURTZ: Let’s turn now to media bias.

E.J. Dionne, you wrote a column recently saying there is no longer any such thing as the big, liberal media. Is this a fantasy we’ve been talking about for some years now?

DIONNE: No, I mean, if you want to go back to the Goldwater campaign, I think that the press was biased against Barry Goldwater in 1964. Yes, you can make a case for that.

A lot has changed. I think, number one, the definition of the media has changed. You have three broad parts of the media that in turn affect the burgeoning network of online sources. You got talk radio, you got cable television, and then you’ve got the traditional press and networks news magazines and newspapers.

The first two are undoubtedly conservative leaning. And I think FOX has had an effect of pushing the other cable networks, including this one, to look over their right shoulder. I think talk radio is very clearly a conservative medium, and Laura is a representative of that.

And then the press, in the meantime, the so-called old mainstream media has been so affected by this constant barrage that you are biased — you know, that the media is biased liberal, that they’ve been intimidated. I think two plus zero equals two, and that’s a tilt to the right.

KURTZ: You’re saying that the “New York Times” and the “L.A. Times” and “The Washington Post” and the networks and magazines have been intimidated and they’re cowering and they can’t do their jobs anymore?

INGRAHAM: I must have missed that.

DIONNE: That’s not what I said.

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: I mean, I think in the cable news business it’s a little bit different. And I think E.J. raises a good point, that when one network starts up with the objective of catering to a more conservative audience, which no doubt Fox does, the other networks are going to, sort of, reassess, especially when the ratings might not be as good as they want them to be.

However, conservatives, let’s not forget, were very, very disgruntled and frustrated for so many years, decades, after seeing an elitist liberal tilt to the media. So what did they do? Well, conservatives decided, “Well,we’re going to go to nontraditional avenues; we’re going to go to talk radio;we’re going to go to the Internet; we’re going to, maybe, see if we can start around cable network.” All that happened.

And now liberals are saying, “Wait a second. Wait a second. What about us? What about us?”

Well, maybe it’s time to reexamine liberal principles that have been on the run for the last 25 years, not the fact that they only have the “New York Times,” CBS, NBC, ABC, “Washington Post” and every other newspaper in the country.

DIONNE: I’m sorry to say this, but that’s a big lie of the right, that these other media are biased liberal.

I mean, NBC, as you pointed out on one of your shows, had Rush Limbaugh on as an election night analyst. This is not biased liberal media.

INGRAHAM: That’s different from regular coverage, E.J.

DIONNE: No, but the difference…

INGRAHAM: When they cover a Bush press conference, how is it covered? Is it covered in a fair and balanced way…

DIONNE: Bush has gotten an extraordinarily good press. I challenge you to compare…

INGRAHAM: He’s been an extraordinarily good president, much to the media’s chagrin.

[…]

KURTZ: … in their work because they are become a part of this upper-middle class.

We just have about a minute left. You made a note of the fact that I had interviewed Rush Limbaugh on this program and then Tim Russert had interviewed Rush Limbaugh on his CNBC show as if that was some evidence of a conservativedom. Why shouldn’t a guy with a huge radio audience get interviewed, just like Frank Rich (ph) and James Carville and all the people on the left?

DIONNE: I specifically mentioned that you guys had also had me on your show…

KURTZ: Right.

DIONNE: … so that I wasn’t criticizing you for having him on.

The point I was making is that when Tom Daschle went out and criticized Rush Limbaugh, if there were this big establishment liberal media, you would have expected them to go out after Rush Limbaugh. Instead the criticism, including a very strong column you wrote, went after Tom Daschle for criticizing Rush Limbaugh.

The point I was making is that Rush Limbaugh has now been mainstreamed. And that is — there’s nothing wrong with Rush Limbaugh trying to make himself a big deal. He’s succeeded. It is evidence that this conservative network that Laura is talking about is now penetrating into the mainstream media. And that is why it is increasingly conservative.

INGRAHAM: It’s called being resourceful in dealing with the cards you have in front of you. And that is what conservatives have done.

I’ll say.

I don’t get why they haven’t just gone for the gusto and hired Rushbo himself and paired him with Coulter for the ditto-head psycho hour. If the angry old white man and sociopath Fox audience is what they want, that’s the way to get it. Pay them both a million dollars a week, whatever it takes.

If they want to be Fox they are going to have to ante up some big bucks instead of flirting around the edges with no-name losers like Glenn Beck and second rate harpies like Ingraham. Go for the Talents On Loan From God himself, CNN. Let’s see what your made of.

Update: Eric Boehlert wonders how low Glenn Beck’s ratings have to go.

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The Most Trusted Name in Propaganda
by Dover Bitch

Via Atrios, I see that CNN has given Laura Ingraham a week to get America clapping louder.

I guess we can expect the kind of hard-hitting war coverage we’ve already heard from Ingraham on her radio show:

INGRAHAM: Secretary Rumsfeld, I’ve got to tell you, when I read some of the very small stories about the Afghan elections I thought to myself, here we have about a 50 percent turnout rate in a country where we were promised unending violence, unending chaos, and yet women and young people brave the threats and they made it to the polls and you don’t get any coverage of it.

[…]

INGRAHAM: One of the things that I think of course is responsible for this, the reason for this refusal to pay attention to the story, is because they’d rather focus on whatever they think is perceived problems in Katrina response, or they’ll focus on the difficulty we’re facing in Iraq, and on that note, I have to ask you, given everything that you know about the region, what’s happening in Iraq, what do you do at the Pentagon to affect public opinion? Because these polls, one after the other, are showing ebbing support for the war. I support the war, I’m think it’s worth it, and I’m frustrated that more Americans don’t think it’s worth it at this juncture.

[…]

INGRAHAM: Do we think, Mr. Secretary, that having a military spokesperson on the ground day in and day out, ticking off three positive pieces of news out of Iraq every day, someone that every American knows, comes to know whether it’s General Casey or someone else, do you think that’s something that would affect the public opinion at this point? Because I’m concerned if these numbers keep going the way they are, it’s going to do damage to the President’s war on terror overall and obviously his standing on other issues at home.

[…]

SECRETARY RUMSFELD: … Obviously you’re quite right, all of that effort has not overcome the negative press that is —

INGRAHAM: Something’s got to change.

[…]

INGRAHAM: North Korea, I’ve got to say everyone thinking it was such a positive development, North Korea’s commitment in the six-party talks to refrain from further pursuit of nuclear materials and nuclear processing and now they say well, we want a white water reactor, otherwise we’re not going to move forward on our commitment.

What are the American people supposed to think about this?

[…]

INGRAHAM: The mistake made in 1994 not to look back, but to use it as a way of learning, a mistake of hoping for the best from North Korea just ended up kicking the can down the road, to use the line from one of your former colleagues.

[…]

INGRAHAM: Back on Iraq for a second, Mr. Secretary, the major problem outside of Iraq that would affect the future, our future success in Iraq, would it be Iran for you? I know that you talk about the people streaming across the border still, and the foreign fighters we found in Telafar a few weeks ago. But would it be Iran, and what Iran’s role in all this is and would be?

SECRETARY RUMSFELD: In what sense? Would it be what?

INGRAHAM: A further danger to the situation in Iraq as it is today. What outside forces other than what we’re seeing developing on the ground inside of Iraq would you point to as a problem?

[…]

INGRAHAM: And your commanders in the field now in Iraq, there are reports back to you about the progress being made. Of course Americans are greeted by headlines every day, 1900 dead, thousands more wounded, roadside bombs. But the commanders were working with the security forces. I’ve had a chance to talk to some of them. I hear a very different account of what is happening, very positive stories, again, and yet I don’t see the stuff reported. It’s frustrating to me. I can’t imagine how frustrating to you it must be.

[…]

INGRAHAM: Two more questions, Mr. Secretary, I know you’re on a tight schedule. Are you confident that a year from now or six months from now public opinion will move toward embracing progress in Iraq and the fact that Iraq was worth it?

[…]

INGRAHAM: You’ve got a press corps against you and you’ve got an international media who’s oftentimes against you so it’s very difficult.

Before I let you go, the AmericaSupportsYou.Mil charity. We continue to link it and promote it on our web site, Mr. Secretary, at a time when everyone’s opening their wallets to Katrina I need to remember and remind everyone to support that web site which helps our troops, their families, and continues to just be a huge outpouring to the benefit of our men and women in uniform.

That’s the entirety of her exclusive interview with the Secretary of Defense in the middle of two wars. Other than a dig at Clinton’s North Korea policy, the only question was essentially “How bad is Iran?”

Everything else out of her mouth was an attack on the media for ignoring how fantastic the war is. CNN has reacted to her by giving her a prime slot… A woman who asked Rumsfeld “What are the American people supposed to think about this?”

Well done, CNN. In case her willingness to catapult the propaganda isn’t obvious enough, here’s how the interview ended:

INGRAHAM: Fantastic. If you need someone to be that military spokesperson over in Iraq, I’m happy to give up my microphone any time, Mr. Secretary. Any time you call I’ll be happy to jump over there.

SECRETARY RUMSFELD: You’re terrific, Laura. Thanks so much.

Yes, terrific is the word I’d choose, too:

Main Entry: ter·rif·ic
Pronunciation: t&-‘ri-fik
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin terrificus, from terrEre to frighten
1 a : very bad : FRIGHTFUL

You’re terrific, too, CNN.

Common Knowledge

by digby

Josh Marshall noted this rather direct assertion in the NY Times editorial yesterday and wondered if it was one of those things that editorial writers can put into print that aren’t provable enough to put into the news pages. (I didn’t know there were such things, but there you go.)

Unwilling to accept [DOJ’s refusal to reauthorize the program], Vice President Dick Cheney sent Mr. Gonzales and another official to Mr. Ashcroft’s hospital room to get him to approve the wiretapping

Josh wrote:

The folks at TPMmuckraker are the ones really following this story closely. So perhaps this is a detail that has eluded me. But I was not aware that it had ever been established that Vice President Cheney ordered the visit. Speculated, rumored, sure. But I wasn’t aware this had been established at all.

And yet the Times states it rather offhandedly as a fact. So what do they know?

I just happened to catch an excerpt of Larry King’s interview with Big Time tonight, and Larry asked him right out. He said he “couldn’t recall.” Not exactly a resounding denial.

If there are a bunch of DC insiders who know this story and are keeping it to themselves for unknown reasons — kind of like Libby lying his ass off to the Grand Jury — they really need to come forward this time. If Cheney personally sent Gonzales and card to Ashcroft’s bedside, the public has a right to know.

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Poll Testing

by digby

The doughy pantload has an excellent idea:

So, maybe, just maybe, we have our priorities wrong. Perhaps cheapening the vote by requiring little more than an active pulse (Chicago famously waives this rule) has turned it into something many people don’t value. Maybe the emphasis on getting more people to vote has dumbed-down our democracy by pushing participation onto people uninterested in such things. Maybe our society would be healthier if politicians aimed higher than the lowest common denominator. Maybe the opinions of people who don’t know the first thing about how our system works aren’t the folks who should be driving our politics, just as people who don’t know how to drive shouldn’t have a driver’s license.

Instead of making it easier to vote, maybe we should be making it harder. Why not test people about the basic functions of government? Immigrants have to pass a test to vote; why not all citizens?

Despite Pantload’s tepid protestations to the contrary, it’s obvious that he believes that instituting poll tests would result in fewer Democrats being allowed to vote. (This is Lucianne’s little boy we’re talking about.) And that just isn’t true:

The Center for Policy Attitudes, along with Knowledge Networks Poll, recently completed a study that illustrates that the more Americans watch FOX “News” channel, the more tenuous their relationship is to the truth. In fact, the results show FOX “News” channel is in a virtual free fall away from facts.

“Standing out in the analysis are Fox and NPR/PBS—but for opposite reasons. Fox was the news source whose viewers had the most misperceptions. NPR/PBS are notable because their viewers and listeners consistently held fewer misperceptions than respondents who obtained their information from other news sources.”

But you already knew that didn’t you? And unsurprisingly, Goldberg didn’t.

He also seems to think that those who are interested in politics are better informed.

Again, that depends …

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Eight Is Enough

by digby

God forbid anything permanent should happen to the Chief Justice, but keep in mind that there is absolutely nothing written anywhere that says the Supreme Court has to have nine justices. There is ample precedent for the court only having eight and there are many cases that are heard by eight because one of the justices is recused. So there is no way in hell that George W. Bush should ever, EVER get another bite at that apple with Democrats in charge of the congress. Just saying — no more Bush Supreme Court appointees for any reason. None.

* May I also humbly request that people not be cruel in the comments. Take the high road on this, please? I don’t like deleting comments, but I will.

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All Hail Falafel Day

by digby

Seeing as today is Falafel Day, in honor of Billo’s threat to “destroy Kos” it seems like a good time to reprise one of my favorite Billo posts:

Semper Falafel

O’Reilly understands that war is hell:

Having survived a combat situation in Argentina during the Falklands War, I know that life-and-death decisions are made in a flash. If that wounded insurgent had a grenade or other explosive device, the entire marine squad and the photographer could be dead right now. In a killing zone, one cannot afford the luxury of knowing what is certain.

As with all literary greats like Mailer, Jones and Heller, O’Reilly has memorialized his scorching experiences in his novel, “Those Who Trespass” a murder mystery set in Argentina during the hell on earth that was the Falklands war:

The policemen were clearly frightened. Their fascist powers were being brazenly challenged. Standing directly in front of the police were nearly ten thousand very angry Argentine citizens screaming curses and revolutionary slogans:

ALa gente unida venceramos!

AMuera la Junta!

AMuera Galtieri!

GNN News Correspondent Shannon Michaels translated the chant and wrote it into his notebook: “The people, united, will never be defeated! Death to the Junta! Death to the dictator Galtieri!” Shannon and his video crew stood behind the police, five hundred strong crowded together in a massive show of force. Their assignment was to guard the presidential palace, called the Casa Rosada–the Pink House–and to protect President General Leopoldo Galtieri. But the crowd was getting more and more aggressive, pushing toward the large metal gate that provided access to the palatial grounds. Shannon saw that The Plaza de Mayo, the huge square in front of the Casa Rosada, was now filled to capacity. Something very ugly was going to happen, Shannon thought, and happen soon.

The sky was clear, but clouds were assembling in the west. Shannon ran his fingers through his thick mane of wavy brown hair. His teal blue eyes were locked on the agitated crowd. It was his eyes that most people noticed first–a very unusual color that some thought materialized from a contact lens case. But Shannon, the product of two Celtic parents, didn’t go in for cosmetic enhancements. His 6′ 4 frame was well toned by constant athletics, and his pale white skin was flawless–another genetic gift. Shannon’s looks, which he thoroughly capitalized on, made him a natural for television.

As the mob continued its boisterous serenade, Shannon slowly shook his head. Most wars were foolish, he thought, but this one was unusually idiotic. The Argentine Junta, a group of military thugs led by General Galtieri, had ordered an invasion of the British-administered Falkland Islands on April Fool’s Day, 1982. The government claim was that the islands, which the Argentines called the Malvinas, became a part of Argentina through a Papal declaration in 1493. The British disagreed. So, nearly five hundred years after the grant of land, the Argentine Army swarmed ashore, startling eighteen hundred British subjects and tens of thousands of bewildered sheep.

[…]

During his seven-year career as a TV news correspondent, Michaels had seen rank stupidity, but this moronic government strategy boggled the mind. Anyone who read a newspaper knew that the British Parliament, and especially Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, would never allow British honor to be besmirched. It took the Brits just three months to thoroughly humiliate the Junta, further angering the Argentine citizenry. No wonder they were now filling the streets in passionate demonstration against the Galtieri government.

Sends chills down your spine, doesn’t it? Has anyone matched this kind of searing prose in the Falklands chronicles? I don’t want to ruin the story by revealing the fiery hell that our blue eyed Celtic hero had to endure. Let’s just say that that marine in Falluja won’t know what hell is until he’s had to film a news story with his flawless white skin covered in dust and dirt. It just makes you sick to even think about it.

The horror…

The Falafel Factor

by digby

Just in case you’ve worn out your original Falafel Factor T-Shirts and thongs (lord knows, I have) they appear to still be available at cafePress.

These are good too.

For more awesome downloadable O’Reilly fun, Oh Sweet Jesus I Hate Bill O’Reilly is sex scandal central. Be sure to scroll down to The O’SeXXXy Factor. It’s a keeper.

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Fairnbalanced

by digby

Greg Sargent recalls that there was a time when Mitt Romney thought refusing to show for debates was wimpy and cowardly. Now that CNN has offered to move the GOP YouTube debate to a more amenable time for all those Republican candidates who suddenly had scheduling conflicts, Mitt’s taking his time responding.

Apparently these Republicans are scared to death of having to face questions from the public. Their defenders claim the “agenda driven” CNN will sandbag the candidates, but you have to wonder if that’s the case, why the entire field did a debate on CNN just a few weeks ago? Is this some new agenda?

But that is not to say the Republicans are without creative ideas about how to resolve the situation. Blah3 reports that Captains Quarters is floating the idea that would make the whole thing much more fair. Cap’n Ed says:

So what’s the solution? How can we engage voters in a national forum through the New Media, while keeping the debate substantive and serious? I have a simple solution: have CNN cede the editorial/selection process to the New Media, in the form of the blogosphere.

CNN would ask bloggers to form a committee to review the YouTube entries. Since this debate is a Republican primary event, the bloggers should probably represent that segment of the electorate — primarily Republicans, but perhaps with independent/centrist representation as well. The committee would review all of the YouTube entries and narrow them down to around 20, through whatever process and criteria to which these bloggers agree. They would also agree to the order in which the questions would be asked.

How does this solve the argument? It removes CNN from any responsibility for the question selection, shielding them from bias allegations. It puts the onus on the New Media to act responsibly in its question selection. This mechanism truly would make the candidates accountable directly to the people who will vote for them in the primary races. The candidates would have no excuses to avoid this debate, either.

Because, you know, conservative bloggers aren’t “agenda driven” like CNN.

John Cole has a list of sample questions. Here’s one:

Red State- Mr. Giuliani, if Obama is elected, will he declare defeat in Iraq and withdraw our troops before surrendering to Iran, or will he surrender to Iran first?

That sounds about right, but I think we could expect them to say “if Barack Hussein Obama is elected,” don’t you?

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John Harwood Gets Hardwood

by digby

Oh my God, just shoot me now:

HARWOOD: I’m going to defend that [cleavage] column too. When you look at the calculation that goes into everything that Hillary Clinton does, for her to argue that she was not aware of what she was communicating by her dress is like Barry Bonds saying he thought he was rubbing down with flaxseed oil, OK?

Huh???? What was this 60 year old female candidate for president communicating — “look at my tits?” What the hell is he talking about?

Does he seriously think that Hillary Clinton dressed herself that morning and looked in the mirror and said, “I’m gonna show off my fabulous ta-tas today?” Did Ann Lewis and Mandy Grunwald suggest she wear that little black number so some desperate-for-material fashion writer in the Washington Post will write about her cleavage? Or maybe he thinks she held a focus group on how much boobage she should show or had a secret poll done on the effect of cleavage on braindead members of the political press corps.

John Harwood evidently got a little stirring down there that reminded him of his long lost virility so he assumed Hillary must have been wantin’ him bad. Get thee to a hooker, Harwood and leave the presidential candidates alone. They don’t want you. Really. (Well, maybe Tancredo.)

Update: If this was the plan she’s been laying the groundwork for some time. Kathryn jean Lopez was having an hissy fit about Hillary’s bodacious cleavage a year ago:

Thursday, June 08, 2006
Cleavage in the Senate [Kathryn Jean Lopez]
Zarqawi might have knocked Ann Coulter out of the headlines and off our TV screens for the moment, but Hillary Clinton this morning seems to be dressing to full-out take on Ann….Senator Clinton’s blazer is a bit lowcut today (I have C-SPAN 2 on).

UPDATE: Here’s a screenshot. Prediction: Washington Post Style section piece by a Pulitzer Prize winner about Hillary’s sex-appeal advantage.

She was half right.

H/T to BE

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The 34 Senator Gambit

by digby

The question of “how to extricate ourselves in a way that minimizes the damage to the United States, its allies and Iraq” rages on in the village. And naturally, the horrible partisans of both sides are equally to blame. David Ignatius sagely advises:

A good start would be for Washington partisans to take deep breaths and lower the volume, so that the process of talking and fighting that must accompany a gradual U.S. withdrawal can work.”

What a good idea. Perhaps this is one of those things the president could take the lead on, seeing as he’s the only person who ostensibly leads the entire nation and all. But has anyone seen even the slightest sign that he is willing to talk about any kind of withdrawal from Iraq, gradual or otherwise? The last I heard he’d decided to double down and escalate the war. Call me crazy but I just get the feeling that the Republicans might not be operating in good faith. But then that’s because they never are.

The Republicans have been scorched earth, take-no-prisoners radicals for the last two decades and under Bush they took it to unheard of levels. Even today, they are sticking with their leader come hell or high water, the only exception being his half hearted effort to legalize some low wage immigrant labor for his corporate masters, and even that was a suicidal political rush over a cliff, alienating voters who they are desperately going to need in the coming years.

When it comes to “partisanship” the Republicans have turned it into a fetish — a risky, self destructive form of political autoerotic asphyxiation in which they are willing to risk killing themselves for the sake of the ultimate thrill. It’s one of the reasons we are having such a hard time wrapping our minds around how to deal with these people. They are not behaving like decent national leaders, we know that; but they are also not behaving like normal craven politicians.

As Matt Yglesias wrote here:

Much of the crisis in Washington today boils down precisely to the congressional GOP’s unwillingness not so much to “do the right thing” but unwillingness to even be petty and power-hungry; their decision to see their job as backstopping the president come what may rather than to jealously horde[sic] the powers of their own offices.

This is why our institutions are failing. The founders never counted on politicians “doing the right thing.” Profiles in courage are always in short supply and no government can depend upon good intentions. But they did assume that they would, at least, want to preserve their own careers and constitutional prerogatives. The modern Republicans are so committed to their party that they will follow their 28% president over the cliff, and that is a mindset we haven’t seen since the civil war.

GOP power politics have exposed some weaknesses in our constitutional framework: as long as there are 34 Senators willing to back the president no matter what, short of a coup, he can pretty much do anything he wants until the next election. That’s always been true, but nobody ever wanted to push it before. Cooler heads have generally known that balance of powers issues should be left somewhat vague and subject to political compromise so you don’t get a permanent imbalance you later regret. (The independent counsel law was arguably one of those unanticipated consequences.)

The founders didn’t anticipate permanent parties and they were shortsighted not to. This president has never for a moment represented the entire country. He is president of the Republican party and from the beginning his mandate has been to serve those who brought him into office not the nation as a whole. (They call it “their due.”) The vast majority of elected Republicans who follow him are right wing radicals who are so homogeneous and so authoritarian that they are completely unresponsive to the normal constitutional inducements to share power.

People wonder why they would give so much power to the president since a Democrat could hold the office someday. I think they know the Democratic party is just not as temperamentally amenable to authoritarianism. They know that Democrats will, in the end, act out of their own self interest rather than out of partisanship since they don’t have the kind of discipline or homogeneous constituency the Republicans have. (Bill Clinton was saved by the people, not the Democratic congress who were prepared to jump ship at the first sign of a decay in public support. Luckily for him, the more the Republicans pushed the more the public stood behind him.) These Republicans are completely unresponsive to anything but party loyalty and their hardcore base.

Finally, ongoing GOP influence in the media and the elite establishment means they can manipulate the narratives, which after this reign of terror, if the Dems win, will undoubtedly be a passionate reverence for absolute government transparency and accountability, federalism, strict division of power and the letter of the constitution. And they count on the public forgetting all about their crimes by the time they run on the “honor and integrity” ticket a couple of years from now.

So, regardless of whether we initiate impeachment proceedings against all or some of these criminals we really do have to keep in mind that it is also extremely important that we win elections. These modern radical Republicans have discovered the key to a temporary monarchy and they have broken down all the walls of tradition and practice that used to prevent presidents from using it. Until we discredit their movement to such a degree that these Mao-style revolutionaries are voted out of office and replaced by regular Americans we are going to be dealing with this phenomenon.

This argument has no bearing, by the way, on the reservations I previously aired regarding impeachment. Many people jumped to the conclusion that I was a cowardly partisan hack who was only worried about my spineless leaders keeping power, but I was actually considering whether a “not guilty” verdict in the Senate might embed the president’s unitary executive theory into our system rather than outlaw it. I still have concerns about that, but it is separate from the need to win elections. (I frankly don’t think impeachment would necessarily hurt the Democrats’ chances in 2008, so it isn’t relevant to my point anyway.)

My point is that in a democracy these issues are ultimately and always questions for the people. If we don’t want an imperial president, we are going to have to make sure that when they do this stuff they lose their power, not at the hands of politicians of the opposing party but at our hands, the citizens of this country.

We can impeach and maybe we will. And maybe we’ll remove Bush and Cheney and Gonzales and send a powerful message about the usurpation of the constitution. But no matter what, this is ultimately something the people have to rectify at the ballot box. All constitutional power derives from us. We are the ones who have to make a stand, not just 67 men and women in the Senate. We must vote them out. And we must keep them out until this radical conservative movement is so discredited that they can never again take the radical step of ruling this nation with one president and 34 obedient senators as if they were ordained by God instead of the people of this nation.

I would hope that everyone can see that presidential impeachment isn’t an end in itself. It’s a very serious intervention by the congress into the heart of our democratic system — it seeks to remove a duly elected president and it simply must be ratified by the people or we will have weakened the constitution even more by doing it. It is elections that are the foundation of democracy and what gives real legitimacy to the government. Surely if we believe it is the Democratic congress’ duty to impeach, we must also believe it is our duty to ensure that these people are repudiated by the citizens in no uncertain terms.

No matter what happens in the congress over the next year, I hope that everyone recognizes that the single most important thing that has to happen is that we kick the Republican party so far out of power they have to have a passport to get back in.

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