Another Backfire in Iraq

"As they have previously, Democratic leaders staunchly oppose Kucinich's impeachment effort. They expect to table the resolution by referring it to the Judiciary Committee, where they expect it to die."

Sabrina Eaton writes in the Cleveland Plain Dealer: "U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich's surprise resolution this week to impeach President Bush has irritated some of his fellow Democrats and drawn ridicule from Republicans, but it got support from at least one colleague.

"'It is time for Congress to stand up and defend the Constitution against the blatant violations and illegalities of this administration,' said Rep. Robert Wexler, a Florida Democrat."

How do the people American feel about impeachment? Major pollsters have asked only infrequently. But on the few occasions that they have, public support has been short of a majority, but nevertheless surprisingly strong. Pollingreport.com has the numbers.

In a USA Today/Gallup Poll in July 2007, more than a third of voters -- 36 percent -- said there was justification for Congress to begin impeachment proceedings against President Bush. A CNN poll in September 2006 found that 30 percent of American felt Bush should be impeached. When Fox News asked in May 2006 whether Democrats should impeach Bush "over the Iraq war and weapons of mass destruction", 30 percent said yes. In an April 2006 Los Angeles Times poll, 36 percent said Bush should be impeached if he "broke the law when he authorized government agencies to use electronic surveillance to monitor American citizens without a court warrant."

And as I noted at the time, a Zogby poll in July 2005 found that 42 percent of respondents said that if Bush did not tell the truth about his reasons for going to war with Iraq, Congress should consider holding him accountable through impeachment.

To put these numbers in context, remember that Bush's job-approval rating is averaging just under 30 percent. In other words, it's pretty safe to say that more Americans want Bush impeached than think he is doing a good job.

Via the Crooks and Liars blog, here's Jonathan Turley talking to Keith Olbermann on MSNBC last night: "The framers, I think, would have been astonished by the absolute passivity, if not the collusion of the Democrats in protecting President Bush from impeachment. I mean, they created a system that was essentially idiot-proof, and God knows we've put that to the test in the past few years, but I don't think they anticipated that so many members of the opposition would stand quietly in the face of clear presidential crimes."

Iran Watch

Deb Riechmann writes for the Associated Press: "President Bush said Wednesday that his first choice is to solve a nuclear standoff with Iran by using diplomacy, but 'all options are on the table.'

"The president reinforced the possibility of military strike against Iran, even as a last resort, during a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Bush warned that a nuclear-armed Iran would be a danger to world peace, and he is rallying European allies to back sanctions.

"The president is pushing Iran to halt its uranium enrichment in a verifiable way. Iran insists it is enriching only for peaceful purposes.

"Bush said, 'I told the chancellor my first choice, of course, is to solve this diplomatically.' He quickly added, 'all options are on the table.' . . .