I disagree with Ian’s post this morning on impeachment, and specifically the first reason against going through with it:

When the House of Representatives voted to send Dennis Kucinich’s Articles of Impeachment against George W. Bush to the Judiciary Committee yesterday, it was understood that the vote in reality killed the bill. And it is understandable why the House will not actually take up the Articles no matter how legitimate the case against Bush may be. First, they do not want to distract from the presidential election and redefine the debate when it already favors the Democrats. Second, if successful, then Cheney is President. If you impeached both Bush and Cheney and made Pelosi President, then it would look like a powergrab by the Democrats. However, having the Judiciary Committee hold the hearings might at least document the criminality of the Bush Administration in a coherent manner.

I’m actually pretty convinced impeaching George Bush is a great electoral strategy for the Democrats.

There are two basic reasons Democratic leadership puts forward against impeaching George Bush and/or Dick Cheney. Speaker Pelosi’s public reasoning is that she would rather focus on other issues more important to average Americans:

“The question of impeachment is something that would divide the country,” Pelosi said this morning during a wide-ranging discussion in the ornate Speaker’s office. Her top priorities are ending the war in Iraq, expanding health care, creating jobs and preserving the environment. “I know what our success can be on those issues. I don’t know what our success can be on impeaching the president.”

The implicit reason is that Bush has been a huge electoral aid for Democrats. Largely running against Bush, they were able to capture both houses of Congress in 2006 and they hope to repeat the feat with the White House in 2008 - not to mention pick up a great many House and Senate seats in the process. Eliminating Bush, or doing anything that could cause citizens to rally around him, would take out that advantage.

She’s wrong.

Never mind my belief that holding those in power accountable is just about the most important issue there is. Impeaching President Bush will actually help Democrats accomplish their electoral goals.

It’s no secret that the Democrat’s top strategy to win the White House this year is to label John McCain as 4 more years of Bush. Outside groups like MoveOn.org are going all out with their Bush-McCain challenge, spending millions on organizing and ads. Barack Obama himself is touting how often McCain votes with Bush. (95% of the time last year!) This is the attack, and it looks like it’s starting to stick.

So, the Democrats will benefit if the nation really starts examining the Bush record. If impeachment hearings proceed, and if the mountains of evidence for Bush’s impeachable crimes are discussed in a nationwide conversation with non-stop media coverage, Bush’s record will be on everyone’s mind. If Democrats can continue to associate Bush with McCain, the Bush millstone will drag the McCain candidacy down.

And honestly, it won’t be that hard to tie McCain to Bush directly in the context of impeachment. John McCain supported numerous Bush policies that Kucinich calls impeachable offenses (including a few Ian believes could stick, and I agree with his analysis there):

 

• Article III
  Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction, to Manufacture a False Case for War. (John McCain parroted the WMD line over and over again.)
• Article XI
  Establishment of Permanent U.S. Military Bases in Iraq. (John McCain has said he’s “ok” with staying in Iraq for 100 years, much like Korea or Japan, indicating he supports permanent bases.)
• Article XVII
  Illegal Detention: Detaining Indefinitely And Without Charge Persons Both U.S. Citizens and Foreign Captives. (John McCain voted against the bill to restore Habeas Corpus, voted to fund Guantanamo, and has said he “doesn’t think necessarily” that we should close Guantanamo.)
• Article XVIII
  Torture: Secretly Authorizing, and Encouraging the Use of Torture Against Captives in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Other Places, as a Matter of Official Policy. (John McCain voted against the law banning torture.)
• Article XXI
  Misleading Congress and the American People About Threats from Iran, and Supporting Terrorist Organizations Within Iran, With the Goal of Overthrowing the Iranian Government. (John McCain wants to “bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran.)
• Article XXIV
  Spying on American Citizens, Without a Court-Ordered Warrant, in Violation of the Law and the Fourth Amendment. (John McCain supports Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program.)
• Article XXV 
  Directing Telecommunications Companies to Create an Illegal and Unconstitutional Database of the Private Telephone Numbers and Emails of American Citizens. (John McCain supports giving these telecom companies retroactive immunity.)
• Article  XXXI   
  Katrina: Failure to Plan for the Predicted Disaster of Hurricane Katrina, Failure to Respond to a Civil Emergency. (McCain voted multiple times against funding Katrina recovery programs and investigating fraud.)
• Article XXXII  
  Misleading Congress and the American People, Systematically Undermining Efforts to Address Global Climate Change. (McCain failed to show up to vote for the Lieberman-Warner climate change bill - the first of its kind - and said he did not support it.)

 

If Pelosi decides impeachment is back on the table, America will have a long, intense discussion on all of these topics. As the Republican nominee for president, John McCain’s positions on these issues will no doubt come up. Right now, you can easily make the case that John McCain has supported Bush on these impeachable offenses or has committed these offenses himself. And, of course, if Bush ends up being convicted for any of these offenses, you can easily make the case that John McCain, as president, would have done the exact same thing.

The more Bush’s dirty laundry is aired for all to see, the worse John McCain will do in November. The fact that John McCain supported the very things Bush could be impeached for should tell Democrats that going forward against Bush is great strategy.

And besides, given the excitement surrounding impeachment (see Digg, Reddit, etc…), it seems the people want this to happen anyway.

It’s a win-win, Speaker Pelosi. Impeach Bush, hold him accountable for his crimes, and win the White House.

Let’s get moving!

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