Is Russ Feingold Kidding?

Breaking news! Heard it just this morning on NBC's Meet the Press, Senator Russ Feingold decided to really take the gloves off and call for a censure resolution against Bush. A censure resolution - ooh - I'm sure Bush and Cheney are shaking in their boots. Does anyobody out there feel like taking bets on how much more pathetic and weak kneed can the Democratic Party get?

Somebody ought to tell Senator Feingold that the American people are way ahread of him on the issue of sanctioning Bush and Cheney for their numerous crimes. According to a recent poll by the American Research Group 45% of Americans favor impeachment for Bush and 54% favor it for Cheney. But why stop there. Over the past few years countless impeachment resolutions have either proposed or passed by state legislatures, city and town councils, state and local political party committees and groups, including the California and Massachusetts State Democratic Parties. And it's not just liberals, leftists and Democrats who want to see that Bush and Cheney are truly held accountable by the sole means the Constitution provides. Last weekend Bruce Fein, a former associate attorney general in the Reagan administration appeared along with John Nichols of The Nation to discuss the vital necessity for impeachment on PBS' Bill Moyer's Journal. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel also used the "I" word a few months back.

We all know the arguments against impeachment: it will take too long, it will distract Congress from doing the people's business (I just fell out of my chair from laughing at that one!)it will rally the right and screw up those all important 2008 elections. But I'd like to lay out a different scenario which would require only a little balls and self-respect on the part of the Democratic Party.

In December 2005, Rep. John Conyers, Jr. released a report entitled The Constitution in Crisis: The Downing Street Minutes and Deception, Manipulation, Torture, Retribution and Cover ups in the Iraq War. The report recommended that a special bi-partisan select committee be established to look into the questions raised by the Downing Street Minutes and other statements made by Bush, Cheney and other administration officials during the run up to the Iraq War. The only thing holding this recommendation back was, of course, the Republican majority in the House.

So, why not have a very public, fully televised investigation right now only forgetting about the special select committee because the proper place for such an investigation is the House Judiciary Committee which is now chaired by yours truly, John Conyers. And let's have Republican Bruce Fein be one of the first to testify. Is it not possible that under such circumstances the Republicans would be placed on the defensive, as one witness after another came forward to confront the entire nation with the veritable mountain of evidence against Bush, Cheney & Co? Is it inconceivable that a majority of Americans would rise up in anger to support the Democrats on the issue of impeachment? Is it beyond all reason that the Republicans, especially those in the more vulnerable coastal states and Northeast, might just decide to cut loose from Bush and Cheney in order to avert a complete disaster for the party in 2008?

But alas, as mentioned previously, it would take a Democratic Party with balls to seize the initiative in such a fashion. Either that or those that favor impeachment in the party's rank and file are going to have to get more unified and more determined to give the leadership the swift kick in the ass they deserve.

Al Ronzoni, Jr.