Impeachy keen

By Libby

We've been having an interesting discussion at this post on impeachment in general and on further reflection, I'm thinking the biggest problem with impeachments is that we need so many of them. The way I see it, we need to impeach Bush, Cheney and Gonzales. The question becomes, in what order. I'm thinking Gonzales needs to go first.

For one thing, it's the easiest sell. Today's NYT editorial cuts straight to the chase on that point.

As far as we can tell, there are three possible explanations for Mr. Gonzales’s talk about a dispute over other — unspecified — intelligence activities. One, he lied to Congress. Two, he used a bureaucratic dodge to mislead lawmakers and the public: the spying program was modified after Mr. Ashcroft refused to endorse it, which made it “different” from the one Mr. Bush has acknowledged. The third is that there was more wiretapping than has been disclosed, perhaps even purely domestic wiretapping, and Mr. Gonzales is helping Mr. Bush cover it up.

Democratic lawmakers are asking for a special prosecutor to look into Mr. Gonzales’s words and deeds. Solicitor General Paul Clement has a last chance to show that the Justice Department is still minimally functional by fulfilling that request.

If that does not happen, Congress should impeach Mr. Gonzales.

Personally, I think we should forget about the special prosecutor. It's too time consuming and by the time they prove he really is a lying sack of s**t, we'd still have to impeach him to get rid of him. The man has absolutely no defenders, save one -- the president. And Bush will never fire him.

Josh Marshall puts his finger on the reasons why resignation or termination are not options to be reasonably expected.

Unless the president is party to the wrongdoing that placed the cabinet secretary in jeopardy. And that is clearly the case we have here, which explains the historical anomaly that the possibility of Gonzales' impeachment is even a topic of serious conversation.

Of course, here, as we've noted before, there is an extra wrinkle. Gonzales isn't any cabinet secretary -- not the Secretary of State or Interior. He's the Attorney General, which means that he's the one that can and is bottling up numerous investigations into the president and his appointees. Because the senate will never give the president another Gonzales, the man is literally irreplaceable.

Exactly. Bush's "Fredo" is a loyal henchman who won't ever betray the "family" secrets as long as he feels the White House has his back. They will never throw him overboard as long as he remains steadfast. Further, he can and will do everything in his power to delay and derail any impeachment proceedings against his superiors, just as he has run interference in all the lesser oversight actions to date. It's up to the Congress to disempower him and unclog the system so we can, as Fred Thompson often puts it, "drain the swamp."