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McGovern: Bush must go

I don't really like bringing up politics too often on the blog, but I think I'd be remiss in denying the importance of George McGovern's recent editorial in the Washington Post.

George McGovern called for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice-President Cheney on Sunday in a Washington Post piece entitled, "Why I Believe Bush Must Go".

McGovern's editorial lists many of the reasons for impeachment and argues that this administration is far worse than Richard Nixon's disgraced presidency. While voicing his conviction on the need for impeachment, he recognizes that the current political climate does not favor this development:

"...there seems to be little bipartisan support for impeachment. The political scene is marked by narrow and sometimes superficial partisanship, especially among Republicans, and a lack of courage and statesmanship on the part of too many Democratic politicians. So the chances of a bipartisan impeachment and conviction are not promising.

But what are the facts?

Bush and Cheney are clearly guilty of numerous impeachable offenses. They have repeatedly violated the Constitution. They have transgressed national and international law. They have lied to the American people time after time. Their conduct and their barbaric policies have reduced our beloved country to a historic low in the eyes of people around the world. These are truly "high crimes and misdemeanors," to use the constitutional standard."

Last night, after reading the editorial, I thought back to one example of this administration's outrageously criminal behavior.

It was an instance which prompted my own comparison of the Bush presidency to Nixon's disgraced second term as president. Sadly, it was one that made Nixon's Watergate-tainted presidency look, by that point, almost palatable in comparison.

But, whether you agree or disagree with this opinion, the importance of this editorial is clear. As earlier commenters have noted, this McGovern piece serves as an interesting trial balloon in a leading American newspaper of record. The response to this editorial may serve as a weather vane that tells us which way the political winds are blowing.

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