POLL: Huge Public Demand for Investigation Into Bush Administration

by: David Sirota

Fri Feb 13, 2009 at 18:00


Earlier this week, Sam Stein of the Huffington Post made a bit of news when he asked President Obama about whether he supports Senator Patrick Leahy's effort to examine/investigate the Bush administration's potential crimes. Obama danced around the issue a bit, basically dodging the question.

But now, a new Gallup poll shows there's actually huge public support for such an investigation. Check out these numbers - they are overpowering:

That's right - 71% of Americans believe there should be an investigation by either criminal prosecutors or an independent panel into the actions of the Bush administration. That's absolutely huge.
David Sirota :: POLL: Huge Public Demand for Investigation Into Bush Administration
Of course, you don't hear this in the media - or even in Gallup's headline, which claims - in defiance of its own polling numbers - that there is "No Mandate for Criminal Probes of Bush Administration." Indeed, What you hear is one of two storylines: 1) Only the hard-core left that wants retribution supports any investigation into the Bush administration or 2) there's "no mandate" for any investigation.

But as these poll numbers show, both storylines are fantasy. The facts show that the broad majority of the public wants an investigation - likely because people understand that if you let crimes go unpunished, you set a precedent that those crimes are perfectly acceptable.

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POLL: Huge Public Demand for Investigation Into Bush Administration | 27 comments
Actually... (0.00 / 0)
"Of course, you don't hear this in the media"

I don't watch it that often, but every time I've seen Chris Matthews on MSNBC he's been pushing these numbers.  He even just had a segment on it where he had two (opposing sides) talking about it.. So, it IS out there, though I'm not sure in how many venues.

OT: Watching CSPAN-2 (0.00 / 0)
There are 58 aye votes on the stimulus bill and only two senators who have not yet voted: Bayh and Brown, who will be Ayes, just getting us to the needed 60.  So, did one of the three Republicans vote No?
MSNBC just reported that Brown's mother died (0.00 / 0)
and he's attending her funeral today, but should be back in the senate tonight to vote for the bill. I don't know who the other senator is.

Condolences for his loss, of course.

The liberal soul shall be made fat. He who waters shall be watered also himself. (Proverbs 11:25)

[ Parent ]
Right, and the Republicans Refused to Pair Votes (0.00 / 0)
and thus forced Brown to rush back. Still, when he votes, we have just 60, not 61.  One of the Republicans must have switched and voted No.

C-SPAN just said that the White House has provided a plane and Brown is expected to vote around 10:30pm tonight.

[ Parent ]
kennedy was in Florida (0.00 / 0)
All three repubs voted for it but kennedy was in FL.
[ Parent ]
Sadly, we're going to need yet another (0.00 / 0)
new Dem senator named fairly soon. I hope that the selection and vetting process has already begun behind the scenes, quietly, and that Kennedy is being consulted on it as a courtesy and for his critical input. We can't afford to be without him or his replacement in this senate. It just empowers the GOP and Dem centrists.

This also goes for Byrd, and eventually Innouye and Akaka. In 2-3 or so years we're going to have a senate that's 50% different from what it was when Bush became president. This decade will have been one of major turnover in the DC power base.

The liberal soul shall be made fat. He who waters shall be watered also himself. (Proverbs 11:25)

[ Parent ]
Special election for senator replacement in MA n/t (0.00 / 0)


REID: Voting against us was never part of our arrangement!
SPECTER: I am altering the deal! Pray I don't alter it any further!
REID: This deal keeps getting worse all the time!
[ Parent ]
Ah, I see (4.00 / 1)
It's hard to keep up with each state's procedure. I prefer this one, for obvious reasons by now. And there's about as much chance that they'd elect a Repub as there is of Bush being named state mascot

The liberal soul shall be made fat. He who waters shall be watered also himself. (Proverbs 11:25)
[ Parent ]
But, it takes time.... (0.00 / 0)
...and in the meantime, there is a vacancy!

REID: Voting against us was never part of our arrangement!
SPECTER: I am altering the deal! Pray I don't alter it any further!
REID: This deal keeps getting worse all the time!
[ Parent ]
Well, a decent compromise might be (0.00 / 0)
naming a temporary placeholder until a special election is held in a few months. In fact it might make sense for there to be a designated placeholder for such circumstances, either appointed or elected in a regular election, just like a VP or Lieutenant Governor.

The liberal soul shall be made fat. He who waters shall be watered also himself. (Proverbs 11:25)
[ Parent ]
Lautenberg (0.00 / 0)
Frank Lautenberg, at 85, is older than either of the Hawaiians (who are each 84).  Bobby Byrd is 91.

The farce in Minnesota has already kept Franken out of the Senate for more than a month.  Remember, these are the same people who didn't have the time to count the votes in Florida in 2000.  Sore-Loserman, indeed.  Thy party is Republican.

[ Parent ]
Yeah, I forgot about Lautenberg (0.00 / 0)
He seems a lot younger for his years than the others, though.

The liberal soul shall be made fat. He who waters shall be watered also himself. (Proverbs 11:25)
[ Parent ]
Kennedy (0.00 / 0)
is back in Florida. So it will only get 60 votes, all three Republicans voted yes.  

John McCain: Beacuse lobbyists should have more power
[ Parent ]
Michael Moore (4.00 / 2)
On February 4 Michael Moore posted a link on facebook to an article in the Boston Globe, "Some Call For Bush Administration Trials." Here is a link to that article: http://www.boston.com/news/nat... I was cynical when I posted my comment, saying that I'd been here before, with Nixon, whose crimes were pardoned before they were even charged, and I was afraid the same would be done in this case. However, Bush and his administration not only committed crimes against the citizens of the United States but also committed crimes against citizens of the world with the torture tactics used in interrogations. I think it is inexcusable that Bush et al. would not be charged and brought to trial for the many U.S. Consitution violations and the crimes against other nations they committed. The United States government needs to show the world that such crimes will not go unpunished just because the perpetrators were the rulers of our nation.
If for no other reason... (4.00 / 1)
It would seem wise to mount an investigation just to avoid looking like a schmuck when the Hague starts clamoring for blood.
[ Parent ]
Not even the left necessarily wants to see this (0.00 / 0)
Until Obama himself calls for it, Obamabots his most devoted supporters are not going to call for it either, and calls by less cultish devoted supporters for it to happen are going to be shot down by the cultists devotees as vicious attacks on Dear Leader the new president, whose having done so many great things so far (and some undeniably have been) excuse all the bad things that he's done (and he has), or necessary things that he doesn't appear willing to do.

It's true, all the predictions that he was co-opting large parts of the left and basically making it his own advocacy group. He has, and it's going to make it hard to pressure him to do anything that he's not already inclined to do. It's Bushism but with a smart guy at the top this time.

The liberal soul shall be made fat. He who waters shall be watered also himself. (Proverbs 11:25)

Huh? (4.00 / 1)
The poll shown above just shows the exact opposite of what you claim.  As Sirota clearly mentions, 71% of the US wants an investigation into the Bush Justice department.  That surely includes a lot of people on the "left", include the "Obamabots". What are you talking about?
[ Parent ]
I'm not talking about the country (0.00 / 0)
But about the left, i.e. the people who most strongly supported him during the campaign. There's a large segment of it that will support Obama no matter what he does, and has done no matter what he HAS done. If he decides to prosecute Bushies, they'll support it and call it political courage and principle. If he decides not to, they'll support it and call it pragmatism and jiu-jitsu. If you're not seeing this then you're not really looking.

The liberal soul shall be made fat. He who waters shall be watered also himself. (Proverbs 11:25)
[ Parent ]
Once again... (4.00 / 1)
Ok, 71% of the country includes a LOT of people on "the left"...

In any case, in case you really need more proof.. Gallup breaks it down for you:

So, while this doesn't necessarily break down who's on "the left" or who's an "Obamabot", it does break down the party ID.  Somewhere between 77-85% of Democrats favor some sort of investigation... What was the percentage of D's voting for Obama in the election?  That'd be 89%.  So, you're talking about a pretty small section of "the left" who will "do anything Obama asks".

[ Parent ]
I don't know its size (4.00 / 2)
or have any easy way of finding out, but it does exist, it's not insignificant, and it maintains a fairly large presence on some of the better-known progressive blogs, including Daily Kos and this one. So we're not really disagreeing, except that you seem to need quantification of what I view as more of a qualitative issue.

I.e. there is a significant enough number of people who are diehard Obamabots who WILL NOT brook any criticism of him, and they're clearly trying to create a disruptive force in any attempts to do so. I can't criticize Obama on Daily Kos without getting hounded by half a dozen of them within minutes. I don't know to what extent it's spontaneous and self-directed, and to what extent it's coordinated. But I've been coming across it ever since FISA.

These people are cultists, and they're into jiu-jitsu and multidimensional chess.

The liberal soul shall be made fat. He who waters shall be watered also himself. (Proverbs 11:25)

[ Parent ]
Louder, not larger... (4.00 / 1)
There's certainly a contingent of folks who are very loud about it online, as there are also seemingly a lot of folks (on the left) who already think Obama is the devil or something.  As this poll suggests, I think the vast majority of Obama supporters have cooler heads and are able to have their own opinions and offer criticism when necessary.
[ Parent ]
I don't understand why we're continuing to talk past each other (4.00 / 1)
You keep persisting in referring to Obama supporters or the "left", which are not even the same thing (some of the former being in the center and even right, and some of the latter not being Obama supporters), while I'm referring specifically to lefty bloggers, a sizeable AND loud segment of which are clearly Obamabots, some because they're true believers, others because they're just politically naive. We're not just talking about, as you seem to suggest, a tiny number of very loud and annoying trolls. They might be in the minority of lefty bloggers, but it's more than just a handful. And while they might be a tiny fraction of all Obama supporters, the overwhelming number of whom don't blog, they are not a tiny fraction of all lefty bloggers, who represent a much smaller universe. I come across them all the time whenever I dare to criticize Obama, and they always post the same inane drivel about it only being X weeks so Leave Britney Alone!, he's got a master plan that I don't understand, there are things that we don't know and should thus give him the benefit of the doubt, we should just trust him, etc. In the end they're probably more annoying than anything else, but they're not just a handful.

And no, I don't think that he's the devil, a straw man thrown out by Obamabots to descredit his critics as unhinged. Which is such a clear act of projection is hardly needs pointing out.

The liberal soul shall be made fat. He who waters shall be watered also himself. (Proverbs 11:25)

[ Parent ]
Where was this poll two years ago? (4.00 / 4)
This is the type of wording that impeachment activists, me included, were asking polling orgs to do two years ago, but they refused to do so.  The wording was always watered down and unspecific or over specific.  But still showed wide support for impeachment investigations.  The media ignored it then. But the Democrats in Congress were ignoring it as well, but no it seems they are not

http://www.afterdowningstreet....

A 2005 Poll and Page of Impeachment Polls (4.00 / 1)

http://www.afterdowningstreet....
By a margin of 53% to 42%, Americans want Congress to impeach President Bush if he lied about the war in Iraq, according to a new poll.  Nov 4 2005.  This is about lies that sent us to war.

This link has every poll taken on impeachment since 2005:
http://www.afterdowningstreet....

Damn! (4.00 / 1)
Another diary I was going to post tomorrow gets pre-empted.

"Senate passes expanded GI bill despite Bush, McCain opposition"
Post anyway (4.00 / 2)
Perhaps with an organizing angle?

Obama wants to avoid this like the plague, but perhaps he needs to be reminded that if his admin doesn't prosecute these f*&$ers he becomes an Accessory After The Fact.

Perhaps this is an especially good action item, yes?

"In our country, the lie has become not just a moral category but a pillar of the State" -- Alexander Solzhenitsyn

[ Parent ]
This is the way to beat the Republicans (4.00 / 3)
Expose the public to the truth, and let them see how the Republicans enabled the wrongdoing.

Then, rather than Democrats seeking consensus Obama style, the Republicans will seek it, crawling to the bargaining table. That is how real change can occur.

POLL: Huge Public Demand for Investigation Into Bush Administration | 27 comments
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