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As you may have already heard, Rep. Jay Inslee is leading a group of House members who will introduce a resolution to start impeachment proceedings against Alberto Gonzales. One important note to make on this move is that Rep. Inslee is actually in the New Democratic caucus in the House, not the Progressive caucus. As such, this shows that the impeachment coalition really is taking shape along the line that Matt discussed yesterday:
It's important to frame this by understanding that impeachment is always a political issue, and never a legal one. As such, the important question is not whether the President committed crimes, but whether there is a coalition behind restoring legitimacy to the political system. This coalition needs to have at its core a set of elite decision-makers who have decided that impeachment is the only option that will allow them to preserve something they value. In this case, Bush is threatening the very legitimacy of Congress, and House members and Senators worked hard to get where they are.
It is very interesting and important that the move to start impeachment proceedings is being led by a New Democrat, rather than by a Progressive. That shows a wide range of powerful Democrats now feel the Bush administration is acting in a way that directly threatens the constitutional power of Congress. The elite decision maker coalition is beginning to form.
Second, the Democrats running for President have the ability to either propel these proceedings forward, or to subvert them from the get go. If any of the major candidates come out against starting impeachment proceedings on Gonzales, that will be mentioned in virtually every news story on the subject, immediately lending "bi-partisan" credence to the inevitable Republican attack that this move is an "unwarranted" (pun intended) partisan, left-wing attack (even though it is being led by a New Dem). For this move to have any chance of succeeding, leading 2008ers cannot oppose it. Richardson might be particularly key in this regard, as he has been reluctant in the past to ask Gonzales to step down, at least partially because Gonzales is the highest ranking Latino member of an administration, ever. (On that last point, I'm going from memory after seeing Richardson on Tavis Smiley several months back. It is possible his position has changed since then, and I'll keep looking into it.)
Finally, where this should truly become an issue is in the upcoming special elections in MA-05, not to mention important Democratic primaries further down the road in seats like IL-14, IL-04, and NY-29. Whether or not to impeach Gonzales after perjuring himself before Congress, approving an illegal, warrant-less wiretapping program, and then refusing to prosecute any contempt charge the House both has and may hand down, drives at a fundamental way which prospective members of the House view the job for which they are vying. If what Gonzeles has currently done does not amount to enough to impeach him to candidates for these seats, then how valuable do those candidates really consider the House of Representatives to be? Starting with the MA-05 special election that takes place just five weeks from now, I want to know where Niki Tsongas, Jamie Eldrige, and Barry Feingold stand on this issue.
For more info on the MA-05 special election, check out Blue Mass Group and the MA-05 race tracker wiki. You can read the Open Left archive on the MA-05 election here.
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