# Impeach Bush! **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 26, 2006, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeach-bush/346224 "2006-02-26T21:37:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeach-bush/346224/81 "2006-02-27T20:28:03Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > But to claim that they “trapped” him is a stretch. Had he not lied under oath, he wouldn’t have been impeached “for a blowjob” as some here insist on claiming. I agree with most of your post, but I disagree that they “trapped” him is a stretch. Starr specifically got questions about Lewinsky put in in order to trap/or publicly embarrass him. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_Stimulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Digital\_Stimulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_Stimulus)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeach-bush/346224/82 "2006-02-27T20:38:30Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > Having said that, I think it’s a reasonable position to take that the Republicans were out to get Clinton, and were looking for a way to impeach him. That is pretty much my own position on the matter. Why, John, are you suggesting that there may have been a _vast right-wing conspiracy_? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeach-bush/346224/83 "2006-02-27T21:02:10Z")
Duuuude, Andy Johnson was _so_ set up. The Tenure of Office Act was nothing but an impeachment trap. They had it in for him because he was a Democrat. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeach-bush/346224/84 "2006-02-27T21:58:57Z")
> [@Digital Stimulus](#): > > Why, John, are you suggesting that there may have been a _vast right-wing conspiracy_? 😃 Depends on what the definition of “vast” is. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![5que](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/3bc359/32.png) [@5que](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5que)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeach-bush/346224/85 "2006-02-27T22:06:46Z")
> [@David Simmons](#): > > I don’t get it. I thought this thread was about whether or not Dubya would be impeached. Somehow Clinton gets dragged into it. Is there some sort of obsession at work here? New here, ain’t ya? ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeach-bush/346224/86 "2006-02-27T22:29:22Z")
> [@5que](#): > > New here, ain’t ya? The turnip truck almost ran over me as I fell off. Whenever the question of impeachment of GW arises Clinton is dragged in. This might be proper if there were comparative degrees of impeachment. As in ordinary crimes, premeditated homicide is more serious a crime than one done on the spur of the moment and so comparison might, just might, have a point to it. Impeachment doesn’t have different degrees of severity of punishment. There is just one and that is removal from office. So there is absolutely no point in comparing one case with another. Of course the answer is that obfuscation by dragging in extraneous matter is a well known method of avoiding the main point. I think a pretty good case for impeachment could be made. However, as I said previously, the waters of presidential power during war have been so muddied by a hodgepodge of _ad hoc_ action in the past that it isn’t an open and shut matter. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeach-bush/346224/87 "2006-02-27T23:44:21Z")
The biggest obstacle I see to any impeachment proceedings now is a Republican majority in Congress. If the Congress were dominated by Democrats, they’d maybe go for it. What happened to Nixon and Clinton and Johnson should be irrelevant. **In a perfect world** , a Bush impeachment (if he got impeached) would be depending on whether he broke the law and/or betrayed the public trust and/or was so grossly incompetent or dishonest or unethical that nobody could tolerate it anymore. Oh, and political reasons too - I’m a litle bit of a realist. To make it stick, you need either a majority, or an indiscretion of such immense proportions that people in his party have to do it to save themselves from being dragged down. ---
**Author:** ![alaricthegoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4bbf92/32.png) [@alaricthegoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alaricthegoth)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeach-bush/346224/88 "2006-02-28T10:00:37Z")
> [@](#): > > **whether** he… was… grossly incompetent **???** ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeach-bush/346224/89 "2006-02-28T12:07:37Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Is there no one else who isn’t apalled by this? Separation of powers anyone? Is it the president’s case that in a time of war congress gave him the right to do whatever the hell he pleases and laws be damned? There is a disturbing vein in American conservativism that grants great leeway to the executive. It was never so explicit expressed as in 1977, when Nixon was interviewed on TV by David Frost and was asked if he felt he had done anything wrong or illegal while in office. His response was that any act performed by the president is not illegal by virtue of the fact of it being performed by the president. IOW, the President of the United States, in his view (and in the view of anyone who supported him and supports similar action), is the law unto himself. When I first saw footage of the interview years ago, the phrase “dancing on the graves of revolutionary patriots” came to mind, but it has become clear to me in the intervening years that a whole strain of Americans does not feel the way I do. I have feared for the soundness of our republic ever since. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeach-bush/346224/90 "2006-02-28T14:21:13Z")
> [@alaricthegoth](#): > > **???** Everyone already knows my opinion, but that has already been covered in plenty of other threads. Still, unless I am a big shot politician and can convince other big shot politicians to go along (I’m not), it’s just my opinion and doesn’t mean much. Let’s not sidetrack onto that one. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeach-bush/346224/91 "2006-02-28T14:32:23Z")
> [@scotandrsn](#): > > There is a disturbing vein in American conservativism that grants great leeway to the executive. It was never so explicit expressed as in 1977, when Nixon was interviewed on TV by David Frost and was asked if he felt he had done anything wrong or illegal while in office. His response was that any act performed by the president is not illegal by virtue of the fact of it being performed by the president. IOW, the President of the United States, in his view (and in the view of anyone who supported him and supports similar action), is the law unto himself. > > When I first saw footage of the interview years ago, the phrase “dancing on the graves of revolutionary patriots” came to mind, but it has become clear to me in the intervening years that a whole strain of Americans does not feel the way I do. I have feared for the soundness of our republic ever since. “The power of the Executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him the judgement of his peers, is in the highest degree odious and is the foundation of all totalitarian government whether Nazi or Communist.” –Winston Churchill ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeach-bush/346224/92 "2006-02-28T15:09:58Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > If the Congress were dominated by Democrats, they’d maybe go for it. Obviously Congress is not dominated by democrats but they are going for it. IIRC the resolution below does not address wiretapping which I suppose may be brought forward later (no idea but one would think so). > [@](#): > > In response to the Report, I [John Conyers] have already taken several initial steps. First, I have introduced a resolution (H. Res. 635) creating a Select Committee with subpoena authority to investigate the misconduct of the Bush Administration with regard to the Iraq war and report on possible impeachable offenses. In addition, I have introduced Resolutions regarding both President Bush (H. Res. 636) and Vice-President Cheney (H. Res. 637) proposing that they be censured by Congress based on indisputable evidence of unaccounted for misstatements and abuse of power in the public record. There are a number of additional recommendations in the Report that I expect to be taking up in the coming weeks and months. > > SOURCE: [http://www.house.gov/conyers/Censure\_PR.htm](http://www.house.gov/conyers/Censure_PR.htm) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impeach-bush/346224.md?page=4)