# Should the dems impeach \[Pres. Bush if they get a majority?\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 4, 2006, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-dems-impeach-pres-bush-if-they-get-a-majority/375300 "2006-10-04T19:48:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-dems-impeach-pres-bush-if-they-get-a-majority/375300/1 "2006-10-04T19:48:31Z")
If the Dems win the house should they impeach? If they win will they impeach? Impeaching might be seen as trying to get even for Clinton. But, new times and new crimes. Is there a legal basis.? What will the masses think.? ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-dems-impeach-pres-bush-if-they-get-a-majority/375300/2 "2006-10-04T19:53:04Z")
We’ve done this before. [Here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=380655&highlight=impeach) is the most recent thread. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-dems-impeach-pres-bush-if-they-get-a-majority/375300/3 "2006-10-04T20:01:40Z")
[QUOTE=gonzomax] If the Dems win the house should they impeach? If they win will they impeach? Impeaching might be seen as trying to get even for Clinton. But, new times and new crimes. Is there a legal basis.? What will the masses think.? [/QUOTE] Why do people seem to think impeachment is a form of recall? Of what “misdemeanor or high crimes” should he be accused? You obviously aren’t a fan of his, but since when is him being incompetent or whatever you don’t like about him necessarily a crime? Give us some things you think he should be charged with so we have something to debate. Even with the majority, would enough of them be willing to vote for impeachment? I can’t answer that unless we know with what he’s being charged. Doesn’t it take a super majority from the senate trial to actually remove him from office? I’m not sure on this, but if it does, even if he is impeached, barring a MASSIVE victory by the Democrats in November, I just plain don’t see this happening. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-dems-impeach-pres-bush-if-they-get-a-majority/375300/4 "2006-10-04T20:31:56Z")
I was kind of hoping for tarring and feathering, myself 🙂 Seriously, I would not predict impeachment under any likely electoral results. If the Dems get a surprisingly high number of seats, look for official censure. Under pretty much any circumstances, expect the Democrats to block Bush policy initiatives more often and to play more hardball in legislation. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-dems-impeach-pres-bush-if-they-get-a-majority/375300/5 "2006-10-04T20:45:21Z")
I’ll settle for some _real_ investigations into what this Administration have been hiding from us all these years. The calls for impeachment can come after we see what skeletons are in the closets. (Granted, this is different from how Ken Starr and the GOP do things, but I’m more honest than they are. ;)) ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-dems-impeach-pres-bush-if-they-get-a-majority/375300/6 "2006-10-04T20:58:26Z")
I think the Dems should make “if we retake the House, we will impeach Bush” a centerpiece of their campaign from now to the elections. Regards, Shodan ---
**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:** [October 4, 2006, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-dems-impeach-pres-bush-if-they-get-a-majority/375300/7 "2006-10-04T21:02:36Z")
[QUOTE=Blaster Master] Why do people seem to think impeachment is a form of recall? Of what “misdemeanor or high crimes” should he be accused? [/QUOTE] It has been noted on this board before that “high crimes and misdemeanors” is not defined in the constitution such that the practical effect is congress can impeach and convict for anything it damn well likes. Since there is no appeal process congress could impeach and convict because they think the president’s clothes are ugly. Granted that is not going to happen for that but in theory it could and there is not anything anyone could do about it (beyond writing to your congressperson I suppose). That said I’ll throw down lying to Congress as a crime worthy of impeachment. Unconstitutional wiretapping of US citizens? Sounds good to me too. That’s just two…I’m sure I can dig up more if I think about it a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-dems-impeach-pres-bush-if-they-get-a-majority/375300/8 "2006-10-04T21:24:31Z")
[QUOTE=Shodan] I think the Dems should make “if we retake the House, we will impeach Bush” a centerpiece of their campaign from now to the elections. Regards, Shodan [/QUOTE] That’d scare the beJesus out of the republicans. I’m not sure it’s wise to have republicans running around in power without their bejesuses. Who know’s what they’d do in retaliation? {{shudder}} ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-dems-impeach-pres-bush-if-they-get-a-majority/375300/9 "2006-10-04T22:04:22Z")
[QUOTE=Blaster Master] Why do people seem to think impeachment is a form of recall? Of what “misdemeanor or high crimes” should he be accused? [/QUOTE] US Constitution, Ammendment XIV: > [@](#): > > Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned… I and a few hundred thousand other TV viewers witnessed him pointing to a portfolio of treasury promisary notes, and refer to them as “worthless pieces of paper”. Since this was the social security “fund”, and section 4 specifically mentions debts incurred for the payment of pensions, it certainly applies. [Details](http://nosmallplans.com/rants/2005/02/article-ii.html) ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-dems-impeach-pres-bush-if-they-get-a-majority/375300/10 "2006-10-04T22:22:06Z")
[THE WORLD CAN’T WAIT!](http://www.worldcantwait.org/) ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-dems-impeach-pres-bush-if-they-get-a-majority/375300/11 "2006-10-04T22:31:10Z")
It’s possible, nay - likely, the Democrats will gain the simple majority needed to impeach, but we’ll never get the 67 needed to convict. I don’t think it would be politically smart, either. President Cheney, anyone? I’ll be content with a House of Representatives investigation of every jot and tittle of the administration’s actions since January 20, 2001. ---
**Author:** ![Airblairxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Airblairxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airblairxxx)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-dems-impeach-pres-bush-if-they-get-a-majority/375300/12 "2006-10-04T22:39:37Z")
Democrats should not impeach President Bush. Republicans should be the ones to decide whether to remove him. I know there is little to no chance of that happening. But I feel that impeachment should always be reserved for only the grossest cases of Executive Branch misconduct. Impeachment is radiation therapy for the body politic; it has the potential to do more lasting damage to American democracy than would enduring the final two years of Dubya’s administration. (Let us not forget that impeachment is essentially an anti-democratic action.) It would install an unelected figure, the House Speaker, into the highest office in the land. It has to be free of any taint of partisanship; otherwise it potentially becomes just another weapon in the never-ending war between the right and left. The peckerheads who tried to impeach President Clinton didn’t understand this. I say that if the Democrats were to take majorities in the House or Senate–and neither is a given right now–they need to launch investigation after investigation into the Bush administration. Everything from Iraq to the lead-up to 9/11 to Katrina to Jack Abramoff to . . . hell, everything, up to and including whether TO tried to kill himself last week. If the results of those investigations causes the 35-40% of the American public who still supports Dubya to decide that the country would be better off if he were permanently tasked with clearing brush off the ranch, only then should impeachment move forward. In my opinion, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-dems-impeach-pres-bush-if-they-get-a-majority/375300/13 "2006-10-04T23:58:51Z")
[QUOTE=Frank] It’s possible, nay - likely, the Democrats will gain the simple majority needed to impeach, but we’ll never get the 67 needed to convict. I don’t think it would be politically smart, either. President Cheney, anyone? I’ll be content with a House of Representatives investigation of every jot and tittle of the administration’s actions since January 20, 2001. [/QUOTE] I agree. As much as I despise Bush, impeachment wouldn’t be worth it. Cripple the Bushites with endless investigations; it’s not like there isn’t enough to keep them occupied for 2 years, or twenty for that matter. What I think will actually happen if they take one or both houses of Congress : nothing. They are gutless enough that I expect them to keep on caving in to the Republicans even with a majority in Congress. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-dems-impeach-pres-bush-if-they-get-a-majority/375300/14 "2006-10-05T00:31:07Z")
It would look too much like simple retaliation for the Clinton farce. The GOP discredited impeachment, the nuclear weapon of statecraft, for at least another generation by using it for a personal vendetta. There most certainly do have to be the hearings that the GOP committee chairmen have stonewalled for years, primarily into the politicization of intelligence used to support the predetermined Iraq war, for the sake of history. Let the force of public opinion, stripped of its illusions, be the impetus that sends the delegation of Republican elders to visit Bush and Cheney, like the one that visited Nixon, to tell him he can go on his own, but that he will go. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-dems-impeach-pres-bush-if-they-get-a-majority/375300/15 "2006-10-05T00:34:03Z")
There are many things more useful to do. I agree about the investigation - we still have lots of reports blocked from release about what the White House did before 9/11 and before the beginning of the war. But don’t forget there are a lot of bills to pass to clean up some of the crap going on for the past six years. Let’s get a bill passed outlawing torture and force Bush to veto it. Let’s have a revenue neutral tax bill that moves the cut from the rich to the middle class. (Yeah, it would be good to repeal the tax cuts, but that would be better for the economy while not giving the Republicans any leverage.) By the time all that is done, impeachment would be moot anyhow. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/45deac/32.png) [@Evil\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_One)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-dems-impeach-pres-bush-if-they-get-a-majority/375300/16 "2006-10-05T00:56:34Z")
[QUOTE=Shodan] I think the Dems should make “if we retake the House, we will impeach Bush” a centerpiece of their campaign from now to the elections. [/QUOTE] I totally agree. To the ramparts! ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-dems-impeach-pres-bush-if-they-get-a-majority/375300/17 "2006-10-05T00:59:57Z")
The trouble with bluffing is getting called. What if it worked? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-dems-impeach-pres-bush-if-they-get-a-majority/375300/18 "2006-10-05T01:04:33Z")
Heavens to Betsy, no. We’ve got two years left of a very lame duck that will soon be in the minority in both houses of Congress. Why lift a finger to energize their base? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-dems-impeach-pres-bush-if-they-get-a-majority/375300/19 "2006-10-05T01:07:00Z")
**BobLibDem** - shhhhh 😉 Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-dems-impeach-pres-bush-if-they-get-a-majority/375300/20 "2006-10-05T01:21:06Z")
[QUOTE=BobLibDem] …Why lift a finger to energize their base? [/QUOTE] All their base are belong to us. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-dems-impeach-pres-bush-if-they-get-a-majority/375300.md?page=2)