The Impeachment Debate

I would advise the President--who never listens--to go with a conciliatory tone later today when he attempts to spin the utter political disaster that befell his party last night.

The House is gone. The Senate will soon follow.

Republicans did not pick up a single Democratic seat in the House or Senate, nor did they gain any Democratic Governor's mansion.

That's a mandate (sweeping mandate).

Just what kind of mandate is it?

It is not a mandate for impeachment.

That is not going to make me or a lot of other Democrats or anti-Bush fellow travelers very happy, but it's quite clear. For better or for worse Nancy Pelosi became the Democrats' leader during this campaign, which was widely thought of as a contest for the House of Representatives (the Senate comes as a bonus for running the campaign for the House so well). It was our leader, Nancy Pelosi, who took impeachment off the table. She did it in the clearest fashion possible.

The mandate (sweeping mandate) is to end the war. From the exit polls we also see that there is a clear mandate to fix the culture of corruption in Washington.

If the Decider decides that he's going to pussyfoot around with that mandate (excuse me, sweeping mandate) then impeachment leaps off the couch, brushes its teeth, and hops onto the table, smiling brightly.

So keep your powder dry, impeachment hawks. Your day may come. It just can't come at the expense of the good will we all worked so hard for.

Tags: Election 2006, Impeachment, Bush, Nancy Pelosi.