It is not going to be "good enough" to run out the clock on the Bush Administration. None of Bush's impeachable offenses have been withdrawn or mitigated. Not one thing Bush has done has shown anything but continuing and increasingly blatant disregard for the American system of representative democracy and our Constitution. Bush and his administration haven't let up one bit. Interior's assault on NEPA in federal projects? "Accelerated" to facilitate the "review" of more than 300,000 public comments in a week, hoping to finalize the regulations before Bush leaves office. Public lands? Same story. Guantanamo Bay? Still open, even though they're running out of lawyers willing to ignore their allegiance to the Constitution and the rule of law to make Bush's arguments for him.

Impeach him. Between the election and January 20. Unwind the malice of the Bush Administration via concerted attention to the damage done to the structure of American government by Bush and his neocon puppetmasters, and set out the parameters of legitimate governance going forward. The President does not possess any "constitutional authority" to refuse to implement a law passed by Congress and signed into law by the President; the President does not possess the "constitutional authority" to order torture, or to hold suspects indefinitely without charge, or to violate the Fourth Amendment or federal law making it a felony to engage in warrantless wiretapping; the President does not have the "constitutional authority" to direct the Attorney General not to prosecute governmental officials for felonies where a White House lawyer wrote a memo. The Constitution does not afford the President "war powers" unless the Congress declares "war". And the President is, in fact, constitutionally responsible for the actions of his vice president and it is an impeachable offense to run "black ops" against the Constitution out of the VP's office with an idea that the President can argue "plausible deniability" by not asking what is being done by his administration.

The list goes on, and these aren't things that we need to be litigating over for the next couple of decades, they are things that should be put right and right now. The constitutional mechanism of impeachment was designed to allow the prompt correction of such things.

Both parties (and, oh by the way, the American people) have an interest in having a responsible Executive acting in accordance with the principles articulated in the Constitution. And yes, either party's candidate unfortunately has the kind of "base human interest", if victorious in the election, to try to perpetuate and preserve some of the odious dictatorial aspects of Bush's administration if his administration can get away with it -- and that, folks, is exactly why the Constitution was written with those quaint old "checks and balances". The "lame duck Congress" has an unique opportunity to engage in actual Statesmanship, the opportunity to do what is right instead of what is expedient, and to do so in an environment where nobody is trying to be re-elected during the process.

Impeach Bush.

I posted this yesterday on Glenn Greenwald's site, before the election results come in simply because whichever side wins the Presidency, the same analysis applies. I don't expect anyone to divert any attention from winning the election. I hope and expect Obama will win, but if he wins I want his actions to be consistent with the United States Constitution, not otherwise. So I'll post it here, too, since "what to do about Bush" is still a relevant topic.... Reproductive rights, too, huh?

Now turn yourself voluntarily over to The Hague, save the Obama Administration the annoyance and inconvenience.

Uh, Bill Clinton was impeached by the House. Has George W. Bush been impeached by the House?

It's ten years later, we're shocked, shocked to see conservatives equating Clinton's conduct with Bush's? Just wait until after Bush leaves office, if he still hasn't been impeached.... At that point, the meme will become "well, Clinton was impeached for his acts, but Pelosi was briefed on and concurred in what you're bitching about Bush over..." Oh, and none of Bush's actions will have been erased, mitigated or apologized over, so we'll be debating not how viciously he attacked fundamental American principles, but whether he really ever actually did so since, after all, nobody impeached him.

Actions that don't have consequences don't have much in the way of precedential value in politics, do they?

Bush should be impeached by the "lame duck" congress. Clean the slate, state the rules. Protect the Constitution. I may have mentioned this before, not trying to be boring....

An outstanding post, once again. It is important that the apologists be made to answer for the hubris that allows them to condescend that they should be thanked for their "careful consideration" instead of "invective", when the truth is they only premise their discussions on distortions or ignorance of what is actually being discussed.

Thank you, also, for the clear summary of several of the actual activities that the Bush administration has been engaged in, for the concrete reminder is necessary to bring back into focus what many are trying to mask beneath a generalized foggy reference to "unconstitutional acts".

I just wish I could get past an uncomfortable concern over whether America is reasonable to presume that the election of Obama means that these abuses all will be corrected and never will be repeated. Such a presumption reposes more trust in human nature -- Obama's or any human's nature -- than is warranted or fair and more trust in human nature than the Founders did when they wrote the Constitution, no matter how much a breath of fresh air Barack Obama undeniably is. America needs directly to address Bush's constitutional depravity, and if we're going to leave the task to Obama, rather than to Congress through impeachment, then I wish Obama well in leading a concerted effort toward undoing those unconstitutional activities. And in doing so in a way that banishes their possibility of future recurrence.