[Dialogue] Hold the Corrupt Jerks Accountable

Mon May 22 14:00:28 EDT 2006

Published on Sunday, May 21, 2006 by the Boulder Daily Camera
<http://www.dailycamera.com>  (Colorado) 

Hold the Corrupt Jerks Accountable 

by Molly Ivins 

AUSTIN, Texas - Looking at the wreckage of the Bush administration leaves
one with the depressed query, "Now what?" The only help to the country that
can come from this ugly and spectacular crack-up is, in theory, things can't
get worse. This administration is so discredited it cannot talk the country
into an unnecessary war with Iran as it did with Iraq. In theory, spending
is so out of control it cannot cut taxes for the rich again; the fiscal
irresponsibility of the Bushies is already among its lasting legacies. 

As we all know, things can always get worse, and often do. I rather think
it's going to be up to the Democrats to hold the metaphoric hands of this
crippled administration until it limps off stage. 

The Republican National Committee has a new scare tactic for the faithful:
You must give to the party, or else the Democrats will spend the next two
years investigating the administration (horror of horrors). Those who recall
the insanely trivial investigations of the Clinton years may indeed regard
this as the ultimate waste of time and money (as even Ken Starr concluded,
there never was anything to Whitewater), but in fact it could be a
therapeutic use of the next biennium. In fact, the offenses are not
comparable. 

Suppose we really did stop to investigate why and how and who is responsible
for the lies, the deformed policies and the inability to govern of this
administration. There is a wealth of lessons to be learned about the dangers
of ideological delusion and of contempt for governance. 

Trouble is, the world is not apt to hold still for two years. It seems to me
pointless to impeach Bush. In the first place, the Republicans so
trivialized impeachment into partisan piffle, it would look like little more
than payback. In the second place, I believe Dick Cheney is seriously off
the rails, apparently deeply paranoid - let's not put him in charge. The
minimum we should expect of Bush in return for dropping impeachment (or not)
is that he cease breaking the law. Despite the opinions of Dick Cheney,
Alberto Gonzales, David Addington, etc., the president of the United States
does not have the authority to set aside the law. 

(If Bush were impeached, I would use as evidence his astounding statement in
March that the matter of getting American troops out of Iraq "will be
decided by future presidents and future governments of Iraq." What a
contemptible statement.) 

It would be easier to contemplate a two-year holding period if Bush hadn't
already wasted so much time. Of particular note in this department is "the
inconvenient truth" - global warming. Wasting eight years in the face of
what we already knew when Bush came in is not only insane, but also
unforgivable. A recent poll showed the majority of Americans feel the war in
Iraq will be the overriding issue of Bush's presidency. I suspect future
historians will fixate on his global warming record - not only doing nothing
to stop it, but letting the hole get dug deeper, as well. 

Barring emergency, I suspect the wisest thing Democrats can do in the next
two years is to begin steadily undoing what Bush hath wrought - on tax and
spending, on global warming, and on surveillance and other illegal lunges
for power. 

George W. Bush ran in 2000 as a moderate. He did not bother to inform us at
the time that he felt the government of this country needed a much stronger
executive above the law. Congress has sat by passively while this
administration accrued more and more power. If members of Congress think the
legislative branch should be equal, it's time for them to stir their stumps.

Am I jumping to conclusions? Can Karl Rove yet steer his party away from
electoral disaster in the fall? I learned long ago never to call elections
closer than six weeks out, and normally I stick to that rule. But I do not
think George W. can be put together again, so Rove's only option is go
negative against the Democrats - no surprise there. At this point, they
could attack Democrats on almost anything, but that would leave the large
question, "Compared to what?" And, we must watch out for those voting
machines. 

It would be interesting to see an election in which Bush is not a factor and
the whole fight is over what Tom DeLay and the K Street Project have made of
the Congress. If ever a gang of corrupt jerks deserved to be held
accountable, this one does. 

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