Sorry, but I disagree completely. YES, Bush has abused it. Yes, there is potential for abuse. But the abuses must be tolerated because privilege is necessary for the entire government to function. Fortunately, it is not often abused. Yes, Nixon tried to withhold the tapes. Unsuccessfully. The Supreme Court ruled that it can't circumvent a criminal investigation. Privilege is actually quite limited, and best thought of as something similar to a confession to a priest, or discussions with a lawyer. As with both of these, it's the right to say something without the chance of it biting you in the ass legally. But actually doing something illegal is not excused. You cannot walk in and tell your local priest that you murdered someone, and expect him to say, "Oh my! Three hail Mary's then!" He's gonna call the cops, and rightfully so, because privilege no longer applies.

As for the other suggestions, a pardon is very different than privilege. In Article 2, Section 2 of the Constitution, the President is granted the right to pardon. This is also open to abuse, but is also very necessary. All part of the system of checks and balances. Let's take Nixon for example. I ABSOLUTELY DO NOT believe he should have gone to jail. Can you imagine the precedent that would set?? In other countries, governments can effectively recall their leaders, or the governments collapse when the people tell them that they have no confidence in their ability to lead. For better or worse (and in Bush's case, it's definitely for the worse), we choose a leader, and it's their tea-party for the next four years. But the idea is that we choose the best person for the job, and consider not only how they are now, but how we expect them to lead in four years. To remove a President from office is such a serious, monumental decision that it has never happened. Even to impeach is an incredibly big deal. To remove them from office and then put them in jail is liable to shake the entire form and system of our government that I'm not sure our nation would survive the implications. Ford did not make an easy decision, and he certainly didn't make a popular decision, but he made absolutely the only decision that he could. He'll be damned for it forever, and I'm sure he knew that when he made it, but he was sure enough with his decision that he was willing to make that tough decision.

Finally, impeachment. I worry that people are impeachment-hungry because of a "they did it to us, let's do it to them" mentality. Impeaching Bush, and worse, including Cheney, is a volatile step that's great to say in theory, but a shitty idea to actually do in practice. And Pelosi and company know it. But try telling Americans that you have absolutely no intention of impeaching either, and they will be voted out before they can enact some change that might actually mean something. Dump Bush and Cheney, and great. So they're gone. The simple truth is, impeachments are long processes and they are gone anyway. And to what purpose. We're still at war, we're still going broke, and we're still all-around screwed. Pelosi takes the blame because she can't turn it around in the few months that would be left of the term, the American system of democracy looks like a joke on the world stage, and then people start calling for Pelosi's blood. All it serves is to swing people back to the right much more quickly than they would otherwise be inclined. No, instead, the smarter move is to wait until Bush is out of office. Put on enough of a show that it doesn't lose the voters. Then you bring up Rove,etc. on charges. It's a criminal act, so executive privilege doesn't apply, and there's nobody to pardon you. And you let Bush and Cheney walk. Why? Cheney is not going to enter politics again, and if he did, nobody would have his back. And Bush has nothing but a tattered legacy. They crucified themselves- why add to it, when they're doing such a good job on their own?

I don't think presidential privilege needs to totally go away, but it needs to be redefined so that it can't be abused like some of the presidents have been doing over the last 40 years or so.

Actually, based on the law, it's kind of too late to even think about impeaching Bush or Cheney, and there's not really any legitimate grounds, though we may think they should be. The rule states this: "The President, Vice President, and all civil officers of the United States" who may only be impeached and removed for "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." A definition of "high crimes" is thus: A high crime is one which seeks the overthrow of the country, which gives aid or comfort to its enemies, or which injures the country to the profit of an individual or group. In democracies and similar societies it also includes crimes which attempt to alter the outcome of elections."

Neither of these guys had to try to overthrow the country because they were already in power, they actually went after the enemies, and if anyone altered the elections it was that woman in Florida and the Supreme Court, of whom Antonin Scalia actually said that was Gore's fault. But that caveat about profiting an individual or group,... well, I'm thinking the Saudis have profited quite nicely, as well as the oil companies, and most of the destabilization of gas prices came after our invasion of Iraq. And, if Cafferty of CNN is right in his speculation that the Iraq War was fought for oil,... maybe,...

Okay, now my head hurts!

We can't get either of them for treason, and bribery won't fly because neither one has made any money yet, and there's no proof that either well, though we all know that they will. High crimes and

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like royalty...but unlike royalty they should still be held accountable for breaking the law...let alone what they have ALL done to our most treasured of documents, The Constitution. They are held to a higher standard then the rest of us, because we elected them, because we TRUSTED them to do the right thing by us and by the world. Now when they break all kinds of laws and they kill in the name of their OIL buddies, and use our own children to do this...hell yeah they should be IMPEACHED...at the very least!

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We could put them in Guantanamo Bay and then let them stew for a couple of years...in a sense they are traitors and they too deserve to be treated as they have treated others they deem to be traitors!

idea. Just imagine Tricky Dick Nixon, that third rate actor Ronald Reagan and Dubbo all together there.There was a couple of Kiwi prime ministers who could have joined them.

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The last 3 days have been busier than usual.

Yes, I agree 100% that Bush is abusing his presidential privilege (I deliberately left off the caps). He's been doing that for 7 1/2 years and he will continue to do it until he is out of office. But this is not grade school where the teacher can put you in detention because you abused your bathroom privileges. We're talking about the Presidency of the United States and, whether he abuses his privileges or not, the fact is, those are the privileges of the office. There's really no getting around that simple fact.

I agree that this Administration has many things to answer for and, frankly, I put most of them under the category of 'war crimes.' And, who knows, they may be prosecuted for those in the future, when they no longer have the office of the Presidency to protect them.

As far as impeachment goes, let's not relate the Clinton impeachment to this. I think we can all agree that it was a complete farce and that it was a machination of the extreme religious right and it did what they intended it to do, ushered in the era of Dubya and the extreme right government we have suffered under for the past 2 terms. How many of us deluged our congressmen with calls and letters demanding that it be stopped? I know I didn't. I sat back and shook my head and wondered how the fuck this insanity ever got started in the first place. That farce really has nothing to do with what's going on today except that, perhaps, it has left congress a little more hesitant to make the same mistake again.

And if Dubyah were to be impeached, where would that leave us? Even if they could get it over and done with before January, which I seriously doubt they could, it would leave us with Cheney. Now, isn't that a lovely thought? And if Cheney were impeached, as well? It would leave our government even more vulnerable and I'm here to tell you, now is not the time to have our asses hanging out (any more than they already are).

The U.S. is in a bad way. Our inflation is already staggering and double-digit inflation is not far away. Our growth index is at about 1%, waaaaaaaay under inflation. The dollar is at an historic low. The price of gas is driving up the cost of food and every other commodity, including electricity - not just the cost of getting to work and back. The airlines are suffering huge losses that may result in more than one major airline going completely out of business. That would be a staggering hit to the U.S. economy - another one. We're in a war that we can't win - never could win - never should have started - and it's costing us billions - trillions! We've got terrorists of every stripe just waiting for an opportunity to take us down.

An impeachment, especially at this point in time, would be a waste of time and money, and a critical diversion of the attention that our congress needs to keep on the nation.

Let's, instead, start badgering our congresspeople to focus on issues that are critical to us. We didn't make enough noise about warrantless wire-tapping and look where that got us. We need to start making some serious noise about global warming - about getting the fuck out of Iraq - about staying the hell out of Iran!!!!!

And that's one really major point I think you need to look at closely. While you are focusing on Dubyah's past bullshit, how much attention are you paying to what he is trying to do in Iran? Mark my words, that evil bastard is planning to get us involved in a war with Iran before he leaves office. You need to start badgering your congressmen and never let up on that issue until Statan's little helpers (Bush & Cheney) are out of office. Otherwise, we may never get them out.

Yes, you should be outraged over what Dubyah has done and what he is getting away with. But now, more than ever before, you should choose your battles carefully. Stop letting his highly publicized hi-jinks divert your attention from what he is really doing. Pay attention to what the media is down-playing. That is where the real evil and the real danger is.

While we are worrying about punishing Bush and Co. for what they have already done, they are pushing through new rules for women's health care that will effectively negate Roe vs Wade for poor women and will deny them access to birth control.

We've got to pay attention to what that sneaky bastard is doing now.

three months to go.

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