La Diva & Mr. Mumbles

I do think Bush leads a charmed life in many ways. In 2004, as just one example, the Democrats ran a candidate against him who was maybe the only prominent national politician who was as big a yutz as he was. The Bush camp contended at one point that their guy had scored higher on military aptitude tests than Kerry had, and Kerry simply conceded the point. After watching Kerry try to windsurf his way to victory, I came to believe it, unbelievable as it was. I remember from basketball coaching days that you do not attack a 1-3-1 zone defense by lining up your offense in a 1-3-1 configuration, but the Democrats thought they should take on a pampered prep school Yalie Skull&Bones blueblood who had not earned his great wealth with a pampered prep school Yalie Skull&Bones blueblood who had not earned his great wealth. Well, Kerry windsurfed instead of riding a mountain bike; that was an important distinction.

Now 6 years on in the unfurling nightmare known as the Bush Presidency, the American people finally caught on to, and got fed up with, Bush and his smirking screwingupness. About 15% of the American populace think the flaming centerpiece of the Bush years, the Iraq War, is a good idea, and they said so in November, 2006. What could be clearer? The Democratic Leadership, however, that Dynamic Duo of La Diva (Pelosi) and Harry Reid (Mr. Mumbles) do not respond to the surprisingly clever discernments of the American electorate. Instead, they are in thrall to the Imaginary Focus Group of Their Minds (the IFGTM). This mythical construct dictates the narrow confines of their available options. The IFGTM does not countenance impeachment, although Bush has done everything but run the Constitution through the Oval Office shredder. It permits the Demos only to say tsk, tsk, when Bush proposes to escalate his disastrous project in the Middle East. Their thundering retort is to propose a nonbinding resolution objecting to Bush's plan, although they hope Bush won't be offended since he is, after all, the Commander-in-Chief and one should be careful about criticizing the C-I-C in a time of "war."

Nope, La Diva and Mr. Mumbles think the American people are all lathered up about (drum roll, please)...the minimum wage. What an achievement, and it will only take 2 years to phase in, provided it contains the Treasury-wrecking tax cuts Bush insists upon as a condition of not throwing a veto at it. Bush is lucky, so lucky, to have such "opponents." Diva & Mumbles appear unaware that the Constitution provides that impeachment is available through a simple majority vote of the House of Representatives. Never mind, for the moment, that a 2/3 majority vote in the Senate would be necessary to remove Bush from office. An impeachment would force Bush to spend the rest of his miserable term in office in a desperate battle to save his political life. Republicans impeached Clinton because of his susceptibility to artfully displayed thongs (what guy who likes girls can't relate to that?). Do Diva & Mumbles think it's a bad thing if Bush is distracted from things he could accomplish if he weren't under indictment? What things is he going to accomplish? What has he ever accomplished? Isn't it a positive good if he is sidelined from accomplishing anything else, since he accomplishes nothing but bad stuff?

I just don't get these two. Diva & Mumbles carry on as if they were the Permanent Minority Party, boxed in at every turn by the Focus Group of their minds which disapproves of anything "bold" or "strong." They could put Bush on the permanent defensive simply by dropping articles of impeachment in the House in-basket. They might save the Republic. Instead, they prefer to incrementalize their way to irrelevance.