--George Orwell, Animal Farm.
Bet Bubble Boy never thought he'd see these numbers.
Poll: Impeachment talk gains steam after Libby move
A bad week for President Bush may foreshadow a dismal political season, as the president’s poll numbers plummet, Republicans abandon his Iraq policy and he faces a nascent censure and impeachment movement.
A new survey by the American Research Group found that only 31 percent of respondents approve of the president’s commutation of former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby’s prison sentence. The study by the private New Hampshire-based polling company canvassed 1,100 Republicans, Democrats and Independents from July 3-5, finding 64 percent disapproved of the commutation and 5 percent were undecided.
The president commuted the sentence Monday, saying the 2 years imposed last month on Libby, who was found guilty of perjury and obstructing justice in a case linked to the Iraq war, was “excessive.”
The commutation has sparked a firestorm on Capitol Hill.
Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.), who has drafted a resolution to censure Bush, said the president’s “intervention is an unconscionable abuse of authority by George W. Bush, and Congress must step forward and express the disgust that Americans rightfully feel toward this contemptible decision.”
Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has scheduled hearings Wednesday on the commutation. The hearings will include pardons made by Clinton, former President Bush and possibly other past presidents.
Those hearings may be the least of the White House’s problems.
The ARG poll found a remarkable 45 percent in favor of the U.S. House of Representatives beginning impeachment proceedings against Bush.
In Los Angeles, a storefront “impeachment headquarters” emblazoned with American flags opened July 4. Activists who gathered to open the center accuse the Bush administration of condoning torture, spying on Americans and misleading citizens about the war in Iraq. They also were angry at the president’s decision to commute Libby’s sentence.
“Isn’t it ironic that Paris Hilton will spend more days in jail than Libby?” said Byron De Lear, a Green Party activist.
The White House declined to comment on the impeachment poll, the latest bad news for a president who has seen his public opinion standings dragged to record lows by the unpopular war in Iraq. A Newsweek poll puts Bush’s approval rating at 26 percent.
Full story here. (Big coverage from a rightwing newspaper.)
HuffPo story on Bush hiding his dirty laundry by stiffing Congress, here.
A great piece on the Augean stable that is Bubble Boy's DOJ.
And here's a Bush voter who believes in the rule of law!
And here's a Bush voter who wants to re-elect Gore!
Have the American people finally awakened from the deep sleep of 9/11 PTSD-induced numbing and avoidance?
One hopes so.
Libby
Dirty Bush