are handed down? I am writing this with the assumption that Patrick Fitzgerald will be issuing indictments in the next month or so. Assuming that the indictments are issued, and further assuming that the indictments are for more than perjury and/or obstruction (and I am hoping for more), what will this administration do? The word on the blogs seems to be that W put Rove in charge of supervising the reconstruction of New Orleans in an effort to protect him in the event he is indicted. That is, W can say that Rove is too important to the reconstruction effort for us to lose him at this critical time. I don’t think this cheap trick will be accepted by most Americans, but do you think this administration gives a shit what a majority of us think? Long and short, I believe that the white house is planning or already has a plan in place to deal with the indictments, and pardoning the offenders smells like an option. So, if they are planning, shouldn’t we?
It seems to me that too often we–democrats, independents, greens, non-republicans in general–are on the defensive, reacting rather than acting. And what has it gotten us? This country is going to hell in a handbasket and except for a handful of democratic politicians/leaders (Dean and Conyers, for example), most democratic politicians either cower or grovel before the republican leadership or they are marginalized and/or ignored (Dean and Conyers, for example).
We need to have a plan in place now that can be immediately implemented if W starts reaching for the pardon card when Rove and others are indicted. The question is this: what is the best way to stave that move, to ensure that justice is finally meted? My initial thought was a general strike, but strikes are only effective if large numbers of people are involved and, quite frankly, too many people are in economic straits and cannot afford to lose their jobs. That is, we need to have a plan that can be carried out and that will be effective. So, what are the other options? My other thoughts were 1) boycott of W’s corporate supporters (focusing on a few who will really feel the pinch) and/or 2) pressuring republican (and some democratic?) house members to threaten impeachment if W raises the pardon card. And by pressuring, I mean starting recall petitions to punish those who refuse to act. Any other ideas?
Personally, I’ll throw a party.
From a strategy perspective, I think we can start comparing Bush to Ford in pardoning Nixon. Start making that association with Watergate. Or better yet, make the comparison to Papa Bush pardoning his Iran-Contra buddies.
But Ford did pardon Nixon and Poppy pardoned his Iran-contra buddies and many of them now work for this administration. My thought is that we need a plan in place that will make those in power aware that a pardon for Rove et al.–especially under these ciracumstances, namely outing a CIA agent–will result in a political price so high that they dare not do it. Maybe this isn’t possible, but we should see what we can do now, rather than react after W pardons the criminals, gives karl a Medal of Freedom and walks away laughing to himself.
I think Dems are SOL. We can’t threaten recalls because there are very few states that allow recalls and probably only at specific levels of govt. And Bush has the pardon power, there’s nothing congress can do to stop it. Dems can bitch and moan, similar to what Repubs did with Clinton’s pardons, but ultimately, there is nothing they can do.
And maybe reminding people that the Watergate and Iran-Contra people are the ones who got us into this mess in the first place might not be a bad idea. With W’s poll numbers in the crapper, it might be a good time to start that meme. Remind people of more not happier times.
The house could threaten to impeach if W pardons Rove et al. So Conyers calls for it and every fucking republican representative has to go on the record and say no. No, they will not impeach a president who pardons criminals in his administration who outed a CIA agent, but yes they impeached a president for lying about a blow job. To be frank, I need to do the research on recalls. It might not hurt to know where recalls can be conducted. Remember, we can’t get them all, but we can go after the vulnerable ones and tell the others that we are watching.
Well… I think the first strategy is to start yelling that we don’t want a treasonous hunk of propoganda junk working on any efforts to help anyone… We want him fired now.
Not that they will do it…
Good question.
Now that you mention it, I’d think we should start pointing out all the parallels between the only universially despised Republican — Brownie, and Karl Rove.