Impeachment, Censure And Other Alternatives

Just want to place a quick comment on Cliff's Impeachment post and tie it in with Russ Feingold's measure to censure the President.

The fact that Fredo Gonzalez refuses to resign and that Bush won't fire him tells you all you need to know about these two clowns. Competence doesn't matter. Accountability doesn't matter. Truth doesn't matter. Justice, both the concept and the Department, doesn't matter. All that does matter in the end is loyalty. Everyone else and everything else be damned.

Of course, that leaves the Democratic Party and the American people in quite a pickle. We got 18 more months of these two and their crowd, and Bush and Company have made it quite clear that our opinion, and the rule of law, don't matter. So what to do?

The Impeachment/censure option is appealing because it forces accountability on Fredo, and it forces Republicans to make a choice - do what is right for the country or do what is right for their party (several have already chosen to do what is right, as evidenced by yesterday's hearing).

But I do not believe this is the best option. It will cause more partisan bickering, will take up valuable time and expose Democrats to charges of being more interested in vengeance than accomplishing the will of the American people.

Personally, I support the Rahm Emanuel approach to this type of problem (I know this is going to get me in trouble with some quarters of the left). I loved when Emanuel suggested zeroing out Cheney's funding from the Executive Branch budget when the Vice President said he wasn't part of the Executive Branch.

I think there is a similar application here. If Fredo won't go, and Bush won't fire him despite his incompetence and the obvious damage he has done to the Department, the Democrats ought to zero out his budget. When the Justice Department funding budget comes up, they should cut all funding for his personal office. If Fredo Gonzalez won't work for the American people, than we shouldn't pay him a dime.