Sacrifice and Healing
Man or monster, Bush has to go this year
by Alan Bisbort

"When I reflect on the pompous titles bestowed on unworthy men, I feel an indignity that instructs me to despise absurdity. The Honorable plunderer of his country, or the Right Honorable murderer of mankind, create such a contrast of ideas as exhibit a monster rather than a man."
–Thomas Paine, May 1775

Jan. 7, 2006 -- Hartford (apj.us) -- Sacrifice and healing. Those are now the catchwords of the minority party in America, the Republicans. They're still making demands, even though they've been booted out of power. They're still arrogant, still insisting they control the debate. And, in a sense, they're right, since the mainstream media continues to honor their spin about a "surge" even though only 11% of the American people support a troop surge in Iraq.

This reminds me of some memorable baseball games I used to attend at glorious Memorial Stadium in Baltimore when the feisty manager of the Orioles, Earl Weaver, would argue a call so vociferously that he'd be ejected from the game. Rather than go back to the clubhouse, as mandated by the rules, Weaver would sit in the tunnel right behind the dugout and continue managing the team; between puffs on his Pall Malls, he'd send messages to the bench. Once I saw an umpire dash into the dugout to chase Weaver out of the tunnel and back into the clubhouse. It was like a circus act, and the fans loved it. However, Weaver had been ejected and had no right to do what he was doing. Still, he persisted until the umps enforced the rules.

So, the Republicans are smoking cigarettes down the hall, shut out of action, and they are shouting out orders nonetheless while their embedded agents in the mainstream media mocks Nancy Pelosi, now the third most powerful politician in America. Given that the two above her are arguably insane, Speaker Pelosi—and, excuse me, news minions, could you please include her title in all future denigrating dispatches—has the lunatic right fringe deeply upset.

And yet, I can't help but feel all this spin, all this sound and fury about sacrifice and healing, has been spun as far as it can go. As I watched Gerald Ford's burial in Michigan I realized this ceremony might be the last gasp of Republicanism for awhile. Here was one of the last of the few not insane Republicans being laid to rest, just as the party's fortunes will be relegated to the dustbin post-Bush. As if to brush up their "sensitive" cred prior to their war crimes proceedings at The Hague, Cheney and Rumsfeld both offered "healing" condolences to the man who gave them political life back in the day.

And now the Republicans are dead, all of them, mute, bitter old corpses. I found myself wishing Betty Ford would suddenly snap and lurch toward these two monsters who so besmirched her husband's reputation. She had this look on her face that said, "What are these bastards doing here....Gerry didn't even Dick and Don."

Healing, my ass. A new AP poll shows that the vast majority (and I am talking 75-80 %) are in favor of the Democrats' stated agenda for this new Congress. (e.g., 87% want prescription drug reform for seniors, 85% want minimum wage raised; 77% want Iraq policy changed; 75% want lobbyists kicked out; etc). To do anything less than the will of the people is not just a failure of nerve, it's a failure of job. We'll simply fire more of them next time and the next time and the next time...until they start doing their jobs.

Meanwhile, the elephant in the room, literally, is George W. Bush. What to do about George? I've tried to resist the impulse to scream for their impeachment until now, letting it out now and again, but mostly holding it as a fallback position.

But we need it, even if it takes a while, even if it dominates the last two years of Bush's political life. We need it in the name of "healing." True healing.

Bush has now crossed the point of no return. He is taking our country to the brink of destruction. His current actions recall the waning days of World War II. When the North African campaign failed, Hitler ordered his troops remain in the field to be shot like fish in a barrel. Rommel later wrote, "We had continually to circumvent orders from the Fuhrer or Duce in order to save the army from destruction." When the Soviet campaign inevitably imploded, Hitler blamed his generals, fired them and replaced them with himself.

Likewise, Bush has ignored his military leadership in the field in Iraq, fired those who don't share his mania for killing and replaced them with compliant lapdogs. Meanwhile, saner heads in the Pentagon are just treading water until someone (the Congress?) relieves this Commander in Chief of duty.

As Thomas Paine—British by birth, and a working man—noted about another George soon after Lexington and Concord, Bush is, literally, the plunderer of his country and the murderer of mankind. He must be called to account, using the one instrument that separates America from the chaotic scene at Saddam's execution and the mayhem in Afghanistan—the Constitution.

Coincidentally, it's the one thing that members of Congress must swear to uphold. You might say that impeachment is part of their job description.

That would bring us true healing. We can deal with sacrifice later. #

ALAN BISBORT is a columnist for the Hartford Advocate. His book, When You Read This, They Will Have Killed Me: The Life and Redemption of Caryl Chessman, Whose Execution Shook America, has been hailed as the definitive work on one of the most controversial cases in American judicial history. Published by Carroll & Graf, you can click here to order it from Powell Books.

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