It’s not a ‘fringe’ idea: Apparently 51% of those polled think impeachment is a reasonable idea. Even if “only” 28% say it’s a high priority.
As I’ve said before, I don’t support impeachment since it would tear the country apart, wouldn’t get through the Senate…and if it did all it would do is make Cheney’s status official. Not worth the effort.
But it’s interesting to see how widespread the anger is. And, yes, it is a surprising, even shocking, number. Why? Because dissent just isn’t visible enough.
I am the stupid guy that reads the fine print. The poll quoted says:
“The NEWSWEEK poll, conducted Oct. 19-20, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. In conducting the poll, Princeton Survey Research Associates International interviewed 1,000 adults aged 18 and older.”
I’m so stupid I slept through advanced statistics courses where some TA went blah blah blah about sample sizes and confidence intervals. All so complicated and I’m just stupid. US population of 295,734,134 dispersed across 5,984,685 square miles with 176 different spoken languages, but stupid me isn’t the slightest bit doubtful of 1000 person poll, or how the questions were worded.
My stupidity makes me susceptible to peer pressure. Since the majority of my fellow Americans support impeaching Bush, I guess I do too. Bush is stupid too.
What would stupid people like me do without polls?
Hi, stupid me again. I forgot that to say that at first because I’m stupid I didn’t know what impeachment means. I had to look it up and this is what dictionary.com says:
“Usage Note: When an irate citizen demands that a disfavored public official be impeached, the citizen clearly intends for the official to be removed from office. This popular use of impeach as a synonym of throw out (even if by due process) does not accord with the legal meaning of the word. As recent history has shown, when a public official is impeached, that is, formally accused of wrongdoing, this is only the start of what can be a lengthy process that may or may not lead to the official’s removal from office. In strict usage, an official is impeached (accused), tried, and then convicted or acquitted. The vaguer use of impeach reflects disgruntled citizens’ indifference to whether the official is forced from office by legal means or chooses to resign to avoid further disgrace.”
Now my head hurts. Froomkin wants me to think that 51% of Americans want Bush brought up on charges. But dictionary.com makes me think they just want someone else to take over. But that is the same as saying his approval rating is really low. What if the 1000 polled were lawyers who paid attention in constitutional law courses? What if they were just average people? Then again, 3.33 of the 1000 were probably lawyers. But what percent of the 3.33 paid attention in constitutional law? Man I wish I wasn’t so stupid, because thinking hurts. Bush is stupid for making me think.
Yes, I notice that the country has been lying in scattered fragments for the last 8 years… Sheesh!
Heck, I voted for the guy, know what impeachment means, and am no lawyer, and I’d be only too glad to see a Democratic impeachment drive. It would certainly be a fine distraction from Democrats doing anything substantiative, and who knows? You might be able to prove him guilty of something.
If and only if the elections are favourable, the drive for this outcome will build much steam and will become overpowering fairly quickly. In my mind it is the only option…
Brett: Ya think so?
Forget impeachment. As soon as he’s out of office, the new President should have him arrested and tried in the Hague for war crimes.
— Bret