Poll: More Americans Want Bush Impeached Now, Than Wanted Clinton Impeached in '99

[kpete]

Poll: More Americans Want Bush Impeached Now, Than Wanted Clinton Impeached in '99

Impeach now, ask questions laterBuzzFlash Analysis, May 10th, 2007

A 1999 poll in the midst of Bill Clinton's impeachment trial showed that only 32% of Americans wanted to remove him from office. But a poll this week shows that 39% of Americans want Bush and Cheney to be impeached.

So why is all of Congress - save Rep. Dennis Kucinich - just sitting around when Republicans have already set the impeachment bar so low? In 1999, 79% agreed Clinton had actually committed perjury but a majority of those people still didn't think it was enough to ditch him. By contrast, a poll two months ago found that 54% believe the Bush Administration "deliberately misled the American public" about Iraq, which has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people.

Of course, Clinton's approval rate was 67% at the time - more than twice Bush's current 28%. That's because Clinton was making the nation a better place despite his personal failings, as opposed to Bush making the whole world worse. For example, 89% of Americans thought the economy was in good shape in 1999, and today 65% oppose the war in Iraq.

http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/analysis/211
and:
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/MattTowery/2007/05/08/bush-cheney_impeachment_might_be_idle_talk,_but_numbers_show_true_trouble

[Demeter]

1. But That's Been True Since November, 2000

It's not like we're running a popularity contest here!

[dogday]

2. Who cares what Americans want?

They want the war in Iraq to end and you see how that is going.....

[elocs]

3. As somebody else that also has a Russ Feingold avatar

I am sure that you know that Senator Feingold does not favor impeachment. I guess he can still be a good Democrat and believe that though.

[dogday]

7. He did favor sanctions of some sort....

That would of been a nice start...

Since the Senate cannot impeach, I would think it would not be up to Russ to call for this, but the Sanctions would of been great....

[elocs]

8. The Senate ultimately has the most important job in the impeachment process--

they are the jury which sits in judgment. Convicting Bush and/or Cheney is the whole point. Senator Feingold has already sat as a member of the jury during the President Clinton impeachment trial. He took that duty very seriously and has no desire to put the country through that entire process again when there is no chance of conviction in the Senate. It doesn't matter if the entire world knows that Bush is guilty, unless there is an actual chance of conviction by the Senate then the entire process becomes a show trial and Bush is not convicted and serves out his term of office. Conviction is the whole point of the impeachment process so the Senate's job as the jury is critical in the process and so their role should never be diminished.

[dogday]

9. The call for impeachment starts with the Congress.

If the Senate sits as Jury, then it is definitely right of Feingold not to make any statements regarding impeachment...

[elocs]

10. Feingold has as much a right to make statements regarding impeachment as anyone, and has.

http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/2006/11/21/news/02feingold21.txt

---snip---
'One thing Feingold expressed no enthusiasm for is impeaching President Bush.

“I don’t support impeachment, and I don’t support impeachment hearings, even though I think the president has probably committed an impeachable offense,” Feingold said in response to a question from Al Schulz of La Crosse.

“We are not required to impeach the president simply because he’s committed an impeachable offense, which I think he did with the illegal wiretapping. We have to decide whether it’s in the best interest of the country to go through that process.”'
---snip---

If Senator Feingold was in favor of impeachment, would you be applauding his statements? There are very few members of Congress or the Senate who favor impeachment now. Senator Feingold has been through an impeachment process and knows what it is all about. As with Clinton, if there is no chance of conviction, then impeachment is just a political exercise. I think I might be a little more concerned about Bush being convicted in the Senate than simply having articles of impeachment brought by the House. If impeachment is so important to you, then you might want to pick somebody such as Representative Dennis Kucinich as your avatar because Senator Feingold is not on board with impeachment.

[dogday]

11. My Hero

I do not have to agree on every subject with Russ... I have my own opinions... Last I looked, I can put anyone I want as an avatar..

I admire Russ and his vote on the IWR and Patriot Act most of all and I will keep him as my avatar, Jeez......

[elocs]

13. Well, Russ is my Senator. Nobody ever said you could not have him as your avatar.

The trouble here at DU is that there seems to be an attitude that each and every Democratic elected politician must be perfect and line up on each and every issue with the popular DU opinions. Impeachment is one of them and if somebody does not line up in favor of impeachment, then that person gets knocked down no matter how good they have been. Feingold is one of them. I admire him for what he has done and I trust his opinion concerning impeachment more than all of the political armchair quarterbacks here (myself included). We all have opinions and as the saying goes, opinions are like assholes--everybody has one, but Senator Feingold knows impeachment inside and out and I will stick with him concerning it. I, too, will keep Feingold as my avatar even if he does something or takes a stand on something which I do not agree with.

[dogday]

16. I would settle for an end to this war

My Son came home from Iraq in November... Ending the war is the most important thing to me and I will support that first... Impeachment would be the icing on the cake... Feingold is being cautious as most of the politicians are, but the times they are a changing... Who knows what it will be like come September...

I don't have to agree on everything with Russ, I know he is most what I am looking for in a Politician and you are lucky to have him as your Senator... All my reps are republikans, so I hope you don't mind if I make yours my hero...

[elocs]

17. In Wisconsin, Feingold is like the late Senator Proxmire.

Like Proxmire, people who are Independents and even Republicans admire him and his honesty and vote for him. Feingold will be a senator from Wisconsin for as long as he likes unless he is put on the Democratic ticket as the VP candidate, which he has said he would accept. On the federal level at least, all of my reps are Dems.

[pnwmom]

4. The majority of Americans aren't calling for impeachment.

In case you care what Americans want . . . .

[dogday]

6. The OP title is

Poll: More Americans Want Bush Impeached Now, Than Wanted Clinton Impeached in '99

The title said more Americans want, I just said it does not matter what Americans want. I did not say that a majority wanted him impeached. I did compare the war but only to show what Americans want as a majority is still not being done, so why this actually.....

[pnwmom]

5. It was a minority then, it's a bigger minority now. n/t

[Kurovski]

12. K&R. (nt)

[Hieronymus]

14. Clinton's approval was more than 60% during the impeachment.

Long time since Bush saw those numbers.:hi:

[mile18blister]

15. If the MSM hounded * the way they did Clinton

the country would be screaming for impeachment. There are still a depressing number of people who honestly believe that Saddam had WMD's and was behind 9/11. With the "news" made up of infotainment and lies, progress is agonizingly slow.