Democracy for Vancouver

Conservative writer Andrew Sullivan builds a case for Cheney’s impeachment in the wake of the Libby verdict:

Something is rotten in the heart of Washington; and it lies in the vice-president’s office. The salience of this case is obvious. What it is really about - what it has always been about - is whether this administration deliberately misled the American people about WMD intelligence before the war. The risks Cheney took to attack Wilson, the insane over-reaction that otherwise very smart men in this administration engaged in to rebut a relatively trivial issue: all this strongly implies the fact they were terrified that the full details of their pre-war WMD knowledge would come out. Fitzgerald could smell this. He was right to pursue it, and to prove that a brilliant, intelligent, sane man like Libby would risk jail to protect his bosses. What was he really trying to hide? We now need a Congressional investigation to find out more, to subpoena Cheney and, if he won’t cooperate, consider impeaching him.

Locally, we have a huge disconnect here between certain elected officials and the voters when even holding a hearing to discuss impeachment, from Congressman Jay Inslee:

“These are my friends,” he says, “so this is difficult to say. But all impeachment would do is rally support for George Bush. Among Republicans, it would make him a hero. And it would make it that much harder to end this war.”

to the Governor:

Gregoire called the Iraq protests a distraction, adding she was “not going to bring up Iraq at all” in her talks with Washington state’s congressional delegation. Instead, she said she would talk about federal budget cuts, health care and a bill to reauthorize the federal No Child Left Behind education law.

to Senator Patty Murray:

Alex Glass, a Murray spokeswoman, said that when Murray was in the Washington state capital of Olympia last week, she met with Democratic leaders and rank-and-file members in the House and Senate. Her message was simple, Glass said: “‘I have two words for anyone who wants to impeach the president: Dick Cheney.’ “

to Vancouver’s very own State Senator Craig Pridemore:

Sen. Craig Pridemore, D-Vancouver, a member of the committee, opposed hearing the impeachment resolution and left before testimony on it began.

So now that we have a guilty verdict of the Vice President’s right hand man, will these members of the opposition party sing a different tune? If a conservative columnist can call for impeachment proceedings, why are Democratic electeds so willing to forgo this option, or even discuss it?