Impeach the Shrub (or why you don't need to be a Liberal to realize we've elected a shrub to be the most powerful man on the planet)

All right, I've never really considered myself to be much of a "Liberal". I had a very strong Christian upbringing and, even though I'm no longer particularly religious, I still think that the moral sense that was instilled in me is valid and makes a lot of sense in today's world. Whether or not there really is a God (and whether or not God is how we like to describe him), some things are just absolute, like the need to treat each other with the same respect we expect for ourselves.

Having said that, though, it just boggles my mind that we have elected The Shrub to the highest office in the land; not once, but twice! Remember that old saying -- "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me"? Well, shame on all of us!

I have lots of friends and family members who voted for The Shrub (both times!) and who still support him. The arguments are basically one or both of the following:

• The Shrub is a Republican, and therefore somehow stands for all the things that are "right" in the world, such as family, and opposes all things that are "wrong" in the world, such a abortion, gay marriage, etc.


• Even if The Shrub is a lousy president, he was still a better choice than his opponents (who were, as everybody knows, ineffectual, weak-kneed, personality-devoid "flip-floppers").

The first argument is a complete load of crap as far as I'm concerned, since one's party affiliation really has little to do with how one actually acts as president (I won't even get into the whole idea of who determines what is "wrong" and "right" in the world). The second argument is barely plausible, until you realize just how gullible people really have to be in order to believe all the trash that was slung at The Shrub's opponents. Besides, the old "Better the Devil You Know" argument wears a little thin after enough atrocities have been committed -- eventually, you have to come to the realization that pretty much anybody would do a better job.

Having said all that, I still wouldn't be first in line to call for The Shrub's impeachment if it weren't for having to sit through all those years of watching the Republicans desparately try to evict Clinton from office under one pretense after another. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't think President Clinton was the world's best role model, it was wrong of him to cheat on his wife and have "sexual relations with that woman" while in office. It was especially wrong for him to lie about it under oath. However, at the end of the day, nobody died as a result and the country as a whole didn't suffer.

The Shrub, on the other hand (whether directly or through his various mouthpieces) lied to Congress and the American people on matters of grave national importance. His lies provided justification for invading another country and many thousands of American citizens have been killed or injured as a result. Are the Iraqi people better off now than they were under Saddam Hussein's regime? I honestly don't have a clue. Maybe they are, or maybe they will be someday if we "stay the course" for another 10 years or so. Even if that's the case, though, it doesn't change the fact that the only justification for invading Iraq in the first place was because they absolutely, positively had weapons of mass destruction and were poised to use them at any moment. Not because Saddam was an evil dictator who needed to be deposed. Not because the Iraqi people deserved to have democracy. Not because fighting terrorism in Iraq will somehow prevent the spread of terrorism elsewhere. No, we were lied to about why we had to invade to Iraq, pure and simple, and nothing that has come after that changes that fact. And for that reason, if nothing else, it's well past time to impeach The Shrub.

Of course, if you're looking for other reasons to impeach The Shrub, there's always the illegal warrantless wiretapping of U.S. citizens, the whole Hurricane Katrina fiasco, etc., etc., etc. ....