In an astounding article the San Jose Mercury-News headlined “Some activists, politicians speaking openly about impeachment,” Knight Ridder’s Jim Puzzanghera leads with

“The word “impeachment” is popping up increasingly these days and not just off the lips of liberal activists spouting predictable bumper-sticker slogans.” These are “mainstream politicians.”

Who, exactly?

• John Conyers, D-Michigan (who received 90 out of a possible 100 from liberal interest group Americans for Democratic Action based on his 2004 voting record)

• Barbara Boxer, D-CA (2004 ADA rating: 95)

• Al Gore … who certainly has no axe to grind vis-a-vis this President …

• Nancy Pelosi (but she won’t sign on to Conyers’ bill, preferring to focus on retaking the House)(2004 ADA rating: 100)

• Lynn Woolsey (2004 ADA rating: 95)

That would be an average ADA rating of … 95. “Mainstream?” Hardly. These people are the far left of the Democratic party.

As if to see how far the joke can go, Puzzanghera wraps up the piece with a quote from a single acknowledged liberal, the founder of ImpeachPAC. Conyers, Boxer, Pelosi, Woolsey — apparently they can’t be labeled (they’re mainstream, after all)!

And what of the only Republican cited in the piece — Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), who is “openly talking about the possibility that President Bush could be impeached.”?

There is a single line from his appearance on ABC’s “This Week” on January 15. Progressive site Think Progress rounds out context missing from the Knight Ridder piece. The part KR excerpted is in bold:

STEPHANOPOULOS: There was a lot of talk about that at the Alito hearings, and listening closely to you I certainly seem to take away that you believe the president does not have the right, does not have the inherent power under the Constitution to circumvent a constitutional law, and as far as you are concerned, the FISA law is constitutional, isn’t it?

SPECTER: Well, I started off by saying that he didn’t have the authority under the resolution authorizing the use of force. The president has to follow the Constitution. Where you have a law which is constitutional, like Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, there still may be collateral different powers in the president under wartime circumstances.

That’s a very knotty question that I’m not prepared to answer on a Sunday soundbite. But I do believe that it ought to be thoroughly examined. And when we were on the Patriot Act and found the disclosure of the surveillance, I immediately said the Judiciary Committee would hold hearings, and I talked to the attorney general, and we’re going to explore it in depth, George. You can count on that.

STEPHANOPOULOS: You know, if the president did break the law or circumvent the law, what’s the remedy?

SPECTER: Well, the remedy could be a variety of things. A president — and I’m not suggesting remotely that there’s any basis, but you’re asking, really, theory, what’s the remedy? Impeachment is a remedy. After impeachment, you could have a criminal prosecution, but the principal remedy, George, under our society is to pay a political price.

Even ABC’s summary of his appearance on “This Week” quotes Specter following up with “I don’t see any talk about impeachment here. I don’t think anyone doubts the president is making a good-faith effort. He’s acting in a way that he feels he must.”

So Specter’s “in theory” response to a hypothetical becomes Puzzanghera’s “talking openly about the possibility that President Bush could be impeached.”

So, liberal congresspeople and Al Gore want to impeach President Bush, as does — surprise! — a guy promoting an impeachment PAC, and Arlen Specter said the word “impeachment” on TV. That’s a story? Even by the standards we have come to expect from conventional media, this is over the top. But a story headlined “Left Wing of Democratic Party Hates George Bush” wouldn’t be news, would it?

Technorati Tags: liberal bias, media, bias, Knight Ridder

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 24th, 2006 at 10:33 pm by A Senior Administration Official and is filed under Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.