Pelosi's priorities

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi remains firmly opposed to impeachment. Here's why:

"The question of impeachment is something that would divide the country," Pelosi said this morning during a wide-ranging discussion in the ornate Speaker's office. Her top priorities are ending the war in Iraq, expanding health care, creating jobs and preserving the environment. "I know what our success can be on those issues. I don't know what our success can be on impeaching the president."

Democratic Party leaders do not have the votes to pass an impeachment resolution. And Democrats could be judged harshly for partisan gridlock, just as the American people turned on Congressional Republicans in the 90s for pursuing the impeachment of President Clinton.

In the first question of the morning, Pelosi was asked if she supported a proposal by Washington Rep. Jay Inslee to impeach beleaguered Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

The Speaker looked down and rubbed her temples wearily. "I would like us to stay focused on our agenda this week," she said. Today the entails finalizing ethics and lobbying reform. Tomorrow it will mean expanding children's health care and boosting Medicare benefits. By the end of the week the House will likely pass an energy bill and legislation will be brought to the floor that reins in the Bush Administration's warrantless wiretapping program.

Now, it's not like Nancy doesn't see what the rest of us see; she knows that the Bush crime syndicate is full of scofflaws and sycophants. But, like the concern trolls who infest the blogosphere, she doesn't seem to care all that much:

She is greatly disturbed by the lawlessness of this Administration and its contempt for checks and balances. "I take an oath to defend and protect the Constitution, so it is a top priority for me and my colleagues to uphold that." She notes the vigorous oversight hearings held by committee chairman like John Conyers and Henry Waxman.

But Pelosi sees impeaching Gonzales and his superiors as a distraction from the ambitious agenda she has crafted for the House. "If I can just hold my caucus together," she says, "I can take them to this progressive place."

Nancy, I've always liked you, but you're being completely inconsistent. I appreciate your priorities, but isn't "defend[ing] and protect[ing] the Constitution" not just "a top priority," but the top priority?

See, letting the Bush crime syndicate continue to deface and defile the Constitution is, by definition, a violation of your oath to defend and protect the Constitution. And that's true of every member of Congress. Be "greatly disturbed" all you want, but I don't see how that protects the Constitution.

You say, well, you don't have the votes. I call bullshit. An impeachment trial, be it for Gonzales or "Dick" or even Drunky McStagger himself, would bring to light all of the "high crimes and misdemeanors" committed by this "administration." Even people on the GOP side of the aisle are suggesting that impeachment is beginning to make sense, at least for Gonzales.

I have news for you, Nancy: the country already is divided -- 70/30 in favor of impeachment, last I looked. Your priority ought to be making sure the division -- you might even call it a cleavage -- doesn't get any worse ... and the best way to do that is to remove the dividers from office. Uphold your oath, Madame Speaker. Impeach the criminals, and let's begin to restore dignity to America.

(h/t watertiger)