Help Me ProsecutorMan, You’re My Only Hope

I was reading on the Smirking Chimp today, what John Dean had to say about Bush’s illegal wiretaps and the striking parallels between the Bush and Nixon White Houses.  Then I read Molly Ivan’s chilling account of the road we find ourselves on and the similar paranoid worldview of both Nixon and Bush.  But she fears, as we all should, that the safeguards put into place that are meant to check Presidential power grabs are not what they were in Nixon’s time.  Our current Congress does not appear to have the same willingness to rid the country of a dictatorial wannabe.

Reading these articles put me in mind of Patrick Fitzgerald.  Those of you who have read my blog from the beginning know that I have a tendency to elevate Mr. Fitzgerald to superhero status and have dubbed him ProsecutorMan.  I realize that his authority to investigate this administration is limited, but he does not live in a bubble, he is surely aware and even influenced by the criminality he sees from these people.  He may not be able to do anything about the illegal wiretapping of Americans, but he must be spurred on by the reports, and more convinced than ever that he’s on the right track in attempting to rid our country of the cancer that has metastasized and is killing the entire organism of government.

For ProsecutorMan, the law is the final word and to hear Bush, who may be the ultimate target of the CIA leak case, not only admit to an impeachable offense but to dare anyone to challenge his status as “above the law” must chap his hide.  Illegal wiretaps and spying on Americans may not be in Fitzgerald’s mandate, but it surely will keep him on his own case a few extra hours a day.  The Republican led Congress may not be the answer to solving our Presidential crisis considering that to them, the rule of law is less a guiding force than an obstacle that must be overcome, but prosecutors who live and breath the law might very well be.

If the prosecutors, lawyers and constitutional scholars can make a good enough case and dig up enough dirt and even indict more members of the Bush administration, Democrats in Congress might begin to feel safe enough in joining John Conyers, Barbara Boxer and John Lewis in their calls for impeachment inquiries.  For Republicans, this is not about a solid legal case for impeachment, it is entirely a question of political survival.  Not until their backs are against the wall, will they even consider the facts of the case, which is exactly why Democrats need to start pushing.  If they can create enough momentum to turn even one Republican, the rest will quickly reevaluate the political cost of playing on team Bush.