The following is an email I just sent to my
sister. It was in reply to an email from a mutual friend she forwarded to me, in which the author describes how he thinks Bush will either resign or be impeached after indictments for the Plame case are handed down, which should probably happen later this month.
People who know me can already tell what I'm thinking, but I figured I'd post it in full for hopes that it will start a conversation on what strategy the Democrats should implement to make the Plame Affiar truly into Bush's Watergate. I detail what I think are some of the problems that could make the indictments a dead news story, and overview some solutions to give it legs.
Unfortunately, I don't hold as rosie of a view as he does. If/when indictments are handed down in the Plame case (and there is a good possibility that Cheney will be indicted), there's go guarantee on how Bush or the Republicans will react. They still hold all the cards, unfortunately. This isn't a situation like Watergate where the Senate was led by the Democrats and they were able to launch an invetigation and hearings into the matter, which then uncovered lots of evidence like how Nixon had tapes of his Oval Office conversations. That story, of course, had legs: Tapes? They exist? Well now we must listen to them! How do we get them? Let's ask Nixon. He's stalling. Sue him! Now we got a court order. Nixon hands over the tapes.
That's the kind of story that has drama to it that will last more than a couple of newscycles, and I fear that the same type of story might not come out of the Plame case. Rove and Libby (Cheney's Chief of Staff) will be indicted, maybe Cheney himself, but that's about it. The media will report the indictments, just like the media reported Tom DeLay's indictment last week, and then the Democrats will sit around with a thumb up their ass, which is generally their usual position. I mean, ever since DeLay was indicted last week, I haven't heard the Democrats come together and say something to the effect of "We're the anti-corruption party in Washington". No mention that they will fight to clean up politics. Hell, I'm not even sure what they are doing to use DeLay's indictment to their political advantage. So that's one leg of the story down. The fact that the Democrats, being the minnority party, don't have the power to launch Senate investigations, there's another leg down.
I guess what I'm saying is that shit just doesn't fall into place. I wish it did because then Bush would have been impeached right after the Downing Street Memos were revealed, but it doesn't. His impeachment/resignation shouldn't be expected. When the Plame indictments come out, the Democrats need to figure out a way to keep the story in the media. They're going to need to talk about the story in a unified voice, not back away from it when when the Republicans rabidly start to criticize them; the Senate Dems need to have private conferences with moderate GOP senators like Lincoln Chafee and Olympia Snowe to see if they can get Republican support for investigations, and they need to go on the attack publicly to make a story out of getting the Senate to investigate Bush. I think the investigations are key here, and a lot of drama could be added to the story with a sustained Dem/GOP conflict about launching Senate investigations.
That is, if the Democrats choose to fight. Which is something that I haven't seen them try yet.
Your turn.