Expectations

It's not worth having any with this Congress, I guess:

Daily Kos reader EmilyD reports writing to her Congresswoman, Ellen Tauscher, to urge support for the impeachment of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Take a look at how Tauscher answered:

The Attorney General serves at the pleasure of the president in a non-impeachable office. Unless convicted of an illegal act, the Attorney General cannot be removed from office without the president asking for or accepting his resignation. However, please be assured that I will keep your thoughts and concerns in mind as I review the circumstances surrounding recent allegations of impropriety within the Justice Department.

Sincerely,

Ellen O. Tauscher
Member of Congress

This is a goddamn embarrassment.

Article II, Sec. 4 of the Constitution -- THE CONSTITUTION!

The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the united States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

I mean, you don't even actually have to finish reading the whole Constitution to get here. Just the first two articles out of seven. It's right there in black and white.

Need to hear it from a law professor instead of me? Fine.

He’s Impeachable, You Know
By FRANK BOWMAN

Columbia, Mo.

IF Alberto Gonzales will not resign, Congress should impeach him. Article II of the Constitution grants Congress the power to impeach "the president, the vice president and all civil officers of the United States." The phrase "civil officers" includes the members of the cabinet (one of whom, Secretary of War William Belknap, was impeached in 1876).

Bam. Done. Two seconds. It was in the New York Times for God's sake.

Did you ever consider calling or writing your Congressperson about something, and then talk yourself out of it figuring they've got to know about it already?

Let this be a lesson to you. Sometimes it turns out that the people whose job it is to know these things don't know s#*t.