Investigate, Impeach, Indict, Imprison

What, exactly, will it take to bring down this most corrupt administration, this most inept and unqualified gang of liars and crooks, this motley crew that is by far the most disregarding of the Constitution and the rule of law ever seen in American history? Do we need any more evidence that the president and his cronies have acted illegally, have committed felonies, have defied both the spirit and the letter of the law and need to be brought to justice?

Former Deputy Attorney General James Comey's riveting testimony on Capitol Hill yesterday makes it clear in no uncertain terms that George Bush, Dick Cheney, Alberto Gonzales and a host of lesser toadies and sycophants are guilty of no less than the high crimes and misdemeanors that, Constitutionally, demand impeachment. It's been written and talked about before, but now it can no longer be denied or danced around -- the Bush White House engaged in patently illegal wiretapping of American citizens. They broke the law. Their own Justice Department -- before little Ass High To A Chicken Gonzales got in the AG's seat and trashed the department by politicizing it and blithely signing off on any abuse BushCo demanded -- refused to certify their actions, because they knew they were illegal. John Frickin' Ashcroft, a man for whom there is no love lost in this quarter, at least had the decency to recognize a crime when he saw it, and would not go along with its commission.

So the Bush gang simply forged ahead without the required DoJ sign-off. Their own goddamn lawyers told them what they were doing was not lawful, but they went ahead and did it anwyay. They have zero regard for the law of this land. They apparently believe that they are not subject to such trivialities as statutes and courts and acts of Congress. They are above all that.

Here's Glenn Greenwald on the subject in today's Salon:

"The overarching point here, as always, is that it is simply crystal clear that the President consciously and deliberately violated the law and committed multiple felonies by eavesdropping on Americans in violation of the law. . . .

"What more glaring and clear evidence do we need that the President of the United States deliberately committed felonies, knowing that his conduct lacked any legal authority? And what justifies simply walking away from these serial acts of deliberate criminality? At this point, how can anyone justify the lack of criminal investigations or the appointment of a Special Counsel? The President engaged in extremely serious conduct that the law expressly criminalizes and which his own DOJ made clear was illegal. . . .

"How is this not a major scandal on the level of the greatest presidential corruption and lawbreaking scandals in our country's history? Why is this only a one-day story that will focus on the hospital drama but not on what it reveals about the bulging and unparalleled corruption of this administration and the complete erosion of the rule of law in our country? And, as I've asked times before, if we passively allow the President to simply break the law with impunity in how the government spies on our conversations, what don't we allow?

"If we had a functioning political press, these are the questions that would be dominating our political discourse and which would have been resolved long ago."

It's simply outrageous that this scandal -- which came to light long ago, and was essentially ignored by a rubber-stamp, do-nothing Congress and a compliant, easily-distracted media -- has been allowed to go on all this time with no investigations, no oversight, no outrage (other than here in the netroots and in a few select media outlets) and no criminal charges filed as of yet. George Bush is a criminal. Dick Cheney is a criminal. Alberto Gonzales is a criminal. The entire Bush administration is made up of lawbreakers. It's long past time to bring them all to justice.

Impeach them all. Now.