Day 3: Merkley vs. Gonzales Roundup

On Monday, U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Merkley called for the impeachment of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. The news continues to build up steam across the blogosphere.

Most prominently, over at the Brave New Films blog (the guys that brought us ImpeachGonzales.org), blogger Cliff Schechter takes note:

Democratic U.S. Senate Candidate Jeff Merkley of Oregon has called for the very-un-photographic-memoried-one's impeachment forthwith.

There's more national coverage at Senate Guru, at Hominid Views, and at AfterDowningStreet.org - a well-known site that's trying to bring the Bush Administration to account for the run-up to the war.

Back here in Oregon, Political science professor and analyst Russ Dondero wonders why Merkley hasn't yet called for impeaching Bush and Cheney as well.

If Merkley feels it's time for Alberto to go, why not Bush and Cheney? That would force his incumbent opponent to take a stand. Now that would be a real choice for the voters! How would Gordon Smith defend NOT impeaching all three? Since Alberto was simply doing the bidding of Dubya et al - why not go after the big enchiladas, not merely the low hanging fruit, Jeff?

The Grumpy Forester makes the opposite case - and calls it a "smart move" for Merkley:

Merkley is making a smart move to bring more attention to Inslee’s resolution – at least in Orygun – by using his Senatorial campaign as a form for impeaching Gonzales, and he’s doing so two different ways:

1) This helps draw much-needed attention to the resolution and may stimulate further discussion about how much we have lost over the last several years. ... The only reason there isn’t clear and compelling evidence that we are in the midst of one long unrelenting series of impeachable offenses is the cover-up that hasn’t yet fully unraveled. ...

2) Merkley’s call for impeachment also puts Gordon Smith on notice. ... Even the constituents of the self-styled “Eastern Oregon’s Senator”, conservative as they may be, are not down with being watched or listened to by the evil bloodshot orb of ‘Big Brother’ and their distrust of Federal governance is already well-developed. These folks might just happen to be interested where the incumbent Senator stands on this sort of issue...

Take the discussion directly to these great blogs.

Aug. 22, 2007 Posted in elsewhere.