Impeach Bush? Don't bother

Congressman Jay Inslee knows a thing or two about the politics of impeachment. After all, he owes his job to it.

It's doubtful Inslee, of Bainbridge Island, would be in office had he not been the first politician in the nation to run TV ads decrying the impeachment investigation of President Clinton in 1998. The ads said the impeachment was a waste that had paralyzed Congress. At the time, Clinton was toxic and few were defending him. Inslee's stand was national news. He surged ahead of Republican Rick White to win a seat he's held ever since.

Now Inslee is getting blasted by some anti-war activists for saying the growing movement to impeach President Bush is also a waste.

Thursday, that movement goes prime time. The state Senate is holding a hearing in Olympia on a resolution requesting that Congress begin impeachment proceedings against both Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

It's no longer a fringe issue. Last week, an activists' forum on impeachment in Olympia drew 850 people. Thursday's rally and hearing — now the second governmental hearing on impeachment after one held in the New Mexico Senate two weeks ago — could be larger.

All of which makes Inslee wince.

"These are my friends," he says, "so this is difficult to say. But all impeachment would do is rally support for George Bush. Among Republicans, it would make him a hero. And it would make it that much harder to end this war."

Activists counter that Bush lied about pre-war intelligence and sidestepped wiretap laws. They say Inslee and congressional Democrats who oppose impeachment are cowards.

I'm with the "cowards" on this one. I'm with them because I was there in Congress covering the last impeachment for The Seattle Times. I saw the atmosphere become so hostile that Republicans and Democrats wouldn't even get on elevators together, let alone cooperate to do anything important.

Regardless of whether Clinton deserved to be impeached for lying under oath about an affair, there's no question the proceedings turned Congress into a dysfunctional mess.

Obviously, the war is vastly more important than Clinton's sex life. It should be investigated, and Inslee noted the new Congress has held 72 oversight hearings on Iraq since Jan. 9.

But he also acknowledged what anti-war activists won't: Republicans are key to getting American troops out of Iraq.

"We're trying to get them to vote against the war," Inslee said from Capitol Hill Tuesday. "They're coming around. You don't hear them singing the virtues of George Bush like they used to. But nothing will turn this into a partisan lockdown faster than impeachment."

Even if Bush deserves it?

"You don't even need to go there," Inslee said. "Ending the war is what's important now."

Politics is the art of the possible, a sentiment that gets drowned out at rallies. Yes, it might be possible to impeach Bush. It might feel good.

But as with Clinton, it would likely cripple the very institution that, for better or worse, we're relying on to get us out of a war. It just isn't worth it.

Danny Westneat's column appears Wednesday and Sunday.

Reach him at 206-464-2086 or dwestneat@seattletimes.com.