A Republican with a Conscience

There are still prominent Republicans left who care more about what's right for the nation than what's convenient for the Republican Party. Former presidential candidate and Republican, Pete McCloskey, was always known for his thoughtful integrity. Truthout carries an article by McCloskey that focuses on the growing scandal in the Bush Administration surrounding the firing of US Attorneys for political purposes:

One of the tragic moments in American history occurred in November 1973. This was the famous "Saturday Night Massacre," when President Richard Nixon, faced with the demand for incriminating tapes and documents by Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, took an action that would lead to his resignation from the presidency in disgrace less than a year later. Nixon ordered U.S. Attorney General Elliott Richardson to fire Cox. When Richardson refused and instead resigned, as did his second in command, William Ruckelshaus, U.S. Solicitor General Robert Bork stepped up to fire Cox.

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Now, 32 years later, another Republican attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, faces questioning by both the Senate and House Judiciary committees, on grounds that he has used his high office for political purposes to remove eight U.S. attorneys, several of whom had been involved in investigations of Republican congressmen, such as Randy "Duke" Cunningham of San Diego, Robert Ney of Ohio and John Doolittle of Rocklin (Placer County).

That action triggered a tough inquiry into the Watergate scandal by the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by U.S. Rep. Peter Rodino, a mild-mannered congressman from New Jersey. In July 1974, after seven months of public hearings, the committee in a bipartisan vote adopted several articles of impeachment....

In 1973, Pete McCloskey was the first member of Congress to openly call for the impeachment of Richard Nixon. There was something called accountability in those days and the American media was not shy in those years in calling for that accountability as well. Bush and Cheney committed acts in 2002 and 2003 that were impeachable when they fraudelently made a case for war in Iraq, then tried to cover up their fraud. However, impeachment could have been avoided if the media had simply done its job by shining a bright light on the administration's behavior. If Americans knew in 2004 what they know now, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney would have been sent packing in the 2004 election.