Are we basing blame for lack of impeachment on an imperfect picture?

[jpgray]

It's absolutely true that assuming our leaders know more than we do and therefore our judgments may be off is incredibly dangerous (cf. a shamefaced 70+% of th US, around five years ago), but I think we have some evidence that this is the case with regard to why the Democrats haven't impeached.

To me the strongest evidence is the lack of rah rah support from Conyers, Bernie Sanders, Gore and other progressive folks, representatives or no. They all say the same thing--the votes aren't there, and failed impeachment carries risks. Some further clarify by saying there are too many skittish freshman reps (and freshman terms are notorious for "don't rock the boat" mentality.) Conyers in particular resonates for me because he's been involved in the successful takedown of an administration before. The process against Nixon was admittedly quite different than the process that is suggested here (investigation gutted and disarmed the admin and the party's solidarity in Nixon's case prior to a single impeachment hearing.) If there isn't time to go the Nixon route, should we impeach immediately? If we can't do the investigation properly, what are the chances we will succeed at impeachment? Or does it simply have to be tried as a matter of principle?

Also, if the votes truly aren't there, it is on some level a failure of leadership. Assuming the votes are immune to persuasion at this time, is it also a failure of courage on the part of the reticent but safely anonymous wallflower Democrats? Is it fair in that case that Pelosi, Conyers and other leadership figures shoulder almost -all- the blame here? Obviously the Republicans deserve the lion's share of blame for all that's happened, but that's not the debate here, since we agree on this. Who gets the blame? Can it be focused or is it diffuse? Do we lack a big enough majority, do we lack the unity, do we lack the leadership, or do we lack the will? Or is it a combination of most of these factors?

I guess I'm just tired of hearing "x is a traitor!" just for opposing impeachment. It could well be the case, but I'd like a more thorough examination of the issue before we wholly divide people into heroes and villains based on a single issue.