Prosecute Bush or not?

[Perky]

Poll question: Prosecute Bush or not?

There are two schools of thought.

[Deep13]

1. We must have justice. nt

[MadBadger]

2. Yes...but it wil never happen

[Wapsie B]

3. Just like Iran-Contra, they will never have to answer for their crimes.

The few convictions handed out at that time were laughable. The real criminals skated. They will this time too. Even if there were a super majority of Dems in both houses of Congress it just ain't happn'n.

[onehandle]

4. Never gonna happen. Bush will pardon his cronies and that's the end.

Bush and his pals will retire rich and happy.

[brendan120678]

5. President-Elect Obama wants our country to move forward...

Any Bush Administration trial will last years, and will keep all of our minds on the past.
Just let them all slip away into obscurity.

[Perky]

7. I agree

[Window]

20. As long as President Obama restores our constitution, etc., I'll be happy.

[gravity]

6. It will do more harm than good

We shouldn't be igniting the partisan bickering of the past when we are trying to move the country forward. If Bush was in office, it would be different, but there is little benefit of prosecuting Bush for crimes when he is out of power.

[Perky]

11. ANd it will create mre difficult political Calculus for getting out of Iraq

[Ladyhawk]

18. Agreed. Maybe someday. n/t

[KansDem]

8. If we don't make an example of him, he'll just return to do it all over again.

Maybe not him specifically, but the neo-conmen in general. Look what happened when Lee Hamilton decided not to pursue the Iran-Contra criminals. He wanted to maintain "bipartisanship," but instead they returned with more malfeasance. And look at Bill Clinton: he decided not to pursue charges against these malcontents in order to "move on," but they came back and impeached him!

[Fovea]

9. Moral Hazards and the Moral Majority

The eight years of Bushism have been characterized by lack of regulatory supervision and lack of accountability for bad acts and actors.
Eight years of domestic spying without warrant, and Rep. Kucinich's whole laundry list of charges should not go down the memory hole.

Letting the deregulator in chief and shock and awe cowboy skip away to Paraguay scat free would create a moral hazard larger than re-tranched debt as an asset.
Let the fascists go free, and they will be back sooner than later.

[paparush]

10. If we want peace (unity), we must push for Justice! n/t

[Perky]

13. How will that create unity?

[paparush]

15. By illustrating that we are ALL accountable to standards.

That we all agree there must be rules to civilized society and we are ALL accountable to those rules.

Fairness.
Equal protection under the law.
Equality.

[AtomTan]

12. Letting them go

is a precedent that will come back to bite us. They've almost destroyed the country -- the world! -- this time around. Time to break the chain.

[Yukari Yakumo]

14. Option 4 -

Yes, as long as Chimpy doesn't destroy all the evidence first.

Otherwise, the M$M would portray it as a witchhunt.

[BuyingThyme]

16. It can be done at the state level, I'm told.

And it must be done. We can't keep allowing people to do this to our county every ten or twenty years.

[damntexdem]

17. Yes, but it shouldn't be done in a partisan way:

join the World Court and extradite him there.

[Phoonzang]

19. No. Obama hs real work to do. nt

[pat_k]

21. "Unity" with torturers and fascists is the road to hell.

Prosecution can't rescue the Constitution. Only impeachment can do that. As long as the Constitution is in breach, we have no real foundation from which to seek retribution and deliver true justice.

If Obama hopes to engage true citizens and patriots in a fight to shape our common destiny, he must lead the fight to confront and unequivocally reject the torturers and fascists who currently hold the reigns of power.

If we are to move forward as a nation, we must confront the truth as a nation. Impeachment is the only way.

To seek "unity" with men who have proven they have no qualms about going to ANY lengths to amass power and advance their fascist agenda is lunacy.

[Orsino]

22. The necessary documentation won't survive until January, I think.

But if we can't prosecute */Cheney, why do we bother with a justice system?

[frogmarch]

23. Bushco should be prosecuted, but

I doubt that Obama will act on it. He's about bipartisanship and moving forward.