The Times published an unfortunate example of Beltway dictation today in an article that laps up pure Republican spin about how the GOP is suddenly energized and unified by suposed Democrat talk of impeaching President Bush. The story, inexplicably given page-one play, simply regurgitates preferred right-wing talking points posted all over the web and heard on Rush Limbaugh's program about what a godsend impeachment chatter is for Republicans because "It shows people how extreme the leaders of the Democrat Party actually are," as one RNC flak put it, purposefully lying about "leaders" of the DNC pushing impeachment. No party leaders are, although the Times dutifully prints the phony quote without comment.
But here's the real problem; the Times (deliberately?) omits any context about the question of impeachment, which frees Republican to paint Democrats as radical for even talking about it. On this issue the GOP and MSM are united--only nuts think about impeaching Bush, which is interesting because according to a Zogby International poll conducted in January, a majority of Americans think Congress should consider "holding [Bush] accountable through impeachment" if he "wiretapped American citizens without the approval of a judge."
Specifically, 66 percent of Democrats favored considering impeachment, as did 59 percent of Independents, 74 percent of 18-29 year-olds, 75 percent of African-Americans, 56 percent of Hispanics, as well as a majority of Catholics.