I went to northern Virginia Rep. Jim Moran's Town Hall with Rep. John Murtha last night. It was a huge crowd--the overflow room overflowed, and they had to turn hundreds of people away!--and the crowd gave Rep. Murtha a very warm welcome. The most interesting thing that happened all night, however, was the spontaneous, loud, sustained applause that erupted from the crowd when one questioner said the word "impeachment".
It reminded me of a similar response from the crowd last July, in Oakland, California, when Rep. Barbara Lee sponsored a panel on the Downing Street Minutes, on which I was honored to be included. The same thing happened. The crowd wanted to end the war, and most of them were demanding investigations into the lies that took the nation to war.
Grassroots progressives want some answers, some investigations, some justice. People are not willing to accept that we have to put up with an America where the President and Vice-President can lie us into a war, torture, spy without a warrant, out CIA agents, aggressively act "above the law" on purpose, unilaterally abrogate treaties, insult and intimidate the rest of the world, and violate the principles of Nuremberg and Geneva. All without oversight or penalty.
Imho, this is beyond politics now. It's beyond polls, even though this Ipsos poll and this Zogby poll and this Rasmussen poll are favorable (and check out MyDD, where Chris Bowers is taking progressive polling one big step further).
This demand for accountability is deeply felt, going to the heart of what progressives care about--the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, the U.S. as a reluctant warrior rather than an aggressor, being a "good neighbor" as well as a strong one, telling the truth as the basis for "consent of the governed", giving peace a chance, respecting and protecting the right to vote. If the Democratic leadership does not get this, it will miss its best chance to energize its voting base in next November's lower-turnout, off-year elections.