Anonymously Quoted in the Washington Post

As I previously blogged, I attended the Bush Impeachment Panel on this past Monday. During the question and answer section, I stood to ask a question of the panel regarding the chances for success of impeachment proceedings given that we had failed to dislodge him during the last election.

It turns out that my question was quoted anonymously in a Post column on the event. In the second-to-last paragraph of the column:

Many in the crowd applauded. But others were skeptical. “I’ve heard a lot about accountability” from the panel, said one questioner. “Seems to me the first opportunity we had for accountability was in the last election.”

That was me! Of course, the reporter mis-contextualizes my statements to imply that not all in the audience supported the idea of impeachment. Let me be clear: I firmly believe there are grounds for impeachment, and I would hazard that so did every other person in the crowd. My question was actually focused on the divided will of the people, who seem to have no taste for accountability given that more than half of the voters in this country elected him this past cycle. The question was quite adroitly answered with the information that previous presidential impeachments have rarely been related to either previous election results or to public support for impeachment.

Of course, that can also mean that the increasing public support for impeachment will be totally ineffective at convincing our elected officials to act.

Anyway, thanks to Gaffney for the spot. And now Hedda and I are tied.