Calls for impeaching president bush have been appearing more and more frequently on the web. But I don't think it'll happen, because of the following:

1) It's tougher than you think.

Impeaching a sitting president is serious business. It's the last step before armed rebellion. Gentlemanly behavior goes out the window and politics becomes a bloody knife fight (even more than usual). All the favors get called in.

Most politicians go into public service as a career. They understand the constitution, but they aren't exactly eager to sacrifice their careers for it. They don't want that knife fight.

It's possible to change their minds, but tough. Maybe if the folks back home are upset enough to riot in the streets. That would require you and I to make the same kind of career sacrifice. How about it? Want to go water the tree of liberty with the blood of patriots and tyrants? Get some rocks and I'll go buy a gun and we'll meet at Perkins, you ready?

Me neither.

2) Dick Cheney is the vice-president.

If Bush is impeached, Cheney becomes president. Unlike Nixon, who kept Ford outside the watergate affair, Bush and Cheney have been very close. Any impeachable offenses Bush has committed, Cheney has also committed. You'd have to impeach them both. Double the parliamentary procedure, double the fun.

Not double the votes. Republicans voted to impach Nixon because they thought Gerald Ford was a tolerable replacement. But if you impeach both Bush and Cheney, then Nancy Pelosi becomes president. Republicans aren't super likely to vote for that.

3) The Clinton precedent doesn't matter.

The Clinton impeachment process was driven by politics, and kind of backfired on a lot of the folks (Gingrich) who drove it. The Clinton presidency and the democratic party were not damaged much by the impeachment. They were damaged by Clinton getting caught having sex with an intern and then getting caught lying about it.

Likewise, the Bush administration has been damaged by incompetence, cronyism, greed and pointless war.

The Clinton impeachment proved that pursuing impeachment doesn't create much political hay, and doing it for overtly political reasons can backfire.

4) It's aiming too high.

Congress can't impeach Gonzales. Not event the staff cronies. I'm stunned at the number of folks who suddenly resigned from the Bush administration and the Justice Department after being caught breaking the law.

"Mistakes were made!" "We made mistakes!" "Oh, I regret making mistakes and not being forthcoming." "I'm not allowed to disclose that privileged information, and if you compel me I suddenly find I can't remember it."

Are you kidding? Can you say things like that and then get up and leave and go home?

Those folks should be in leg irons. They should be begging the president for a pardon. I'd love to see a whole heap of pardons. Hand 'em out like candy.

There's a big difference between impeachment rhetoric and impeachment reality.