There are four words more dear to the soul of a Republican than any other. They express his or her deepest beliefs, their hopes for the future and their pride in past achievements. They are in fact the spiritual underpinning of the modern Republican party. But those words are not, “In God We Trust”. No, the core belief of the GOP is openly and proudly, “The Fix is In.”

Bush has commuted the sentence of Scooter Libby to no prison time and a fine that will underwritten by Scooter’s buds, who will hasten to write checks and relieve him of any liability for his criminality. But Libby is not the problem. The problem is a president who has openly, repeatedly, and sneeringly placed himself above the law for six years. And the even bigger problem is an electorate that has allowed George W. Bush to shred everything this country once stood for, the rule of law, the Constitution of the United States and anything even remotely resembling a civil right. As Harry Truman once said of the national Republican Party of his era, how many times do you need to get hit over the head before you figure out who’

For all the noise and carnage of war — especially this unnecessary war, which seems to possess a life of its own as it barrels forward uninterrupted on two fronts — our language of condemnation remains remarkably polite.

Thus a new CBS news poll shows that Americans are “increasingly dissatisfied” with the Iraq operation, with 77 percent telling pollsters they think it’s “going very badly” — as though the public were turning thumbs down on a reality TV show. Our formerly bellicose media now seem to be doing their best to reduce the national mood to a whisper. Shhh! We don’t want to hurt the president’s feelings, do we?

Meanwhile, the headlines scream “Incoming!”

About the same time that a thundering yet strangely irrelevant majority of Americans were telling CBS they want this war to stop, the U.S. military and NATO were churning up evil publicity in both Iraq and Afghanistan — and in the process ensuring that the war on terror will not run out of enemies — simply by waging the war they have waged from the start.

I love going to the movies, almost as much as I love reading. I adore the smell of fresh popcorn and even watching the previews, which perversely make the movies they showcase look remarkably unappealing. (At the very least, I can chortle to myself about how much money I'll save by not going to see them.) I like escaping to another world for ninety minutes and movies are so much less work than reading a book. All you have to do is show up, sit back and enjoy.

Reverend Jesse Jackson said something recently that I'd like you to repeat after me:

Bush spied.
Cheney lied.
Far too many people have died.
It's time they were tried.
It's impeachment time.

I love coming to Maine, because the people here remember how democracy is supposed to work and what it takes to overthrow a King George.

I spoke on a national radio show yesterday about impeachment, and the host asked people to phone in and argue with me, but every single caller supported impeachment.

In October 2005, when King George's poll ratings were higher and a dozen scandals had yet to break, AfterDowningStreet.org sponsored a poll question by Ipsos Public Affairs: 50% of Americans said "If President Bush did not tell the truth about his reasons for going to war with Iraq, Congress should consider holding him accountable by impeaching him."

In January 2006, Zogby found that 52% of Americans said "If Bush wiretapped American citizens without the approval of a judge, Congress should consider holding him accountable through impeachment."