TPM:

As weak as the Lugar/Warner amendment is, it’s still too tough for the White House.

Good. I was worried that they’d get a bill together with the thin whitewash of actually-listening-to-the-people respectability while not actually doing anything, Democrats would complain, Republicans would say but this is what you want, Democrats would say no it isn’t, and then we’d spin off into yet another couple months of debate. But the President is apparently not even willing to give the Republicans that much comfort, and come on how fucking blind do you have to be to see he’s not worth toadying for.

Man do I hope he keeps pissing on their collective foot long enough for them to realize that impeachment isn’t about being vindictive, it’s about upholding the laws and values of these United States. As Benen says in that post:

It’s time for a gut-check among congressional Republicans — are you anything more than the president’s ATM?

Unfortunately, this guy (never saw him before but this post has some good points) sounds on the money:

It is only when the battle becomes clearly a battle, not between parties, but between branches of government, that the Republicans will stand up and remove a president that they really have no use for. They won’t remove him for torture, or illegal spying, or kidnapping, or voter fraud, but they’ll consider it for usurping the powers of Congress. And if the president is going to stay the course in Iraq, they may well compel him to turn over the documents that will seal his fate.

It sucks that it would take “I’m going to disregard your power” to shake the Republicans up, rather than “the majority of the country says we’re going the wrong way”, but I’ll take it, at this point. As I’ve read in a few places, if Bush gets away with all this crap, it’s going to set a terrible precedent for presidents for decades to come.