It was still summer, so after the last book I'd finished I really wanted something I could sink my teeth into before school started up again. I've always been a fan of newspaper columnists like Chicago's Mike Royko, Texas's Molly Ivins, Florida's Dave Berry, and DC's Art Buchwald. So I went scrounging around a hot, cavernous used bookstore in downtown Omaha for the legendary New York columnist, Jimmy Breslin.
I got lucky and found a dusty old hardcover subtitled "notes on an impeachment summer." With so many people calling for Bush, Cheney and Gonzales each or all to be impeached (including prominent Republican Constitutional scholars like Bruce Fein) I thought that it might be fun to take a look at what it was like for the lawmakers who finally stepped up and put pressure on Nixon back in 1974.
Wow, what I find! I was quickly absorbed with Breslin's warm, human, and grisly telling of how the Nixon Administration intimidated, harassed and extorted Yankees owner and Democratic campaign contributor George Steinbrenner and the careful, concerned, and constituent-influenced hard work of then House Majority Leader Thomas 'Tip' O'Neill.
So... imagine my chagrin when I discovered (a mile or two too late) that I had left my copy of this important and relevant book on the roof of my minivan, along with a cup of Dr. Pepper when leaving Subway on my way to a family picnic. "Kathunk-slosh, what was that? Hmmm, say, what's that flying around on the road behind us? Aw, shooooot."
Thanks to the miracle of the internet, I was soon able to spend $1.50 and $9.50 in shipping, handling and sales taxes on a paperback copy from a used bookstore partner of www.barnesandnoble.com. Within a week, I was joyously enjoying Tip O'Neill and his Daniel Webster cigars and whatever, probably Cuban stogies that Breslin chewed on while he shadowed the Massachusetts Democrat.
The book features the squeeky-clean Impeachment sub-committee chairman Peter Rodino, Chicago machine politicial Dan Rostentowski, meticulous and driven special prosecutor John Doar, unscrupulous Watergate burglar Jeb Magruder threatening a former New Jersey congressman in federal prison, and the affable and decent Jerry Ford as they all played their part in the first serious impeachment proceedings since Reconstruction.
Sure, you say, but you're a history buff and a political junkie- surely this is a dry, boring bit of sausage-making. Au Contraire Mon Frère! Breslin uses short, easy to read chapters and cocks it full of spicy and saucy details and anecdotes that make you appreciate what was done and get to know who did it as real people who really loved their country.
This is a book that is fun, even if you aren't a constitutional lawyer or a legislative historian- I promise. And, especially at a time when the majority of the American people (both Democrats and more and more Republicans) desperately want something done, but Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Reid refuse to even consider impeachment, de-funding the war, or preventing illegal wire tapping- this is a book and a time which Americans need to review and consider.
I wish Ballantine would consider republishing this book with some kind of Forward or Afterward added that addresses our current mess. If you don't order a used copy of this book for your own pleasure or edification, I hope you'll consider buying one as a gift to your local congressmen. I'd send one to mine (Steve King) but he's such a fascist, he'd probably burn it.
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