Partisanship and accountability

A Zogby poll suggests that a plurality of Pennsylvanians want to vote for candidates who back impeachment. But take a look at the notable exception:

A new poll conducted in Pennsylvania (a battleground "purple" state) by Zogby International and commissioned by OpEdNews.com found that 84.9 percent of Democrats said they would be likely to vote for a congressional candidate who "supports having impeachment proceedings against President Bush."...

The results were even stronger when people were asked "How likely would you be to vote for a candidate who supports a recommendation of impeachment against President Bush if he is found guilty of violating the law?" Among Democrats, 90.8 percent responded either "very likely" or "somewhat likely" (85.2 percent very likely).

Among Republicans, 90.4 percent said they were not likely to vote for a pro-impeachment candidate, and 80.5 percent said they were not likely to back even a supporter of impeaching a convicted violator of the law.

In other words, 4 out of 5 Republicans would rather see a lawbreaker go unpunished than see proceedings brought against one of their own. Not that anybody should be surprised...but it's sad to think that even if the 2006 U.S. elections are fought on the battleground of law against lawlessness, the vast majority of registered Republicans won't give the slightest consideration to voting for the former.