IMPEACH

Brilliant idea over at Daily Kos: IMPEACH: The Guerrilla Marketing Movement.

So, now that all impeachment bets are off, what can we do to take this topic off the TV talk shows and the blogosphere, and put it where the rest of America can see and feel it?

Anything you want to.

But I have a few suggestions, and they include everything from simple act that anyone can afford, to elaborate collective action schemes that no one can miss.

The key thing to keep in mind: The message is simple, universal, and non-specific. But if it's the same everywhere, there will be no mistaking what it is, and how widely it's supported.

So, let's talk.

This idea isn't new, by any means. It's just being put to a new use -- taking impeachment out of the realm of broadcast wonkery, and making it real.

This isn't about achieving the result of impeachment directly. I think we all know where we stand on that score. This is about building resonance, and making impeachment "real," because it's being brought to the attention of real people.

What I'm proposing is this: Go into your word processors right now, and type out the word "IMPEACH." Go ahead, use caps. Center it. Bold it. Make it 72 point. Turn the page to landscape if you like, and make it bigger.

You've got a sign. Print it out. Xerox it. Put it up on a lamp post. On a supermarket bulletin board. Inside a newspaper vending machine. Anywhere.

You've joined the movement.

How does it feel? Want more? Would you be willing to spend a little money on it?

Pick up a pack of Avery labels down at the office supply store. Print out a page worth of stickers that say the same thing. IMPEACH.

Not impeach Bush. Not impeach Cheney. Not Chimpeach. Just IMPEACH.

Bolded that last bit because it's the most important. This is a brilliant idea, because if it takes off it'll create buzz and make the concept more acceptable. The key is the use of the single word: everybody knows who the "impeach" refers to, and trying to weigh it down with arguments and cases and whatever doesn't matter. The case is out there. The argument is out there.

Instead this should be like the teaser campaign that happens long before the movie is even finished. Just the force of one word over, and over, and over, and over again, everywhere you look, in places you don't expect it. It'll piss Bush supporters off, but that doesn't matter: the act of arguing against an idea is the most important one for legitimizing it. And hell, how do you argue against the repetition of a single word?

Do it right, and it becomes a trend, and while Bush's corporate backers know how to coopt a trend, they have no idea how to stop one.

Just one word:

IMPEACH.