Impeachment rallies were held across the country on October 27, but one columnist says Bush is insane and needs to be committed.

The rallies calling for impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney attracted more than 100,000 people, according to an email issued by impeachbush.org.

According to the email:

* More than 30,000 people marched in San Francisco in a demonstration sponsored by the October 27 Coalition. The demonstration was endorsed by over 150 political, religious, labor and community organizations, including all seven Bay Area Central Labor Councils. 

* In Los Angeles, nearly 20,000 people marched through downtown to the federal building for a mass rally and Die-In.

* In Seattle, at least 7,000 people marched. Buses and carpools came from the entire Northwest Region - from Eugene and Portland, Oregon; Olympia, Tacoma, Everett, Mt. Vernon, Bellingham and elsewhere in Washington State. 

* In Chicago, tens of thousands marched. Organizers for the October 27 Mobilization Committee, the sponsoring group, estimated the crowd at 30,000.

* The New York City demonstration received a strong turnout despite a steady downpour. March organizers estimated the crowd at 45,000.

* The heart of Boston was filled with anti-war energy on Saturday afternoon, as some 7,500 took to the streets in protest of the war in Iraq.

* Regional and local demonstrations also took place in Orlando, Ft. Lauderdale, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Jonesborough and Chattanooga (Tennessee), Salt Lake City, Denver, Rochester and elsewhere.

However, columnist Rosa Brooks writing in The Los Angeles Times, has a more drastic solution than mere impeachment. She claims the president's behavior and statements prove he is insane and should be committed to a mental health facility for his own good - and the world's.

She writes:

Liberals, put it behind you. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney shouldn't be treated like criminals who deserve punishment. They should be treated like psychotics who need treatment.

Because they've clearly gone mad. Exhibit A: We're in the middle of a disastrous war in Iraq, the military and political situation in Afghanistan is steadily worsening, and the administration's interrogation and detention tactics have inflamed anti-Americanism and fueled extremist movements around the globe. Sane people, confronting such a situation, do their best to tamp down tensions, rebuild shattered alliances, find common ground with hostile parties and give our military a little breathing space. But crazy people? They look around and decide it's a great time to start another war.

. . .

The U.S. is full of ordinary people with serious forms of mental illness -- delusional people with violent fantasies who think they're the president, or who think they get instructions from the CIA through their dental fillings.

The problem with Bush is that he is the president -- and he gives instructions to the CIA and military, without having to go through his dental fillings.

Impeachment's not the solution to psychosis, no matter how flagrant. But despite their impressive foresight in other areas, the framers unaccountably neglected to include an involuntary civil commitment procedure in the Constitution.

Still, don't lose hope. By enlisting the aid of mental health professionals and the court system, Congress can act to remedy that constitutional oversight. The goal: Get Bush and Cheney committed to an appropriate inpatient facility, where they can get the treatment they so desperately need. In Washington, the appropriate statutory law is already in place: If a "court or jury finds that [a] person is mentally ill and ... is likely to injure himself or other persons if allowed to remain at liberty, the court may order his hospitalization."