Thursday, January 25, 2007

Left Again Pressing for Impeachment

If you ignore everything that Tom Maguire has written about the Plame affair, assume that Dick Cheney has broken the law, and then somehow convince people that Cheney's alleged lawbreaking constitutes an impeachable offense by Bush with regard to Iraq... then well, it must be time to impeach:

The news from former vice presidential chief of staff "Scooter" Libby's trial on charges of obstructing a federal investigation -- particularly the revelation that Vice President Dick Cheney wrote a memo that effectively confirms his intimate involvement in strategizing about how to counter the inquiry into the Bush administration's politically-motivated outing of CIA operative Valarie Plame -- should slowly but surely edge the prospect of impeachment back onto the table from which Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi removed it.

Cheney is expected to testify in the Libby trial and, if a federal jury rejects his testimony as less than credible, that would seem to create an appropriate opening for members of the House who take seriously their oaths to protect and defend the Constitution to entertain a discussion of impeaching the vice president...

The New Mexico impeachment initiative, one of several currently moving forward in state legislatures around the country, is designed to force members of Congress to take seriously the increasingly-popular demand that the president and vice president be held to account for misleading Congress over the Iraq war, supporting torture, engaging in illegal spying on U.S. citizens and using their offices to punish critics...

With President Bush and the Republicans still sinking in the polls, there's not much chance that Nancy Pelosi would foolishly toss him a lifeline like this. She's well aware that whatever message the voters were sending in November, it was not 'impeach the President.' However, it will be fun to watch the Democratic leadership try to respond rationally to people who regard Keith Olbermann as a newsman.

Update: Looks like the Nation is giving bonuses to people who write on impeachment. Liz Holtzman pens a piece as well. Ms. Holtzman seems to have made a career out of advocating impeachment recently. It's nice to see she can find work, given that her political career ended in negative campaigning and ethical improprieties:

New York City Comptroller Elizabeth Holtzman's reelection bid collapsed before the September primary when a city investigation reported that she showed "gross negligence" in dealings with the Fleet Bank. She had given Fleet a lead underwriting role on a New York City bond seven months after Fleet loaned $450,000 to her 1992 U.S. Senate campaign. Holtzman, who became a national figure for her forceful questions in the Nixon impeachment hearings, found herself saying she "did not remember" if she knew that Fleet was seeking underwriting business when she met with bank officials about a campaign loan. What she did say was that she wished she "had done things differently

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Have you heard about HR 333? I urge you and your readers to take a few minutes to look at:

http://www.usalone.com/cgi-bin/transparency.cgi?paper=1&qnum=pet45

It's a list of the 25 most recent comments made by real Americans participating in an online poll/letter-writing campaign concerning the impeachment charges recently filed against Vice President Cheney, which are now being evaluated by the House Judiciary Committee. Comments can be sent to elected representatives and local newspapers at your option. The participation page is at:

http://www.usalone.com/cheney_impeachment.php

Since this campaign began, some members of Congress have signed on as co-sponsors, in part due to hearing from their constituents. Has yours? Make your voice heard, and let others know!