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July 22, 2007 at 10:46:49
The Case for Not Waiting Out This Presidency by Jim Freeman Page 1 of 3 page(s) |
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It’s almost too apparent to compare current refusals-to-submit of the Bush-Cheney White House with the bad old days of Richard Nixon stonewalling similar inquiry. Both used ‘executive privilege’ as an excuse to ward off the evil minions who would do them dirt—dastardly organizations like the House of Representatives, the Senate and the courts. Both stood in front of the cameras, fighting to sound logical in the face of confused, disconnected and garbled argument. Both had Cheney, Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld in their administrations; young zealots under Nixon and harnessed again as old experienced hands under Bush. Both had their arrogant positions denied in the courts and both sought to circumvent the courts in their last days of desperate decline. Both ultimately came up against Congress, as the founding fathers require, to be checked and balanced. Impeachment, which is now on everyone’s table except Nancy Pelosi’s, has been brilliantly put into focus by John Nichols. John is the author of The Genius of Impeachment and recently the guest of Bill Moyers on PBS. Moyers devoted a full hour to the subject and Nichols makes the point that we have wrongly stated the case; “Impeachment is not a constitutional crisis, impeachment is the cure for a constitutional crisis.”
Nixon resigned rather than face impeachment. Bush thinks he can ride it out and fully intends to do so. But this president has been wrong in virtually every judgment he has made over the course of his six and a half years in office.
The circle wasn’t properly closed on Nixon and that was a mistake that must not be made again. Congress felt the need to try him even after he resigned, but President Ford was perhaps too quick with a pardon and the point became moot. That necessary constitutional circle hasn’t even been drawn on Bush-Cheney.
Cheney says he isn’t liable to oversight because he’s not of the executive and not of the legislative, although he occupies an office in each and the Constitution has named his office as executive. Absurd on the face of it, but law is not law until and unless it is enforced.
Bush claims the Attorney General’s Office may not prosecute any purported crime that has its source within privileged discussion. Not surprisingly, all discussion of all issues falls under his definition of executive privilege and thus an entire two-term presidency is (in his view) exempt from oversight.
Naming every document ‘secret’ has also served to obstruct the courts when Bush has been challenged. Clinton (1995) classified 3.5 million documents secret, compared to a stunning 14.2 million by Bush in 2005 alone.
Constitutional crisis is not only at the door, it’s scratching and howling to be recognized. Those who claim country has suffered too much are dead wrong—the country hasn’t suffered nearly enough to make it fully understand the depth and seriousness of crimes unpunished. Each and every illegal grab of yet more presidential power accrues to the next presidency. That president may well take a benign position, but the additional powers will have been cast in stone by precedent—unchallenged precedent. Death by a thousand small cuts.
Don't look to Congress for redress. Congress is (and has always been) feckless in time of need, dithering, fretting and sucking its thumb when bold action was called for. Not its fault. The storied halls of compromise and conceit, of deal-making and delay, of payola and pride were designed to be the modifier rather than the cure for every flamboyance. The House and Senate are two stomachs of the ruminating legislative cow, munching away within the green pastures of rabid right and liberal left.
Legislation is thus made a cud, regurgitated repeatedly, to be chewed again. That’s the congressional job. Chew and occasionally be milked of special-interest cream.
Public opinion will impeach this crew and regardless of my former argument, public opinion has begun to swing. Opinion is prescient in that it isn’t the war that’s turned their head, but Scooter Libby’s commuted sentence. Libby and Valerie Plame are but a tiny piece of mismanagement compared to the debacle in Iraq, but they are the right piece, the correct piece, the kiss-my-ass and stick-it-in-your ear piece.
Misleading America into war was a regrettable failure of judgment, but bad choices are hardly impeachable. Bad choices are paid for at election time, not in the judicial chamber of a more-than-equally complicit Senate. Impeachment is reserved for ‘high crimes and misdemeanors,’ neither of which are defined as bad choices.
Put the war aside in perspective. The arrogant and deceitful run-up to the war is less important than some of the crimes committed in the pursuit of that war. The president and vice-president are potentially guilty of actual high crimes, according to this partial listing from http://www.impeachbush.org ;
· Instituting a secret and illegal wiretapping and spying operation against the people of the United States through the National Security Agency.
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| 17 comments |
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Let's go get the bastards Now!
Well, it doesn't take a genius to realize Pelosi and her minions of cowards are not going to Impeach little George, or his Dick, Cheney. Further, as i'm sure you know it takes a supermajority to do it to start with and there aren't enough brains to make one in congress. I thought these a**hole republicrats were given majority, (though a small one) as a mandate to end the war in iraq and get rid of little George. Well, NOTHING, not one issue of any substance or with any teeth has been yet introduced by these pond scum bastards. Might have to go after Little George and his cartel on our own. by tedbohne (87 articles, 103 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 119 comments) on Sunday, Jul 22, 2007 at 11:37:27 AM  (0+)
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urgency of impeachment
Excellent reasoning. Can we the people actually bring this administration to justice? I don't know but I sure as hell am trying. I watched Bill Moyers' Journal the night Nichols and Fein were on. I was impressed by both, but more by Fein, whose conservative credentials are impeccable and who was more adament than Nichols on impeachment it seemed to me. I wrote a public diary for opednews to express my fear for the constitution. I also took those points that Fein made to a town hall meeting held by Congressman Bob Inglis of the fourth district of South Carolina and pressed him, in view of the crimes of Cheney and Bush, to support impeachment. He replied that impeachment procedings would just be a fringe sponsored movement and would fracture any chance of cooperation in congress to solve problems. My friend Ted and I immediately piped up that the 54% of Americans favoring impeachment of Dick Cheney were not a fringe group. The avenue I am taking to try to accomplish impeachment and the rescue of the constitution is to pressure, pressure, pressure Inglis and encourage other people to pressure their representatives on the issue. It is great to see so many intelligent, aware people expressing their opinions about the danger to the republic of this group of criminals who believe our constitution is a gd scrap of paper. Thank you. Sheila Jackson by Sheila Jackson (16 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 133 comments) on Sunday, Jul 22, 2007 at 12:12:56 PM (0+)
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If the Congress refuses to impeach, they force the public to
choose between submitting to tyranny, and stringing the miserable traitors up to the nearest lampposts. It would be preferable if the public were able to express its displeasure under the rules prescribed by the Constitution. The Congress should be aware that by refusing to act, they are forcing the public to take the only other option open to them -- and that if matters come to that point, the term "miserable traitors" would include all those in Congress who are protecting Bush & Cheney. by Richard Mynick (2 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 1552 comments [255 recommended, 5 rejected]) on Sunday, Jul 22, 2007 at 12:19:01 PM (0+)
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bush cheney OUT - LAWS image 4 U 2 RE:
IMPEACH & JAIL bush & cheney PATRIOT, DEMOCRACY, PROTEST IMAGEs at... http://www.RogerART.com Patriots, OK 2 Copy - Use As U C Fit... E 2 your Reps, Family, Friends, Repugs... IMPEACH NOW by RogerART.com (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 5 comments) on Sunday, Jul 22, 2007 at 1:12:06 PM (0+)
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Storm the Caslte
We write on blogs, sign petitions. Maybe it's time to March on Washington DC. Nothing else is getting through. One thing that has never really been fully looked at was Chenney residence. There was some talk about him living in Texas at the time he was selected VP. So there maybe be way to remove him from office, because He was illegal elected ( selected ) start with. by Gareece (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 46 comments) on Sunday, Jul 22, 2007 at 1:26:58 PM (0+)
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Reply: You demonstrate that Dem Party apologists are as dishonest
as Republicans. Today's world is burning, & in your attempt to con people into believing that the Democrats are behaving as responsible defenders of the Constitution, you Copy-'N-Paste a long list of trivial so-called "accomplishments." It probably took you about 30 seconds to create this post, which mostly lists two-bit "initiatives" unrelated to the constitutional crisis at hand. For instance, you list "House passes flag bill Bush opposed. Governors could order federal facilities to lower their flags to honor fallen military troops under legislation passed by the House Tuesday." Oh, that's a great "accomplishment," all right. // Most of the rest of what you list are not serious initiatives. They are merely PR efforts aimed at getting the public to imagine that the Dems are "opponents" of Repubs-- a quite different matter than actually being serious opponents. No one has accused the Dems of a deficiency of posturing -- in fact, they are experts at that. You are merely listing their various gambits in phony posturing, & pretending they're "accomplishments." Further, a quick Google on your own name shows who you are, & what you really stand for. On a DemocraticUnderground thread last week , you said the respected antiwar & pro-impeachment activist David Swanson was guilty of "neocon-style smears" & "inane conspiracy theory." You furthermore spoke of pro-impeachment Democrats in this language : "Fellow Democrats, we have GOT to get the "impeachbots" out of the party! So why should anyone listen to someone like you? Your game is being a vicious apologist for Democrats, not someone interested in the truth. by Richard Mynick (2 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 1552 comments [255 recommended, 5 rejected]) on Sunday, Jul 22, 2007 at 4:32:26 PM (0+)
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Reply: Got the wrong guy, pard
Somehow you've confused me with a guy named Perry Logan--if you're going to 'comment,' then please be sure you're commenting to the correct article. Jim Freeman by Jim Freeman (108 articles, 53 quicklinks, 227 diaries, 386 comments) on Tuesday, Jul 24, 2007 at 7:41:10 AM (0+)
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Reply: (Chuckle!) No, there's a logical misunderstanding here!
Actually, I was indeed responding to a post by a guy named "PerryLogan." He attacked your article, and I was setting him straight. However, his post was removed by OpEdNews management on Sunday evening. (That's why it says "Comment is Hidden....Reason:.." right above my response to him -- that's the only thing that remains of his comment.) His comment to you was along the lines "The Dems are actually accomplishing a great deal, but you just don't know anything about it, because you haven't done the research." by Richard Mynick (2 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 1552 comments [255 recommended, 5 rejected]) on Wednesday, Jul 25, 2007 at 10:02:21 AM (0+)
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Impeachment Postcards to Pelosi
So simple a caveman can do it! by grassroots (0 articles, 2 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 42 comments [1 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Sunday, Jul 22, 2007 at 1:56:56 PM (0+)
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Reply: downloading people
"Other impeachment groups are sending people to us for downloads." You're downloading people! Technology today is AMAZING! Please send me the code so I can incorporate it in my website. by sbaker (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 147 comments) on Sunday, Jul 22, 2007 at 9:37:08 PM (0+)
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Impeachment NOW or Our Democracy Is Doomed
For the survival of our constitutional republic impeachment of Bush and Cheney is absolutely essential, but the Democratic leadership in Congress has made the judgement that: "impeachment is off the table." The calculation seems to be based on two points: 1) After the Republicans’ shameful Clinton impeachment fiasco the American people don’t have the stomach to go through the process again, and 2) Bad as the President and Vice President are, we can tolerate them because they’ll be gone in 18 months. With regard to the first point: Clinton’s impeachment was a fraudulent Republican political act designed to embarrass him (and by extension, all Democrats) about a purely personal matter having no bearing on the functioning or survival of our constitutional republic (i.e. not a "high crime or misdemeanor"). By contrast, impeachments of Bush and Cheney will be based on many GENUINE high crimes and misdemeanors that threaten our survival as a free people with inalienable rights: 1) lying to the American people, Congress and the UN to gain support for their misbegotten war against Iraq, 2) violating international laws by waging a war of aggression against Iraq, 3) illegally spying on American citizens without legitimate court warrants, 4) authorizing and encouraging "rendition" and torture of those he and he alone decides are enemies or "terrorists", 5) holding prisoners indefinitely without charge and denying them the right of habeas corpus guaranteed in Article 1 of the Constitution and recognized in Common Law since the Magna Carta, 6) issuing over 700 signing statements to avoid the constitutional requirement for him to faithfully execute the laws passed by Congress, 7) using these signing statements to claim unitary executive authority - that he is not bound by the laws that apply to everyone else, 8) encouraging subordinates (e.g. Karl Rove and Alberto Gonzales) to violate the Hatch Act which forbids using government facilities for purely political purposes. Until now the corporate news media has been loath to expose Bush and Cheney as the despots we know them to be from investigative reporters like Seymour Hersh and Greg Palast, scholars like Chalmers Johnson and countless others. Even Bush’s media sycophants, Fox News, will not be able to avoid at least some coverage of public impeachment hearings where this administration’s crimes will be exposed for all to see. When the people come to understand the full extent to which the Bush/Cheney criminal enterprise has deceived them there will be a groundswell for their removal from office. Now with regard to the second point it is imperative that Bush and Cheney not be allowed to "run out the clock", but that they be removed immediately because: a) they are preparing for an attack on Iran, probably using nuclear weapons , and b) they have arrogated such extraordinary powers to themselves that it is entirely conceivable (indeed in the opinion of many, highly likely) that they will trump-up an excuse to "justify" a declaration of martial law, render Congress and the Courts powerless, and postpone future elections for the duration of the "emergency" thereby effectively anointing themselves as absolute rulers for life answerable to no one. Under these conditions the people would have no recourse, but to resort to violent revolution to reclaim the country from the despots. For the above reasons and others too numerous to go into in this short note Bush and Cheney must be removed from office now. Since assassination is the only thing that is truly off the table, the only action available to rescue our democracy is the use of the impeachment process. by Robert R. Regl (11 articles, 0 quicklinks, 28 diaries, 13 comments) on Sunday, Jul 22, 2007 at 9:20:40 PM (0+)
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Impeachment
I would like to know. Have you considered, that the whole effort and only reason to impeach President Clinton was a Karl Rove plan to DIMINISH and TRIVILIZE impeachment, so we as a nation would NEVER again be able to bring impeachment to the American people? Thank you for a very concise article a pleasure to read. Graycat by Susan Wall (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 2 comments) on Monday, Jul 23, 2007 at 11:12:59 AM (0+)
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Reply: Karl Rove trivialization
No, I really think Newt Gingrich nailed it when he said, "we did it because we COULD." He admits it was a mistake. The Constitution means many things to many people, but it has remained un-trivialized over 231 years. Jim Freeman by Jim Freeman (108 articles, 53 quicklinks, 227 diaries, 386 comments) on Tuesday, Jul 24, 2007 at 8:06:15 AM (0+)
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Reply: Newt said that.
Newt actually said, "We did it because we could?" Shows how much respect he has for the constitution. And he is thinking of running for President? What kind of a person would vote for someone with that little respect for his country? AARRRGGGHHH. Good grief! by Sheila Jackson (16 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 133 comments) on Sunday, Jul 29, 2007 at 11:09:53 PM (0+)
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What can we do to prompt Congress to impeach?
Thank you for your incisive and inspiring article. I have been writing my Congressional Representative - Speaker Nancy Pelosi - and other Democratic members of California's Congressional Delegation - urging that impeachment proceedings be initiated. Here is my latest letter to Speaker Pelosi: July 23, 2007 Speaker Nancy Pelosi 235 Cannon House Office Building Washington, DC 20515-0508 Dear Speaker Pelosi: On June 27 of this year - roughly four weeks ago - I sent you a letter (copy enclosed) entreating you to reconsider your pre-2004 election commitment to “keep impeachment off the table.” Since then… First, I have noted that I received no acknowledgement of my letter from anyone in your office. As a constituent who took the time and trouble to write, I expect some response - even if nothing more than a form letter. Second, I have noted that you have given no indication to anyone in the media that you are planning to respond to what polls demonstrate is growing demand on the part of the public - including your constituents - for some sort of leadership on your part in stopping this president’s usurpation of legislative branch powers, even as he and his legal team continue to destroy the Constitution. Third, I have noted with dismay and alarm that Mr. Bush’s approval numbers have begun to inch up - currently at 35% according to Zogby - while approval of the Democratically-controlled congress has sunk to an all-time low of 14%. Wake up, Speaker Pelosi. You are losing the confidence of those who entrusted it in you and your colleagues last Fall. At this point, I have decided that if you continue to offer only token push-back to this administration, you will lose my vote in 2008. You are Speaker of the House - but you owe your office to your constituents. And those who actually elected you need a reason to keep you in office beyond your current possession of the Speaker’s gavel. Thank you for taking note of these points. Respectfully, What else can a responsible adult such as myself do to make the leaders that I have helped elect take the only action that can save our Republic? by Ben Bayol (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments) on Tuesday, Jul 24, 2007 at 10:04:58 AM (0+)
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Reply: What to do.
Just now called Conyer's office and said, "We don't watch Fox News, so go ahead and impeach Dick Cheney, but you might want to consider Gonzales first." Just a little thing, but easy to do. Maybe enough calls will have some effect. by Sheila Jackson (16 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 133 comments) on Monday, Jul 30, 2007 at 12:52:52 PM (0+)
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Reply: What to do
Sheila-- My hat is off to you. You are a doer and most of us just complain to one another, preaching to the choir. I applaud your activism. Perhaps others will follow your lead. Jim by Jim Freeman (108 articles, 53 quicklinks, 227 diaries, 386 comments) on Monday, Jul 30, 2007 at 2:19:34 PM (0+)
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