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June 23, 2008 at 08:16:57
An Historic Moment Gone Unnoticed by John Basel Page 1 of 2 page(s) |
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An historic moment occurred in the House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. the night of Monday, June 9, 2008. Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio presented his 35 articles of impeachment against the president, George W. Bush. It took nearly five hours to read. It covered everything from misleading the American public about the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq so as to manufacture a case for war to numerous cases of violating the Constitution of the United States. In 1998 the House voted to impeach then president Bill Clinton. They approved two out of four articles of impeachment. All dealt with perjury or obstruction of justice related to either the Paula Jones or Monica Lewinski sex scandals. Polls indicate that at least 40% of the American public supports an investigation into the possible impeachment of George W. Bush. In 1998 a little more than 20% of the public supported impeaching president Clinton.
The articles of impeachment presented by Kucinich against Bush stand little chance of even making it out of the House Judiciary Committee and, therefore, will die.
Impeachment passed in the House in 1998 against president Clinton almost exclusively along party lines but then failed to get a conviction in the Senate when some Republicans broke ranks and voted against it. Still, 100% of the yes votes for impeachment were from Republicans.
In spite of the above mentioned facts, this historic event on June 9, 2008 did not so much even get mentioned by the mainstream media and most Americans probably don’t even know it happened. What’s wrong with this picture?
The bottom line? Political will. In 1998 the extremely partisan Republican majority, led by “The Hammer” Tom DeLay, relentlessly pursued case after case searching for an impeachable offense against Clinton. After years of searching and coming up with nothing along came Monica Lewinsky served up by the original weapon of mass destruction, Linda Tripp. So even while some of their own were busy hiding their own sexual affairs from public view, the Republican leadership began an historic battle against what they pitched as an immoral White House lacking in family values.
Today the Democratic majority has a House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, who has publicly said that impeachment is off the table. And so, it will die. Outside of a few determined Democrats, few are willing to go up against Pelosi. So, since democratic politicians themselves aren't taking impeachment seriously, and since the media doesn't take Kucinich seriously, this will get no press.
Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison wrote the following statement:
“If only the President had followed the simple, high moral principle handed to us by our Nation’s first leader as a child and had said early in this episode “I cannot tell a lie,” we would not be here today. We would not be sitting in judgment of a President. We would not be invoking those provisions of the Constitution that have only been applied once before in our Nation’s history.
But we should all be thankful that our Constitution is there, and we should take pride in our right and duty to enforce it. A hundred years from now, when history looks back to this moment, we can hope for a conclusion that our Constitution has been applied fairly and survives, that we have come to principled judgments about matters of national importance, and that the rule of law in America has been sustained.”
The president she was referring to? Bill Clinton.
When one looks at the two sets of articles of impeachment you can’t help but think that the Clinton case pales in comparison to the Bush case. And yet, you can be sure that Hutchison will not support this impeachment. You see, in Washington, D.C. partisan politics is more important than integrity and defending the Constitution. That Constitution that Senator Hutchison referred to has in fact not survived intact during this administration. Much of the Bill of Rights lies in tatters as a direct result of Bush supported legislation such as the Patriot Act and the Military Commissions Act. Many of its other provisions have been ignored or violated and without any consequence to the offender. Any efforts to protect American civil liberties and freedoms from the legislative ax are made meaningless by presidential signing statements declaring that he will break the law if he sees fit, and he does. Why on earth does the Congress let the president get away with breaking the law when it is their duty, as Senator Hutchison so eloquently put it, to enforce it? The answer? No political will.
Nancy Pelosi stands in the way of justice and the duty of Congress to perform one of their most critical jobs, maintaining the balance of power among the three branches of government. But she is not an immovable force. The rest of the House of Representatives can be motivated if their constituency lets them know what their feelings are. Will you be motivated to let your congressman know your feelings about impeachment, either way. I hope so, because it is your duty as an American citizen and voter.
There were three Texas Republicans who voted in favor of sending the articles of impeachment against Bush to the House Judiciary Committee. One, Kevin Brady, did so for an unusual reason. “I believe the impeachment resolution is beyond ludicrous. Even the five minutes we spent on it were a waste of time,” said Brady. “I wanted it off the floor and dealt with.” I wonder why Rep. Brady feels that enforcing the law is ludicrous. He didn’t say why and does, I feel, the whole process a disservice by not taking the matter seriously as does Rep. Ron Paul. Republican and former candidate for president Ron Paul’s office had this to say about his yes vote on the resolution: “…his vote was to send the matter to the Judiciary Committee for further hearings and deliberation, which is standard procedure for actions of this type, rather than immediate action on the floor. Congressman Paul believes that impeachment is a serious matter and should not be undertaken lightly.”
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| 8 comments |
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Echoing the Call for Citizen Activism
I appreciate Basel's article in general and especially want to echo his call for citizen activism on the Bush impeachment. In our town of Kingman, AZ a couple of recent high school grads and i have been standing on street corners with signs and handing out flyers, albeit rarely, with contact info for our US representative, Trent Franks. We've also made disposable "IMPEACH"posters and stapled them on prominent abandoned buildings aaround the area. This is a very redneck/red state town so we frequently get yelled at inanely and measure our effectiveness by how many times someone shoots us the finger, but the vast majority of those who respond from their cars at the stop lights or while driving by are positive. In many cases you can see their joy at seeing someone stand up and say something. We become the voices they wish they could find in themselves. What a great gift it is to give to people you don't even know: the voice inside themselves they wish they could find. Citizens in America, at least in this 21st century America, are taught to believe they don't have a voice and so seeing us stand up and express ourselves is indeed a powerful example to them and to ourselves. It reduces that sickening feeling of impotence we get from watching the steady train of abuses coming out of DC. I implore all readers to do something personal to promote te idea of impeachment. It helps your community and you and, maybe, just maybe .... You just won't even know how much impact your protests can have till you try. mikel by mikel weisser (49 articles, 3 quicklinks, 15 diaries, 87 comments [3 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Monday, Jun 23, 2008 at 10:05:46 AM  (0+)
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Hardly even noticed
The deafening silence following the actions by Kucinich is appalling. Instead of the momentus uproar that accompanied the Clinton impeachment proceedings, this affair has been met with no more interest on the part of the public and the press than the swatting of a mosquito. This is a major event and a stunningly important occurence and should be viewed and reported as a watershed moment in American politics. It casts a palor and a dark cloud of shame on the Presidency of the United States and it has been doused out like an insignificant campfire by the MSM. It's disgusting. The goverment is a broken and maimed animal. And those we have elected to represent us have become a blight on our existence. Despite what they say in front of a microphone, Pelosi et.al., have become our contemporary symbols of the outright neglect and deference with which these public servants treat us. There is no concern for the welfare of the people and the general moral and political health of the country. The only pre-eminent concern is for the battle between the right and the left and who garners the most money in the process. Every other boast or claim they make is simply a lie. The blatant efforts by the media and the members of congress to sweep the 35 articles under the rug (and hope no one will notice the huge bump in the carpet) is nothing short of shameful. This subdued coverage and complete under-reaction is despicable. by Ivan Hentschel (12 articles, 0 quicklinks, 10 diaries, 302 comments [4 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Monday, Jun 23, 2008 at 11:31:06 AM (0+)
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Our duty
" But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security ". by Keystone (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 299 comments [78 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Monday, Jun 23, 2008 at 3:00:17 PM (0+)
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I support impeachment
I support and supported the impeachment of Bill Clinton. Perjury is not something that should be tolerated by our Presidents. What we are dealing with here with Bush is nothing short of a blatant disregard for the rule of law and civil liberties. What we have here is a broken system. The checks and balances have been thrown out the window. The Executive branch has been given free reign to do whatever they want with no oversight. There have been many failures here but who do I see as the worst offender? The media. They alone have the job of educating the American people and bringing these important matters to our attention. They have the moral and intrinsic obligation of providing fair and unbiased coverage to the millions of Americans who trust in them. They abuse that trust and are traitors to the people. They control the people's thoughts and actions. They choose the Presidents. They hide their mistakes when convenient to their interests. They regularly practice lies and deceit. They diminish the people's interests in the areas that should be most important to them and they direct the people's interests to mundane and unimportant issues. Issues that the people can't do anything about. Whoever controls information controls the people. What we need is a revolution against the press. Until that happens and we achieve fair and unbiased press coverage, people will ignorantly allow our government to trample on our civil liberties and grind this country into dirt. We can't really blame the government. They are doing exactly as we and our forefathers who founded this country have expected them to do. If we were well-informed in our rights and we were well-informed in the actions of our country we would know that we don't have to sit back and ignore it. We have constitutional rights to oversee and change our government and take an active role in what's happening. But the media would rather we be passive and ignorant. The media is the real traitor here. They have put their own interests above the rights of the people. They control us, they control everything. by Ron R. (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 152 comments [11 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Monday, Jun 23, 2008 at 4:32:22 PM (0+)
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Hold on to your hats!
First we were tongue-tied for fear of upsetting the "patriotism" cart. Then we were frustrated at how the House didn't see our plight. But now we are getting mad about four-dollar gas and grocery bills going through the roof. Regardless of where we live, the floods on the Mississippi are ours to deal with. Come Labor Day the pols will parade at Denver and Minneapolis, spouting empty rhetoric. Like they say in ads: Don't get mad, get glad. And the GLAD means Government Let America Down! Impeach! by Margaret Bassett (45 articles, 2909 quicklinks, 42 diaries, 1853 comments [99 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Monday, Jun 23, 2008 at 5:29:33 PM (0+)
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Impeachment and Speajer Pelosi
Has anyone asked Mrs. Pelosi why impeachment is off the table? by Robert McElroy (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 15 comments) on Monday, Jun 23, 2008 at 5:41:52 PM (0+)
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A Government of law , not of men
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/bilderberg_s_oil_orders_141.html by Keystone (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 299 comments [78 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Monday, Jun 23, 2008 at 5:47:52 PM (0+)
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relative interest
When OEN informed me that Kucinich was speaking in impeachment I went to Google News to see how it was being covered. Front page nothing. I searched "impeach". It was front page news in many countries, but barely a mention in the US. by John Haigh (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 118 comments) on Tuesday, Jun 24, 2008 at 2:52:35 AM (0+)
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