In a packed hearing room on Feb 19th, under a carved wooden sign reading "Live Free or Die"-, the New Hampshire House committee of State-Federal Relations and Veterans' Affairs heard testimony on Representative Betty Hall's HR 24, which calls on the U.S. Congress to begin impeachment hearings for George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.
What was most notable about the four straight hours of testimony was not that opponents of the resolution could only muster two people willing to testify against it, both Republican stalwarts using selected excerpts from Jefferson's parliamentary manual or from the bill itself, whose arguments were embarrassingly empty.
It was not that Kris Roberts, the committee chair, had taken this hearing seriously enough to have researched the law, history and nuances of the subject, and that he used this to inform the proceedings in a reasonably fair manner.
It was not the fact that after the hearing ended, several pro-impeachment witnesses were approached by committee members and thanked for their clarity and useful testimony.
It was not even the novelty of the interjections by one committee member that would periodically steer the conversation abruptly into Rockefeller/Trilateral Commission territory.
The most remarkable moment came late in the afternoon when Republican House member Steve Vaillancourt strode into the room to testify. After passing out copies of the second chapter of Patrick Buchanan's "Day of Reckoning"- as supporting evidence, Vaillancourt opened his remarks quoting "fools rush in where wise men fear to tread"-, and it sounded like a set up to condemn a rush to impeach. But instead he said that Betty Hall is neither fool nor wise man, but is a model of courage and that her impeachment resolution should be supported.
And then the fun began.
Member Vaillancourt then gave a short history lesson, telling the committee that until Bush/Cheney, America had never engaged in an offensive war [sic.], and pointing out that the Truman, Eisenhower. Kennedy and Reagan "Doctrines"- had all been based on defense and had not been offensive in nature. Warming to the subject, he delved into the ramifications of Bush/Cheney's actions, saying that their reckless foreign policy has been anti-American, unconstitutional, and ruinously costly to the nation.
He was fairly thundering by the time that he pronounced that not only should Bush and Cheney be impeached, but also they should be tried as war criminals in a Nuremburg style trial for crimes against humanity. He flatly stated that the war in Iraq has provided grounds for war crimes charges against the President and Vice President. And there was not one word of protest from a single committee member. They may or may not support this resolution to impeach, but there seems to be no one left with a credible argument to defend Bush/Cheney.
Vaillancourt said that he spoke not as a Republican, a New Hampshire citizen or an American, but as a member of humanity. His remarks made a common sense plea for an honest appraisal of our current political situation, for the acknowledgement that we have a duty to act as a decent and responsible people, and that principle be the governing factor of our government's actions. These are all values that should, and once did, cut across party lines. If the current political parties have forgotten this, and become so degraded as to allow the lawlessness and criminality of this administration to go unchecked, the people have not.
And at that hearing the people had their chance to speak. One member of the committee remarked that she had never before seen such a wide range of viewpoints as represented by the witnesses, to be so united on one issue.
After deliberation the next day, loyalty to party leadership proved a stronger pull than reasoned argument, for five committee members voted to recommend the bill, with eleven voting against. Now facing an uphill battle to get it passed in a full House vote in March, Betty Hall was still encouraged by the committee hearing and vote. She has received much more support for this resolution than she did with a similar effort last year, and is already working to get grass roots supporters out between now and the vote to get their legislators' attention.
If the grass roots continue to pour out as they did on Tuesday, and if there were a few more politicians like Steve Vaillancourt and Betty Hall, we might see things begin to change. It's instructive to remember that some politicians who are now leading the charge for impeachment did not want to talk about it only a few short months ago. The spotlight is now on the New Hampshire House, the third largest deliberative body on the planet, and arguably one of the more democratic representative systems anywhere as well.
These representatives may listen to an outsider's viewpoint on what to do about the Constitution, but they will be influenced most by the neighbors whom they represent. The question is, is New Hampshire angry enough and organized enough to convince the legislature to call for impeachment?
For those outside of New Hampshire the question is, how can we raise the temperature everywhere else, making it all the more plausible that the Granite State will reach the boiling point.
Dan Dewalt is a musician/woodworker/teacher who authored the Newfane impeachment resolution passed at March 2006 town meetings.
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
I cannot think of a better way to reclaim a party and rejuvenate it right before an election. And with McCain already having so-called "liberal tendencies," they should do it.
Sock it to the Bush Democrats and the Democratic leadership. I would love every minute of it especially after what the people in charge of the Democratic Party did to Mike Gravel and Dennis Kucinich by virtually ignoring their candidacies and shooing them under a rug.
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Kevin Gosztola (302 articles, 146 quicklinks, 81 diaries, 1082 comments [77 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Thursday, Feb 21, 2008 at 8:04:00 PM
This comment has been flagged by an editor
Reason: (Slanderous) Reflagged: Buchanan may not have the same philosophy as I do, but he's not insane. Also, he does have influence no matter what his party registration is. In fact, this graduate is very influential.
Well, we see that insanity knows no party boundaries.
Also: Pat Buchanan has no pull in getting Republicans to abandon Bush and Cheney, since Buchanan left the GOP almost 10 years ago. He ran in 2000 under the Reform Party ticket, despite the fact that the Reform Party platform (such as it was) was pro-choice and advocated a 50-cent-a-gallon increase in gas tax.
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Scott (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 744 comments [30 recommended, 3 rejected]) on Thursday, Feb 21, 2008 at 8:44:55 PM
I watch the McGloughlin Report on a regular basis, Pat Buchanon being a regular on that show. I find myself nodding in agreement with him somewhat often , if not with the final conclusions he draws. He is an intelligent person and your comments regarding him are unwarranted and mostly without substance.
Now if you want to take off on Richard Perle, Donald Rumsfeld or Dick Cheney, well head right on!
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ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2377 comments) on Friday, Feb 22, 2008 at 6:54:52 AM
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