Dave Johnson (of Seeing the Forest): We seem to be at a historic time right now with an administration that is starting to frankly assert that they are above the rule of law, and I'm wondering if you as Speaker can give us a short statement on this issue and what Congress is prepared to do to re-assert the rule of law of the people of the country.
(Follow the links to read her response.) Then Mike Stark asked about impeachment. In the response she said,
I made a decision a few years ago, or at least one year ago, that impeachment was something that we could not be successful with and that would take up the time we needed to do some positive things to establish a record of our priorities and their short-comings, and the President is... ya know what I say? The President isn't worth it... he's not worth impeaching. We've got important work to do... If he were at the beginning of his term, people may think of it differently, but he's at the end of his terms. The first two years of his term, if we came in as the majority, there might be time to do it all...
Mike, of course, responded,
Mike Stark: Respectfully, that's not the question. Respectfully, the question is whether or not the Constitution is worth it.
Many argue that impeachment will distract the Congress from passing a progressive agenda. That is a pipe dream. The Republicans in the Senate are blocking everything. The President will veto anything that passes. And if something somehow manages to become law the Republicans and the President will just ignore it anyway.
And now there has been yet another action against the Rule of Law. Not long after that conversation the President used his power to keep a convicted and sentenced crony out of jail - also removing any incentive to testify against the President and Vice President.
And here we are. We are at a moment in our history where we can choose to restore ourselves as a nation of laws, or we can let yet another incident pass without taking action.
Is the Constitution worth it or not?
If Bush and the Republicans can support the absolute politicization of our system of law and justice - and our Department of Justice - what won't they do? What aren't they capable of? The key question that this behavior brings up for me is: what about 2008? Will they let the people vote them out? Will they leave office or will they just put an official stamp on what has already occurred?
I don't know of a country that has gone as far down the path to authoritarianism as we have already gone and recovered. Can anyone come up with an example?
P.S. I think that yesterday's "Special Comment" by Keith Olbermann should be remembered in history as an important speech at a perilous time. I ask all of my readers to watch it, ask others to watch it, and print the transcript to leave in coffee shops, etc. Crooks and Liars has the video and the transcript.
http://seeingtheforest.com
Dave Johnson is a Senior Fellow with the Institute for the Renewal of the California Dream working on progressive messaging, and a Fellow at the Commonweal Institute, where he researches and writes about the activities of the conservative movement's network of foundations and think tanks and the extent of their influence on American society. Dave is on the Boards of Directors of Media Transparency and The People Choose, is an advisor to The Philanthropy Network and is a member of the Netroots Advisory Council of the Drum Major Institute. Dave is the lead blogger at Seeing the Forest. He is a featured contributor at Huffington Post and writes at many other sites including MyDD, AlterNet, Common Dreams, DailyKos and Speak Out California.
Mr. Johnson has over 20 years of technology industry experience and has previously held positions including CEO, and VP of Sales and Marketing. He specialized in grassroots "viral" marketing, direct mail, and Internet applications. His earlier career included technical positions in the technology industry, notably in video game design at companies including Atari and Imagic, and he was a pioneer in design and development of productivity and educational applications of personal computers. More recently Dave helped co-found Carbon Tracing, Inc., the company developing the desktop systems to validate carbon trading in the US.
It's great that you got a chance to ask Pelosi the question, and disgusting that she answered it such.
Pelosi (as a representative of the DNC/DLCC/mainstream Dem POV) believes that by letting the Rethuglicans continue making bad decisions she is "letting them hang themselves." This is a POV that believes that the American people in 2008 will make their Congressional, Senate, and Presidential decisions based on how the DEMOCRATS define the Republicans and their behaviour.
BUT THAT'S NOT HOW IT WILL HAPPEN.
With near total control over the mainstream media, the Rethuglicans will frame the election of 2008 to WIN and will find ways to minimize any negative intellectual arguments that might be made about their policies, actions, or obstruction. THEY WILL BLAME THE DEMOCRATS FOR EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS -- it's how they work. They don't believe in hypocrisy (they just practice it to perfection), and they know that the media will never call them on it.
There will be a HORSE RACE for President, and absent any Foley-like sex scandal, the Rethuglicans will not lose many races in the house and senate. AND THAT ASSUMES THAT THE VOTES ARE EVEN COUNTED FAIRLY (electronic theivery) AND THAT DEMOCRATS ARE EVEN ALLOWED TO VOTE (caging and massive Democratid disenfranchisement), which is a stretch.
Pelosi is playing a cynical game that assumes the American people don't care about the U.S. Constitution or fairness or the crimes and deceit of this administration. SHE IS WRONG.
Luckily, if we push our congressional reps hard enough, then Pelosi will have no choice but to put H. Res 333 on the table.
Here's what Pelosi SHOULD have said immediately after the Libby commutation: "Well, President Bush once said that he would punish anybody who leaked confidential information or lied, and he seems to have changed his mind about that. I once said that Impeachment was not on the table. I guess I'll have to change MY mind about that too."
by
Charlie L (2 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 720 comments)
on Thursday, July 5, 2007 at 1:32:56 AM
Speaker Pelosi - Have you forgotten that American soldiers will continue to die over the next 18 months while you Let Bush&Co serve out their time in office. By not taking responsibility for your duties YOU HAVE BECOME JUST AS GUILTY OF THEIR DEATHS AS THE PRESIDENT AND HIS GOON SQUAD?
Even if you truly believe such action can not succeed THAT DOES NOT RELIEVE YOU AND CONGRESS FROM YOUR DUTY!
Considering that the Repugs have shown that they are not going to LET YOU PASS ANYTHING MEANINGFUL AS LONG AS BUSH IS IN THE WHITE HOUSE do you really believe there is now anything MORE IMPORTANT that you can do then start an impeachment process?
Remember that while you are playing politics our friends, brothers and sisters are dieing in Iraq and will contiue to die until Bush is out of the White House.
Truely Nero fiddles while Rome Burns!
by
RLAnchors (7 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 39 comments)
on Thursday, July 5, 2007 at 3:25:22 PM
2 comments
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