Tomorrow, Rep Jay Inslee (D-WA) will introduce into the house a bill to impeach Alberto Gonzales.
MSNBC reports, "A group of House Democrats will introduce a resolution calling on the Judiciary Committee to begin impeachment proceedings against Attorney General Alberto Gonzales."
Here's the resolution, as MSNBC reports it:
RESOLUTION Directing the Committee on the Judiciary to investigate whether Alberto R. Gonzales, Attorney General of the United States, should be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors. 1 Resolved, That the Committee on the Judiciary shall 2 investigate fully whether sufficient grounds exist for the 3 House of Representatives to impeach Alberto R. Gonzales, 4 Attorney General of the United States, for high crimes 5 and misdemeanors.
A few thoughts.
-Defendants are supposed to be mentally competent to stand trial. It's certainly not a certainty that Gonzales is up to understanding what impeachment means, other than, like a dog barking at a cat up a tree, protecting his master, Dubya.
-Okay, enough silliness.
This is a good thing. The vast majority of Americans know what a simpering, crooked, incompetent lout Gonzales is. The Democrats is the house should know that if they fail to impeach Gonzales, they will fail to come back in Jan 2009.
-Going through the process of impeaching Gonzales will be good practice, will loosen up the Dems so they can get used to the idea of impeaching Cheney next.
-There are many house republicans who will have to vote to impeach Gonzales to keep their jobs. This impeachment will definitely NOT be a partisan vote strictly along party lines. The Republicans know that their constituents want them to clean up the justice department. That will make it more difficult for the Republicans in the senate to back Bush on this fight.
-This is one legislative action that will get the Dems some positive support from progressives. It will get them some flack from the right, from Dittohead radio and the right wing echo chamber, and overall, I think it will immunize them from the criticism they'll get when Cheney's then Bush's turns for impeachment come up.
-Showing some spine should raise the poll ratings for congress, even more, if the right wingers start criticizing the move.
-If Tony Snow attacks this, expect Bush's poll numbers to drop even lower. Remember, not a single member of congress would defend Gonzales on the sunday talk shows this past Sunday.
-The poll ratings for Orrin Hatch, Gonzales top "red" defender, should be interesting to watch.
-The good news is that another legislator has dusted off the "I" word.
-Maybe this will bump the dumb talk about Hillary's cleavage off the news.
Rob Kall is executive editor and publisher of OpEdNews.com, President of Futurehealth, Inc, inventor . He is also published regularly on the Huffingtonpost.com. He is a frequent Speaker on Politics, Impeachment, The art, science and power of story, heroes and the hero's journey, Positive Psychology, Stress, Biofeedback and a wide range of subjects. He is a campaign consultant specializing in tapping the power of stories for issue positioning, stump speeches and debates. He recently retired as organizer of several conferences, including StoryCon, the Summit Meeting on the Art, Science and Application of Story and The Winter Brain Meeting on neurofeedback, biofeedback, Optimal Functioning and Positive Psychology. See more of his articles here and, older ones, here.
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CNN is reporting on John ROberts' seizure and Ted Stevens' home being raided. Well, Roberts looks like he's okay-- the second reported seizure in 14 years. Stevens can keep his health secret. But seizures have to do with the brain-- we ought to know if there's something wrong with his brain-- besides being a right wing a-hole.
by
Rob Kall (808 articles, 3922 quicklinks, 332 diaries, 1703 comments)
on Monday, July 30, 2007 at 6:11:15 PM
It’s interesting to postulate that he may have temporal lobe epilepsy, which can affect memory, but also can often be associated with several unusual symptoms, including extreme religiosity, first described by Dr. Norman Geschwind. For example, search for the book "Seized" on Amazon.
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John R Moffett (80 articles, 14 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 610 comments)
on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 at 6:51:19 AM
...it might also impair the parts of the brain that store memories of memberships in ultra rightwing groups like the Federalist Society...and affects the areas that control the cognitive functions that recognizes the presence and existence of the non corporate and non affluent .
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chariotdrvr14 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 125 comments)
on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 at 7:43:07 AM
Yes, it is customary to put the appetizers on the table first, and then the entree. Just because something is not on the table, doesn't mean its not being cooked up in the kitchen.
Let the feast begin! Bon Appetit!
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Marcus B (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 26 comments)
on Monday, July 30, 2007 at 7:36:33 PM
I don't see this as a good thing. Going after Gonzales will take the heat off of Bush. It's a diversion. It implies that Bush is untouchable. All these people taking the fall for taking orders but meanwhile the man giving the orders gets a pass. There's no excuse for allowing Bush to continue in office one more day. For lack of courage we keep finding ways to ignore this fact... If we take out Bush his whole deck of cards falls. If we take out Gonzales, the King is left standing. Someone else will just take his place. It is a poor strategy, a weak strategy, a second rate strategy. Better than nothing, but not what Congress should be doing with its time.
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Mark A. Goldman (81 articles, 2 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 243 comments)
on Monday, July 30, 2007 at 11:48:46 PM
Agreed. If the D's use this as a diversion from Bush-Cheney,
it's simply one more betrayal of the population. In that case, they will once again be able to posture as though they're "getting tough with the administration," while actually caving into it.
On top of that, as others have pointed out, they might well spend months on impeaching Gonzo -- then Bush will pardon him, a la Libby. Then nothing will have been gained at all. Pelosi-Reid may cynically view this outcome as something that would help the D's prospects in '08, but it does nothing whatsoever to redress the crisis being faced by the rest of the country.
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Richard Mynick (2 articles, 3 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 1168 comments)
on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 at 9:54:02 AM
The demorats have stated repeatedly that they don't have time to impeach bush & cheney - because they have other more important matters to deal with. But now they have time to impeach Gonzo? I smell a rat.
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RCG (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 348 comments)
on Monday, July 30, 2007 at 11:54:28 PM
With Stevens on the ropes, there may be a bit more leverage there. I hope someone will get more dirt on Vitter. It's ironic that he took Bob Livingston's place, and now is keeping his Senate seat despite more dirt than Livingston's.
An article of impeachment against Gonzales will also be hard to get on the table, just like HR333 for Cheney. However, let's be on the lookout for what happens if Miers and Bolten fail to show for their contempt citation. Surely some Republican is willing to sing.
And then think about next week. Iraq and USA are closing up legislative shop for a month. And there still isn't an oil statute in Iraq.
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Margaret Bassett (25 articles, 1685 quicklinks, 29 diaries, 1015 comments)
on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 at 12:01:33 AM
Strategy may have some potential, but also much risk
OK. So far so good.
But, there are no good endgames for this scenario. If the vote to impeach passes, Gonzales will resign within 24 hours, and then what? The Democrats CAN and SHOULD proceed with the impeachment anyway, as conviction would mean that Gonzalez could NEVER serve in a "position of honor" in the Government again, EVEN IF PARDONED BY THE PRESIDENT. But, they would look "vindictive" and that would be even harder to fight in the right-wing-media-spin cycle.
If the vote DOESN'T pass, well then, they just look stupid and unorganized again.
If the President pardons Gonzales before the vote, then they have to decide how to proceed. Probably also a bad situation for the Dems, since they don't seem to be very good at handling confrontations with Bush successfully.
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Charlie L (2 articles, 3 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 676 comments)
on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 at 12:20:17 AM
Gonzales covers Bush and may provide GOP an issue in '08
I still believe that Gonzales has not resigned because Bush wants him there to take take the heat and drive Congress nuts. In the event that Congress becomes a viable issue next year for Republicans to exploit, the long Gonzales torture could be lead to a do-nothing label on the Democratic congress elected in 06.
A little history just pops to mind: In 1946, Republicans got Congress back for the first time since the 1932 election. They figured they had a lock on the presidency in 48; after all Truman was no Roosevelt, to say the least. They nominated a candidate who reeked of east coast elitism who compared badly with the earthy Truman. Truman's VP nominee, a senator, focused a lot on the "good for nothing, do nothing, 80th congress." Dems won it all in 48. Truman's use of The Bomb and hard line toward Soviet Union also helped.
Analogies are imperfect, of course, but I'd be surprised if GOP strategists haven't got this parallel in mind as they plot for the next election. And to listen to Democratic, liberal, and progressive blogging sites, I don't see any concern about keeping Congress -- there should be -- and arguments about correctness that can open up the do-nothing label.
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jmundstuk (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 5 comments)
on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 at 12:24:26 AM
They won't get the votes to impeach. Rollover leadership on both sides have been forcing good people like McKenney out for years, and now we have a congressional majority of sheep. Having Congress with us to stop the coming coup de etat may not be essential, but it would sure help.
This is another sideshow. They will pull off another terrorist attack, just like the last one, declare martial law, and begin rounding up their political enemies. The death camps are already built, and we don't have long. Gonzales is just a way to waste our time, and congress isn't far behind. Everyone needs to be talking to military personnel, especially if they are personal friends.
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GitarChris (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 117 comments)
on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 at 12:27:30 AM
Nancy Pelosi and Harry "The Dickless Wonder" Reid have so far proven that they will always back down when it comes to a showdown with Bush....so hopefully they will prove me wrong but I bet they cave once more
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BenMarbleMD (22 articles, 0 quicklinks, 203 diaries, 297 comments)
on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 at 1:12:13 AM
I'll say one thing for you Yanks, you certainly live in hope, and are excellent at kiddin yourselves.
The ink is hardly dry on the "LIBBY" affair and it's predicted outcome, pray tell, what was acheived by that long drawn out rubbish ? Besides spending thousnads of taxpayers money on a foregone conclusion, what was gained by it ?
Is there even ONE person in the U.S. who thinks things would be different with Gonzales ?
In your dreams, nothing will be different, it's all hyperbole illusionists creating distractions and wasting your hopes/dreams/energies which could be spent more productive elsewhere, like marching enmasse on the Whitehous and camping on their lawns for a month or two protesting. Of course I believe I'll not live long enough to ever see such a thing again in my lifetime.
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Eddy Schmid (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 202 comments)
on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 at 1:31:15 AM
Hard to believe, but Gonzales makes us long for the good ole days of John Ashcroft. My thinking is that the time and energy to impeach Gonzales should be used to work on articles of impeachment of Cheney and then Bush. Gonzales may have corrupted and trivilaized the once-independent DoJ, but he's still Bush's lackey. Impeachment of Gonzales is like arresting a local drug dealer and letting the supplier go free.
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Brasch (63 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 48 comments)
on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 at 4:30:50 AM
with reason to be. But I have to assume that the clamouring for impeachment can't be entirely dismissed by Pelosi and Reid. They are after all, careerminded politicians.
This is a chipping away at the wall of imperial authority that Bush and Cheney have built around themselves. And any wall is only as strong as its base of support. The Bush administration has squandered alot of its support with its arrongance and dishonesty and cowardice (Bush should have a plaque on his desk that reads 'the buck nevers stops here'). In fact, the only ones still keeping it afloat are in the bosom of GOP propaganda machine.... as Rob has pointed out. Even though rightwing gasbags like Limbaugh and O'Reilly have on occasion slipped up and admitted to GOP/Iraq failings.
The DOJ is dysfunctional though... the Pentagon is also rife with careerminded buttkissers and pro apocalypse evangelicals.... most of the better analytical minds there have been stifled or had their careers stalled for not parroting and supporting the administration line. Same with the intelligence service.
So who is really left to be this wall of support for Gonzales or the White House?
Even Richard Nixon who despite an unpopular war and heavy domestic turmoil won reelection with 61% of the popular vote. Okay, he was brought down by the more blatantly criminal actions of his administration.
The relationship between the media press and the White House is vastly different than it was back in Nixon's day. The media has long since been courted and bribed with priviledges that were unheard of back then.
The press of today has been complicitous in covering up this administration's extremist gluttony. Short of Dick Cheney shooting a male hooker in the face on his next "hunting" trip... bringing this administration's malfeasance into full public light is not going to be an easy chore.
But every investigate committe is chipping away at that wall and revealing more.
There's alot of good points in this piece.... and I don't think that the Dems or Republicans have the any way they can slink out to avoid dealing with this. And as I said ....we can't remain having a DOJ that as fractured and as non functioning as it is under Gonzales. To ignore that and allow him to remain would be as derelict of duty as it could possibly be.
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chariotdrvr14 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 125 comments)
on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 at 9:35:14 AM
is a bit of alright on it's own, but the real question is if it will be followed thought with, and become a doorway to taking out Cheney and Bush -- and the rest of the gang. If Gonzales goes then the Dems have a chance to make a difference with whoever replaces him .... imagine a competent and hnest AG, and what that could mean.
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Blue Pilgrim (0 articles, 3 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 997 comments)
on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 at 10:43:34 AM
From August 1, 2007 to January 1, 2009 may be a very long year and five months for the Republican Party. Impeachment rolls very quikly once Congress decides to do so. You could have Bush, Cheney and Gonzales impeached within two or three months.
What is most interesting is whether or not the Democrats will gain seats this year in off year elections. There are not many, but there are some Congressional seats up for grabs. I think we can see a little more clearly how the country is feeling in this year's November elections and have a better feeling how November 2008 will go. The elections are liable to be unbelievably close with the corporate media doing Republican propaganda work. They made a big "Federal" case out Jefferson in La, and yet we are hearing very little about Stevens in Alaska.
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pratliff94 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 962 comments)
on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 at 2:18:04 PM
