In the meantime how do we live with him and with the Administration he is part of.
In the past few days the Vice President has been in our thoughts, both because of his own actions and because a Washington Post (WaPo), expose of his performance in office. I urge all and sundry to read the WaPO and learn all you can about this man. It is important to understand his strengths and character as well as his failures.
I find the Vice President's assertion of confidentiality in regard to his office complex.
His latest assertion that he not part of the executive branch is a huge whopper and will reduce him to the status of a laughingstock.
Nevertheless, his assertion of confidentiality has validity. Other professions, notably law, medicine, social work, banking and journalism rely on strict rules of confidentiality to facilitate their business.
It is not difficult to defer to the Vice President's assertion that Federal Executives also reguire such protection to facilitate the far weightier and complex issues that they must deal with.
Nevertheless, the Vice President's manifest arrogance, his mendaciousness, and his stubborn insistence on the pursuit of manifestly failed and injurious policies mean that his actions should be subjected to public scrutiny.
Perhaps impeachment proceedings are the proper forum for such a hearing, but such a course will inevitably set precedents that will grievously injure us later.
Just as we found that merely removing Saddam didn't solve the underlying problems in Iraq, if we move precipitously on ousting Cheney, we will find ourselves dealing with a much worse mess.
In my opinion, Progressives should stop fighting the battles of the past and concentrate on building a coalition to govern our shared future.
We should work with the Democrats in the House to draft and pass a comprehensive set of measures that will move America in the right direction.
Even if Bush vetoes them all, a comprehensive set of legislative initiatives will provide the Contract with America type platform needed to reassure the rank and file voters that we are serious, on their side and willing to govern.
The strength and support that we will gain from responsible legislating will redound to our credit, especially in constrast to the malfeasance of the Administration.
We should concentrate on Destroying Bush and Cheney's political power rather than on destroying them as individuals, producing legislation and showing the people how we will help them and how we will get government off their backs and out of their bedrooms will do this.
Robert Chapman is greatly interested in developing political awareness among as many people as possible.
Upholding the Constitution and the Rule of Law Optional?
You say:
"Perhaps impeachment proceedings are the proper forum for such a hearing, but such a course will inevitably set precedents that will grievously injure us later.
[...]
In my opinion, Progressives should stop fighting the battles of the past and concentrate on building a coalition to govern our shared future."
~~~
Impeachment is the Constitutionally mandated procedure ("SHALL BE IMPEACHED") to deal with situations exactly such as this.
We are a nation of laws... or we aren't. The laws Dick Cheney has been breaking he STILL is breaking, so this is not an issue about the past.
The precedent that will be set if Cheney (and Bush, and Gonzales, etc.) are not held accountable is a much greater threat to our future than any precedent that enforcing the law might bring upon us - which you alluded to but didn't clarify.
If we let these criminals off the hook, what sort of monster are we setting ourselves up to be forced to tolerate?
by
Mikael Rudolph (50 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 76 comments)
on Wednesday, June 27, 2007 at 11:14:18 PM
From the publicly available information one cannot state as this writer has that Cheney's conduct of his office constitutes grounds for impeachment.
The constitutional framers referred to high crimes and misdemeanors and made no specific enumeration of these. But one can reasonably conclude that they intended the category to be limited to sedition, treason and possibly gross corruption such as pecculation.
My position supports this view and I would favor impeachment only in instances in which the President or Vice President were clearly involved in a conspiracy to enrich themselves, to subvert the electoral process or to betray the country to a foreign government.
Although I have frequently stated disagreement with Bush, Cheney and the GOP on many issues, I see no evidence that they have engaged in the manner described above.
Beyond the strictly legal issues, I find impeachment a cold cop out.
Impeachment absolves the system, by impeaching Bush or Cheney, one states that it was merely the one man's malfeasance rather than the overarching political construct that made things go awry.
Impeachment also takes the matter of disciplining the President and holding him accountable out of the hands of the people and places it with the Congress.
If we are going to have democracy, we have to be engaged, we cannot depend on the wise people in Washington to solve our problems.
Political accountability is everybody's business, not something we can delegate to Congress.
by
Robert Chapman (28 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 557 comments)
on Saturday, June 30, 2007 at 8:00:31 AM
