March 27, 2007
Impeachment Threat Is Real
The Nation: Growing Scandals And Abuses Force Impeachment Into Discussion
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Play CBS Video Video Bush Backs Attorney General As calls continue for the attorney general's resignation, President Bush in turn accused Democrats of political grandstanding and again declared his support for Alberto Gonzales. Bill Plante reports.
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Video Bush Fires Back At Dems President Bush urged Democrats to accept his offer to have Karl Rove and Harriet Miers testify in a private hearing that wouldn't be under oath or risk a constitutional showdown. Jim Axelrod reports.
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Video Notebook: Bush's 2-Term Blues Only On The Web: Second-term presidents often see their agendas get sidetracked by scandals. Katie Couric says in this regard George Bush has proved himself the rule, not the exception.
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Interactive Bush Presidency The president's agenda, plus facts, figures, major events and key personalities.
Former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough had me on his MSNBC show Monday night to talk about impeachment.
It was smart, civil discussion that treated the prospect of impeaching the president as a serious matter.
Scarborough took the lead in suggesting that Bush's biggest problem might be that Republicans in the House and Senate who — fearful of the threat Bush poses to their political survival — do not appear to be rallying 'round the president. The host's sentiments were echoed by two other guests, columnist Mike Barnicle and Salon's Joan Walsh.
The impetus for the show was Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel's ongoing discussion of the impeachment prospect — Hagel's not quite a supporter of sanctioning Bush, more a speculator about the prospect — and a new column by Robert Novak that suggests Bush has dwindling support within the congressional wing of the GOP.
Speaking about impeachment on ABC's "This Week," Hagel said, "Any president who says 'I don't care' or 'I will not respond to what the people of this country are saying about Iraq or anything else' or 'I don't care what the Congress does, I am going to proceed' — if a president really believes that, then there (are) ways to deal with that."
Novak wrote "The I-word (incompetence) is used by Republicans in describing the Bush administration generally. Several of them I talked to described a trifecta of incompetence: the Walter Reed hospital scandal, the FBI's misuse of the Patriot Act and the U.S. attorneys firing fiasco. 'We always have claimed that we were the party of better management,' one House leader told me. 'How can we claim that anymore?'"
Scarborough drew the two statements together for the purpose of asking whether Bush could count on Republicans to block moves by Congressional Democrats to hold Bush to account for high crimes and misdemeanors.
When a conservative commentator who was on the frontlines of Newt Gingrich's "Republican revolution" entertains a thoughtful conversation about the politics and processes of impeachment on a major cable news network, it should be clear that the cloistered conversation about sanctioning this president has begun to open up.
No, Scarborough is not jumping on the impeachment bandwagon.
He is simply treating the prospect seriously, as did CNN's Wolf Blitzer earlier in the day.
What I told Scarborough is what I have been saying in public forums for the past several weeks: We are nearing an impeachment moment. The Alberto Gonzales scandal, the under-covered but very real controversy involving abuses of the Patriot Act and the president's increasingly belligerent refusals to treat Congress as a co-equal branch of government are putting the discussion of presidential accountability onto the table from which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has tried to remove it.
Does this mean Bush and Cheney will be impeached? That, of course, will be decided by the people. Impeachment at its best is always an organic process; it needs popular support or it fizzles — as with the attempt by House Republican leaders to remove former President Clinton in a process that, fairly or not, seemed to be all about blue dresses.
While the people saved Clinton — by signaling to their representatives that they opposed sanctioning a president's personal morals — it does not appear that they are inclined to protect Bush.
With each new revelation about what Gonzales did at the behest of the Bush White House to politicize prosecutions by U.S. Attorneys, the revulsion with the way this president has disregarded the Constitution and the rule of law becomes more intense. And citizens are not cutting their president much slack.
A new USA Today/Gallup Poll — conducted over the weekend — shows that, by close to a 3-to-1 margin, Americans want Congress to issue subpoenas to force White House officials to testify in the Gonzales case. Sixty-eight percent of those surveyed say the president should drop his claim of executive privilege in this matter, while only 26 percent agree with the reasoning Bush has used to try and block a meaningful inquiry.
If the president wants to get in a fight with Congress over how to read the Constitution, it appears that the people will back Congress. And that backing is what will begin to restore the backbones of House members who, despite Pelosi's attempts to quiet talk of impeachment, are getting more and more intrigued by the prospect of holding this president to account.
As Hagel says, "This is not a monarchy. There are ways to deal with (executive excess). And I would hope the president understands that."
If Bush doesn't recognize this reality now, he soon will.
By John Nichols
Reprinted with permission from the The Nation.
| If you like this article, check out www.thenation.com for more investigative reports, timely editorials and incisive columns |

Michelle Obama tells how her role as the First Lady has changed her perspective.





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See all 294 CommentsRecently, in a Middlebury VT town meeting led by Gov. Douglas himself, citizens passed a resolution to impeach George W. Bush and *** Cheney. A Putney VT, vote to impeach was unanimous. More than 36 towns passed similar resolutions and it%u2019s happening all over America. These are inspiring examples of citizens uniting to take back their government and to re-affirm Constitutional accountability, equal justice and equal protection under the law. What a great time to be an American!
Recently, in a Middlebury VT town meeting led by Gov. Douglas himself, citizens passed a resolution to impeach George W. Bush and *** Cheney. A Putney VT, vote to impeach was unanimous. More than 36 towns passed similar resolutions and it%u2019s happening all over America. These are inspiring examples of citizens uniting to take back their government and to re-affirm Constitutional accountability, equal justice and equal protection under the law. What a great time to be an American!
Recently, in a Middlebury VT town meeting led by Gov. Douglas himself, citizens passed a resolution to impeach George W. Bush and *** Cheney. A Putney VT, vote to impeach was unanimous. More than 36 towns passed similar resolutions and it%u2019s happening all over America. These are inspiring examples of citizens uniting to take back their government and to re-affirm Constitutional accountability, equal justice and equal protection under the law. What a great time to be an American!
Recently, in a Middlebury VT town meeting led by Gov. Douglas himself, citizens passed a resolution to impeach George W. Bush and *** Cheney. A Putney VT, vote to impeach was unanimous. More than 36 towns passed similar resolutions and it%u2019s happening all over America. These are inspiring examples of citizens uniting to take back their government and to re-affirm Constitutional accountability, equal justice and equal protection under the law. What a great time to be an American!
Recently, in a Middlebury VT town meeting led by Gov. Douglas himself, citizens passed a resolution to impeach George W. Bush and *** Cheney. A Putney VT, vote to impeach was unanimous. More than 36 towns passed similar resolutions and it%u2019s happening all over America. These are inspiring examples of citizens uniting to take back their government and to re-affirm Constitutional accountability, equal justice and equal protection under the law. What a great time to be an American!
Recently, in a Middlebury VT town meeting led by Gov. Douglas himself, citizens passed a resolution to impeach George W. Bush and *** Cheney. A Putney VT, vote to impeach was unanimous. More than 36 towns passed similar resolutions and it%u2019s happening all over America. These are inspiring examples of citizens uniting to take back their government and to re-affirm Constitutional accountability, equal justice and equal protection under the law. What a great time to be an American!
There is no conduct on the part of the Democrats you will condemn (except not surrenduring faster), and no benign or legal action on the part of republicans you won't try to criminalize. Joseph Goebels had nothing on John Conyers, Henry Waxman, and the rest of you demogogues and character assassins in the Democrat party.
For those of you that have not read the constitution and are so willing to so trivialize the Impeachment process; you are shallow, hateful little partisans so tied to your dogma that truth and context are completely unimportant to you. It is truly sickening to watch your tactics and see how the pursuit of power has robbed you of all civility and basic human decency.
Many of you are truly sick human beings, but I suppose some of it is not your fault. After all, you get your news from the partisan hacks at CBS.
No wonder you don't have a friggin clue.
Sincerely,
cmcfarling
IMPEACH BUSH! INDICT CHENEY!
WE CAN'T WAIT 'TIL 2008!
TAKE THE REST OF THE SELL OUT AMERICA FIRST CROWD WITH YOU TOO!
It is not anti Semitic to believe that there are other good people in the Middle East and they should have a voice! You can see by the AIPAC advertisement below this PAC is selling influence to American Elected officials.
http://www.aipac.org/forms/join_aipa
cClubs.htm
Here are a list of the Republican Senators up for Reelection in 08. Ask them how much AIPAC influences their vote on Iraq?
Alexander, Lamar- (R - TN)
Allard, Wayne- (R - CO)
Chambliss, Saxby- (R - GA)
Cochran, Thad- (R - MS)
Coleman, Norm- (R - MN)
Collins, Susan M.- (R - ME)
Cornyn, John- (R - TX)
Craig, Larry E.- (R - ID)
Dole, Elizabeth- (R - NC)
Enzi, Michael B.- (R - WY)
Graham, Lindsey- (R - SC)
Hagel, Chuck- (R - NE)
Inhofe, James M.- (R - OK)
McConnell, Mitch- (R - KY)
Roberts, Pat- (R - KS)
Sessions, Jeff- (R - AL)
Smith, Gordon H.- (R - OR)
Stevens, Ted- (R - AK)
Sununu, John E.- (R - NH)
Warner, John- (R - VA)
Now here is the real kicker! President Bush is funding Al Qaeda in Lebanon with funds from Iraq! This is Impeachment and Treason! Here is the proof Read it!
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/
articles/070305fa_fact_hersh
CONTACT your ELECTED OFFICIAL http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
Speakers email address: AmericanVoices@mail.house.gov
info@gop.com
Republican Party email
democraticparty@democrats.org
Democratic Party email
In other words, are you really that stupid or do you just hope that everyone else is? No, don't bother to answer; you guys should not even attempt the illusion of intelligent debate. You're not equipped for it.
Stop the insanity.
Just say, "No!" to tyranny. Impeach now.
Close... worst president, EVER! ANYTIME, ANY COUNTRY(including NAZI GERMANY, ITALY, SOVIET UNION, TURKEY, Ancient Rome, etc.)
Posted by bsrasmus at 12:02 AM : Mar 29, 2007
You could be right,B.S.Rasmus, However,To impeach or not is SMALL potatoes compared to being tried for TREASON after leaving office and possibly/hopefully facing a firing squad!
Nixon is to a cub scout as Bush is to Attila the Hun.
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