Leigh Meyers wrote The articles of Dick Cheney's impeachment are up on Dennis Kucinich's site and at the Wapo
http://kucinich.house.gov/SpotlightIssues/documents.htm ------------------------------------ Contrast Kucinich's statements with the adroit wafflings of our 'liberal' Congress member Peter DeFazio to his Democratic constituents here in southwest Oregon (Bush is merely 'misguided' - the wrong mentors, I gather; the misled Congress cannot now turn against the compliant if similarly misguided and presumably similarly unaware chief felons. He does throw out one pregnant inference: that we impeach all in the Congress who voted for this war. Sort of overthrow the government, I gather. So now, he concludes, despite the belated and growing awareness of the US electorate, up against this criminal, adamant, stonewalling administration, let's turn tail, indulge the miscreants, stuff the tragically ravaged Iraqis and the troops and move on to the perrenial liberal agenda items, such as 'access' to health care and higher education and 'reform of failed trade policies'): ------------------------------- Thanks for your message in support of impeaching the president and vice president. I appreciate hearing from you. I know we share many of the same concerns about President Bush and others in his administration. I have repeatedly used my voice and my vote to oppose the administration's misguided policies, and will continue to do so. I voted against the PATRIOT Act. I voted against the war in Iraq. I voted against legislation to establish military commissions to try suspected terrorists because of my concerns about the stripping of habeas corpus, the immunization of administration officials who authorized torture, and the authorization of the president to indefinitely detain even American citizens as "enemy combatants." And, I voted against legislation authorizing the National Security Agency (NSA) to conduct warrantless wiretaps of American citizens. Most people who advocate for impeachment do so because of the war in Iraq. However, it is important to keep in mind that a majority of the House and an overwhelming majority in the Senate voted to authorize the war with Iraq. I voted against the war, but it is hard to make the case that a president can be impeached for something Congress authorized him to do. If so, an argument can be made that the 296 members of the House and the 77 members of the Senate who voted in favor of the war should also be removed from office. While I understand your frustration with the Bush administration, even with the Democratic takeover of both the House and the Senate, there is still no chance that President Bush will be impeached, convicted and removed from office. Conviction and removal requires the vote of 2/3rds of the Senate. Even if all of the Democrats in the Senate voted to convict and remove the president and vice president (an unlikely scenario), that would only be 51 votes, far short of the 67 votes that would be required. Therefore, if the goal of impeachment is to change U.S. policies by removing the current administration from power, that goal will not be achieved with an impeachment strategy. Rather than an impeachment strategy, we need a strategy to turn the country around, to instill some backbone in Congress so that it exerts itself as a co-equal branch of government, and to investigate the failings and abuses of power of the current administration whether it's Iraq, warrantless spying on Americans, giving contracts to friends and contributors, or the sanctioning of torture. Given the Democratic takeover, it is certain that Congress will conduct meaningful oversight, hold hearings, and attempt to pass legislation to overturn or revise the Bush administration's many flawed and failed policies. After all, in the House of Representatives, a majority of Democrats voted against the Iraq war, against the military commissions legislation, and against the NSA warrantless wiretapping program, among other Bush initiatives. If the goal is too actually change policies and the direction of our country, an oversight and legislative strategy can succeed. An impeachment strategy will fail. Democrats could put our legislative agenda on hold and pursue an all consuming effort to impeach the president as the Republicans did in the late 1990s. But, I don't think that makes sense since impeachment and conviction will not succeed and the trade-off would be abandoning a real chance to make a difference in the lives of average working families via a legislative agenda to raise the minimum wage, reduce the price of pharmaceuticals, expand access to health care, reduce the cost of higher education, overhaul failed trade policies and other initiatives. Thanks again for contacting me. Please keep in touch. Rep.Peter DeFazio Fourth District, OREGON
