General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Supporting the values of the Sanders movement is not "refighting the primaries". [View all]pat_k
(9,313 posts)Last edited Thu Feb 23, 2017, 09:41 PM - Edit history (5)
Principled House members fought to begin the process of impeachment, and worked with grassroots to lobby others The effort to impeach starts with a fact finding committee. The effort to get impeachment rolling was gaining serious momentum going into the 110th Congress. Momentum was so great that party leaders recognized that the effort would soon be unstoppable. They irrationally feared the effort would have some sort of "political backlash," and so made a concerted, and successful, effort to derail any movement toward impeachment. By their actions, they made themselves complicit with the torturers.
Pelosi even said "I would support impeachment if I weren't the leader," a statement that effectively says:
"I know what moral principle demands, but I fear an effort to hold Bush and Cheney accountable for torturing in the name of the American people might have some sort of "political backlash," so I'm going to sacrifice the basic and inviolable principle of humane government -- the principle that we must protect our fellow humans against being subjected to torture at government hands and bring violators to justice. I wouldn't make this immoral sacrifice personally, but I make it in the name of the Democratic party as it's leader."
Any of them can redeem themselves anytime by publicly admitting how wrong they were to oppose efforts to impeach Bush/Cheney, and demanding that DT repudiate his endorsement of torture or face impeachment. Until they do those things, they remain complicit in the torture. That's a fact, not a debatable opinion. They are complicit in the same way that cops who witness a crime, and then make a concerted effort to derail the investigation, would be complicit.