The Nation: "The Impeachment of George W. Bush"

[AtomicKitten]

The Impeachment of George W. Bush
by Elizabeth Holtzman

Excerpts:

The framers of our Constitution feared executive power run amok and provided the remedy of impeachment to protect against it. While impeachment is a last resort, and must never be lightly undertaken (a principle ignored during the proceedings against President Bill Clinton), neither can Congress shirk its responsibility to use that tool to safeguard our democracy. No President can be permitted to commit high crimes and misdemeanors with impunity.

*****

Mobilizing the nation and Congress in support of investigations and the impeachment of President Bush is a critical task that has already begun, but it must intensify and grow. The American people stopped the Vietnam War--against the wishes of the President--and forced a reluctant Congress to act on the impeachment of President Nixon. And they can do the same with President Bush. The task has three elements: building public and Congressional support, getting Congress to undertake investigations into various aspects of presidential misconduct and changing the party makeup of Congress in the 2006 elections.

Drumming up public support means organizing rallies, spearheading letter-writing campaigns to newspapers, organizing petition drives, door-knocking in neighborhoods, handing out leaflets and deploying the full range of mobilizing tactics. Organizations like AfterDowningStreet.org and ImpeachPac.org, actively working on a campaign for impeachment, are able to draw on a remarkably solid base of public support. A Zogby poll taken in November--before the wiretap scandal--showed more than 50 percent of those questioned favored impeachment of President Bush if he lied about the war in Iraq.

*****

The framers of our Constitution feared executive power run amok and provided the remedy of impeachment to protect against it. While impeachment is a last resort, and must never be lightly undertaken (a principle ignored during the proceedings against President Bill Clinton), neither can Congress shirk its responsibility to use that tool to safeguard our democracy. No President can be permitted to commit high crimes and misdemeanors with impunity.

More at: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060130/holtzman

[regnaD kciN]

1. There's a fourth factor, though...

...and, once Alito is confirmed, there's little or nothing that we can do about it.

The task has three elements: building public and Congressional support, getting Congress to undertake investigations into various aspects of presidential misconduct and changing the party makeup of Congress in the 2006 elections.

Say that we get a Democratic Congress after November. Say that they vow to investigate any number of Bush abuses.

Bush immediately sues Congress, demanding an order to "cease and desist" from any investigations, arguing that virtually every area they might want to investigate is part of his duties as "commander-in-chief," and thus outside Congressional oversight.

It goes to the Supreme Court, now populated by:

Alito (whose "unitary executive" position is the very basis for such a claim by Bush)
Roberts (also a supporter of the "unitary executive" theory)
Scalia (no comment necessary)
Thomas (ditto)

All they need to do is persuade Republican appointee and judicial conservative Anthony Kennedy to go along with them, and any investigation is blocked. Move along, nothing to see here.

Of course, Congress could still try to impeach anyway, without investigations. But that would mean having no more evidence than we have now. And we'd still have to find 67 Senate votes, including those of at least a few Republicans, to convict. Without any additional evidence of the sort that could be uncovered through an investigation, the odds on that one are "less than zero."

[AtomicKitten]

4. He's counting on it!

You may recall Senator Leahy ask a question of Alito regarding the constitutionality of Bush's illegal wire-tapping. He punctuated it by saying "... and you will have to look at this at some point." Of course Alito gave a vapid, innocuous answer, but it appeared to be a veiled threat regarding ultimate Bush accountability.

[DarkmoonIkonoklast]

2. Impeachment alternative...

Is there ANYONE here knowledgable in the UCMJ? (That's the Uniform Code of Military Justice for any civilian readers)

A cursory look about 18 months ago left me with the impression that charges of "Dereliction Of Duty" could be made and supported, along with charges of "Conduct Unbecoming An Officer". He IS, after all, the Commander In Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States; shouldn't he be accountable under Military Law?

COURT-MARTIAL THE COMMANDER-IN-THIEF!

[SteppingRazor]

9. Can't work...

Although the commander-in-chief, the president is a civilian, hence the doctrin of civilian control of the military.

[oneoftheboys]

3. That's just what we need.

President Cheney. No thanks.

Stop wasting your emotional energy and focus on getting Mark Warner elected in '08.

Do you really thing the GOP controlled House will vote to impeach?

Do you really thing the GOP controlled Senate will vote to convict?

[AtomicKitten]

5. Um, it's a great article from a four-term congressperson.

She's also written in The Nation about torture:
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050718/holtzman

But I guess you'll probably say there will be no accountability there either, so why bother?

Some of us like to read, but I could be wrong.

[oneoftheboys]

6. Some of us like to read non-fiction...

but I could be wrong.

[Independent_Liberal]

7. Impeach Cheney too!

No, we are not wasting our energy. We'll win back the House and Senate in November and then impeach Bush and Cheney. You need to focus on 2006 before you focus on 2008, by the way.

[oneoftheboys]

8. That is true...

'06, that is.

I've been wrong before, but I just don't see impeachment happening.

[kineneb]

12. may not have to

His body is giving up on him...the old ticker will soon not tick. He is suffering from congestive heart failure (there were several threads on this). At some point he will either resign or die, which ever comes first.

[Bridget Burke]

10. Are you a typical Warner supporter?

I haven't read much about him, but your support say a lot.

[oneoftheboys]

11. I don't know about "typical"

but I am a supporter.

And you will be as well. It's only a matter of time.