John Nichols: Censure and Impeachment: Take 2

[babylonsister]

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion?bid=15

John Nichols: Censure and Impeachment: Take 2

Censure and Impeachment: Take 2

snip//


An honest review of the records of Bush and Cheney leaves little doubt that impeachment is warranted, and 14 members of the House have now signed on as cosponsors of Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich's proposal to impeach Cheney. But for a Congress that has shown little taste for the serious work of upholding the Constitution, the censure resolutions offer what Feingold refers to as "moderate" response to administration wrongdoing.

Censure of Bush, Cheney and their underlings by the House or Senate would be meaningful. It would confirm that America has reached a too-long delayed "accountability moment." And, assuming that Bush and Cheney continue to respond to any congressional challenge like belligerent school boys rather than sworn defenders of the republic, it is highly unlikely that a renewed push to censure Bush and Cheney will undermine the burgeoning grassroots campaign for impeachment. Only if Bush and Cheney were to acknowledge their wrongs, change their policies and finish their terms as the model officials they have never been would a censure drive push impeachment off the table.

Demands for censure and impeachment ought to be seen as complimentary. They are both expressions of the desire of enlightened members of the legislative branch to begin holding errant executives to account.

Hinchey is right when he says that, "History must show that Congress stood up to this administration and formally condemned it."

Ultimately, history may ask less of Congress than the American people. The people are already expressing a desire for more than a formal condemnation of Bush and Cheney. Fifty-four percent, according to a recent American Research Group poll, want the vice president impeached. Support for impeaching the president hovers just below 50 -- and the anti-Bush, anti-Cheney numbers have been rising, rapidly, in recent months.

But a formal condemnation, in the form of censure resolutions, ought not be dismissed as a compromise or a deviation from the one true path of impeachment. Getting members of the House and Senate to sign on for censuring Bush and Cheney forces them to start thinking about the administration's lawlessness, it gets them on the record for accountability and it narrows the gap for the leap to impeach.

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[malaise]

1. K & R n/t

[Swamp Rat]

2. k&r

[flyarm]

3. k&r..thanks sista!! eom

[Gabi Hayes]

6. hey! did you hear that there were protestors at FOXnews in Tampa today?

they were demonstrating about 911

don't know the details, but my GF was driving by the station as we were talking on the phone, and said they had some signs about 911

no other details, as she was driving by while looking at them, talking to me

I asked her to go back by on her way home

still waiting

did you hear anything about it?

[flyarm]

8. HEYYY GABI!!..YEAH I WAS TOLD THAT BUT I NOT

in tpa right now...yeah they had a big group going to Faux..to protest......i am just away for summer...

i hope they had a big turn out!!

how are you doing doll??

long time no see!!

hi sweets!!

fly:hi: :loveya: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug:

[ninkasi]

4. K&R

This is the reason that I have been strongly in favor of impeachment...

<snip>

If Congress does not act to formally admonish this White House then the future of our democracy will be placed on a slippery slope in which other presidents may point to the actions of this administration as justification for further abuses of the Constitution. Congress cannot allow such abuses of power and law, which is why Senator Feingold and I will soon introduce these censure resolutions."


If we continue to let CheneyBush shred the Constitution, and do away with our civil rights, how can we then stop a future administration from committing the same outrages? Precedent can be a powerful argument, and in the case of the current criminal cabal, we are allowing them to set a dangerous one.

Once again, thank you, Babylonsister, for this important post.

[in_cog_ni_to]

5. K & R!

:bounce:

[mzmolly]

7. A voice of reason,

thanks.

The censure resolutions carry no formal penalty. Unmentioned in the Constitution or in the procedural rules of the House or Senate, a censure vote would not even have the authority to compel the president or vice president to respond to Congress. Yet, a rare rebuke from one or both houses of Congress would put Bush and Cheney on notice that they must either change their approaches in the final 18 months of their tenure or face an even stronger push for their impeachment and removal from office.

[Poiuyt]

9. I doubt that if Congress censured Bush/Cheney, they would ever come back to impeach them

"History must show that Congress stood up to this administration" Great line.

[mzmolly]

10. One never knows...

"History must show that Congress stood up to this administration" agreed, it's a great line and a perspective that our congress must consider.

:hi:

[AntiFascist]

11. K&R n/t