[Sosfbay-discuss] Kucinich: Impeach Cheney First?

[JamBoi]

Impeach Cheney First?

John Nichols Wed Apr 18, 12:26 AM ET

The Nation -- It is no secret that Ohio Congressman
Dennis Kucinich has been toying with the idea of moving articles of
impeachment against a member of the Bush administration. And he appears
to be focusing more and more of his attention on the man that many
activists around the country see as the ripest target for sanctioning:
Vice President Dick Cheney.

Despite House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record)'s efforts
to convince Democrats to keep presidential accountability "off the
table," Kucinich is just one of many House Democrats who have
acknowledged in recent days that they are hearing the call for action
loud and clear from their constituents and from grassroots activists
across the country.

"I get one call after another saying, 'Impeach the president,'" says
Congressman John Murtha (news, bio, voting record), D-Pennsylvania.
Congresswoman Diane Watson (news, bio, voting record), D-California,
says constituents in Los Angeles "are saying impeachment. I am hearing
that more and more and more."

Kucinich, for his part, has sent more signals than anyone else in the
caucus about his interest in raising accountability issues. The
congressman, who has broken with Pelosi on issues relating to the
funding of the war in
Iraq, has been blunt about his frustration with the caution of Congress
when it comes to addressing executive excess.

"This House cannot avoid its constitutionally authorized responsibility
to restrain the abuse of Executive power," he told the House last
month, adding that "impeachment may well be the only remedy which
remains to stop a war of aggression against
Iran."

Around the same time, in a letter to supporters of his anti-war bid for
the 2OO8 Democratic presidential nomination, Kucinich asked it it was
time to put impeachment on the table. The response was an overwhelming
"yes."

Earlier this week, according to media reports Kucinich emailed House
colleagues with a note that began, "I intend to introduce Articles of
Impeachment with respect to the conduct of Vice President Cheney."

Kucinich put the plan on hold after the Virginia Tech shooting
massacre. But the general expectation is that he will raise the issue
anew after a decent interval.

Cheney's office sees no grounds for impeachment. "The vice president
has had nearly 40 years of government service and has done so in an
honorable fashion," says Megan McGinn, Cheney's deputy press secretary.

McGinn got that line out with a straight face.

Americans of who are not on the vice president's payroll are inclined
to recognize Cheney's manipulation of intelligence prior to the Iraq
War, his active role in going after administration critic Joe Wilson
(news, bio, voting record) and Wilson's wife Valarie Plame, and his
ongoing links to the Halliburton war-profiteering cartel as arguments
against giving the vice president any prizes for "honorable" government
service.

Impeachment activists have in recent months pushed an "Impeach Cheney
First" message, in part to counter the complaint that impeaching Bush
would put an even darker figure in charge. Of course, going after the
most powerful vice president in history has consequences, as well. In
the unlikely event that Cheney were removed from office, one line of
reasoning goes, Bush would for the first time find himself in charge.

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John Nichols' new book is THE GENIUS OF IMPEACHMENT: The Founders' Cure
for Royalism. Rolling Stone's Tim Dickinson hails it as a "nervy,
acerbic, passionately argued history-cum-polemic [that] combines a rich
examination of the parliamentary roots and past use of the 'heroic
medicine' that is impeachment with a call for Democratic leaders to
'reclaim and reuse the most vital tool handed to us by the founders for
the defense of our most basic liberties.'"

___________________

JamBoi: Jammy The Sacred Cow Slayer
The Green Parties' #1 Blogger
http://dailyJam.blogspot.com

"To the brave belong all things"
Reply from Celts invading the Italian penninsula's when nervous Romans asked. 
approx 400BC

"Live humbly, laugh often and love unconditionally" (anon)

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