[Sosfbay-discuss] Cheney Impeachment Alive!

[Drew Johnson]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joseph-a-palermo/dennis-kucinich-makes-his_b_71562.html
Dennis Kucinich Makes History with HR-333 Impeach Cheney!

Joseph A. Palermo
Posted November 7, 2007 | 11:53 AM (EST)

Representative Dennis Kucinich has succeeded in keeping alive his
"privileged resolution" calling for the House Judiciary Committee to begin
impeachment proceedings against Vice President Dick Cheney. The House
Democratic leadership, listening to Beltway consultants who are experts at
"triangulating" against the party's base, tried all manner of
parliamentary tricks to table or kill HR-333. But these underhanded
tactics failed after John Boehner and the Republicans' Beltway consultants
told them they could milk political gain from helping Kucinich keep
impeachment alive.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer were afraid of
the political risks in bringing impeachment to the House floor; the GOP
leaders thought they could rally their base to defend Cheney (who has an
11 percent approval rating) and score political points with full-throated
denunciations of those mean, over-reaching Democrats in Congress. In both
cases, the Beltway political wizards were dead wrong.

Impeachment should have never been taken "off the table." Impeachment is
the only corrective that Congress holds to check runaway Executive power.
With signing statements and Bush-Cheney cronies inside the Justice
Department and with no Independent Counsel statute, the checks and
balances of our system of government have been undermined.

John Yoo and David Addington's "legal opinions," (if one bothers to look
at them), amount to Enabling Acts for the Executive in "time of war." They
believe there are no limits on presidential power as Commander-in-Chief in
wartime. The Bush legal geniuses, with Alberto Gonzales leading the way,
claim the President has "inherent powers" to order torture, suspend habeas
corpus, spy on Americans without warrants, and pick and choose which laws
he will follow and which ones he won't. This kind of interpretation of
presidential powers might be suitable grist for abstract discussions in a
seminar at Pepperdine University, but all of these hair-brained notions
are hogwash, and dangerous hogwash at that. And they run counter to the
U.S. Constitution. Even the most cursory reading of anything James Madison
wrote on the subject of executive power clearly shows that Dick Cheney's
expansive views of the powers of the Executive Branch are totally
un-American.

During the Civil War, when Abraham Lincoln expanded presidential power, or
during World War Two when Franklin D. Roosevelt did the same, neither
president claimed they had "inherent" powers to do so. They made it clear
the expanded Executive was a temporary emergency measure and the
Constitution would be set back to its pre-war normalcy after the crisis
abated.

Bush and Cheney claim the opposite. They say we are now in a war that is
never-ending (like a George Orwell novel), and that even without the "War
on Terror," the president can do anything he wants, effectively nullify
acts of Congress, bring the nation to war on false pretenses, squander our
national treasure with lucrative contracts to cronies, and so on.

What does a president or vice president have to do nowadays to get impeached?

The smart, Enlightenment-era white guys, with their powdered wigs and
silver snuff boxes, who invented the United States of America in the
summer of 1787 in Philadelphia went to great lengths to prevent the
possibility of an imperial King George III-type presidency. The founders
tried to equip the new nation with the safeguards that would prevent
exactly what we have seen happen the last six years. They even recognized
that it would be during war when the Executive would make its power grab.
They made sure the war powers were in the Congress. More importantly, they
gave the Congress the power to impeach a wayward president or vice
president if they violated the Constitution.

It is time to remind Bush and Cheney that they live in a republic and not
a monarchy. Dennis Kucinich has done the nation a favor. History will be
kind to him for doing so. The Executive Branch must be held accountable
now and the corrective of impeachment cannot be postponed to wait around
for the 2008 elections.

Those Democratic leaders who are hell bent on playing it safe so they can
get Hillary Clinton in office in January 2009 so she can abuse all of the
powers that Bush and Cheney have horded for the Executive Branch is the
wrong path to take. The system is out of balance and it will not bode well
for the future to have these imbalances continue no matter what party
happens to be in power.

Meanwhile, Senators Chuck Schumer and Dianne Feinstein capitulated to all
of the worst aspects of the abuse of power of the Bush White House by
breaking ranks with the Senate Judiciary Committee and voting to confirm
Michael "let's waterboard 'em" Mukasey as the new Attorney General. Their
actions in giving Bush another victory demoralizes the Democratic Party's
base and makes people want to give up on the Democrats. Ron Paul, who
opposed the Iraq war all along, is raising huge amounts of money and I
hope Dennis Kucinich does too. It should show Democratic leaders that they
are out of touch with the electorate, especially the base of the
Democratic Party. I don't care about the 2008 elections as much as I care
about the U.S. Constitution.

The Democrats were handed the Congress in 2006 to put the brakes on the
Bush-Cheney juggernaut. They have thus far failed to do so, and therefore
do not deserve to be re-elected in 2008.

Dick Cheney was a principal actor in the lies and fabrications that
brought the United States to war in Iraq on false pretenses. That war has
now cost the nation nearly 4,000 American dead, 18,000 wounded, and will
cost over $1 trillion. It has swelled the profits of Cheney's old company,
Halliburton, while destabilizing a large swathe of the Middle East. The
Iraqi people have suffered the brunt of this illegal aggression. Cheney
deserves to be impeached, removed from office, and then tried for war
crimes and crimes against humanity when he becomes a private citizen
again.

Here is a list of the 86 Democrats who voted against impeaching Dick
Cheney, time to give them a call:

NY-5 Ackerman, Gary [D]
PA-4 Altmire, Jason [D]
NJ-1 Andrews,
Robert [D]
NY-24 Arcuri, Michael [D]
WA-3 Baird, Brian
[D]
GA-12 Barrow, John [D]
IL-8 Bean, Melissa [D]
CA-31
Becerra, Xavier [D]
NV-1 Berkley, Shelley [D]
CA-28 Berman,
Howard [D]
AR-1 Berry, Robert [D]
GA-2 Bishop, Sanford
[D]
NY-1 Bishop, Timothy [D]
OR-3 Blumenauer, Earl
[D]
OK-2 Boren, Dan [D]
IA-3 Boswell, Leonard [D]
VA-9
Boucher, Frederick [D]
FL-2 Boyd, F. [D]
KS-2 Boyda, Nancy
[D]
FL-3 Brown, Corrine [D]
CA-18 Cardoza, Dennis
[D]
MO-3 Carnahan, Russ [D]
PA-10 Carney, Christopher
[D]
FL-11 Castor, Kathy [D]
SC-6 Clyburn, James [D]
TN-5
Cooper, Jim [D]
CA-20 Costa, Jim [D]
IL-12 Costello, Jerry [D]
CT-2 Courtney,
Joe [D]
AL-5 Cramer, Robert [D]
TX-28 Cuellar, Henry
[D]
AL-7 Davis, Artur [D]
TN-4 Davis, Lincoln [D]
CA-53
Davis, Susan [D]
CO-1 DeGette, Diana [D]
MA-10 Delahunt,
William [D]
CT-3 DeLauro, Rosa [D]
MI-15 Dingell, John
[D]
IN-2 Donnelly, Joe [D]
TX-17 Edwards, Thomas
[D]
IN-8 Ellsworth, Brad [D]
IL-5 Emanuel, Rahm
[D]
NY-17 Engel, Eliot [D]
CA-14 Eshoo, Anna [D]
NC-2
Etheridge, Bob [D]
PA-2 Fattah, Chaka [D]
MA-4 Frank, Barney
[D]
AZ-8 Giffords, Gabrielle [D]
TX-20 Gonzalez, Charles
[D]
TN-6 Gordon, Barton [D]
NY-19 Hall, John [D]
CA-36
Harman, Jane [D]
FL-23 Hastings, Alcee [D]
SD-0 Herseth
Sandlin, Stephanie [D]
NY-27 Higgins, Brian [D]
IN-9 Hill,
Baron [D]
TX-15 Hinojosa, Rubén [D]
PA-17 Holden, Tim
[D]
MD-5 Hoyer, Steny [D]
NY-2 Israel, Steve [D]
LA-2
Jefferson, William [D]
TX-30 Johnson, Eddie [D]
WI-8 Kagen,
Steve [D]
RI-1 Kennedy, Patrick [D]
MI-5 Kildee, Dale
[D]
WI-3 Kind, Ronald [D]
FL-22 Klein, Ron [D]
TX-22
Lampson, Nicholas [D]
RI-2 Langevin, James [D]
CA-12 Lantos,
Tom [D]
WA-2 Larsen, Rick [D]
CT-1 Larson, John
[D]
MI-12 Levin, Sander [D]
IL-3 Lipinski, Daniel
[D]
CA-16 Lofgren, Zoe [D]
NY-18 Lowey, Nita [D]
MA-9
Lynch, Stephen [D]
FL-16 Mahoney, Tim [D]
MA-7 Markey, Edward
[D]
GA-8 Marshall, James [D]
UT-2 Matheson, Jim [D]
CA-5
Matsui, Doris [D]
NY-4 McCarthy, Carolyn [D]
NC-7 McIntyre,
Mike [D]
CA-11 McNerney, Jerry [D]
FL-17 Meek, Kendrick
[D]
LA-3 Melancon, Charles [D]
CA-7 Miller, George
[D]
AZ-5 Mitchell, Harry [D]
WV-1 Mollohan, Alan
[D]
KS-3 Moore, Dennis [D]
CT-5 Murphy, Christopher [D]
PA-8 Murphy, Patrick [D]
PA-12
Murtha, John [D]
NY-8 Nadler, Jerrold [D]
MA-2 Neal, Richard
[D]
WI-7 Obey, David [D]
MA-1 Olver, John [D]
MN-7
Peterson, Collin [D]
ND-0 Pomeroy, Earl [D]
WV-3 Rahall, Nick
[D]
TX-16 Reyes, Silvestre [D]
TX-23 Rodriguez, Ciro
[D]
AR-4 Ross, Mike [D]
NJ-9 Rothman, Steven [D]
MD-2
Ruppersberger, C.A. [D]
OH-17 Ryan, Timothy [D]
CO-3 Salazar,
John [D]
CA-39 Sanchez, Linda [D]
CA-47 Sanchez, Loretta
[D]
MD-3 Sarbanes, John [D]
CA-29 Schiff, Adam [D]
PA-13
Schwartz, Allyson [D]
GA-13 Scott, David [D]
PA-7 Sestak, Joe
[D]
NC-11 Shuler, Heath [D]
NJ-13 Sires, Albio [D]
MO-4
Skelton, Ike [D] WA-9 Smith, Adam [D]
AR-2 Snyder, Victor
[D]
OH-18 Space, Zackary [D]
SC-5 Spratt, John [D]
TN-8
Tanner, John [D]
CA-10 Tauscher, Ellen [D]
MS-4 Taylor, Gene
[D]
MS-2 Thompson, Bennie [D]
MA-5 Tsongas, Niki
[D]
CO-2 Udall, Mark [D]
NM-3 Udall, Tom [D]
MD-8 Van
Hollen, Christopher [D]
IN-1 Visclosky, Peter [D]
MN-1 Walz,
Timothy [D]
FL-20 Wasserman Schultz, Debbie [D]
CA-30 Waxman,
Henry [D]
OH-6 Wilson, Charles [D].