Cheney Impeachment: Courageous, But Not Surprising
For the first time since the Bush administration took office, three members of the House Judiciary Committee, Robert Wexler (D-FL), Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), are calling for hearings on the impeachment of Vice President Richard Cheney.
Their position, while courageous, is not surprising. What is surprising is that it took this long for members of Congress to invoke impeachment, and that even now, they do so against enormous political resistance and cyncial indifference from the media.
No serious student of the Constitution would question that sufficient grounds exist to impeach both President Bush and Vice President Cheney. The Constitution provides that an Executive who puts himself above the law and abuses the powers of his office may be impeached, a point confirmed in the impeachment proceedings against President Nixon, for abuses such as illegal wiretapping.
There is little serious debate about whether Bush administration actions -- wiretapping without court approval (violating the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Act), authorizing and facilitating mistreatment of detainees (violating US treaties and criminal laws), starting the Iraq war on a basis of lies, exaggerations and misstatements (an abuse of power) -- meet the constitutional standard.
So why hasn't a majority of Congress supported it? Twenty members co-sponsored Rep. Dennis Kucinich's resolution calling for the impeachment of Cheney, but bucked their leadership to do so. Democratic leaders took impeachment "off the table," apparently fearing it could hurt their chances in 2008.
Does the leadership defend the administration, contend that its actions are unimpeachable, or argue they don't rise to the level of abuse for which Nixon was impeached? Remarkably, no. They publicly say there is no time, and that impeachment proceedings would distract the Congress from other work and divide the country.
These arguments are laughable compared to the imperative to uphold the constitution. And even on their own terms, they are specious. Let's take them one at a time:
Insufficient Time
In the case of Nixon, the House officially instructed the Judiciary Committee to act in early February, 1974; the Committee finished voting on Articles of Impeachment on July 29, less than six months later. No presidential impeachment proceeding had taken place for almost 100 years, so the Committee had to start from scratch, analyzing the constitution and developing procedures for the impeachment inquiry. Now the relevant legal spade work is done and a road map for proper impeachment proceedings exists, Congress could probably conduct them even faster than in 1974.
Distracting Congress
During Watergate, the House Judiciary Committee conducted the impeachment inquiry. It didn't deter the rest of the House and the entire Senate from getting their work done, even with a war on. Even the Judiciary Committee also worked on other matters during impeachment, just as the Senate did during its trial of President Clinton.
Dividing the Country
Nixon's impeachment united the American people. The process was bi-partisan, demonstrating this wasn't just a Democratic ploy to undo an election. The fairness of the process, the seriousness of purpose, the substantial evidence all gave the public a strong sense that justice had been done. This reinvigorated the shared value that the rule of law and preservation of democracy are more important than any president or party.
Currently, this value is expressing itself in grass roots impeachment movements across America. The Vermont Senate, several state Democratic parties and many municipal governments have adopted resolutions supporting impeachment -- more state legislatures would have acted except for pressure not to from Democrats in Washington. Multiple polls show a majority of Americans supporting the impeachment of Cheney (a November 13 American Research Group poll says 70% of Americans believe Vice President Cheney abused his office), and slightly less then a majority supporting the impeachment of Bush.
The Democratic leadership tactic of stonewalling this widespread public sentiment is itself divisive, leading at least half the country to frustration, disaffection and shaken faith in our democracy. Only a sober, serious airing of evidence in hearings would heal the split.
When Nixon's impeachment process began, he had recently been re-elected with one of the largest landslides in history. No one made the calculation about whether impeachment was a political winner for Congress. Public opinion simply forced Congress's hand after Nixon fired Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox. After the House Judiciary conducted impartial hearings and voted on impeachment, Congress's approval soared. Republicans were swamped in the November 1974 elections.
Whether or not they bring electoral rewards in 2008, impeachment proceedings are the right thing to do. Regardless of outcome, they will help to curb the serious abuses of this administration, and send a strong message to future administration: the Constitution means what it says -- no president or vice president is above the law.
Former Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman served on the House Judiciary Committee during Nixon's impeachment. She co-authored the 1973 special prosecutor statute, and co-wrote (with Cynthia L. Cooper) the 2006 book, The Impeachment of George W. Bush.
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The Democratic congress is complicit in the crimes of the Bush Administration. How any American can still be a Democrat or a Republican is beyond reason.
Refusal to pursue impeachment against this obviously rogue administration led me to defect from the Dem Party. Go Greens. If Nader runs, as it appears now, I will vote for him.
Impeach now, or we get to have a Bush National Airport in a town near you soon!
Thank you Ms. Holtzman,
What can the citizenry do to convince Congress to take action?
Easy: Call EVERY ONE of your representatives in congress, especially your congressperson. Write letters, too. Show up in person, if you can. Write letters to the editor of every place you can think of. JOIN EVERY PROTEST YOU HEAR ABOUT. AND DON'T EVER STOP TRYING!
BTW, the mass media is complicit in Bush's crimes; tell them you think so and that they only way they can redeem themselves is to speak up for impeachment DAILY.
EVERY TIME NEW NEWS COMES OUT ABOUT THEIR CRIMINAL ACTIVITY; use it as a new excuse to do the whole damned thing over again...
I'm hoping in the next month to have my finances in order so I can get out there and protest daily in very visible public places... Press your media to find such people and report on them!
The excuse that we are out of time was also how this administration came into power. Run the clock out so there is no longer time to count the votes as the law required. Now there is no time to do what the law requires regarding impeachment.
This is way overdue.
I don't know. The spineless Reps may have a point. Since there were more crimes committed under Bush/Cheney, than under Nixon, there might really enough time to try them all!
Snark over. Time to hold these clowns accountable is way past due.
I am terribly disappointed that Democrats will not protect and defend the Constitution. I am particularly disillusioned with my rep, whom I supported, and who has gone through all the lame excuses that Ms. Holtzman cites.
We only need to go back as far as the State of the Union Address in January, where it was publicly stated that little bushie boy was going to instruct agencies to disregard approved spending just because it came in "earmark" format. To go on T.V. and openly state that he views himself to be above the law should have given rise to a monstrous public outcry, and did not solely because we've now lost the ability to be shocked by anything of that nature coming from this administration. Signing statements, etc. have basically just turned the public numb, an outcome that cries out for reversal.
But the most salutary consequence of impeachment proceedings, along with ultimately getting rid of the whole crowd, would be to neutralize them from creating further harm.
Start to impeach. Drag them all up to the Capitol for non-stop hearings. Make them spend so much time with lawyers that nothing else is left to them.
Anything short of this shows such contempt for proper adherence to constitutional principles that any legislator resisting the process will have to be targeted for removal.
Oh, and some place along the way lets stop procrastinating, hold The Second American Constitutional Convention, and create a system for removal from office that puts the people firmly in control of office holders.
oldpot, having thought long and hard about the 2nd CC, I have quite a list of my own, by now! Also, what can you tell me about the CIA/crack for Nicaraguan guns scandal that Gary Webb wrote about in the San Jose Mercury back in th 90's?
I was in prison with guys who claimed to have been part of it and said that it was all true. Just an offshoot of the old Air America/Evergreen Airways action in Southeast Asia, from the sound of it. However, this was all only second hand.
I find it revealing that Elizabeth Holtzman's arguments in favor of impeachment have not, long ago, reached Op-Ed status in the NEW YORK TIMES. Nothing against THE NATION, which carried Ms. Holtzman's well-reasoned argument and to which my wife and I subscribe, but it simply doesn't have the exposure of the NYT. The TIMES has become a self-important, sanctimonious, and cowardly rag, edging closer and closer to the NATIONAL ENQUIRER. I have yet to hear a ringing apology for the editorial board's use of Judith Miller as a megaphone for the Bush administration's fraudulent case for the Iraq invasion; they are no more openly apologetic for their disservice to our country than is Senator Clinton. And once they eased Miller out the door, they stoop to ill-substantiated insinuations and smear articles about both McCain and Obama. Which brings me back to Elizabeth Holtzman. Have our media and Congress (including Pelosi and Reid) become so cowardly and corrupt that they lack the wherewithal to proceed?
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