Posted on 06/28/2005 9:28:18 AM PDT by areafiftyone
Left-wing Democrats in the House are working on a plan to compel the House Judiciary Committee to launch an impeachment inquiry into what they say are "high crimes and misdemeanors" committed by President Bush in the run-up to the Iraq war.
"If you read the record of the writing of the Constitution, high crimes and misdemeanors had a very particular meaning at the time of the drafting of the Constitution," Rep. Zoe Lofgren said at a forum held by Rep. John Conyers earlier this month.
"It certainly didnt mean lying about sex," she complained, in quotes picked up by the Hill newspaper. "But it might well mean lying to the Congress about a large public purpose such as Iraq." Driving the push for an impeachment inquiry is the so-called Downing Street memo, which Democrats say shows Bush lied about pre-war intelligence.
"We would like to see a member of Congress look into whether or not the president committed impeachable offenses," said John Bonifaz, a constitutional lawyer who co-founded the group AfterDowningStreet.org. "Weve been having that discussion with a number of [congressional] offices," he explained.
Bonifaz has a receptive ear in House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who talked about "the case" against Bush last week and praised the Downing Street Memo as "very important" new evidence.
"The case is that going into the war was a grotesque mistake," she told the left wing web site Raw Story. "It was predicated on a lie . . . the intelligence did not support the claim, the threat that they said."
Persuading the House to investigate allegedly impeachable crimes by the president may be a tall order, however, since the GOP-controlled Congress isn't likely to be convinced by arguments from partisan Bush-haters.
Still, Democrats like Rep. Barbara Lee are searching for a way to get the impeachment ball rolling.
A co-chairwoman of the Out of Iraq Caucus and a member of the International Affairs Committee, Lee is circulating a letter calling for a resolution of inquiry. Such a resolution, the Hill explained, would be referred to the committee of jurisdiction, which would then have to vote it down in a set number of days or it would proceed to a floor vote.
Rep. Conyers himself has so far been cautious, at least in public. "My inclination at this time is not to do something like [impeachment]," Conyers told The Hill - explaining instead that he wants to investigate further.
Its NewsMax acting panicky again!
I believe they SHOULD convene a real hearing. Present the evidence. Trot out that Downing Street Memo/Minutes. Let them see how THAT stands up in a real court of law. The DimocRATs aren't willing to take the sworn eye-witness testimony of the Swift Boat vets, but ARE willing to accept a transcribed copy of a photo-copied document from an anonymous source which doesn't quote anyone directly but gives opinion as to how someone else is thinking. Ok ... let them take that to court. It should be a riot.
All President Bush would have to do is swear that, at the time, he believed the intelligence he was given. And then, get every other member of Congress to swear to the same, except for Teddy Kennedy because his word is worthless.
You're right ... LAWyer practices law. CONyer practices con.
They will further expose the depths of their stupidity in the process, thereby turning off even more of their one time supporters. Eventually it will all dissolve as the baseless crap that it is and who knows how much good will have been accomplished by the adults while the dumb ace kids were off on this tangent.
Have the Democrats just lost all of the little reasoning they had? The Republicans control everyting, and they re still flapping and quacking and trying to find grounds for impeachment. How much more can I stand?
Why don't they impeach him over the borders and the North American Community crap?
Those are valid reasons.
Great post. You read my mind...or I read yours.
Okay- show of hands- who says that after this "memo" explodes in their face as another "accurate fake" the clods will wail about how Rove leaked it to them?!
"Karl set us up again that evil sneak!"
I can hear it now.
This is good news. The whackier they get, the more marginalized they become. Are they really going to run on this as an agenda in the next election. "Vote for us, we promise to impeach Bush. A plan for social security, taxes, healthcare? Sure, our plan is to say NO (to anything but raising taxes)!! But we can promise to impeach Bush."
Ok, let them trot out the Downing Street memo or any other memo (read crafted on a copy machine) that they want. It says nothing new and adds nothing new that WAS NOT BEFORE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE DURING THE LAST ELECTION, i.e. the entire John Kerry campaign, every whacky charge from moron.org and every half baked "documentary" from Michael Moore (food for may fat guy please).
Herein lies the rub. The issue of Bush lying and deceiving our country into war was put before the ultimate authority in our country, namely, the American People. They voted, they spoke in a clear voice. But that answer just didn't and doesn't suit the democrat pary. They continue to show contempt for the voters and are clearly seeking to ANNUL the election, no more, no less.
Let them fire away. Let them continue to root for our enemies around the world. Let them continue to advance kook theories. Most of all, let them continue to think that the liberal echo chamber (broadcast by the MSM) they live in reflects a majority view.
Just damn.
If you want on the list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...
I highly doubt it would tear the country apart. It might tear the democratic party apart as I know many dems who are truly embarassed by the antics of the far left. I don't think the majority of the country would take this nonsense seriously enough to lead to tearing it apart. Long before Bush was ever president, Iraq and WMD's have been synonymous. Even if your only exposure to things going on in the world was the 6:00 news, this has been the screed about Iraq. Dan Rather was happy to report such during the Clinton years because it suited Clinton's purposes. The left can hardly charge Bush without calling into question their own intelligence/belief at the time. Besides, opening this can of worms will also bring oil for food more into the focus of the general public (I'd certainly bring up that whole sanctions issue if someone were accusing me). The last thing the far left wants is their precious UN maligned any further.
Cindie
"The Downing Street memos were "recreated" by the reporter who produced them. My larger question -- and one that lawmakers SHOULD be asking, is whether they actually exist, or are the embellished rantings of an anti-Bush/anti-Blair Jayson Blair-wannabe."
I disagree that this is what Republican lawmakers "SHOULD be asking", for two reasons.
1) I suspect that it's authentic. If it were fake, you'd think it would be a lot more damning, and wouldn't include clear references that indicate that everyone at the decision making level was taking the possibility of Saddam using WMD's deadly seriously - which alone completely undermines the spin that liberals are trying to put on it.
2) If we push the idea that it's a fake, it can be interpreted as an admission that if it's genuine, then it's bad for the Administration. Of course that's nonsense, it's legitimate to ask regardless. But it -can- be interpreted that way, certainly the media can and will spin it that way, and treat it's authentification as a major victory against the Bush Administration. Why risk it, particularly when it actually helps Bush's case more than hurts it, by reinforcing the fact that WMD was considered a real threat, not just "fixed" intelligence? That should be the first line of defense, cause with a hostile media, we often don't get more than one.
Qwinn
I have been wrong in the past, but I am pretty sure that there is going to be another presidential election in three years.
Let me say right off hand that Bush did not lie to Congress. But former President Clinton lied under oath, knowing what the penalty of perjury was, and because of that act a U.S. Citizen was denied justice.
Congressional Democrats seems to think that "misleading" them is more heinous that lying under oath. Figures.
Maybe they like the sound of "President Cheney". |
I'll take door #2. Now, do they really want President Cheney?
Oh, I don't know; professional whiners; professional victims, professional hacks, professional race-baiters, professional extortionists, professional lack-wits...
They certainly sound like prefessionals to me.
Are you crazy? Get the courts involved? Ad it stands now, Republicans do not have the votes in the Senate to get anything they want. But there is no way that Bush would be impeached in the House. The cowardly Senate might do wahatever the Washington Post told it to do, but the House is very firmly in controld the people-- right now, Republicans.
Get a court involved, and some appeals court might find that the Constitution requires that impeachment and conviction matters must be hadnled by federal courts in this special situation-- where a Republican President has a Republican Congress and some Democrat Members of Congress want to inititiate impeachment proceedings. To deprive them of the chance to bring down a Republican President would be to disenfranchise their Democrat constituents.
Or some such Barbra Streisand that will be dressed up in nice-sounding legal prose. Law professors will hail the sound decision.
On Mark Levin's show tonight a guy called in and said something like this:
Hilderbeast should go to Iraq and construct the Iraqi Constitution, she's the smartest woman in the world; and the U.S. should make sure she stays there.
Kerry should go to Africa and show them how to win the war he was in; and then they should make him their General.
Kennedy should go to Afghanistan and show them how to make booze, like his father made all his money and then he should stay there to make sure the quality of liquor is high in octane.
I totally agree with this idea, and I'm willing to buy a one way plane ticket for any one of them, how about you guys?
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