John Nichols: Conyers raising the issue of impeachment of Bush and Cheney

[ProSense]

John Nichols
BLOG | Posted 12/20/2005 @ 1:57pm
Raising the Issue of Impeachment

The Conyers resolutions add a significant new twist to the debate about how to hold the administration to account. Members of Congress have become increasingly aggressive in the criticism of the White House, with U.S. Senator Robert Byrd, D-West Virginia, saiying Monday, "Americans have been stunned at the recent news of the abuses of power by an overzealous President. It has become apparent that this Administration has engaged in a consistent and unrelenting pattern of abuse against our Country's law-abiding citizens, and against our Constitution." Even Republicans, including Senate Judiciary Committee chair Arlen Specter, R-Pennsylvania, are talking for the first time about mounting potentially serious investigations into abuses of power by the president.

But Conyers is seeking to do much more than schedule a committee hearing, or even launch a formal inquiry. He is proposing that the Congress use all of the powers that are available to it to hold the president and vice president to account – up to and including the power to impeach the holders of the nation's most powerful positions and to remove them from office.

The first of the three resolutions introduced by Conyers, H.Res.635, asks that the Congress establish a select committee to investigate whether members of the administration made moves to invade Iraq before receiving congressional authorization, manipulated pre-war intelligence, encouraged the use of torture in Iraq and elsewhere, and used their positions to retaliate against critics of the war.

The select committee would be asked to make recommendations regarding grounds for possible impeachment of Bush and Cheney.

more...

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?bid=1&pid=43981

[texpatriot2004]

1. Impeachment NOW. n.t

[Quakerfriend]

2. I just love Conyers, but

honestly, does anyone think that the Repugs are ready to do anything to oust *??

[ProSense]

3. I know Bush seems all powerful, but he and his administration

are just powerful crooks. They operate in secret because they know scrutiny jeopardizes their operation. Otherwise, they would seize control and run roughshod over the entire country (and probably would if allowed to continue on their current path). They can, and will, be brought down. To believe otherwise, is to believe that Abramoff and Libby were above the law. With so many people willing to give the Bush administration a pass, the job is being made harder. Out in the open, the Republicans would be foolish to try to impede justice.

[JohnWxy]

4. It takes a while to get these things under way ....

by proceeding with investigation it would become a campaign issue next Fall -- would various candidates come out and say "No we shouldn't even look into these matters."??

Voters might take a different view, that we should at least discover more facts behind the fog-bank.

Frankly, it seems to me on the domestic spying, which he has admitted he did without getting the warrants as FISA provides for, this should be obvious. Bush and Cheney should be impeached, and then prosocuted for breaking the law. He ignored a law taht would have been easy to comply with. That secret court has routinely granted warrants for wire-taps in the past. How can anybody justify NOT impeaching him?