[VXHLrsO1]

On the off chance this picks up some steam.

*****

H.RES.333
Title: Impeaching Richard B. Cheney, Vice President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors.
Sponsor: Rep Kucinich, Dennis J. [OH-10] (introduced 4/24/2007) Cosponsors (14)
Latest Major Action: 5/4/2007 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties.

SUMMARY AS OF:
4/24/2007--Introduced.

Impeaches Richard B. Cheney, Vice President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors.

Sets forth articles of impeachment stating that Vice President Cheney: (1) has purposely manipulated the intelligence process to deceive the citizens and Congress of the United States about a threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, and about an alleged relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda, to justify the use of the U.S. Armed Forces against Iraq in a manner damaging to U.S. national security interests; and (2) has openly threatened aggression against Iran absent any real threat to the United States, and has done so with the U.S. proven capability to carry out such threats, thus undermining U.S. national security.
Full text of Resolution

CNN interview with Rep Kucinich

Rep Waxman's searchable collection yields 51 specific misleading statements made by Cheney about the threat posed by Iraq.

Indictment video and petition

[markoiutrfffdsa]

Gotta get this guy first and then go after the other one. Otherwise this @#%&* would become president.

[Hoijdxvh]

Kucinich has had his fun with this stunt. Now that he's had his two seconds of fame, we can promptly return to our regularly scheduled Congressional nonsense. Anybody have a spare beanie for the little boy?

[joe-salton]

Kucinich has had his fun with this stunt. Now that he's had his two seconds of fame, we can promptly return to our regularly scheduled Congressional nonsense. Anybody have a spare beanie for the little boy?

Hmmm, no comment on th charges themselves? Just belittlement of the one bringing them?

Bozo the clown could bring charges against Cheney for all I care, if the charges have grounds it should be treated with the same respect as if Abe Lincoln and Ben Franklin came back from the grave and presented the charges.

So Bob, if you want to give Kucinich a beanie, you might give him the one you are wearing.

[Adwetyren]

A ha! I knew it! He took the bait...

[STYWOMBORGOSY]

A ha! I knew it! He took the bait...

Um, yeah.

If you are going to flame, you are going to be reported.

Congrats.

[Scfdglkn]

The whole thing is a waste of time. Why? Because in order to convict after the house impeaches (which is, in effect, only filing the charge), the Republicans in the Senate would have to go along (it takes a 2/3 majority to convict). They won't.

[BrainTop]

The problem really is that the Dems dont even have the guts to try it, atleast try and if/when it fails you can use that as a campaign issue as the war gets worse.

They have been a utter disgrace actually. Pelosi can cut the funding to the army without even passing a bill, and does not do it but actually passes more money for it, then complains that war is a waste. Im getting relly tired of this act.

END THIS WAR!!!!

[Alkassyinhisk]

It's simple politics why the Dems won't do it: If they do pass a resolution to impeach Cheney, the same would happen a few years down the road with a Dem Vice President and a Republican Congress. Dems are just looking out for their butt's

[xquFzpNw]

Kucinich conference call to detail 'why and how' of Cheney impeachment measure

11/05/2007 @ 4:19 pm

Filed by Jason Rhyne

Darkhorse presidential hopeful Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) will hold a nationwide conference call Monday night centering on his plan to force a vote as to whether Vice President Dick Cheney should be impeached.

In an announcement last week, Kucinich said he would bring a "privileged resolution" on the matter to the House floor Tuesday, a maneuver which would require a vote from all House members -- and allows him to act in spite of protestations from Democratic leaders, who don't want a vote to come to the floor, according to Politico's Ryan Grim.

Tonight's call, according to a press release, will address "why and how" Kucinich plans to bring about the vote.

"Dozens of supportive organizations have advised the Kucinich campaign that they will be lobbying Congressional representatives heavily over the next few days to support the Ohio Congressman impeachment resolution (House Resolution 333)," the release continued, adding that the resolution will bring about a vote "within two days" of its introduction Tuesday. The measure has 22 sponsors.

Lawmakers will have three options to deal with the resolution: pass it, relegate it to a committee, or support a so-called "motion to table," which effectively kills a pending matter by ending debate.

According to The Hill newspaper, Kucinich's idea -- which would put legislators on the record about Cheney's impeachment -- is making some Democrats uneasy.

"If he pulls it off, it could make for an uncomfortable situation for Democratic leaders and centrist Democrats," The Hill's Mike Soraghan writes of Kucinich's plan. "Liberal activists are pushing for impeachment, while leaders worry such a move could turn off independent voters. They have made it clear that impeachment of Cheney or President Bush is off the table."

Democrats might be tempted to opt to send the resolution to committee, according to Soraghan, who says that such a move "avoids an immediate floor vote and might be the most appealing option to the Democratic leadership."

Despite its apparent unpopularity among Democratic legislators, the Kucinich proposal is not necessarily out of line with American public opinion: a July poll from American Research Group found that 54% of those surveyed favored the "US House of Representatives beginning impeachment proceedings against Vice President Dick Cheney."

“Congress must hold the Vice President accountable," Kucinich said in a statement last week. "The American people need to let Members of Congress know how they feel about this. The Vice President continues to use his office to advocate for a continued occupation of Iraq and prod our nation into a belligerent stance against Iran. If the Vice President is successful, his actions will ensure decades of disastrous consequences.”

[MilenaMKB]

Nationwide call-in on Cheney impeachment


... short-circuited by heavy volume of interest.

A nationwide conference call to discuss Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Richard B. Cheney will be rescheduled after tonight’s (Monday) planned event encountered technical problems stemming largely from the overwhelming volume of calls from interested citizens.

The campaign apologized for the snafu, explaining that staff had significantly underestimated the number of call-ins, and public interest in the issue exceeded technological capacity. The call will be re-scheduled within the next few days.

Kucinich, author and prime sponsor of the impeachment measure against Cheney, will be introducing a privileged resolution to the House tomorrow (Tuesday) to force a vote on the matter of impeachment.

[TimoPizaz]

Nice try, but it will be no result. Noone want to risk - only one year before election.

Crazy Chaney as president of USA, it could be funny!
Then end of world shold stand real.

Why so late try? Ah, it is in time, because election is soon and someone need additional "political points".

[baxodrom]

Why I Believe Bush Must Go

Nixon Was Bad. These Guys Are Worse.

By George McGovern
Sunday, January 6, 2008

As we enter the eighth year of the Bush-Cheney administration, I have belatedly and painfully concluded that the only honorable course for me is to urge the impeachment of the president and the vice president.

After the 1972 presidential election, I stood clear of calls to impeach President Richard M. Nixon for his misconduct during the campaign. I thought that my joining the impeachment effort would be seen as an expression of personal vengeance toward the president who had defeated me.

Today I have made a different choice.

Of course, there seems to be little bipartisan support for impeachment. The political scene is marked by narrow and sometimes superficial partisanship, especially among Republicans, and a lack of courage and statesmanship on the part of too many Democratic politicians. So the chances of a bipartisan impeachment and conviction are not promising.

But what are the facts?

Bush and Cheney are clearly guilty of numerous impeachable offenses. They have repeatedly violated the Constitution. They have transgressed national and international law. They have lied to the American people time after time. Their conduct and their barbaric policies have reduced our beloved country to a historic low in the eyes of people around the world. These are truly "high crimes and misdemeanors," to use the constitutional standard.

From the beginning, the Bush-Cheney team's assumption of power was the product of questionable elections that probably should have been officially challenged -- perhaps even by a congressional investigation.

In a more fundamental sense, American democracy has been derailed throughout the Bush-Cheney regime. The dominant commitment of the administration has been a murderous, illegal, nonsensical war against Iraq. That irresponsible venture has killed almost 4,000 Americans, left many times that number mentally or physically crippled, claimed the lives of an estimated 600,000 Iraqis (according to a careful October 2006 study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health) and laid waste their country. The financial cost to the United States is now $250 million a day and is expected to exceed a total of $1 trillion, most of which we have borrowed from the Chinese and others as our national debt has now climbed above $9 trillion -- by far the highest in our national history.

All of this has been done without the declaration of war from Congress that the Constitution clearly requires, in defiance of the U.N. Charter and in violation of international law. This reckless disregard for life and property, as well as constitutional law, has been accompanied by the abuse of prisoners, including systematic torture, in direct violation of the Geneva Conventions of 1949.

I have not been heavily involved in singing the praises of the Nixon administration. But the case for impeaching Bush and Cheney is far stronger than was the case against Nixon and Vice President Spiro T. Agnew after the 1972 election. The nation would be much more secure and productive under a Nixon presidency than with Bush. Indeed, has any administration in our national history been so damaging as the Bush-Cheney era?

How could a once-admired, great nation fall into such a quagmire of killing, immorality and lawlessness?

It happened in part because the Bush-Cheney team repeatedly deceived Congress, the press and the public into believing that Saddam Hussein had nuclear arms and other horrifying banned weapons that were an "imminent threat" to the United States. The administration also led the public to believe that Iraq was involved in the 9/11 attacks -- another blatant falsehood. Many times in recent years, I have recalled Jefferson's observation: "Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just."

The basic strategy of the administration has been to encourage a climate of fear, letting it exploit the 2001 al-Qaeda attacks not only to justify the invasion of Iraq but also to excuse such dangerous misbehavior as the illegal tapping of our telephones by government agents. The same fear-mongering has led government spokesmen and cooperative members of the press to imply that we are at war with the entire Arab and Muslim world -- more than a billion people.

Another shocking perversion has been the shipping of prisoners scooped off the streets of Afghanistan to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and other countries without benefit of our time-tested laws of habeas corpus.

Although the president was advised by the intelligence agencies last August that Iran had no program to develop nuclear weapons, he continued to lie to the country and the world. This is the same strategy of deception that brought us into war in the Arabian Desert and could lead us into an unjustified invasion of Iran. I can say with some professional knowledge and experience that if Bush invades yet another Muslim oil state, it would mark the end of U.S. influence in the crucial Middle East for decades.

Ironically, while Bush and Cheney made counterterrorism the battle cry of their administration, their policies -- especially the war in Iraq -- have increased the terrorist threat and reduced the security of the United States. Consider the difference between the policies of the first President Bush and those of his son. When the Iraqi army marched into Kuwait in August 1990, President George H.W. Bush gathered the support of the entire world, including the United Nations, the European Union and most of the Arab League, to quickly expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait. The Saudis and Japanese paid most of the cost. Instead of getting bogged down in a costly occupation, the administration established a policy of containing the Baathist regime with international arms inspectors, no-fly zones and economic sanctions. Iraq was left as a stable country with little or no capacity to threaten others.

Today, after five years of clumsy, mistaken policies and U.S. military occupation, Iraq has become a breeding ground of terrorism and bloody civil strife. It is no secret that former president Bush, his secretary of state, James A. Baker III, and his national security adviser, Gen. Brent Scowcroft, all opposed the 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq.

In addition to the shocking breakdown of presidential legal and moral responsibility, there is the scandalous neglect and mishandling of the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe. The veteran CNN commentator Jack Cafferty condenses it to a sentence: "I have never ever seen anything as badly bungled and poorly handled as this situation in New Orleans." Any impeachment proceeding must include a careful and critical look at the collapse of presidential leadership in response to perhaps the worst natural disaster in U.S. history.

Impeachment is unlikely, of course. But we must still urge Congress to act. Impeachment, quite simply, is the procedure written into the Constitution to deal with presidents who violate the Constitution and the laws of the land. It is also a way to signal to the American people and the world that some of us feel strongly enough about the present drift of our country to support the impeachment of the false prophets who have led us astray. This, I believe, is the rightful course for an American patriot.

As former representative Elizabeth Holtzman, who played a key role in the Nixon impeachment proceedings, wrote two years ago, "it wasn't until the most recent revelations that President Bush directed the wiretapping of hundreds, possibly thousands, of Americans, in violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) -- and argued that, as Commander in Chief, he had the right in the interests of national security to override our country's laws -- that I felt the same sinking feeling in my stomach as I did during Watergate. . . . A President, any President, who maintains that he is above the law -- and repeatedly violates the law -- thereby commits high crimes and misdemeanors."

I believe we have a chance to heal the wounds the nation has suffered in the opening decade of the 21st century. This recovery may take a generation and will depend on the election of a series of rational presidents and Congresses. At age 85, I won't be around to witness the completion of the difficult rebuilding of our sorely damaged country, but I'd like to hold on long enough to see the healing begin.

There has never been a day in my adult life when I would not have sacrificed that life to save the United States from genuine danger, such as the ones we faced when I served as a bomber pilot in World War II. We must be a great nation because from time to time, we make gigantic blunders, but so far, we have survived and recovered.

anmcgove@dwu.edu

[S.T.D.]

Tough Talk on Impeachment
Bill Moyers gets perspective on the role of impeachment in American political life from Constitutional scholar Bruce Fein, who wrote the first article of impeachment against President Bill Clinton, and THE NATION's John Nichols, author of THE GENIUS OF IMPEACHMENT.
The case for Cheney's impeachment is convincingly made by both men.