15 Democrat excuses

15 Democrat excuses

After reading about the need to impeach Bush/Cheney people ask: Why doesn’t the Democrat Congress impeach? Below is an excerpt from an excellent article describing 15 reasons timid Democrats in Congress give for not doing their duty to remove a negligent and criminal executive team. Excuse 12 gets closest to the target: the Democrats’ cynical calculations about elections, rather than doing the public’s work. Democrats want Bush and Cheney in office because they will get more votes in November with them there, than if they are removed.

This raises the question: Who does more damage to democracy: the minority of fascists or their enablers?

Is Peace or Impeachment Possible?
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/possible
Submitted Sun, 2007-09-16 15:03. By David Swanson
[Remarks at September 15, 2007, impeachment rally in Miami, Fla., organized by www.floridaimpeach.org ]
They have about 15 excuses, most of which are very easily rejected, a few of which it is going to be very hard but not impossible for us to get around.
Excuse #1: You can't judge articles of impeachment prior to a committee investigation. That gets the process out of order:
This is a complaint with Kucinich's bill, which lays out three specific charges against Cheney. Inslee's bill on Gonzales got around this by simply proposing that the Judiciary Committee investigate whether Gonzales had committed impeachable offenses. A new bill could do the same for Bush and Cheney and would not have to be wholly devoid of content. It could suggest the area or areas of inquiry.
Excuse #2. We don't have all the facts we need in order to impeach.
Well, of course that's what an impeachment investigation is for. But in fact we do have the facts. The Judiciary Committee passed an article of impeachment against Nixon for refusing to comply with subpoenas. Bush and Cheney and Rice have indisputably refused to comply with subpoenas. That one is an instant impeachment. Just add backbone. The signing statements is another instant impeachment. So is Bush's confessed violation of FISA, although it is complicated politically by Congress's recent legalization of this crime. Bush is on videotape being warned about Hurricane Katrina and on videotape claiming he wasn't. He and Cheney are on videotape lying about the reasons for war, and the evidence that they knew they were lying is overwhelming. That is the impeachable offense our founding fathers most worried about. James Madison and George Mason both argued as well at the Constitutional Convention that impeachment would be needed if a president ever pardoned a crime that he himself was involved in. The commutation of Scooter Libby's sentence (another notable ass-kissing little chicken shit) is another obvious impeachment. The list is endless. Congressman Conyers has published a lengthy book documenting many of the felonies and abuses of power.
Excuse #3: Impeachment would take too long.
Nixon took 3 months. Clinton took 2. They've spent 9 thus far avoiding it, and with very little to show for it. Impeachment for refusal to comply with subpoenas would take one day.
Excuse #4: Impeachment would distract from other things.
Yeah? Like what? Since when is restoring the Bill of Rights a distraction? A distraction from funding wars and legalizing spying is fine with me. A distraction from passing bills that will be vetoed does not worry me.
Excuse #5: We need to focus on ending the war.
OK, but if you focus on ending the war for two full years and don't actually end it, I wish you luck getting people to turn out next November. When Congress moved toward impeachment of Nixon, it found the nerve to end a war, and he backed off on his veto threats. Congress passed a menu of progressive legislation in part because of, not despite, the impeachment threat hanging over Nixon. And ultimately of course impeachment is going to be needed to end the current occupation of Iraq.
Excuse #6: Impeachment would be divisive.
Actually that's not true among Democrats. Eighty percent favor impeachment. But as far as bipartisan harmony on Capitol Hill goes, the dangers of creating divisiveness is sort of like the danger of violence breaking out if we leave Iraq. It's too late already! And it's too late because the Republicans never give a damn for bipartisan harmony. Were they in the majority with a Democratic president holding the all-time record for unpopularity, they would long ago have impeached him and forced every Democratic Congress member to either defend him or run away from their own party. Does anybody remember Al Gore picking Joe Lieberman as a running mate and pretending he'd never met Bill Clinton? That was the result of an impeachment without a Senate conviction. (John Nichols says: impeachment is not a constitutional crisis. It's the cure for the one we're in. Aspirin is not a headache crisis. Impeachment is not a constitutional crisis.)
Excuse #7: We don't have the votes in the House to impeach.
Well, you would if Pelosi whipped on it. And Congress members back bills all the time that are not predicted to pass. If their colleagues fail to join them, that's between their colleagues and their colleagues' constituents. And again, impeachment usually does its work without getting all the way to impeachment. A move to impeach for refusal to comply with subpoenas, for example, might result in compliance with subpoenas. And it is the only thing that might. Holding people in contempt through the courts will take forever and probably fail. Inherent contempt is a tool Congress doesn't have the backbone for. And Congress is not about to use either type of contempt against Bush or Cheney.
Excuse #8: We don't have the votes in the Senate to convict.
Well, you might if you put the crimes on television and if the house impeached. But you would do good for the nation and Democrats would do good for their party even with a Senate acquittal. Nothing would better identify for the public the Senators who need to be thrown out of office. And impeachment even without conviction would reverse the public perception of Democrats as having no spine. They may hold even in the next election without impeaching anyone or getting us out of Iraq, but if they want to win new seats, and if they want to win the White House with a large enough margin to not have the election stolen, they will reverse their current position and act!
Excuse #9: I won't sign onto Kucinich's bill because he hasn't asked me to, and he's a liberal, and he's running for president.
Well, yes, dear Congressman or Congresswoman, but this is the government of the world's largest and most powerful empire. This isn't high school. We expect you to sign onto a bill based on the merits of it, or to introduce your own.
Excuse #10: You can't impeach over policy differences because you don't like war. You have to impeach for a crime.
Well, Kucinich's bill charges Cheney with the felony that involves misleading Congress and with the crime of threatening war on Iran. Cheney is on videotape doing so. Conyers' book lists lots of felonies. But in fact, not every crime is an impeachable offense and not every impeachable offense is a crime. When Nixon cheated on his taxes or Clinton cheated on his wife and lied about it under oath, no impeachable offenses were committed. When Nixon lied to the public or when Bush ignored warnings prior to 9/11, no crimes were committed, but the offenses were impeachable.
Excuse #11: If I backed impeachment, the media would be mean to me.
Yes, Congressman; Yes, Congresswoman. And if you don't people will die. Which is worse? A majority backs impeachment now for Cheney and a majority or close to it for Bush. Those numbers will go up, not down, if you act, regardless of what the media says. You know those 18 percent of Americans who approve of the job you're doing? Even they don't like the media. No campaign email raises more money than one that begins, "Fox News just attacked me."
That's 11 excuses so far. I think those 11 can be refuted. The next four are harder to get around.
Excuse #12: Impeachment would make Bush and Cheney sympathetic and rally people around them.
The idea of making Cheney in particular an object of sympathy may seem ludicrous. But then so did the idea that Saddam Hussein was about to attack us with unmanned aerial vehicles. Common sense is not enough in Washington. We need hard numbers. I think Congress should start with Cheney and watch as Republicans are forced to abandon him. The Republicans would have done this to the Democrats years ago. The idea that impeachment would help Bush and Cheney originated in Republican National Committee talking points published in May 2006. Pelosi immediately adopted the idea as her own. It flies in the face of the historical record. When the Republicans have moved impeachment, as against Truman for example, they've benefited at the polls. When the Democrats tried to impeach Nixon, who was popular compared to Cheney or Bush, they won huge victories. When they promised not to impeach Reagan, they lost in the next elections. The exceptional case is the Clinton impeachment which was uniquely unpopular. Nonetheless, the Republicans hung onto both houses of Congress and the White House. In fact, they lost very few seats, fewer than is the norm at that point in the tenure of a majority in Congress. The Democrats may be risking more by not impeaching than they would be by doing it. But unless we can get polls done in swing districts that show overwhelmingly that the Democrats will lose seats by not impeaching, they are unlikely to act. This is what their staffers tell me. And polls showing they'd gain seats by impeaching may not be enough, if they think they'd do OK without it. And we'll have to show that Republicans save their seats by backing impeachment if we want any Republicans to act. Of course this is all utterly disgusting. Human life and the future of democracy are not concerns that even come up. It's all about elections.
Excuse #13: Impeachment would remind people of Bill Clinton.
Well, would that be so horrible? I was no fan of Bill Clinton, but compared to Bush and Cheney he looks like a saint.
Excuse #14: Nancy Pelosi opposes impeachment.
Excuse #15: Hillary Clinton opposes impeachment.