MEDIA
and HOUSE DEMOCRATIC LEADERS SEEK BLACKOUT
ON IMPEACHMENT OF CHENEY!
The Many Vices of
Cheney Demand An Accounting...
But Democratic
House Leadership Have Just Squelched An Impeachment
Resolution.
How Long Will They Be Able To Ignore What Most
Americans Want?
The American Mass media have not ;et the American people
know that the growing public discontent with the
White House has
actually led to a bill in the House to impeach Cheney.
It is important that
we hear the truth. And see what is really going
on in this matter. This site
will try to fill that need. Check back often.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, is going way past normal
presidential
campaigning. On November 6th, ge has untroduced
HB 433 to impeach
VP Cheney.. He stated that "“Vice President
Cheney continues to violate
the U.S. Constitution by insisting the power of the
executive branch is
supreme.. Congress must hold the Vice President
accountable. 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.”..He believes Cheney is cooking
intelligence estimates right now to justify an attack
on Iran. Unless Cheney
is stopped, he wrote that he is afraid there will be
a new war, this one with
Iran.
( http://www.dennis4president.com/go/newsroom/rumsfeld-memos-corroborate-targeting-of-iran,-kucinich-charges/
)
Here
is the Roll Call vote to table (dismiss)
the resolution to impeach
Cheney. 135 Democrats followed Pelosi's lead
and voted YES. 86 voted NO.
165 Republicans voted NO. to continue the discussion.
In doing this, he confronts the Democratic House
Leadership under Speaker
Namcy Pelosi. She has said "impeachment is
off the table". The House
Judiciary Committee, headed by Conyers (D-MI),
hitherto had no plans
to take up hearings on Kucinich's bill to impeach
Cheney. Neither the
New York Times or the Washington Post reported on
Kucinich's use
a rarely used House procedure to bring a bill before
the full House without
Committee approval.
See my Blog from October 5, 2007:
http://www.tigersoft.com/Tiger-Blogs/10-5-2007/index.html
What brought the issue to a
head?
A series of articles ran in late June in the
Washington Post had disclosed
that the vice president was the real leader behind
Bush’s decision to violate
the Geneva Conventions and to illegally deny
international protections to
captives in what he has called the War on Terror,
including captives from
Afghanistan and Iraq, and to set up a regular program
of torture of captives.
Cheney also made the silly assertion that he did not
have to respond to
Congressional subpoenas and requests for information
about the activities
of his office because as vice president, he is
president of the Senate,
and thus is not a part of the executive branch
:51% of Americans would like to see this
president and Vice
President impeached and removed from office, acording to a
Newsweek magazine poll in October 2006, invluding 29
percent of
Republicans!), but the mass media ignores this and won't do
additional polls on impeachment. There's more tjat they're not
saying.
See: http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff06122007.html
In the latest polls, only 21% of Americans rate
Cheney job performance
as VP as :"excellent" or "pretty
good". 72% say his performance is "poor".
(Source: http://www.pollingreport.com/C.htm )
Bush's approval rating
is 31% according to the latest USA Today/Gallup
Poll.. 64% disapprove.
( http://www.pollingreport.com/BushJob.htm
)
Impeachment of Cheney would be a shot across Bush's
bow, telling him not to
continue on his reckless course to war with Iran.
Is it not the responsibility
of Congress to impeach in the event the White House
lies Anerica into an
unnexessary war. How true this assertion is
will only come out if the
Constitutional respobsibility of Impeachment is used.
In resulting debate
and hearings would let everyone and Congress decide
for themselves.
Democratic
Leadership Squeches Impeachment Bill on November 6
Showing their
willingness to affront Americans that voted for them and the
majority of Americans, the House Democrat Leadership
barely fought off a
straight-up vote on Kucinich's anti-Cheney
resolution. Republicans supported it,
ironically. In the end, Democrats stifled a
discussion by offering a motion to refer the
proposal to the House Judiciary Committee for further
study. That motion passed
by a largely party-line vote of 218-194. There seems no willingness on the part of the
House Leadership to impeach Cheney. So, who among
their voters in
2006 will trust them in the future?
Their reasoning and excuses are not public.
They certainly should be.
What Do Democratic Presidential Candidates Say?
Dem. Governor (NM) Richardson says he is not
enthusiastic about Kucinich
resolution and says he would probably vote
"NO" on impeachment of Cheney
(CNBC interview 11/6/2007).:
http://www.impeachbush.tv/impeach/state_makeup_2007.pdf
|
================ Votes for Impeachment ==============
Vermont Senate - http://www.vermontguardian.com/local/042007/ImpeachmentVote.shtml
Portland, Maine -
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/25755
San Francisco -
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/08/BAG5JH4R4S1.DTL
San Fernando Valley -
http://la.indymedia.org/news/2007/08/205097.php
Madison - vote defeated.
http://marquettehomelandsecurity.blogspot.com/2007/09/madison-city-council-bush-impeachment.html
| Alaska |
State Democratic party passes impeachment resolution NR7. |
| California |
San Francisco and Berkeley pass impeachment ballot measures in November 2006 election.
Sebastopol passed 5/18/06. Impeachment
forum held at Democratic Convention 4/29. Berkeley passes resolution 4/25/06. Fairfax 7/5/06. Koretz'
AJR39 expired in 2006. |
| Colorado |
State Democratic party adds impeachment to platform on 5/20/06. |
| Connecticut |
Action in New London. |
| Florida |
Activists rally in South Florida. |
| Hawaii |
Senator Les Ihara Jr. has introduced impeachment resolution SCR83. |
| Illinois |
Karen Yarbrough (D-Maywood) introduced HJR0125 in the state
Assembly in 2006, Champaign/Urbana passed ballot initiative on Nov 7th |
| Indiana |
Lake Station rejects impeachment on April 13th. |
| Maine |
MaineImpeach.org is working
on getting the state legislature to pass an impeachment resolution. |
| Massachusetts |
Amherst passes resolution. |
| Maryland |
Takoma Park passes resolution on 7/23/07 |
| Michigan |
National Lawyers Guild had a teach-in June 28th. |
| Minnesota |
ImpeachForPeach.org
promoting Do It
Yourself Impeachment |
| Missouri |
Jamilah Nasheed has introduced an impeachment resolution, HCR 46, on 3/29/07. |
| Montana |
Montanans for Impeachment leading the charge. |
| New Hampshire |
Hanover passes impeachment 111 to 42 on May 9th, 2006. |
| New Jersey |
North Jersey Impeach
Group making good progress on state legislation. |
| New Mexico |
Senator
Gerald Ortiz y Pino has introduced an impeachment resolution on 1/23/06. It passed
Rules on 2/16. |
| New York |
Nyack votes unanimously for impeachment. |
| North Carolina |
Meeting planned for April 27th at Durham Main Library |
| Ohio |
Oberlin becomes first city in Ohio to pass resolution. |
| Oklahoma |
Oklahoma becomes 15th state to pass impeachment resolution at their state Dems
convention. |
| Oregon |
Lots of activity in the Portland Area. State dems pass resolution in 2005. |
| Pennsylvania |
State Senator Jim Ferlo launches impeachment petition campaign drive. |
| Rhode Island |
US Senate candidate Carl Sheeler calls for state impeachment. |
| Texas |
Representative Lon Burnam filed HCR 154 on 3/19/07 |
| Washington |
Senator Oemig introducing a state resolution SJM8016 on 2/14/07.
Olympia considering passing a city resolution. |
| Wisconsin |
2005 Democratic Party Convention passed a resolution. |
| Vermont |
Senate passes SR0016 calling for impeachment on 4/20/07! Dozens of cities and
towns have also passed town measures. |
| Virginia |
Campaign underway to fly impeachment banners from airplanes. |
|
John Nichols Fri Nov 2, 3:30 PM ET The
Nation
Calling the Question -- In the House -- on Impeaching
Cheney
Broadcast media's gate-keeping
"stars" have done just about everything in their power to keep the matter
of presidential accountability off the radar of the
American people. That was evident during the most recent
Democratic presidential debate, when NBC anchors
Brian Williams and Tim Russert meticulously avoided
following up on Congressman Dennis Kucinich's three
references to impeachment but somehow found time to
grill the contenders on UFOs and what costume Barack
Obama would be wearing on Halloween.
Pollsters are almost as bad. Rarely are questions
about impeachment included in statewide or national surveys.
Despite the lack of media coverage, however,
when citizens are asked what they think about holding members
of the Bush administration to account, they
respond with an enthusiasm far greater than that displayed for
impeaching Richard Nixon at the height of the
Watergate scandal. It is this reality -- as opposed to the state
of denial fostered by so much of the media and
the political class -- that Congressman Dennis Kucinich will act
upon next week, when he offers a privileged
resolution on the House floor to bring articles of impeachment against
Vice President Dick Cheney.
Kucinich will face an uphill fight in a chamber
led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the California Democrat
who continues to say that impeachment is
"off the table."
The Ohio congressman and long-shot presidential
contender may not be following the rules of engagement
as dictated by major media and his party
leaders. But when Kucinich raises the issue of impeachment, he
will be speaking for a great mass of Americans
who agree with his argument that, "Congress must hold the
Vice President accountable."
How great?
A fresh poll conducted for Vermont's
WCAX television station finds that citizens of that state enthusiastically
believe that Congress beginning
impeachment proceedings against President Bush. Sixty-one percent of the
Vermonters surveyed favor taking steps to
impeach the president, while just 33% oppose doing so.
The numbers are even higher for
impeaching Cheney. Sixty-four percent of Vermonters favor beginning the
process of holding the vice president to
account, where only 31 percent are opposed.
The greater level of support for
impeaching Cheney parallels the few nationwide figures that have been
ascertained. When the American Research
Group conducted a national survey in early July of this year, it found
that 54 percent of American adults wanted
the House to begin impeachment proceedings against Cheney -- with
76 percent of Democrats, 51 percent of
independents and a striking 17 percent of Republicans favoring the step.
Forty-six percent of Americans
surveyed backed impeachment proceedings against Bush -- with support for
impeachment at 69 percent among
Democrats, 50 percent among independents and 13 percent among Republicans.
What is notable is that, when Time
magazine surveyed Americans in the late spring of 1974, after the Watergate
scandal had evolved into a full-scale
crisis of confidence in Nixon's presidency, only 43 percent favored impeachment.
A media that actually had a sense of
history, not to mention reality, would focus on the fact that Americans are
more supportive of a congressional
intervention to thwart Bush and Cheney's wrongdoing than they were of moves
to hold Nixon to account just months
before the former president resigned in disgrace.
Now, it falls to Kucinich to speak the
reality that, "The momentum is building for impeachment. Millions of citizens
across the nation are demanding Congress
rein in the Vice President's abuse of power." Says the congressman,
"Despite this groundswell of
opposition to the unconstitutional conduct of office, Vice President Cheney continues
to violate the U.S. Constitution by
insisting the power of the executive branch is supreme... 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."
Kucinich introduced articles of
impeachment against Cheney several months ago, and his H. Res. 333 has
attracted almost two dozen co-sponsors.
All Democrats, they are:
Tammy Baldwin (D-WI),
Robert Brady (D-PA),
Yvette Clarke (D-NY),
Rep. William Lacy Clay (D-MO),
Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN),
Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN),
Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA),
Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA),
Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX),
Rep. Henry Johnson (D-GA), - ran for office, calling for impeachment.
Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-MI),
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA),
Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA), - senior member of Washington State delegation.
- Sits on the House Ways and Means and Judiciary Committees
Rep. James Moran (D-VA),
Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ),
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL),
Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-NY),
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA),
Rep. Diane Watson (D-CA),
Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)
and Rep. Albert Wynn (D-MD).
Frustrated by the refusal of Democratic leaders to set up a process for holding hearings
on his
proposal, Kucinich will use an arcane House rule allowing for the prodding of the process
with |
privileged resolutions to try and force consideration. Once introduced, a privileged
resolution
must be addressed within two legislative days.
Kucinich is expected to offer his privileged resolution on Tuesday. He expects to continue
pushing
it until the House acts. That action is likely to be a successful move by Democratic
leaders to table
the measure. Such a vote could be instructive, however, in that it would provide a rare measure of
the willingness of at least some House members to respond to the popular will --
which is that Dick
Cheney be held to account.
WHO IS DENNIS KUCINICH?
Here
is what Gore Vidal wrote in The Nation. ( http://www.thenation.com/doc/20071126/vidal
_
So who is he? Something of a political prodigy: at 31 he was elected mayor of
Cleveland. Once he had been installed, in 1978, the city's lordly banks wanted the new
mayor to sell off the city's municipally owned electric system, Muny Light, to a private
competitor in which (Oh, America!) the banks had a financial interest. When Mayor Kucinich
refused to sell, the money lords took their revenge, as they are wont to do: they refused
to roll over the city's debt, pushing the city into default. The ensuing crisis revealed
the banks' criminal involvement with the private utility of their choice, CEI, which, had
it acquired Muny Light, would have become a monopoly, as five of the six lordly banks had
almost 1.8 million shares of CEI stock: this is Enronesque before the fact.
Mayor Kucinich was not re-elected, but his profile was clearly etched on the
consciousness of his city; and in due course he returned to the Cleveland City Council
before being elected to the Ohio State Senate and then the US Congress. Kucinich has also
written a description of his Dickensian youth, growing up in Cleveland. He has firsthand
knowledge of urban poverty in the world's richest nation. Born in 1946 into a Croatian
Catholic family, by the time he was 17 he and his family had lived in twenty-one different
places, much of which he describes in Dreiserian detail in a just-published memoir.
Kucinich is opposed to the death penalty as well as the USA Patriot Act. In 1998 and
2004 he was a US delegate to the United Nations convention on climate change. At home he
has been active in Rust Belt affairs, working to preserve the ninety-year-old Cleveland
steel industry, a task of the sort that will confront the next President should he or she
have sufficient interest in these details.
I asked a dedicated liberal his impression of Kucinich; he wondered if Kucinich was too
slight to lead a nation of truly fat folk. I pointed out that he has the same physical
stature as James Madison, as well as a Madisonian commitment to our 1789 Constitution; he
is also farsighted, as demonstrated by his resolute opposition to Bush's cries for ever
more funding for the illegal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. More to the point, in October
2002 he opposed the notion of a war then being debated. For those of us at home and in
harm's way from disease, he co-wrote HR 676, a bill that would insure all of us within
Medicare, just as if we were citizens of a truly civilized nation.
Other Essays in This Series:
John Nichols for Joseph Biden
Ellen Chesler for Hillary Clinton
Katherine S. Newman for John
Edwards
Bruce Shapiro for Christopher Dodd
Richard Kim for Mike Gravel
Michael Eric Dyson for Barack Obama
Rocky Anderson for Bill
Richardson
|
