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Censure and Impeachment
Censure and Impeachment
By David Swanson, censurebush.org
Censure is not the enemy of impeachment, any more than impeaching Bush prevents impeaching Cheney. We have a tendency to jump five steps ahead of ourselves in order to find imaginary problems.
Let me explain.
Congressman John Conyers has introduced a bill to censure Bush, another to censure Cheney, and a third to create a select committee to investigate and make recommendations on grounds for possible impeachment. The reaction I'm hearing seems to be three-quarters enthusiasm and one-quarter concern that censuring Bush and Cheney will hurt the chances of impeaching them.
I don't think that concern is well placed. The purpose of each of these three bills at this point is to raise the issue, keep the Bush Administration's lies and crimes in the news, and allow the Democrats to show some spine by signing on.
Many Democrats have long whispered that they would impeach Bush if they had the majority. Activists have long pleaded with them that only by showing people what they stand for can the Democrats hope to win a majority. Now there is something new and important to stand for. By signing onto one or more of these bills (and really there's no excuse not to sign onto all three), Democrats can declare themselves an opposition party ready to work against the rightward, criminal drift of the nation. And exceptional Republicans can jump ship too, if they have the nerve.
If we succeed in censuring Bush and/or Cheney, impeachment is next. The one does not cancel the other. The public will not allow it to. Public support for impeachment is much higher than it ever was for impeaching Clinton, and so is support for removing Bush and Cheney from office. (http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/polling) Censure will not satisfy those demands. It will, however, help move Congress and the media in the direction of listening to the public demand for accountability.
And Congress has a long, long way to go. Not a single member of the House has introduced articles of impeachment. Only one has said he would sign onto them if someone else introduced them (John Lewis, just yesterday). Asking Congress Members to sign onto censure and, more importantly, a bill to create a fact-finding committee to investigate possible impeachable offenses, helps them take a significant step toward where the public is.
In fact, this point is well argued in the Executive Summary of the report released today by Congressman Conyers. Here is the key section:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/5775
Let's hold the criminals accountable. Join us at: http://www.censurebush.org
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NSA domestic spying is illegal, Bush ADMITS ordering it and defiantly states he intends to CONTINUE so VIOLATING rather than upholding the CONSTITUTION he swore to preserve, protect and defend. So where's the outrage for those illegally (AND TO BE) surveilled, what's to investigate and what justice does the diversion of censure defer and thereby deny?
CIVIL LIBERTIES AND PRIVACY:
“ SEIZING DICTATORIAL POWER
No one is above the Constitution and its law(s). For their blatant disregard for the lives/families of the men and women fighting in Iraq; their overt willingness to line their pockets and the pockets of their "have-mores" at the expense of the future of the United States, to lie to the voters, to interpret law(s) to suit their agenda, to willfully ignore the needs of this citizenry, i.e. victims of hurrican Katrina, etc., their action(s) are tantamount to treason. Therefore, Bush and Cheney must be censured, impeached and removed from the office they took an oath to uphold and have since kicked to the gutter.
I have long been a supporter of impeachment. AND HANG THEM BY LETHAL INJECTION OF THE FIRING SQUAD. I think that sums it up. Also the three saddest words from the bible--and Jesus wept
Best Wishes for a Bright Bushless New Year
Doug
Before we get too far down the road with holding hearings on Snoopgate, what ever happened to the Senate hearings to investigate how Bush/Cheney manipulated intel prior to invading Iraq? And shouldn't the congress be exercising oversight in to how the administration is mishandling and leaking classified information in the wake of Plamegate?
It seems these issue hit the headlines one day and then disappear shortly thereafter. There are so many "__gates" now that I have lost track of them all.
It bewilders me how a President and Vice President can act so irresponsibly and potentially criminally time after time and still continue to get away with it. It makes me wonder who is being threatened or bought off at the highest levels.
This country is becoming more like a banana republic every day.
Many times in the last three years, I have tried to get information to you on how to impeach Bush. You never respond.
You send many requests for money, but you do not want to read the e-mails I send you.
richbrice1@aol.com
info here or write me at david@davidswanson.org
President Bush again enjoys exposing his out of touch understanding of the "Powers Of The President" by insulting Congress and the Senate on "common sense" of "illegal wire tapping" via arrogant, unlawful activties.