In article <rLCdnQ04do4Z1f7anZ2dnUVZ_rSrnZ2d@comcast.com>,
"Michelle Malkin" <hypatiab7@comcast.net> wrote:

BLOG | Posted 12/14/2007 @ 11:22am
House Judiciary Trio Calls for Impeach Cheney Hearings
The Nation

Three senior members of the House Judiciary Committee have
called for the immediate opening of impeachment hearings for Vice
President
Richard Cheney.

Democrats Robert Wexler of Florida, Luis Gutierrez of
Illinois
and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin on Friday distributed a statement, "A Case
for Hearings," that declares, "The issues at hand are too serious to
ignore,
including credible allegations of abuse of power that if proven may well
constitute high crimes and misdemeanors under our constitution. The
charges
against Vice President Cheney relate to his deceptive actions leading up
to
the Iraq war, the revelation of the identity of a covert agent for
political
retaliation, and the illegal wiretapping of American citizens."

In particular, the Judiciary Committee members cite the
recent
revelation by former White House press secretary Scott McClellan that the
Vice President and his staff purposefully gave him false information
about
the outing of Valerie Plame Wilson as a covert agent as part of a White
House campaign to discredit her husband, former Ambassador Joe Wilson. On
the basis of McClellan's statements, Wexler, Gutierrez and Baldwin say,
"it
is even more important for Congress to investigate what may have been an
intentional obstruction of justice." The three House members argue that,
"Congress should call Mr. McClellan to testify about what he described as
being asked to 'unknowingly [pass] along false information.'"

Adding to the sense of urgency, the members note that "recent
revelations have shown that the Administration including Vice President
Cheney may have again manipulated and exaggerated evidence about weapons
of
mass destruction -- this time about Iran's nuclear capabilities."

Although Wexler, Gutierrez and Baldwin are close to Judiciary
Committee chair John Conyers, getting the Michigan Democrat to open
hearings
on impeachment will not necessarily be easy. Though Conyers was a leader
in
suggesting during the last Congress that both President Bush and Vice
President Cheney had committed impeachable offenses, he has been under
immense pressure from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, to keep
Constitutional remedies for executive excesses "off the table" in this
Congress.

What's with Pelosi? Is she a closet neocon? I can't even begin to
express how disappointed I am in her. And Reid isn't any better. Today
he apparently caved on the FISA bill and on funding Bush's illegal war.

It is notable, however, that Baldwin maintains warm relations
with Pelosi and that Wexler, a veteran member of the Judiciary Committee
has
historically had an amiable and effective working relationship with
Conyers.
There is no question that Conyers, who voted to keep open the impeachment
debate on November 7, has been looking for a way to explore the charges
against Cheney. The move by three of his key allies on the committee may
provide the chairman with the opening he seeks, although it is likely he
will need to hear from more committee members before making any kind of
break with Pelosi -- or perhaps convincing her that holding hearings on
Cheney's high crimes and misdemeanors is different from putting a Bush
impeachment move on the table.

The most important immediate development, however, is the
assertion of an "ask" for supporters of impeachment. Pulled in many
directions in recent months, campaigners for presidential and vice
presidential accountability have focused their attention on supporting a
House proposal by Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich, a candidate for the
Democratic presidential nod, to impeach Cheney. When Kucinich forced
consideration of his resolution on November 7, Pelosi and her allies used
procedural moves to get it sent to the Judiciary Committee for
consideration. Pelosi's hope was that the proposal would disappear into
the
committee's files.

The call for hearings by Wexler, Gutierrez and Baldwin puts
impeachment on the table, at least as far as activists are concerned,
creating a pressure point that can serve as a reply when House Democrats
who
are critical of Bush but cautious about impeachment ask: "What do you
want
me to do?" The answer can now be: "Back the call for Judiciary Committee
hearings on whether to impeach ***** Cheney?"

"Some of us were in Congress during the impeachment hearings
of
President Clinton. We spent a year and a half listening to testimony
about
President Clinton's personal relations. This must not be the model for
impeachment inquires. A Democratic Congress can show that it takes its
constitutional authority seriously and hold a sober investigation, which
will stand in stark contrast to the kangaroo court convened by
Republicans
for President Clinton. In fact, the worst legacy of the Clinton
impeachment - where the GOP pursued trumped up and insignificant
allegations - would be that it discourages future Congresses from
examining
credible and significant allegations of a constitutional nature when they
arise," write Wexler, Gutierrez and Baldwin.

"The charges against Vice President Cheney are not personal,"
the House members add. "They go to the core of the actions of this
Administration, and deserve consideration in a way the Clinton scandal
never
did. The American people understand this, and a majority support hearings
according to a November 13 poll by the American Research Group. In fact,
70
percent of voters say that Vice President Cheney has abused his powers
and
43 percent say that he should be removed from office right now. The
American
people understand the magnitude of what has been done and what is at
stake
if we fail to act. It is time for Congress to catch up."

Arguing that hearings need not distract Congress, Wexler,
Gutierrez and Baldwin note that the focus is on Cheney for a reason:
"These
hearings involve the possible impeachment of the Vice President -- not
our
commander in chief -- and the resulting impact on the nation's business
and
attention would be significantly less than the Clinton Presidential
impeachment hearings."

They also argue, correctly, that the hearings are necessary
if
Congress is to restore its position in the Constitutionally-defined
system
of checks and balances.

"Holding hearings would put the evidence on the table, and
the
evidence -- not politics -- should determine the outcome," the Judiciary
Committee members explain. "Even if the hearings do not lead to removal
from
office, putting these grievous abuses on the record is important for the
sake of history. For an Administration that has consistently skirted the
constitution and asserted that it is above the law, it is imperative for
Congress to make clear that we do not accept this dangerous precedent.
Our
Founding Fathers provided Congress the power of impeachment for just this
reason, and we must now at least consider using it."

------------------------------------------------------------------
---

John Nichols is the author of THE GENIUS OF IMPEACHMENT: The
Founders' Cure for Royalism. Rolling Stone's Tim Dickinson hails it as a
"nervy, acerbic, passionately argued history-*****-polemic [that] combines
a
rich examination of the parliamentary roots and past use of the 'heroic
medicine' that is impeachment with a call for Democratic leaders to
'reclaim
and reuse the most vital tool handed to us by the founders for the
defense
of our most basic liberties.'"



Spurned by major newspapers, Dem Congressman takes 'impeach Cheney'
appeal
to Web
Nick Juliano



As the House Judiciary Committee continues to refuse any action on
proposals
to impeach Vice President ***** Cheney, three of that panel's members
tried
to take their case to influential op-ed pages of the nation's largest
newspapers.

They were turned down by every one -- including the New York Times,
Washington Post and Miami Herald -- so now one of the lawmakers has taken
his campaign to the Internet.

I'm currently reading "The End of America" by Naomi Wolf. She describes
how fascist regimes come into power. Control of the press is one of
their most important requirements. BushCo is not just falsifying the
news, they are suppressing it.

Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL) on Friday launched a new Web site,
WexlerWantsHearings.com to advance his call to impeach Cheney. The site
hosts an op-ed article censored by the nation's major newspapers and
outlines the case for impeaching Cheney.

"The truth is the mainstream media have no interest in this issue,"
Wexler
said Friday.

"They have bought into the notion that impeachment hearings are outside
the
bounds of what the congress ought to be doing," the six-term Congressman
elaborated during a conference call Friday.

The House Judiciary Committee has before it a resolution introduced by
Rep.
Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) calling for Cheney's impeachment and accusing the
vice president of a raft of high crimes, including manipulating
intelligence
in the run-up to the Iraq war, obstructing federal investigations and
conspiring to expose the identity of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said impeachment in strictly off the
table,
and the Judiciary Committee seems unlikely to move forward with any
hearings. Wexler encouraged impeachment supporters to sign a petition on
his
new site to allay the notions of Democratic leaders that impeachment
supporters are little more than "a fringe, marginal group of people."

Wexler said the House has the constitutional obligation to begin
impeachment
hearings to investigate malfeasance within the Bush administration, and
he
blamed the lack of enthusiasm thus far on the "bad taste" left by the
GOP's
last impeachment crusade.

"People are just afraid that we would just be putting the shoe on the
other
foot and just doing ... what the Republicans did to Bill Clinton," Wexler
told the conference call, which was organized by Democrats.com.

The "kangaroo court" Republicans used to impeach Clinton, on grounds that
he
lied about his liaison with an intern, cannot become the precedent by
which
the constitutional tool is judged, Wexler said.

Although Bush and Cheney will be leaving the White House for good in 13
months, Wexler said impeachment hearings were necessary because of the
need
to ferret out possible criminality in the administration.

"We have to follow the evidence where it leads," he said. "We have an
obligation to do it, and to do it as thoroughly as possible."

Will we ever see the rule of law again?
--
John #1782

On Dec 14, 10:22 pm, "Michelle Malkin" <hypati...@comcast.net> wrote:

BLOG | Posted 12/14/2007 @ 11:22am
House Judiciary Trio Calls for Impeach Cheney Hearings
The Nation

Three senior members of the House Judiciary Committee
have
called for the immediate opening of impeachment hearings for Vice
President Richard Cheney.

Good. Make sure Cheney is removed from office before you go after
Bush.