Kucinich: Cheney impeachment effort 'practical'
by Sabrina Eaton
Published Wednesday, April 25, 2007 by the Cleveland Plain Dealer
http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/st ... xml&coll=2 (http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/stories/index.ssf?/base/ispol/1177500803206060.xml&coll=2)
Washington- After hinting for weeks that he would initiate impeachment actions against the Bush administration, Cleveland Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich on Tuesday introduced three articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney.
Kucinich said Congress should oust Cheney from office for "fabricating a threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction" to trick Congress and the public into believing war with Iraq was necessary. He said Cheney also manipulated intelligence to deceive the public about purported links between Saddam Hussein's Iraq and al-Qaida, the group responsible for the attacks on Sept. 11.
Additionally, Kucinich accused Cheney of threatening aggression against Iran even though Iran has not threatened the United States.
"This goes beyond partisan terms," Kucinich said. "This becomes a question of who we are as a people."
Kucinich said he has "a practical reason" for attempting to impeach Cheney instead of President Bush: Cheney would become president if Bush were impeached.
"If the same charges would relate to the president as relate to the vice president, you would then have to go through the constitutional agony of impeaching two presidents consecutively," he explained.
Cheney's office expressed no alarm about Kucinich's efforts.
"The vice president still remains focused on the serious issues facing our nation," Cheney spokeswoman Megan McGinn said.
Kucinich's actions were greeted warmly by pro-impeachment activists. But some political analysts saw his impeachment resolution as a play to win broader liberal support for his own White House quest. Kucinich's presidential bid, his second, has met with low fund-raising and polling numbers.
He needs support from Democratic leaders for the impeachment measure to pass through the Judiciary Committee to a House vote, then to the Senate for a trial. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told The Plain Dealer that Democratic leaders don't back impeachment "because we are here to go in a positive direction for the American people" and are focusing instead on stopping the Iraq war.
She suggested that impeachment backers around the country "use their energy in the next election to make sure that we have a Democratic president and vice president."
Told of Pelosi's preferences, Kucinich said, "The American people will be the final arbiters" of the matter.
House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio called Kucinich's impeachment drive "nothing but pure politics."
Fordham University constitutional law professor Martin Flaherty said Kucinich's impeachment push would be "a longshot" from both a political and legal standpoint.
"At the end of the day, it all comes down to the political, in the sense that you have to convince a majority of the House that an impeachable offense has occurred," Flaherty said.
Kucinich postponed his announcement earlier in the day after Cheney underwent an unscheduled medical exam of his left leg, where a blood clot was diagnosed last month. Cheney's office said the leg is improving, and he resumed his regular schedule, including criticizing Democrats on Iraq.
It's so good to see this kind of action happening. You know it reminds me of a 15 round heavyweight boxing championship. You get a guy on the ropes and you don't back down, you pummel him til he is counted out 10 by the ref. That's what the Republicans tried, and it worked for a long time, but they made too many mistakes, and the match is still on. The Bush crime cabal has to be beaten until they are done, over, until the Republicans have lost control of all three branches of the federal government. Then, maybe, the sane ones in that party, if any left, will kick out the fascist lunatics and try again.
Or, fuck it, maybe the US just needs like 10 or 20 political parties wrangling it out.
Or, really fuck it, abolish nation-states, currency, the divides between people that are artificial, created by the rich to keep everyone else down, create peace on earth, or something like it...
but now start with Cheney, that oil glutted thousand year old vampire motherfucker...
:D ---- I just love it when someone gets impassioned 'bout their politics.... Makes my rabblerousing spirit soar..... 8) --- sal
Why is it I didn't see a word about it in the newspaper? And why isn't Bush being impeached? Did you know that the state of Vermont voted to impeach Bush and Cheney? It's non binding but that got no attention either.
When Nixon got impeached, it was big news. That was before the days of corporate controlled media.
Kucinich is a presidential candidate but considered too liberal by the corporate media. Sigh. We're going to have to drag this country leftward kicking screaming, bloody, bloody...