|
|
08.05 "American Teen": A Winning Documentary about Real-Life High Schoolers
07.31 Francis Boyle's "Palestine Palestinians and International Law"
Ref. : Letters to the editor
08.16 Out Damn Blot: A Letter to Colin Powell
08.14 The End of Cheap Oil: The Future is Now
08.05 Obama is Right: It's Easy to Reduce the Nation's (and Your Own) Fuel Bill Dramatically
08.21 Mixed Truth of the Russia-Georgia War
08.16 John McCain's Party of Hate
08.15 Corporate Media Bashes New Chavez Enabling Law Decrees
08.15 Georgia/Russia Conflict Forced Into Cold War Frame
08.13 WPost and the Great Disconnect
08.12 WPost Admits Bungling Obama Quote
08.06 Why McCain May Well Win
08.06 Media Fall for 'Race Card' Spin
08.01 Wall Street Journalomics: The Case of the Missing Tax Facts
07.31 CNN Scoffs at White House Critics
07.31 WPost Calls Out 'Uppity' Obama
08.21 McCain's Ties to Neocon Hard Lines
08.21 Peace Mom v. Guardian of Power
08.20 Are You Ready For Nuclear War?
08.19 A Book Written to Defeat Obama
08.19 McCain's 'Cone of Silence' Caper
08.14 Is Perpetual War Our Future?
08.12 5 Years After Blackout, Power Grid Still in 'Dire Straits'
08.12 Olympic Shame
08.12 Thinking About Intermissions
08.11 ‘Medaling’ With Free Speech at the Olympics
08.11 Targeting Immigrants - The Largest Ever US ICE Raid
08.09 A Novel Approach to Politics
08.07 The Hamdan Principle and You
08.07 McCain Adopts Cheney's Energy Plan
08.06 The Serpent's Egg: Solzhenitsyn and the Origins of America's Gulag
08.05 Mining Racism and Murder in a Northeastern Pennsylvania Coal Town
08.04 The Other Presidential Candidates
08.03 McCain, Anthrax & the Afghan Blunder
08.01 Justice Probe Still Threatens Gonzales
07.31 Obama's Surge in Berlin
07.30 War Without End, Amen: Into the Afghan Abyss with Obama
07.30 McCain's Spin on the 'Surge'
07.30 Friday's House Judiciary Hearing on Impeachment: A Victory and a Challenge
08.20 Musharraf, Not Bush, Follows Nixon
08.18 Fear, Procurement, Profit: Permanent War and the American Way
08.17 This Time, the World Is Not Buying It
08.15 'Imminent' Threats Should Be a Belli Laugh
08.08 American Insouciance
08.07 Extra! Dog Bites Man! Read All About It!
08.05 Marching Off Into Tyranny
08.05 Follow This Dime
07.31 Wave of 'Capitol Crime' Continues
07.29 Bodyguard of Lies: The Truth Behind the 'Surge's' Smokescreen
07.28 Secret "Torture Memo" Gave Legal Cover to Interrogators Who Acted in "Good Faith"
07.28 The Bush Administration's Secret Biowarfare Agenda
07.26 The Endless Smearing of Joe Wilson
08.04 Thinking About Ponzi
08.18 Blockades: Acts of War
08.17 Rice’s Recipe for Duck Soup
08.14 The Lawless Roads: Bluster in Georgia, Rank Tyranny at Home
08.14 Marching Through Georgia V: U.S. Forces Moving Into Putin's Powderkeg
08.14 Marching Through Georgia IV: The Butt Thumper and the Bear
08.13 Using Georgia to Target Russia
08.12 From Stupid to Moronic to Evil
08.11 Marching Through Georgia III: Reality's Rout and Cheney's Viagra
08.11 Marching Through Georgia II: The Kremlin Surge
08.08 Marching Through Georgia I: Cold War II Proxy Conflict Turns Hot
08.07 Living Death: The Eternal Now of Hiroshima
08.07 War with Iran - On, Off or Undecided?
08.04 Gaza Under Siege
LEGAL ANALYSIS:
Why Impeachment, Sadly, Is a Non-Starter
If Holtzman is correct, what is the point of impeaching Bush if we wind up with Cheney? At the very least, it would likely take longer to paper a case against Cheney than it would Bush. And that brings me to the second point why impeachment is probably not doable--there are only two years left to this Administration. As 2008 is a Presidential election year, realistically there is only one year for the impeachment process to work itself through; nothing controversial happens in Congress in a Presidential election year. It took over two years from the Watergate break-in to Nixon's resignation at a time when the Democrats (and more than a few Republicans) were open to the possibility of impeachment. Now, we'd be starting from scratch in convincing a reluctant Congress to act.
But the most compelling reason why double impeachment is not realistic lies in the fact that, given the order of Presidential succession, an attempt at a double impeachment would be perceived--and spun--as a Democratic attempt to seize the White House without an election. I find myself particularly sensitive to Nancy Pelosi’s dilemma. Because she is next in line for the Presidency after Cheney, Pelosi really cannot lead, or even be seen to support, a movement to impeach Bush and Cheney. It has been twelve years since the Democrats controlled the Congress and Pelosi will be the first female Speaker ever; all eyes are on her as to how she will act. The moment she signs on to an impeachment drive, her credibility takes a big hit because of her perceived naked self-interest. This will become the issue instead of Bush's crimes. She will not risk her political reputation and Democratic gains after so many years of being in the political wilderness for an impeachment drive that would be over politically the moment she signed on to it.
Granted, Pelosi could take the issue off the table by renouncing any interest in the Presidency. But Robert Byrd, as President Pro Tempore of the Senate, is next in line. Given his position in the Democratic leadership and his passionate opposition to Bush, he is open to much the same charge of political grandstanding as is Pelosi. And his advanced age alone would make a few Congressmen and Senators reluctant to vote to impeach when Bush will be gone in no more than two years. And what if Byrd also renounces any interest in the Presidency? Under the Constitution, Condoleeza Rice is next in line; hardly a satisfactory candidate to correct the multiple constitutional abuses of the Bush Administration in which she personally participated.
This time, just replacing Bush with Cheney accomplishes nothing. But seeking to replace both opens the Democrats up to charges that they would be attempting a coup d’état. We will have to look elsewhere for justice, such as the criminal case just filed in Germany by the Center for Constitutional Rights. And the judgment of history.
A petition of support to the German prosecutor may be signed here.
Republication or redistribution of Baltimore Chronicle content is expressly prohibited without their prior written consent.
This story was published on November 15, 2006.
