Bill Moyers Journal, Bringin’ It!
Jul 14th, 2007 by Jacob
This discussion on impeachment was a genuine pleasure to listen to and watch. There was no shouting, there was no name calling, no jingoism, no talking points, no partisanship, and no ill will amongst those involved. Just a frank and honest and to the point talk regarding the key aspects of this issue. For political discourse, that passes as a revelation these days.
Taking part were Bruce Fein, a conservative legal and constitutional scholar whose worked with the American Enterprise Institute and Heritage Foundation, and John Nichols, political correspondent for THE NATION magazine and author of the book “The Genius of Impeachment: The Founders Cure for Royalism”.
Here’s a clip:
Central to both their arguments was the idea of setting a precedent, if we choose to impeach or not, and what it will establish for our nation’s future. Nichols explains…
On January 20th, 2009, if George Bush and Dick Cheney are not appropriately held to account this Administration will hand off a toolbox with more powers than any President has ever had, more powers than the founders could have imagined. And that box may be handed to Hillary Clinton or it may be handed to Mitt Romney or Barack Obama or someone else. But whoever gets it, one of the things we know about power is that people don’t give away the tools.
You can view the entire discussion HERE or read the transcript HERE.
Well worth it.
July 15th, 2007 at 12:05 am
Why would Bush and Cheney be impeached? I’ve heard/read alot regarding this, but most reasons seem to be based on the fact that Bush and Cheney are unpopular.I don’t think that is a legal cause for impeachment?
“The President . . . shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.”
(Article II, Section 2, Clause 1)
July 15th, 2007 at 12:44 am
Why impeach? Here’s just two of the older well known reasons:
Illegal wiretapping ;CRIME! Lied to get us into war; Crime! and his abuse of the constitution has many sides.
I leave it to someone more informed on the details to answer your question in depth.
It’d be done already if the Dems were not such pussies!
July 15th, 2007 at 1:32 am
watch the video or read the transcript, they talk about why. and it’s got nothing to do with popularity.
here’s cases Fein recently outlined for SLATE magazine regarding the impeachment of Cheney:
# Asserted Presidential power to create military commissions, which combine the functions of judge, jury, and prosecutor in the trial of war crimes.
# Claimed authority to detain American citizens as enemy combatants indefinitely at Guantanamo Bay on the President’s say-so alone.
# Initiated kidnappings, secret detentions, and torture in Eastern European prisons of suspected international terrorists.
# Championed a Presidential power to torture in contravention of federal statutes and treaties.
# Engineered the National Security Agency’s warrantless domestic surveillance program targeting American citizens on American soil in contravention of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978.
# Orchestrated the invocation of executive privilege to conceal from Congress secret spying programs to gather foreign intelligence, and their legal justifications.
# Summoned the privilege to refuse to disclose his consulting of business executives in conjunction with his Energy Task Force.
# Retaliated against Ambassador Joseph Wilson and his wife Valerie Plame, through chief of staff Scooter Libby, for questioning the administration’s evidence of weapons of mass destruction as justification for invading Iraq.
this ain’t coming from some pinko-commie-liberal either. this dude worked for Reagan AND wanted Clinton’s head.
July 15th, 2007 at 11:16 am
thank you Jacob.
July 15th, 2007 at 3:57 pm
If it is proven that he did break the law, he should be impeached. I don’t think it will play out that way though.