Valiant Effort, Mr. Kucinich
CNN reports on the expected tactic that Madame Speaker used to avoid reality: Kucinich effort to impeach Bush kicked into limbo
WASHINGTON (CNN) — An attempt by Rep. Dennis Kucinich to impeach President Bush was kicked into legislative no-man’s land by members of his own party Wednesday.
The House voted 251-166 to send the Ohio Democrat’s impeachment resolution to committee, a maneuver that allows the Democratic leadership to freeze the measure indefinitely.
The vote largely followed partisan lines, with 225 Democrats voting to punt the measure to committee.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has repeatedly said she would not support a resolution calling for Bush’s impeachment, saying such a move was unlikely to succeed and would be divisive.
All 166 votes in favor of opening up a House impeachment debate came from Republicans, apparently eager to paint Democrats as political creatures in a time of serious issues. Kucinich voted with his party, against his own measure.
Kucinich introduced the resolution into the House on Tuesday night.
EBW at Wampum has Kucinich’s Impeachment Resolution text in a PDF.
Mr. Kucinich should have had a conversation with Rep. Alcee Hastings or William Borders about Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer when it comes to impeachment – they only approve of impeaching Democrats.
There are a lot of people who know that Alcee Hastings was impeached as a Federal judge for accepting bribes, but few people remember that he had been found not guilty of the crime when charged. Years after he was cleared in court he was impeached by a Democratic Congress.
Alcee’s friend, William Borders went to jail for refusing to testify at the trial, and then again for refusing to testify at the impeachment. Bill Clinton pardoned Mr. Borders, which is not surprising given what Susan McDougal went through in the Starr Whitewater inquisition.
While Congress could find time to impeach Alcee Hastings, it didn’t bother to impeach those involved in the Iran-Contra scam, and they were hired by the Hedgemony.
Of course, Alcee must have been guilty of something, because a Republican Justice Department would never conduct a politically motivated prosecution. 😈
Alcee may be a Democrat, but he knows not to trust the current House leadership.
7 comments
So? Pelosi is a gutless ass-kisser. *shrug* You expected something different? 🙂 She isn’t there to *DO* anything, she’s there to ensure she gets a good pension, and that no Dem tries to do anything stupid like kill the Golden Goose or make her have to do any actual work. 🙂
At least Kucinich had the courage of his convictions and presented the resolutions while knowing they would crushed in committee. We can expect nothing more from Pelosi she is not there for us but for herself.
They know they have nothing to go on to support impeachment.
Don’t doubt this will resurface again this year as simply a campaign tactic though.
They can drag it through the elections, and by the time you realize it was all about nothing, the election will be over and Obama will be in the White House.
Smoke and Mirrors
One more example of how Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic Party elite are a) spineless b) only concerned about themselves and c) have absolutely no interest in representing the working class members of their party. After all, it isn’t their brothers, sisters, Moms, Dads, sons or daughters getting killed in Iraq – which is a direct result of these impeachable offenses.
It is time to break away from the old Democratic Party and begin a new Party, a Labor Party that truly represents and is concerned about working class Americans.
This President and VP deserve to be impeached as much as Nixon did. But, right now with their term coming to an end, it is non-productive. We can’t tie up the congress when we have far more important issues to deal with, ie. Iraq, health care, the ecomomy. The energy has to go to fixing the Republic and not toward punishing the “Malentropes”
As a former criminal investigator I would have loved to have had as much evidence as is available against Bush & Company. The documents, sworn testimony, and physical evidence are well beyond anything needed for a conviction in a criminal trial.
This administration is a prime example of what happens when Congress fails to do its duty and impeach government officials.
Nixon resigned – that was the sum total of his penalty. He kept all of his perquisites, like any other President who finished their term in office. Ford’s pardon eliminated any possibility of him being punished in any way.
The same thing happened to those involved in Iran-Contra, they were pardoned and still eligible for Federal office.
There is nothing that prevents Bush from pardoning himself, and nothing that anyone can do about if he does. Impeachment is the only penalty that can’t be pardoned, and it should cut off Federal pension rights. We are already paying him at twice the rate of any other President, which means his pension will be larger.
The failure to impeach says that a President can do whatever they want and Congress won’t do anything about it. In less than week we celebrate the signing of the Magna Carta that established that no one was above the law.
It was a good concept in 1215, and it’s still a good concept.
I agree. The easy way out is to say it’s too late now. That tells future presidents it’s ok to break the law, and if you obstruct and stall, people will give up and there will be no consequences. It’s a bad precident to set. It’s more difficult to do the right thing, but that would require Congress to do some work.