Robert Wexler Wants Impeachment Hearings

Congressman Robert Wexler has started a web site to drum up support for impeachment hearings for Dick Cheney.

Impeachment Is Still A Waste of Time

Sinfonian is pissed that Steny Hoyer will block Dennis Kucinich's resolution to impeach Dick Cheney. We at Pushing Rope have always believed impeachment should only be used in cases of blow jobs and real estate deals members of the executive branch lost money on.

I previously stated my reason why impeachment would fail:

The Senate will never get the 68 votes to impeach Bush. There would be very little polarization with the American people if Democrats attempted to impeach Dick Cheney. The Sith Lord has shown an utter distain for the American people and media. Which explains why he had dismal approval ratings before things went south for the White House. I still don't see the 68 votes.

Cheney's base is extremely small. There aren't enough Republicans courageous enough to remove Cheney. Chuck Hagel has mentioned impeachment and he retiring from the Senate. That's it. Joe Liberman would vote against removing Cheney. No one has any idea how Jim Jeffords would vote. There is no guarantee that Democrats would get 50 votes. 68 are needed to remove Cheney.

A better way to remove Cheney is Congressional investigations his office on pre-war Iraq intelligence and his role in the Balerie Plame leak. Congress can even challenge Cheney on his silly claim that he is not part of the executive branch.

The impeachment of Bill Clinton turned into a disaster for Republicans. Cheney isn't as skilled a politician as Clinton. Cheney won't have 60 percent of America rallying around him. His media enablers will protect him. Fox News and conservative talk radio will launch vicious attacks. I prefer the Right disillusioned about their horrible presidential candidates and their preceived notion that Hillary is an unstoppable juggernaut.

The Bush administration is doing a good enough job sinking on their own without impeachment. The focus should be on electing Democratic candidates nationally. Not impeachment resolutions that will fail.

Impeachment Argument

The Lefty blogosphere has differing views of impeachment over George W. Bush.

Gordo

This week, Sheehan and other activists had to be arrested when they refused to leave the office of Rep. John Conyers, who has worked as hard as anyone in Washington to expose the misdeeds of President Bush. Conyers has also used his considerable influence to push for an end to the war. So what has he done to earn the anger of Sheehan and her fellow demonstrators? He has refused to initiate impeachment hearings that would have no effect beyond the polarization of the congress. A polarization at the exact moment when Democrats need just six more Republican Senators to support withdrawal from Iraq.

Blogenfreude

Hundreds more will die in Iraq;

Thousands more will lose their right to vote;

Thousands more will give up on returning to New Orleans;

Millions more will be spent on a war we can't win;

More right wing bigots will be put on the federal bench;

This administration will further degrade the rule of law.

The Senate will never get the 68 votes to impeach Bush. There would be very little polarization with the American people if Democrats attempted to impeach Dick Cheney. The Sith Lord has shown an utter distain for the American people and media. Which explains why he had dismal approval ratings before things went south for the White House. I still don't see the 68 votes.

There are many Republican that would love to see Cheney go. They figure that without Cheney, Bush will change policies and message that will help Republicans win in 2008. If Bush was that astute his administration wouldn't have been plagued with the problems it has had in the last 7 years. All those problems can be traced to Cheney. Valerie Plame, the energy commission, Guantanamo Bay and Iraq are just a few.

What Democrats can do is hold a united front. They caved on the FISA bill. Regardless of how they vote, Republicans are going to say Democrats are terroist enablers. There is no reason to bow down on a horrible bill to a President with approval ratings that would make Nixon cringe.

Chuck Hagel on Impeachment

The rhetoric sounds good. I just wonder if Chuck Hagel is serious.

"The president says, 'I don't care.' He's not accountable anymore," Hagel says, measuring his words by the syllable and his syllables almost by the letter. "He's not accountable anymore, which isn't totally true. You can impeach him, and before this is over, you might see calls for his impeachment. I don't know. It depends how this goes."

This part I agree with 100 percent.

"Congress abdicated its oversight responsibility," he says. "The press abdicated its responsibility, and the American people abdicated their responsibilities. Terror was on the minds of everyone, and nobody questioned anything, quite frankly."

Right now Hagel's interview sounds like bluster. It is still nice to hear that bluster come from Bush's party.

Hat tip to Brad Friedman.