Vermont Senate Calls for Bush, Cheney Impeachment
MONTPELIER, Vt. - Vermont senators voted Friday to call for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, saying their actions have raised “serious questions of constitutionality.”The non-binding resolution was approved 16-9 without debate - all six Republicans in the chamber at the time and three Democrats voted against it.
The resolution says Bush and Cheney’s actions in the U.S. and abroad, including in Iraq, “raise serious questions of constitutionality, statutory legality, and abuse of the public trust.”
“I think it’s going to have a tremendous political effect, a tremendous political effect on public discourse about what to do about this president,” said James Leas, a vocal advocate of withdrawing troops from Iraq and impeaching Bush and Cheney.
Vermont lawmakers earlier voted to demand an immediate troop withdrawal from Iraq in another non-binding resolution.
Democratic House Speaker Gaye Symington has kept a similar resolution from reaching the floor in her chamber. She argued that an impeachment resolution would be partisan and divisive and that it would distract Washington from efforts to get the United States out of Iraq, which she says is more important.
In the Senate, Republican Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie had opposed the resolution, but he was absent Friday. That left Democratic Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin in charge, and he immediately took up the measure.
Forty towns voted in favor of similar non-binding impeachment resolutions at their annual town meetings in March. State lawmakers in Wisconsin and Washington have pushed for similar resolutions.
© 2007 The Associated Press.
Well done the Vermont Republic! Next vote to keep their national guard within the borders of the republic.
The most important aspect of even considering this is to have a national discussion. What the Bush / Cheney Administration has done to our Country is NOT an acceptable precedent.
Ever.
This or any future President or Administration.
Kudos Vermont! Hopefully more state legislatures will have the courage to follow their lead.
Impeachment is essential, no matter how “impossible” it might seem in today’s political climate. It’s necessary to attempt to send a message that we won’t lay down and let future administrations violate the law with impunity….it’s a message that doing so carries risk.
Of course, republicans have often said that it’s just “revenge” for the Clinton impeachment, but this is just partisan hackery.
Some interesting reading on this issue is “Impeachment is not about getting revenge” by Steve Osborn
http://www.populistamerica.com/impeachment_is_not_about_getting_revenge
“Impeachement”. Thats an American word. These guys are nothing but Internation War Criminals. The International Criminal Court is in the Hague. America is not a signature of the court nor recognizes. Come progressive America!.
Mike
Canada
i don’t think an impeachment would be successful no matter what bush and company does. some of the things they have already done (spying on citizens, arresting people without habeus corpus, and more importantly, destroying or losing memos, emails, etc.) seem to be worse than what nixon did. bush is protected by big cooperate interests and they will not allow their interests to be comprised by the political process. do you really think they will relinquish the white house in ‘08? i doubt it. either we will have another republican in the white house to protect bush’s secrets or bush will be in the white house in ‘08 (yes, he has “been elected to serve two terms…think)
Yes, it seems like the time has come to seriously address the activities (some people say “crimes”) of the Bush-Cheney administration.
Though impeachment is politically, socially and psychology traumatic, there do seem to be grounds to go forward on this … though there are pitfalls and potentional “blowback.”
Some aspects worth considering are looked at in:
“Going in circles: Vietnam, Iraq, calls for impeachment”
PopulistAmerica.com
January 14, 2007
http://www.populistamerica.com/going_in_circles_vietnam_iraq_calls_for_impeachment
Momentum seems to be building among Americans to get to the bottom of the questionable activities of the Bush-Cheney administration and hold individuals legally responsible if crimes have been committed.
Honorable Americans from all political and social viewpoints are now seeing the true proportions of the “misconduct,” a mild word under the circumstances, of the Bush-Cheney bunch.
For more on this, see:
“Winds of change again blowing across America”
PopulistAmerica.com
April 20, 2007
http://www.populistamerica.com/winds_of_change_again_blowing_across_america
We are all Vermonters today!
When the trials of Bush & Cheney begin I will temporaily change my mind about torture and the death penalty….just until they get a good dose of poetic justice
President Bush is the only president U.S. history to admit to an impeachable offense (wiretapping and spying on American citizens)
What more do you want. And by pulling Bush and Cheney out of the picture, that puts Pelosi in charge. And if she is true to her convictions, she could then move for the immediate withdrawl of our troops from Iraq. Sounds like win-win to me.
glenknowles writes: “either we will have another republican in the white house to protect bush’s secrets or bush will be in the white house in ‘08 (yes, he has “been elected to serve two terms…think)”
I would not be surprised if for whatever reason, a state-of-emergency is declared and the ‘08 elections are “postponed until the crisis passes”.
To the naysayers: Should our determination to Impeach be based on whether or not Impeachment can be successful? I say no. For our leaders to refuse to take a stand signifies complicity in the crimes of the Bush Administration. And it sets a very real precedent for future administrations.
Impeach now.
Elohi Gadugi Journal
Dponcy:
“To the naysayers: Should our determination to Impeach be based on whether or not Impeachment can be successful? I say no.”
Absolutely agreed! Doing something right isn’t based on how easy it’s going to be.
In reality, what’s right is often very difficult or seemingly impossible.
Great comment…
You are mistaken. Bush has never been elected president. In 2000 The rightwing Supreme Court appointed Bush president and now there is proof that the republican’s stold the 2004 election in Ohio. By popular vote Bush hasn’t been elected either.
One question every Bush Administration supporter should ask themselves:
If it were Kerry and Edwards or Gore and Lieberman doing what the Bush Administration is doing today, wouldn’t you call for impeachment as well?
There is no doubt in my mind if the tables were turned they would have been impeached and thrown out of office a long time ago. And they would have been right to do so.
Don’t just automatically think that just because liberals and Democrats support the idea that it has to be wrong. Don’t look at Bush and Company as Republicans, Conservatives, Neo-Conservatives or Christians. Just look at their actions and ask yourselves shouldn’t we do something to stop all of this?
Bless you !,Vermonters,as a Nutmeger i applaud you!We will support you and I am mailing my reprentitive to support you and Dennis Kucinich’s articles of impeachment against Richard Cheney V.P..Thankyou its been a long tortured wait,but worth it. Peace in ,and out jh. P,S. i agree with clyde Shrub has never been elected only selected as Molly used to say he’s the “resident”.
It is possible that an impeachment resolution will bring the Bush/Cheney/Rove/big business cabal to a standstill. It is possible that these criminals will declare that all efforts to rein them in are acts of terrorism. We the People doing nothing makes more of the same criminal behavior very likely.
they all should have been in the hague by now…
vermonters have common sense…
Kudos to Vermont and Dennis K of Ohio. This is the soft way of Americans. Revolution is the hard way. Its time to show the rest of the world that the Neocons who have hijacked America ARE NOT the REAL America.
Nice to see the rule of law applied, I hope it inspires other reps to vote with their heart and clean house.
Shane April 20th, 2007 5:28 pm
“I would not be surprised if for whatever reason, a state-of-emergency is declared and the ‘08 elections are “postponed until the crisis passes”.”
The Patriot Act and Military Commissions Act (among other historical legislation) have set the stage for this possibility. The Patriot Act leaves ALL citizens vulnerable to the whims of any president since an “enemy combatant” is not clearly defined, while political dissenters and peaceful protesters are considered potential terrorists.
There use to be (I don’t know if it still exists) a Senate Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights. If there’s not one in place today to investigate what constitutes a “national emergency”, as it relates to Patriot Act and Military Commissions Act legislation, the Democrats need to move on it to prevent the potential abuse of declaring martial law.
Once martial law is declared, both the Constitution and Bill of Rights are suspended (and most likely habeus corpus) for an “indefinite” period of time. And under the “broad language” of the aforementioned leglistlation, thousands of people could be arrested without evidence of criminal activity and sent to a jail camp, absent their right to due process.
Let’s hope that Congress isn’t in denial over this possibility.
If everybody is not expected to abide by the law then no one is. The Democrat line that it is somehow “inconvenient” with a war going on just doesn’t make the grade of honest policy.
Moreover, I cannot imagine one single event that would have greater impact to put the brakes on the so-called “war on terror.” Imagine that, the Americans actually insist the law be obeyed and when they say pre-emptive war and torture are criminal, they hold their government accountable. If we don’t mean what we say in our laws, and about our values that this Administration has corrupted like no other, then people who feel driven to extreme actions very often don’t have much choice or they don’t think they do, we have ourselves largely to blame. But if America comes out strong for the same laws for everyboyd, for justice, fair play and fair trade I’m sure we’ll be met with a host of good people across the world saying to eventual terrorists, “Cut it out!”
I am so very proud of VT. for taking this on. The violations against our Constitution by this administration are horrendous,not to mention our civil liberties and the crimes against humanity in general. I would like to urge anyone that may see this to tune in to LINK TV. See what our tax dollars have REALLY done in IRAQ. Despicable……………
Peace,Love,and Compassion,Mara
Bravo! Sounds as if the Vermont state senate should sitting in the capitol building in Washington and the not mixed bag that are there now. Impeach away, please!
Remember: the American public re-elected Bush back in ‘04 after it was already established there were no WMD’s in Iraq and the administration had repeatedly lied about reasons to go to war? Do you really think you can just walk away now? How will you prevent Iraq from going down the same road travelled by Afghanistan? Total withdrawal from Iraq is out of the question and the most irresponsible position to take. There must be other options that are more peacefull for both America and the Middle East.