MoveOn Puts Impeachment Back on the Table

In the wake of President Bush's commutation of prison time for convicted felon Lewis Libby and a developing constitutional clash over important subpoenas, influential Democratic activists are pressing Congress to put impeachment back on the table.

Today MoveOn.org, the powerhouse group of 3.2 million political activists, launched an unprecedented petition calling on Congress to impeach Vice President Cheney if he defies congressional subpoenas issued to investigate the Bush administration's purge of prosecutors at the Justice Department. Leading bloggers have also launched a targeted campaign to specifically lobby Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee to put impeachment back on the table, and as The Nation's John Nichols reports, some members of Congress say it is now time to "reconsider impeachment proceedings."

The Judiciary Committee is led by John Conyers, who introduced a bill last Congress to explore impeachment proceedings. It drew support from about one out of seven House Democrats at the time. But Speaker Nancy Pelosi said impeachment was off the table during the mid-term campaign, and Conyers later sent an email to his national supporter list echoing the Speaker's promise.

Leaving aside the detailed debate over when, how and why impeachment proceedings would ever begin, Congress should never have taken the prospect of impeachment off the table. It is a constitutionally protected check against runaway executive power and lawlessness -- problems that Americans are quite familiar with lately. (Politicians are fond of reiterating their willingness to keep the option of nuclear bombs "on the table" in foreign policy, so surely constitutional oversight and accountability can remain on the table too.) When Congress tries to govern without its full power, the President can act with impunity. Here's how the New York Times explained Bush's commutation today:

Mr. Bush comes at the decision a weakened leader, with his public approval ratings at historic lows for any president, his domestic agenda faltering on Capitol Hill and his aides facing subpoenas from the Democrats who control Congress. Those circumstances offer him a certain amount of freedom; as Mr. Black said, "He knows he's going to get hammered no matter what he does."

See? Without further consequences on the table, Bush's historically low support, refusal to work with democratically elected officials in the coequal branch and mounting investigations into serious wrongdoing only serve to give him more "freedom." And with that freedom, Bush and Cheney are fighting to preserve the freedom of a convicted felon, defy congressional investigations and continue to undermine the law and the Constitution through spying, torture and detention policies. How can they be stopped? At times like these, Americans might want to consider what the Founders would do.

Comments (22)

1. When it says Libby's, Libby's, Libby's on the label, label, label, you will like it, like it, like it on your table, table, table. ...

   Posted by hsuBfools at 07/03/2007 @ 3:29pm

2. What a worm our President is. He could not even muster the backbone to issue a pardon. It's too excessive, Rove told him to say. And guess what, after Fox News, that fat addict Limbaugh, and all the rest of the liars repeat it over and over again, most of the sheep will accept it as fact.

   Posted by mtspence05 at 07/03/2007 @ 3:46pm

3. And again, Move On is important because why..??

   Posted by CHIP THORNTON at 07/03/2007 @ 3:49pm

4. Posted by CHIP THORNTON

   Why don't you go burn some books?

   Posted by mtspence05 at 07/03/2007 @ 3:53pm

5. When it says Libby, Libby, Libby on the lapel, lapel, lapel, you will like it, like it, like it back on your table, table, table. ... And the 'it' is impeachment.

   And that is what impeachment needs is a cute little jiggle and even-- especialy the 'true believer' lemmings will follow.

   Posted by hsuBfools at 07/03/2007 @ 3:56pm

6. What If Libby Was Black Or Mentally Retarded?

   Bob Cesca, 07.02.2007

   Regarding the record 152 executions during his two terms as governor, Bush "wrote" in his autobiography, A Charge To Keep, "I don't believe my role is to replace the verdict of a jury with my own."

   Posted by hsuBfools at 07/03/2007 @ 4:04pm

7. I'm not sure MT, why you continue to suggest that. I regard any attempt to prohibit any publications as in violation of constitutional principles, including ZZZZZZ ZZZZZZZ ZINN! There, I said it whew! I do have a distaste for asinine prose, but I would never resort to Nazi tactics.

   Posted by CHIP THORNTON at 07/03/2007 @ 4:05pm

8. Block Chip off old.

   Posted by hsuBfools at 07/03/2007 @ 4:08pm

9. Sure you don't, Chip.

   Posted by mtspence05 at 07/03/2007 @ 4:24pm

10. And again, Move On is important because why..??

    Posted by CHIP THORNTON 07/03/2007 @ 3:49pm

    Speaking of zzzzzzzzzzz,...

    ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

    Posted by john maasch at 07/03/2007 @ 4:24pm

11. Oh, and here comes another right wing idiot. Rather than comment on Bush's chickenshit move, they want to try and denigrate an organization they don't like. How typical of the law and order ass wipes.

    Posted by mtspence05 at 07/03/2007 @ 4:30pm

12. JM

    Right LOL

    Posted by CHIP THORNTON at 07/03/2007 @ 4:30pm

13. But Speaker Nancy Pelosi said impeachment was off the table during the mid-term campaign

    This was not a wise statement by Pelosi. What she should have said is "the Democratic leadership has no plans at this time to initiate impeachment proceedings against administration officials."

    You NEVER "voluntarily" reduce your power, especially when your adversary does "everything" they can to enhance their power!

    Posted by Metteyya at 07/03/2007 @ 4:31pm

14. JM., it appears our anarchical a-hole is on a roll. You know, the one whose thought processes resemble something on the order of a lime gelatin parfait on the sidewalk

    Posted by CHIP THORNTON at 07/03/2007 @ 4:37pm

15. FRANK,

    The Center for the Study of Popular Culture, better know as Frontpagemag, is the right wing eqivalent of Move On. They are as ridiculous as Move On is, other side of the fence. Neither group have a clue regarding Rule of Law or a Constitutional Republic, although both claim to. Read these guys and you'll begin to see the difference between a Constitutional Conservative and a real right wing fanatic. (I have long since stopped even reading their articles, discovered them originally because their leader (Fuerher, I should say) was once sensibly instrumental in fighting off the Reparations movement, but that was a while ago)

    Chip

    Posted by CHIP THORNTON at 07/03/2007 @ 4:44pm

16. That's right, chip, I forgot, you're one of those educated apes, aren't you? How many diplomas do you have? The Nazis had their creditialed chimpanzees, too. Just because you have fools like the old war dodger and that idiot happy on your side doesn't mean you're any where near right. The right's defense of Scooter and what the talking ape from Texas has done more than demonstrates just how full of shit you people are. Yeah, y'all are real patriots, true Americans, dedicated to the rule of law. We can all depend on people like you to do the right thing.

    Posted by mtspence05 at 07/03/2007 @ 4:44pm

17. MT what makes you think I'm in favor of the ruction in sentence. You own preconceptions? Think again.

    Posted by CHIP THORNTON at 07/03/2007 @ 4:50pm

18. Oh, I see, chip, you're so disgusting by it that you're not saying anything at all about it; instead you rag on move.org. Huh. That's interesting.

    Posted by mtspence05 at 07/03/2007 @ 4:53pm

19. Ok- I think Bushes actions demonstrates his typical arrogance with regard to Constitutional matters: Havn't seen this kind of thing since Nixon. Whether or not his actions are impeachable offences or not is another matter. But frankly, I can't wait till the son-of-a-bitch is out of office. My only fear is that the public will be so alienated with republicans by next year that it would take a guy on the order of Theodore Roosevelt to get elected, and since there are none right now, Dems win, and that means Old Hillary.

    There, now that I have equally ragged on Bush as well as Move On, do you think you could drop the immature invective and say something intelligent? This is getting boring.

    Posted by CHIP THORNTON at 07/03/2007 @ 5:03pm

20. Immature? You want to speak of being immature, "Mr. I want the US to be #1"? You left out the pardons for Poindexter and the jar head. And what of Ronnie's weak ass "I can't remember" excuses?

    Another TR? Yeah, a jingoist, elitist, racists, is all this country needs. Are you 50 something or a little boy? Do you still play with toys? I bet you like to dress up in Confederate uniforms, don't you?

    Don't worry, chip, the Supreme Court has shown the zealots and others that they got what they paid for with this year's decisions; they'll be out in force come election time to put another neofascist in the White House. Don't despair.

    And, please, after such a blatant abuse of authority by the nation's Executive Officer, don't talk to me of invective. It is more than appropriate.

    Posted by mtspence05 at 07/03/2007 @ 5:13pm

21. Posted by MTSPENCE05 07/03/2007 @ 3:46pm

    What a worm our President is. He could not even muster the backbone to issue a pardon. It's too excessive, Rove told him to say. And guess what, after Fox News, that fat addict Limbaugh, and all the rest of the liars repeat it over and over again, most of the sheep will accept it as fact.

    Unfortunately, MT, you're right about how this commutation is being handled by the right-wing noise machine. The "excessive sentence" line is already echoing through the usual outlets and they're adding a nice twist; that it was imposed by a "liberal judge" (I've already seen this repeated on other blogs.) Of course, it's complete hogwash, since Judge Walton [dcd.uscourts.gov] is one of Georgie-boy's own judicial appointments and was also appointed by CJ Roberts to sit on the FISA court in May. He's not exactly a what any of us (even the right-wingers here) would call a "liberal." More importantly, the sentence for Libby fell squarely in the middle of the sentencing guidelines for these offenses and the Supreme Court just upheld a harsher sentence in the virtually identical case of Rita v. United States. Yet, despite every fact and legal precedent, the right-wing will keep chanting "excessive sentence" until the end of time.

    There is one place I do have to disagree with you though, and that's on Georgie-boy's worm-like status. I'll give you that he's a slimy creature, but definitely not spineless. Why do I say that? Because he didn't issue a commutation rather than a pardon out of some fear of the reaction. He has none, as the current situation shows. He issued the commutation for a very simple but largely overlooked reason; with his appeal and the rest of the sentence still intact, Scooter can still claim Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination. If he were pardoned, he could be compelled to testify and held in contempt if he refused with no ability to plead the Fifth (you can't incriminate yourself if you can't legally be prosecuted for the crime, and a pardon makes that the case.) So this wasn't a weak move, it was a very bold move to obstruct justice.

    Posted by Stwriley at 07/04/2007 @ 09:41am

22. Sigh..

    Posted by CHIP THORNTON at 07/05/2007 @ 09:29am