I’m generally opposed to doing political posts here (and thank you to the commenter who pointed out that these are “posts” and not “blogs.” You are correct, sir).
However, I just have to see if I understand this whole Cheney impeachment news.
It seems a few far flung Democrats — led by regular poster and Cleveland homeboy Dennis Kucinich — introduced a resolution to discuss impeachment of vice president Dick Cheney for “fabricating a threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction” and then leading America into the Iraq War over it.
The majority of Dems — who may or may not want Cheney impeached but realize this is a political loser that might make them all look like far-out space cadets — fought to kill the resolution.
Then a bunch of Republicans — who you would suspect don’t really want to impeach Cheney — voted FOR the resolution to discuss impeachment, apparently so that they could try to make the Democrats look like far-out space cadets.
So, if I have this right, Republicans mostly voted to discuss impeachment of their own man Dick Cheney, Democrats mostly voted against it, the White House then ripped the Congress (mostly the Democrats, I’m assuming) for wasting the country’s time, and everyone thinks they’re going to make political hay out of absolutely nothing.
And people think the Yankees are falling apart.
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9 Comments, Comment or Ping
Dave H.
The Democrats had a chance to make a bold move and blew it. When the Republicans started voting against tabling the motion, the Dems should have taken the chance, trumpeted the bipartisan decision to start impeachment hearings, and gone after him.
Bush just broke Richard Nixon’s record for most people answering “strongly disapprove” in a popularity poll, and he’s much more popular than Cheney. I’m not sure why the Dems keep kowtowing to them.
Nov 7th, 2007
Ryan
I agree with Dave. The Dems should have called the Republicans on their bluff and gone all in.
Does anyone like Cheney anymore or think he’s a good guy or didn’t think he didn’t lie?
It would have been refreshing for the Dems to make a stand for once…instead it’s just the same old crap on both sides.
Blah.
Nov 7th, 2007
antoniomo
I’m agreeing with Dave and Ryan. It would have been nice to see the Democrats have a spine and vote to at least discuss impeachment. Twisting intelligence to get us into a war is surely impeachable if lying about sex is impeachable (I know, I know the lying about sex happened under oath. But, geez, it didn’t get anyone killed.) How about some sense of perspective.
Nov 7th, 2007
Emily
And I don’t agree with Dave, Ryan, and antoniomo! I don’t want to start a debate but…
There are people (lots) who think he a good guy and like him. Again I don’t want to argue but… I think what the Democrats are doing is nuts! Check out this book if you want to find out about the Pres. you compared him to- “Target:Caught in the Crosshairs of Bill and Hillary Clinton”
Nov 8th, 2007
Jason W
Well, I’m with Emily…..but mostly with Joe on this one. I’m wondering why the Democratic leadership didn’t tell Kucinich to sit down and shut up. Obviously if he was any good at scoring points with the electorate he’d be polling higher. He’s a fool. Besides the fact that Dick Cheney didn’t actually DO anything. All he can do is break ties in the Senate, give speeches, and wait for the president to get bumped from office early.
The more these guys (on both sides) turn government into a game, the less seriously the electorate will take them. Of course maybe that’s what they want.
Nov 8th, 2007
Melody
Our national political scene really makes me sick– it’s depressing and frustrating to realize how far we’ve come from the ideals on which this country was built. One of the biggest problems is the need for large quantities of money to finance a successful campaign. Once the money starts flowing, every politician owes favors to those who sent cash their way, and if they’re elected and arrive in Washington there are even more bribes (uh– I mean campaign contributions). Before long, this becomes an insulated world in which no one really has any interest in killing off the golden goose. Therefore, everyone has a greater interest in seeing things continue just the way they are rather than making any changes (even if those changes might be for the better).
And now that the media are being consolidated into ever-larger chunks owned by big business, the Washington media have turned into insiders as well. Notice Joe’s post about the constant stream of pleas for favors (talk about my idea/product/book). Imagine the stream of e-mails received by a journalist who covers Washington D.C.? Even if it’s not conscious, that journalist’s perspective is going to be affected, if only because of the amount of time spent in Washington, listening to the viewpoints of a very small and isolated group in this country.
For some fantastic evidence of this, read this EXCELLENT piece of investigative journalism from Harper’s. Shows how lobbying firms are the juice that makes this whole system run. It’s unbelievable how easy it is to get them to represent the most despicable people– like, say, the violent dictator of a foreign country.
http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/07/0081591
Nov 8th, 2007
Rep. Kucinich
Hello my fellow MoveOn peeps! Good to see you on here. I’m glad we can covertly use this chat board to spread my message of intergalatic love and harmony. My sources still don’t believe that the Patriot Act has traced us to this location. We are like the rebels on Hoth hiding from the evil emperial droids that Darth Bush is dispatching to come and find us. We most be careful. Just the other day I was riding my tauntaun acoss Iowa when I was suddenly attacked by a Dick Cheney-like Ice Monster! Luckily I channeled Shirley MacLaine and the Force in order to use non-violence to stop the attack.
Well, now its time for me to fly to New Hampshire in my ethanol fueld low carbon footprint tie-fighter (with no weapons) in order to speak to my band of merry people in Bedford. They love my proposal for a Department of Peace (that’s not a joke!) and love the fact that I look like Frodo, but married a 6 foot tall vegan. Yes, I used a Jedi mind trick to get her to marry me, but that was only to keep her from becoming an evil meat eater and marrying a Nazi Republican like the evil Lord Cheney.
Oh…got to go. Looks like a droid just landed outside my ice cave. I’ll now go attempt to have a meaningful discussion with him about peace. Peace out.
Nov 8th, 2007
Sven
You’ve got it all wrong. The correct way to handle Mr. Cheney is to win the presidency in the upcoming election. Then declare him and enemy of the state. Then send him to some eastern European CIA prison for some good old fashioned non-torture, like say Water-boarding…
The reason why the Republican party gives me the willies is its monolithic nature. Democrats seem to have a lot of different causes, not all of which I agree with, while the GOP seems to be pro-gun, pro-god and anti-taxes - nuff said. The lockstep (goosestep?) of the right wing media machine and top down leadership (you’re either with us or against us) doesn’t seem to reflect how I think. So when someone says that “Democratic leadership” should have shut him up, it seems a much more Republican approach.
It’s also extremely naive to say that Dick Cheney didn’t do anything. He repeatedly misused his power to strongarm the CIA. He consistently lied to the American people about strong evidence regarding WMD in Iraq. I understand Rep. Kucinich’s desire to impeach him. It is probably the right thing to do.
Nov 8th, 2007
Max
I don’t see what good impeachment does at this point. Its a lame duck presidency.
But Msrs. Cheney, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld all better watch out the rest of their lives for charges of war crimes.
Nov 12th, 2007
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