I love George
Jul. 19th, 2007 11:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fancytalkNot Dubya, my friend George who sends me fun, controversial stuff like this. I'm mostly posting this here because I want to keep it, but not in my inbox.
Dave Lindorff: Bill Moyers Puts Impeachment On the Media Table Submitted by
BuzzFlash on Mon, 07/16/2007 - 3:20pm. Guest Contribution A BUZZFLASH GUEST
CONTRIBUTION by Dave Lindorff
Bill Moyers has put impeachment in the news and, in the process, shaming
both the national media and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the
Congressional leadership.
In his program, Bill Moyers Journal, Moyers and guests John Nichols, the
Nation's Washington correspondent and author of The Genius of Impeachment
and Bruce Fein, a former attorney in the Ronald Reagan Department of
Justice, made it clear that the Bush/Cheney administration has gravely
threatened the Constitution and the survival of tripartite, divided
government.
Moyers, feigning astonishment at the arguments of Nichols and Fein, asked if
it might be justified for the Bush administration to grab special
dictatorial powers in order to combat terrorism. His posited position was
demolished by both Nichols and Fein.
Nichols explained that the Constitution was designed by the Founders to be a
"fighting" document, capable of handling dangerous times. He noted that the
Constitution actually provides for the temporary barring of habeas corpus
(the right to have one's imprisonment brought before a court and
adjudicated), but he said that this was something that a president had to do
with the approval of Congress (not behind its back), and only if the Country
was under attack, which is of course, not the case right now.
Fein for his part noted that most of Bush's and Cheney's abuses of power and
violations of the Constitution and the rule of law have been done not openly
and in consultation with Congress, but in secret and in the dark of night.
His secret monitoring of Americans' communications -- phones, mail, and
Internet, for example -- went on for four years before it was exposed in an
article in The New York Times. And the president has still not explained to
anyone why he felt the need to break the law.
Fein and Nichols both blasted the current Democratic leadership of Congress
for cowardice, lack of principle, and a basic failure to honor their oaths
of office to uphold and defend the Constitution, in refusing to impeach the
president. Fein said that in earlier administrations, there were always at
least a few members of Congress who were honorable enough to put country and
the Constitution above party. "We don't have anyone like that in Congress
now," he said.
Actually, it was one failing of Moyers' program that neither he nor his two
guests mentioned that there actually are some honorable members of the
current Congress. They did not mention that Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) has
filed a bill of impeachment against Vice President Cheney, and that his bill
currently has 14 co-sponsors, with more people signing on every week. They
also failed to mention that Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) only days before the
program, declared in no uncertain terms that Bush and Cheney should be
impeached, saying that the country was "closer to dictatorship than it has
ever been" because of the president's assertion of "unitary executive"
powers to ignore laws passed by the Congress."
Despite this one shortcoming, Moyers' program is a public shaming of the
tawdry and shameless corporate media, which has ignored the exploding
impeachment movement blossoming across the nation, pretending that it
doesn't even exist, or that it is the province of a few leftist wackos.
In fact, as Moyers noted, the most recent poll on the issue shows that half
of Americans want both Bush and Cheney impeached and removed from office.
It will be interesting to see what impact the powerful Moyers program has on
the growing movement for impeachment, on how it is reported, and on the
response in Congress.
While not watched by too many ordinary Americans, the program is influential
among professional journalists and editors, and among liberals and
progressives, who will be increasing their pressure on Democratic leaders to
act.
Pelosi's efforts to block impeachment and keep it "off the table" will
continue to look more and more pitiful and self-serving.
The next challenge to do-nothingism will be a march on July 23 from
Arlington Cemetery to the office of Rep. John Conyers, chairman of the House
Judiciary Committee, and the man who has the power to kick-start hearings on
impeachment -- in particular to schedule hearings on the Kucinich bill (H
Res. 333).
A sit-in is planned in Conyers' office if he won't meet with the delegation,
which will be headed by Cindy Sheehan, the anti-war and impeachment activist
whose son was killed in action in Iraq.
A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
DAVE LINDORFF, a Philadelphia-based investigative journalist and columnist,
is author, most recently, of "The Case for Impeachment: The Legal Argument
for Removing President George W. Bush from Office" (St. Martin's Press, 2006
and now in paperback), co-authored by Barbara Olshansky. A well-known
investigative journalist and columnist, his work is also available at
thiscantbehappening.net.
Dave Lindorff: Bill Moyers Puts Impeachment On the Media Table Submitted by
BuzzFlash on Mon, 07/16/2007 - 3:20pm. Guest Contribution A BUZZFLASH GUEST
CONTRIBUTION by Dave Lindorff
Bill Moyers has put impeachment in the news and, in the process, shaming
both the national media and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the
Congressional leadership.
In his program, Bill Moyers Journal, Moyers and guests John Nichols, the
Nation's Washington correspondent and author of The Genius of Impeachment
and Bruce Fein, a former attorney in the Ronald Reagan Department of
Justice, made it clear that the Bush/Cheney administration has gravely
threatened the Constitution and the survival of tripartite, divided
government.
Moyers, feigning astonishment at the arguments of Nichols and Fein, asked if
it might be justified for the Bush administration to grab special
dictatorial powers in order to combat terrorism. His posited position was
demolished by both Nichols and Fein.
Nichols explained that the Constitution was designed by the Founders to be a
"fighting" document, capable of handling dangerous times. He noted that the
Constitution actually provides for the temporary barring of habeas corpus
(the right to have one's imprisonment brought before a court and
adjudicated), but he said that this was something that a president had to do
with the approval of Congress (not behind its back), and only if the Country
was under attack, which is of course, not the case right now.
Fein for his part noted that most of Bush's and Cheney's abuses of power and
violations of the Constitution and the rule of law have been done not openly
and in consultation with Congress, but in secret and in the dark of night.
His secret monitoring of Americans' communications -- phones, mail, and
Internet, for example -- went on for four years before it was exposed in an
article in The New York Times. And the president has still not explained to
anyone why he felt the need to break the law.
Fein and Nichols both blasted the current Democratic leadership of Congress
for cowardice, lack of principle, and a basic failure to honor their oaths
of office to uphold and defend the Constitution, in refusing to impeach the
president. Fein said that in earlier administrations, there were always at
least a few members of Congress who were honorable enough to put country and
the Constitution above party. "We don't have anyone like that in Congress
now," he said.
Actually, it was one failing of Moyers' program that neither he nor his two
guests mentioned that there actually are some honorable members of the
current Congress. They did not mention that Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) has
filed a bill of impeachment against Vice President Cheney, and that his bill
currently has 14 co-sponsors, with more people signing on every week. They
also failed to mention that Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) only days before the
program, declared in no uncertain terms that Bush and Cheney should be
impeached, saying that the country was "closer to dictatorship than it has
ever been" because of the president's assertion of "unitary executive"
powers to ignore laws passed by the Congress."
Despite this one shortcoming, Moyers' program is a public shaming of the
tawdry and shameless corporate media, which has ignored the exploding
impeachment movement blossoming across the nation, pretending that it
doesn't even exist, or that it is the province of a few leftist wackos.
In fact, as Moyers noted, the most recent poll on the issue shows that half
of Americans want both Bush and Cheney impeached and removed from office.
It will be interesting to see what impact the powerful Moyers program has on
the growing movement for impeachment, on how it is reported, and on the
response in Congress.
While not watched by too many ordinary Americans, the program is influential
among professional journalists and editors, and among liberals and
progressives, who will be increasing their pressure on Democratic leaders to
act.
Pelosi's efforts to block impeachment and keep it "off the table" will
continue to look more and more pitiful and self-serving.
The next challenge to do-nothingism will be a march on July 23 from
Arlington Cemetery to the office of Rep. John Conyers, chairman of the House
Judiciary Committee, and the man who has the power to kick-start hearings on
impeachment -- in particular to schedule hearings on the Kucinich bill (H
Res. 333).
A sit-in is planned in Conyers' office if he won't meet with the delegation,
which will be headed by Cindy Sheehan, the anti-war and impeachment activist
whose son was killed in action in Iraq.
A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
DAVE LINDORFF, a Philadelphia-based investigative journalist and columnist,
is author, most recently, of "The Case for Impeachment: The Legal Argument
for Removing President George W. Bush from Office" (St. Martin's Press, 2006
and now in paperback), co-authored by Barbara Olshansky. A well-known
investigative journalist and columnist, his work is also available at
thiscantbehappening.net.
