“We won’t rest until they’re frog-marched out” or otherwise resign in disgrace. Goodbye Rumsfeld. This website is still dedicated to exposing crimes and punishing hypocrisy. I’ll be pushing for accountability and vigorous oversight. At the same time, I do not want, or expect, the new House to push for impeachment. What I want them to do is conduct public hearings of White House officials, under oath, and investigate pre-war intelligence, the energy plan, war profiteering, NSA wiretapping, officially sanctioned torture, and violations of our treaty obligations. I expect those hearings to expose criminal wrongdoing in a very organic way.
We should pursue Cheney first and foremost. If facts emerge that are so damning that even Republicans have to concede that Cheney must be leave office, then we should have them quietly go up to Naval Observatory and ask him to resign (for health reasons if necessary to save face). If he refuses, we impeach. But we only impeach if we are virtually assured of winning in the Senate. And we will only be assured of that if the facts that emerge from honest and open hearings warrant it.
The goal should not be to impeach. The goal is to get the facts and hold people accountable.
I also expect Sherrod Brown to make fixing his vote over Miltary Commissions his first act in the Senate. Sherrod Brown must atone for his cowardly vote that was wholly unnecessary. He’s a good man. I hope he does the right thing.
Even as we conduct oversight, though, the American people want solutions and relief. The Democrats seem to have a good slate of legislation lined up for the new year. I will be supportive of their agenda, and I hope they can get some cooperation from across the aisle.
We won the senate. AP just called VA for WEBB. When do we start? 😉
This is the best day off my life.
I feel like the weight of the world is off my shoulders. And now I can relax and watch justice get done.
So it is written IN THE CONSTITUTION. . .
Yep, I just saw that too!
What a fantastic day.
WOO HOO!
I think that filing an impeachment would arguably block the pres from exercising his power to pardon.
may prove more useful (and successful) than impeachment in the long run…yeah, I’d love to watch President Nancy Pelosi taking the Oath of Office (and see Bill Orally’s head explode in the process), but we need to expose the depths of corruption in all levels of the Republican government in order to maximize our chances of bringing sanity back to our government, and we’re not going to get that just going after Bush and Cheney.
I’m with you on this 100%. I want heads to roll but even more I want methodical sober investigations and to let that lead where it may.
Impeachment would be nice, but impeachment is a single act, against a single individual. I’m a bit worried that if we were to pursue impeachment it would take the heat off of all the other people who richly deserve to have the heat turned up on them.
I say do the investigations, issue the subpoenas, convene the grand juries. There’s plenty of dirt to dig over the next couple of years. Besides, if we do the investigations, who knows how far up the ladder we will go.
I got interested in politics because I wanted to get George Bush out of office. Even more than that, though I want to see his legacy be one of failure, his name to go down in history with Benedict Arnold and John Wilkes Booth. I want him to be invoked as an example of what not to do. I want him to be what parents scare their children with to get them to drink their milk.
Actually, I want him in the dock at the Hague. But if his example keeps anything that looks like neoconservatism from ever happening again, I suspect I can live with that.
” I want [Bush] to be what parents scare their children with to get them to drink their milk.” -Omir the Storyteller
Brilliant.
We also need the investigations and the laying out of clear evidence to convince as much of the American public as possible that the wrongdoing was real… and not a smear campaign or “partisan politics.”
As much of the evidence as possible needs to come out into the sunshine, be examined and made public. Granted, there will always be some who won’t believe it (there are still people who are convinced the Apollo moon landings were filmed in Hollywood, after all…).
But looking long-term, we need to heal some of the partisan rift that’s been dividing this country — and we can only do that by being as fair, thorough and public with the investigation as possible. It would be better for the country in the long run to make sure every dirty deal and lie was revealed — and believed — then for Bush or any of that lot to actually be impeached or face charges.
Look at the things that came out of the Watergate hearings… FOIA, the Government in the Sunshine Act, etc. — the real victory here will be to restore the checks and balances in government and the rights and principles in the Constitution… and the trust and faith of the American people and the rest of the world.
First, investigate and determine the truth, and present it to the public. Second, assist those who are suffering or in need — find solutions, restore balance, help people, solve the problems or at least start on solving what we can. Then hold those responsible for this fiasco accountable. But justice has to start with truth.
I absolutely agree. I think when the truth finally comes out the case for impeachment will be overwhelming, but first I want the truth. I’ve written before, I don’t want a witchhunt and I don’t want a whitewash. I want the truth. The American people and the world deserve no less.