Censure and Impeachment
Political Affairs
By David Swanson
December 21, 2005
Censure is not the enemy of impeachment, any more than impeaching Bush
prevents impeaching Cheney. We have a tendency to jump five steps ahead of
ourselves in order to find imaginary problems.
Let me explain.
Congressman John Conyers has introduced a bill to censure Bush, another to
censure Cheney, and a third to create a select committee to investigate and
make recommendations on grounds for possible impeachment. The reaction I'm
hearing seems to be three-quarters enthusiasm and one-quarter concern that
censuring Bush and Cheney will hurt the chances of impeaching them.
I don't think that concern is well placed. The purpose of each of these
three bills at this point is to raise the issue, keep the Bush Administration's
lies and crimes in the news, and allow the Democrats to show some spine by
signing on.
Many Democrats have long whispered that they would impeach Bush if they had
the majority. Activists have long pleaded with them that only by showing people
what they stand for can the Democrats hope to win a majority. Now there is
something new and important to stand for. By signing onto one or more of these
bills (and really there's no excuse not to sign onto all three), Democrats can
declare themselves an opposition party ready to work against the rightward,
criminal drift of the nation. And exceptional Republicans can jump ship too, if
they have the nerve.
If we succeed in censuring Bush and/or Cheney, impeachment is next. The one
does not cancel the other. The public will not allow it to. Public support for
impeachment is much higher than it ever was for impeaching Clinton, and so is
support for removing Bush and Cheney from office.
(http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/polling) Censure will not satisfy those
demands. It will, however, help move Congress and the media in the direction of
listening to the public demand for accountability.
And Congress has a long, long way to go. Not a single member of the House
has introduced articles of impeachment. Only one has said he would sign onto
them if someone else introduced them (John Lewis, just yesterday). Asking
Congress Members to sign onto censure and, more importantly, a bill to create a
fact-finding committee to investigate possible impeachable offenses, helps them
take a significant step toward where the public is.
In fact, this point is well argued in the Executive Summary of the report
released today by Congressman Conyers. Here is the key section:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/5775
Let's hold the criminals accountable. Join us at:
http://www.censurebush.org
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