Articles of Impeachment Filed Successfully Against Cheney

This headline is not a joke. Last week, on November 6, Dennis Kucinich introduced articles of impeachment against Dick Cheney on the floor of the House of Representatives and it passed.

It was the most exciting CSPAN event surely of my lifetime. The vote started out like everyone would expect. Some Democrats were voting 'yes'. The clueless Democrats and all Republicans were voting 'no'. All of a sudden, in a move that I can't quite wrap my head around, the Republicans started switching their votes to 'yes'. Here's a good summary of what happened from Jonathon Kaplan at The Hill:

The vote to kill Kucinch’s privileged resolution began as a largely party-line affair, but halfway through the vote, Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) persuaded Republican leaders to get rank-and-file GOP lawmakers to change their votes to force the debate.

At one point, the vote to table the motion stood at 246-165. Once Republicans began switching their votes, momentum swung the other way. When the vote stood at 205-206, some Democrats began switching their votes.

The vote to kill Kucinich’s resolution finally failed 162-251, giving Republicans the opportunity to watch Democrats debate whether to impeach Cheney — a debate in which many liberal Democrats were more than willing to engage.

House Republicans clearly enjoyed watching Democratic leaders squirm during the series of votes, which lasted more than one hour.

The consensus seems to be that "John Boehner and the Republicans' Beltway consultants told the [the rank-and-file Republicans that] they could milk political gain from helping Kucinich keep impeachment alive." The idea was that the Democrats would look bad if they were fighting with each other over Dick Cheney on the floor of the House of Representatives and the Republicans would be able "to score political points with full-throated denunciations of those mean, over-reaching Democrats in Congress."

It's hard to believe that the arrogance of the Republicans in Congress has reached the level that they would nonchalantly vote to impeach the Vice President, especially one that totally deserves it (read the official charges against him here), and I have to wonder if the Republican leadership has something else up their sleeve. However, the words from the Republican's own mouths seem to indicate that political arrogance was, in fact, the reason for their 'yes' votes.

“We’re going to help them out,” said Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas. “We’re going to give them their day in court.”

“The determination was made that if Democrats are going to waste time and resources with a resolution like this, then it should be thoroughly debated,” said Brian Kennedy, the spokesman for Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio)...

Can't you just see the smirks? All of our hard-earned taxpayer money that has been stolen and given away to Dick Cheney and his corporate partners, all the the people who have died in Iraq as a result of Cheney's lies, all the people who will die if Cheney succeeds in his quest to bomb (aka: kill people) in Iran, all of our outrage over these and many other deceptions...It's all a damn joke to these people.

These Republicans think they're so clever... but this act of hubris could come back to bite them in their asses.

While the Republicans patted each other on the back and said 'cheers' to themselves over glasses of scotch, the articles of impeachment moved to the House Judiciary Committee, which is exactly where it needs to be. The Republicans are not concerned because they are counting on the out-of-touch, terrified Democratic leadership (Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer) to demand the impeachment articles stay buried in the Judiciary Committee (which is exactly what they are doing). But the decision to start hearings, with full subpoena power, actually rests with the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee John Conyers, who is one of the good guys. The Committee has released a silly statement about being too busy to continue with the impeachment (even though their actual schedule looks quite clear), but that in no way means that this is over. Legally, which is all that matters, the impeachment of Dick Cheney has been born and it is now alive and well.

It's up to John Conyers and the rest of the Judiciary Committee to decide whether or not the impeachment of Dick Cheney, and the end of our American nightmare, will be allowed to move forward. Feel free to give the committee a call, if you're so inclined, at (202) 225-3951.

And on a side note, isn't it nice to finally get some good news, even if the media won't cover it?


Follow up posts:
December 14, 2007: Cheney Impeachment Hearings Can Begin With Your Help
December 27, 2007: Think Progress is Covering Cheney Hearings Developments
January 3, 2008: Open Email to Robert Wexler