"bush braces for impeachment hearings"

[welshTerrier2]

now doesn't that just make your day ... of course, they'll have to go after cheney too ... many are understandably skeptical that a republican Congress will act on bush's unconstitutional spying abuses ... but surely some of them will be aware that they're choosing between raw partisanship and essential Constitutional liberties ... and it's no small point that all this will be played out on the national stage; a very visible, media hungry national stage ... a very visible national stage in an election year ...

running away from bush and standing up for Constitutional liberties sounds like a pretty good platform for republicans to run on ... while Democrats may score points being the "innocent party", republicans could potentially get even greater mileage for heroically standing up to THEIR president and doing the right thing ...

if republicans actually do call for impeachment hearings this year, what do you think the political impact on republicans will be??

source: http://www.insightmag.com/Media/MediaManager/impeachment.htm

Impeachment hearings: The White House prepares for the worst

The Bush administration is bracing for impeachment hearings in Congress.

"A coalition in Congress is being formed to support impeachment," an administration source said.

Sources said a prelude to the impeachment process could begin with hearings by the Senate Judiciary Committee in February. They said the hearings would focus on the secret electronic surveillance program and whether Mr. Bush violated the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Administration sources said the charges are expected to include false reports to Congress as well as Mr. Bush's authorization of the National Security Agency to engage in electronic surveillance inside the United States without a court warrant. This included the monitoring of overseas telephone calls and e-mail traffic to and from people living in the United States without requisite permission from a secret court. <skip>

"A president who breaks the law is a threat to the very structure of our government," Mr. Gore said.

"I call upon members of Congress in both parties to uphold your oath of office and defend the Constitution,” he said. “Stop going along to get along. Start acting like the independent and co-equal branch of American government that you are supposed to be under the constitution of our country."

Impeachment proponents in Congress have been bolstered by a memorandum by the Congressional Research Service on Jan. 6. CRS, which is the research arm of Congress, asserted in a report by national security specialist Alfred Cumming that the amended 1947 law requires the president to keep ALL members of the House and Senate intelligence committees "fully and currently informed" of a domestic surveillance effort. It was the second CRS report in less than a month that questioned the administration's domestic surveillance program. <skip>

[hlthe2b]

1. Anybody wanna take one for the team... and check out Freeper's

response to this?.....:evilgrin:

[crikkett]

2. It's the kind of attack they need to run into headlong

It's the kind of attack they need to run into headlong and rush to meet before the "warhead" (congress) is "armed" (filled with newly elected Democrats after Nov. '06). To minimize damage. Hm: Do you think there's a "Double Jeopardy" rule for impeachments?

(Apologies to Tom Clancy and "Hunt for Red October")
:patriot:

[welshTerrier2]

4. Double Jeopardy rule??

you mean like "i'll take 'Unconstitutional Power Grabs' for $100"?

[bluestateguy]

3. I call bullshit

This story strikes me as, um, false.

Even if there are one or two Republicans who support an impeachment inquiry, they would be cancelled out by DLC Vichy Democrats who would get weak-kneed at the prospect of such an assertive atance against Bush.

Unless Democrats win both houses in the 2006 elections then forget it. You're setting yourself up for a big disappointment. These Republicans are very protective of their little Baby Bush. Even a Democratic Congress would be no sure bet to do an inquiry. They would likely only have a narrow majority, and enough DLCers might not be up for impeachment.

I'm just trying to live in the real world here. That's all.

[SmokingJacket]

5. That's a moonie rag...

from their About Us page: "Published by News World Communications like its sister publication The Washington Times, Insight provides its subscribers an intelligence briefing on the Washington behind the lights and cameras."

They're just trying to stir up a little righteous indignation in the base...

[welshTerrier2]

7. yes, they absolutely are ...

nevertheless, not all right-wingers condone an invasive Federal government ...

the "Congressional Research Service (CRS)" formed in 1914 and prominently quoted in the article is defined as follows:

source: http://www.loc.gov/crsinfo/whatscrs.html

About CRS

The Congressional Research Service is the public policy research arm of the United States Congress. As a legislative branch agency within the Library of Congress, CRS works exclusively and directly for Members of Congress, their Committees and staff on a confidential, nonpartisan basis.

[welshTerrier2]

6. no guarantees here but ...

from the article:

"Impeachment is a remedy," Mr. Specter said on Jan. 15. "After impeachment, you could have a criminal prosecution. But the principal remedy under our society is to pay a political price."

Mr. Specter and other senior members of the committee have been told by legal constitutional experts that Mr. Bush did not have the authority to authorize unlimited secret electronic surveillance. Another leading Republican who has rejected the administration's argument is Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas.

the "real world" certainly provides no guarantees of impeachment hearings ... but it does provide a very likely hearing into domestic spying abuses ... my "real world" says that the Congress, even a republican Congress, will not tolerate this outrageous abuse of the Constitution ... in the end, it may not lead to impeachment at all ... we could see a compromise where bush agrees to use the FISA court for future surveillance ... of course, who the hell would trust that arrangement after what he's done??