Maybe We do not need impeachment.....Maybe we need a Special Prosecutor.

[Perky]

To fully investigate this administration's abuse of power.


If Ken Starr can be charged with investigating a bad land deal in Arkansas and turn it into an investigation into lying about blowjobs....

If archie Cox can investigate criminality in the White House. If this is about criminal conduct, that is where it needs to start.

Particularly when Reid and Pelosi are against impeachment an particularly when impeachment would not be successful in the senate.

It was Archie Cox's efforts that led to obstruction of justice, that led to impeachment inquiry.

[zanne]

1. I think the Dems participated in ending that position

After the Clinton debacle, I know that the Repubs and Dems passed a bill to seriously limit the use of a special prosecutor, if not eliminate the position. I remember being pissed about it.

[Perky]

2. What was Fitzgerald?

I thought they abolishe the independent counsel

[knight_of_the_star]

7. Different situation

Fitzgerald was an independent prosecutor appointed by the Justice Department with specific parameters for what to investigate. The Independent Counsel a la Archibald Cox or Kenn Star had virtually limitless scope and power to investigate pretty much whatever the hell they wanted to.

[Perky]

10. Archie Cox was a Special Prosecutor

I am sure of that

Otherwise Nixon could not have had him fired.

[Blaze Diem]

17. I felt the same way..Bush cabal was already laying ..

..the groundwork for their pirating of the US Government at
that time. 
They have been working a long time for this opportunity for
unlimited power.

[knight_of_the_star]

3. Too bad the law doesn't exist anymore

It was allowed to lapse after the whole Starr debacle and if we tried to push it through again the GOP in the Senate would fillibuster and Bush would veto.

Then again maybe we SHOULD push for it for that reason. Afterall, if they have nothing to hide why would they block any attempts to find the truth?

[Perky]

6. I thought Starr was and Independent Counsel and Fitz was a Special Prosector??

[knight_of_the_star]

11. Different situation

Special Prosecutor has specific scope and limits, Independent Counsel had virtually none. That's part of why Fitz couldn't bring any charges outside of what was directly connected to the leak because that is what he was charged to investigate.

[Perky]

15. Yes but Fitzgerald

ws never stonewalled... he just could not prove anything


If the WH refused to hand over relevant document... the Special Couinscel is still empowere to bring it to judges up the line in otrder to compel testimony or the production of documents. If stonewalling occurs depsite an order....then it is grounds for impeachment. On the same basis as the House Inquiry was for Nixon

[Big Blue Marble]

14. You are right.

And Congress no longer has the ability to appoint an independent counsel.
After the Starr fiasco, the Dems got bamboozled by the Repubs and agreed
to not renew the independent counsel law. So now they cannot appoint
an independent counsel to investigate this nightmare. At the time,
I was worried that they were reacting to Starr and not considering that they might
want one in the future, like now. If that law were in place, I am sure
we would have an independent counsel investigation on going as we speak.

[proud2BlibKansan]

12. And how long would that take?

When I watch CSPAN I see a lot of post office naming votes and tributes to people. Maybe a couple days a month they do something REALLY important. So no, I am not willing to wait for them to do something important like this.

[Perky]

16. the first time the white house claims privilege in order to obstruction

depsite an comepelling oreder from a judge..it iniitates an impeachment inquiry. That is what happened with watetrgate.


The Senate was investigating what was going on... Archie Cox was hired and he stared seeking documents. Nixon refusual his firing of Cox and his initial defiance of the court are was got the Houues to begin impeachment proceedings.

[xultar]

4. Which could lead to impeachment. I'm glad a Rethug called for it.

[Perky]

8. It is definitely a means to an impeachment trap

[zonmoy]

5. impeachment is what we need not a special prosecutor to

stall the process until the election is rigged or canceled.

[mmonk]

9. You mean independent. A special prosecutor will not be allowed

to get but so close.

[Perky]

13. From Wikipedia

Special prosecutor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
A special prosecutor generally is a lawyer from outside the government appointed by an attorney general or Congress to investigate a government official for misconduct while in office. A reasoning for such an appointment is that the governmental branch or agency may have political connections to those it might be asked to investigate. Inherently, this creates a conflict of interest and a solution is to have someone from outside the department lead the investigation. The term "special prosecutor" may have a variety of meanings from one country to the next, from one government branch to the next within the same country, and within different agencies within each government branch.

Contents
1 United States
1.1 Federal government
1.2 State government
2 Reference
3 External link



United States

Federal government
Attorneys in the United States may be appointed/hired particularly or employed generally by different branches of the government to investigate. When appointed/hired particularly by the Judicial Branch to investigate and, if justified, seek indictments in a particular judicial branch case, the attorney is called special prosecutor.<1> When appointed/hired particularly by a governmental branch or agency to investigate alleged misconduct within that branch or agency, the attorney is called independent counsel. <2> When employed by the state or political subdivision to assist in a particular Judicial Branch case when the public interest so requires, the attorney is called special counsel <3>

On January 3, 1983, the United States federal government substituted the term independent counsel for special prosecutor.<4> Archibald Cox was one of the most notable special prosecutors. However, special prosecutor Archibald Cox today would be called independent counsel Archibald Cox in the United States.

The term is sometimes used as a synonym for Independent Counsel, but under the former law authorizing the Independent Counsel, the appointment was made by a special panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The Independent Counsels law expired in 1999, and was effectively replaced by Department of Justice regulation 28 CFR Part 600, under which Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald was appointed to look into the Plame affair.

[partylessinOhio]

18. I'm afraid we are screwed. Nothing will be done to stop the mad one.

The hearing today on the firing of the US Attorneys will go nowhere in spite of the fact that Gonzo has been stripped naked and exposed as a dumb puppet for Bush.

Bush will not be stopped, the war will not end and soon we will invade Iran. The next election may never be held.

I feel we are pretty much finished as a nation that once had freedom.

Half of the blame for this has to go to each of the parties that have sold us out.

[Bluebear]

19. You are just dead set against impeachment. Why?

[Perky]

20. too pragmatic, too long-viewed I suppose

Impeachment does not get us out of the war ore reverse the slide toward totalitarianism. Electing Dems can accomplish that in early November, 2008.