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Elizabeth Holtzman on impeachment

Posted by Thomas Nephew on June 2nd, 2007

Elizabeth Holtzman is a former prosecutor, Congresswoman, and member of the House Judiciary Committee that brought articles of impeachment against Richard Nixon in 1974.

In a speech in Philadelphia last November 11, 2006, she explains why the impeachment of George Bush and Richard Cheney is right and necessary — and who will have to make it happen:

The American people — not for the first time — are ahead of the politicians in Washington. But I want to tell you that the American people can make Washington sit up and pay attention, because they did it once before. [...]

We can’t have a president of the United States who puts himself above the rule of law, if we want to continue as a democracy. [...]

..the fact that we have restored some checks and some balances doesn’t mean that we are not obliged to remove a person who threatens our democracy. [...]

And, to those who it would divide the country: the impeachment of Richard Nixon brought us together. How? We all recognized that we shared the same values as a country.

Holtzman has also written extensively about impeachment, including articles in The Nation in January 2006 and again in February 2007, as well as in the book The Impeachment of George W. Bush: A Handbook for Concerned Citizens.

To learn how to help with pro-impeachment work in Takoma Park, visit Takoma Park IBC; elsewhere, I suggest AfterDowningStreet.org or Impeach07.org.

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4 Responses to “Elizabeth Holtzman on impeachment”

  1. Gary Farber Says:
    June 6th, 2007 at 2:51 am

    “Elizabeth Holtzman is [....]” my former Representative; I was a volunteer for her, including in her district office, for a while there, when I was a kid. I remember when she replaced Manny Cellar.
    I disagreed with occasional policies of hers (she was an enemy of the space program, on the grounds that the money should go to poverty initiatives), and I occasionally found her a little rigid and doctrinaire, and to be honest, I didn’t find her or observe her to be a good listener, but I was still basically a fan, and always a supporter, and I’ve continued to generally admire her.

  2. Thomas Nephew Says:
    June 6th, 2007 at 3:16 am

    So you’re from Brooklyn. You’ve probably written that somewhere before, but I didn’t know.
    One gets a sense of things being black and white for Holtzman in this video clip, too, and I suppose that’s a prosecutorial trait: decide whether something’s right or wrong, and what to do about it, then push that as far as you can. I think she’s right in this case.
    Thanks for dropping by; that’s quite interesting about Ms. Holtzman.

  3. Lisa Moscatiello Says:
    June 19th, 2007 at 3:48 pm

    Hi there - I’ll weigh in here. I asked Ms. Holtzman if she would come to Takoma Park and participate in a forum. She got RIGHT back to me - I mean, within minutes of my sending my email. While she politely declined my invitation, citing her full-time law practice in New York, she did offer to provide a phone consultation with the Mayor and City Council members and also offered to videoconference with them if they so desired. I was before and am still a huge fan.

  4. Thomas Nephew Says:
    June 19th, 2007 at 4:06 pm

    Thanks Lisa! Did Councilman Snipper or anyone else on the Council express interest? I know I’d want to hear from Holtzman if she made the offer — though I suppose the Takoma Park resolution is modeled on others that have passed muster.

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