So long, Russ
Posted by on July 24th, 2007
I’ve been impressed with you in the past, and supported your earlier censure effort. But if there ever was a time to merely censure Bush and Cheney, it is long past now that your party and (for now) mine hold majorities in both the House and Senate.
You’ve said yourself you believe the President has committed impeachable acts — yet that you don’t support impeachment because it is a waste of time. I submit that it’s censure — a nonbinding, empty gesture — that’s the real waste of time; impeachment, by contrast, is a Constitutional tool that needs dusting off and sharpening.
To my great surprise and disappointment, you’ve tried to interrupt and short-circuit progress towards a real Constitutional remedy to a real Constitutional crisis, offering instead the distraction of a toothless, worthless censure vote.
Accordingly, I request that you remove me from your e-mail list.
With regrets,
Thomas Nephew
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NOTE: “You’ve said yourself” — DailyKos post, via NTodd (”Dohiyi Mir”).
UPDATE, 7/24: Hmm. Maybe I’m wrong. John Nichols — the author of “The Genius of Impeachment” who was featured on a recent Moyers program I wrote about — thinks Feingold’s censure idea is a good one:
Censure is not the cure. Impeachment is. But censuring Bush and Cheney ought not be seen as a compromise, or an insufficient response to the crisis. It is a senatorial compliment to the burgeoning movement for impeachment — a movement that today delivered petitions with more than 1,000,000 signatures to Congressman John Conyers appealing to him to begin impeachment proceedings. Conyers, it should be noted, indicated at a recent meeting in California with members of Progressive Democrats of America that he would be receptive to appeals from other members of the House to develop a game-plan for considering serious impeachment proposals.
Supporting Feingold’s censure resolutions should not distract from nor negate the push for impeachment. Rather, moves to get the Senate to censure Bush and Cheney ought to be seen as vital pieces of the broader struggle to hold this administration to account.
Via Avedon Carol (”The Sideshow”). To me, this is a pretty backhanded “senatorial compliment to the burgeoning movement for impeachment”: “I am concerned about the great deal of time multiple impeachment trials would take away from the Congress working on the problems of the country.” (Emphasis added.) But Feingold and Nichols have a point, of course, that impeachment per se is a House matter anyway. (So why’d Feingold bring it up?).
UPDATE, EDIT, 7/25: “trials” emphasized; thus, Feingold’s statement refers to the trial, which would be in the Senate.
Category: Post. Tags: impeachment.
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