In my latest crosspost in the series on Kucinich’s Articles of Impeachment, one of the commenters linked to this editorial.

Editorialists, while refusing to honestly report on this Constitutional crisis, have been parroting the claim of gutless and calculating Democratic Party leaders like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in saying that with the nation at war and with a critical election approaching, there are “more pressing” matters to consider than impeachment, and that impeachment would be a “diversion.”

This is nonsense. As hundreds of American troops continue to die each quarter in a war that never should have happened, and that was launched five years ago and continued for half a decade thanks to administration lies and deception, there is nothing more important facing this nation than restoring Constitutional government and Constitutional checks and balances—something that can only be done through the Constitutional process of impeachment.

Unless this is the end of our form of Constitutional government, we will have later Presidents who will try to do the same things unless we show them that we will not stand for having everything we stand for destroyed.

Over on Downeast Politics, I’ve started publishing a series of articles on Kucinich’s Impeachment resolution. Every day (I hope), I’ll post the text of an article, and link to the original source for each assertion he makes (or as close as I can get).

Occams hatchet at Kos spent quite a bit of time today demolishing the arguments against impeachment. Part of his post was a lengthy list of the admitted — not suspected, but proudly admitted — crimes the Bush administration has committed.

Bill Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives on December 19, 1998 and acquitted by the Senate on February 12, 1999. Fifty-five days. Granted, the fishing expedition boondoggle witch hunt investigation that finally resulted in impeachment charges took almost five years, but BushCheney have made the job easy for those seeking impeachment against them - they have admitted, very publicly, to several impeachable offenses, and have very publicly committed others.

• The BushCheney administration is on the record as having tortured prisoners and repeatedly lied about it - indeed, it has now defiantly stated that torture is legal, in contravention of many treaties to which the United States is a signator.
• It is on the record as having illegally wiretapped Americans from the very first days of the administration.
• It is on the record as openly defying established laws written by Congress and signed into law by the administration itself.
• It is on the record as defying multiple congressional subpoenas stemming from investigations into executive branch wrongdoing (this is known in the vernacular as “obstruction of justice”).
• It is on the record as being “unable” to produce evidence in congressional investigations into administration malfeasance, often claiming that the evidence was “destroyed” or “lost” (this, too, is commonly known as “obstruction of justice”).
• It is on the record as having repeatedly lied about the threat posed by Iraq with respect to weapons of mass destruction and connections to terrorists, in order to mislead the American public and members of Congress into support for an illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq (such an invasion and occupation being known in the vernacular as a “war crime”).
• It is on the record as having facilitated the the misappropriation of hundreds of billions of dollars during the illegal invasion on and occupation of Iraq, and shielding criminal and murderous acts by agents acting on behalf of the U.S. government during that occupation.
• It is on the record as having lied about the potential threat posed by Iran with regard to nuclear weapons.
• It is on the record as having lied to Congress about a whole range of activities, from the firing of U.S. attorneys to illegal wiretapping of Americans to the threat posed by various nations.

With all of this evidence already on the record, an impeachment investigation should not take very long - and with respect to at least a few cases, probably isn’t even necessary.

As occams hatchet points out, if this administration is getting away with this much, what’s the next rogue one going to try?

Rep. Wexler: Would you enforce a contempt of Congress citation against Bolton for failing to appear in response to a subpoena?

Mukasey: No.

Let’s ask John Conyers that, shall we?

Let me tell you this. If we started an impeachment hearing that didn’t succeed, guess what would happen. They would say that he’s being demonized, that Conyers always, they campaigned against the Democrats taking over last year . . . they campaigned against the Democrats saying two things, Rangel will raise taxes if the Democrats ran and Conyers would impeach Bush. Now to come in on January 28th . . . and saying, ‘We’re going after both these guys at once and if it doesn’t’ - and I really smile at this one - ‘and if it doesn’t work at least you did it and taught them a lesson’ - well, they would take that and that would bleed right into the election of 2008 sure as we’re standing here.

Um, wrong quote. Maybe we should ask a younger Conyers why a president should be impeached.

The subsequent concealment was intended not merely to protect the White House from its complicity in the Watergate incident itself, but to avoid disclosure of the entire train of illegal and abusive conduct that characterized the Nixon presidency:

• Obstruction of justice;
• Perjury and subornation of perjury;
• Offers of executive clemency;
• Attempts to influence a federal judge;
• Destruction of evidence;
• Disclosure of secret grand jury proceedings;
• Withholding information of criminal activity;…
• And interference with the lawful activities of the CIA, FBI, IRS, Special Prosecutor, House Banking and Currency Committee, Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, and finally, the House Judiciary Committee.

In these ways, the President sought to avert disclosure of a seamless web of illegality and impropriety….

The President of the United States must exercise only those powers which are legally and constitutionally his to exercise, and, by his actions, he must demonstrate due respect for the democratic rights of the people and the constitutional responsibilities of the Congress….

the President, like every other elected official, is accountable to the people.

For how can the people hold their President to account if he
deliberately and consistently lies to them? The people cannot judge if
they do not know….

If this is our legacy, our future colleagues may well conclude that
ours has been a pyrrhic victory, and that impeachment will never again
justify the agony we have endured. It is imperative, therefore, that
we speak to them clearly: impeachment is difficult and it is painful,
but the courage to do what must be done is the price of remaining
free.

I just emailed those quotes to Conyers. Hopefully he’ll once again find the courage to do what must be done.

I missed that last week, Rep. Mike Michaud joined the call for an impeachment investigation of V.P. Cheney.

Michaud said his request was not an attack on Cheney or any other members of the Bush administration. He said impeachment investigations must not be about a “man or his personal life.” They must focus instead on whether the office of the vice president illegally expanded its powers or abused the law.

Michaud said abuses of power by the administration could set precedents for future abuses and lead to the erosion of rights protected under the Constitution. He said that while it was unknown what the result of any investigation would be, conducting one would be the only way to restore the faith of the American people in their government.

In the early 70s, George McGovern did not join calls for the impeachment of President Nixon, fearing it would be seen as revenge for having been beaten in the election. Today, he has a different opinion. (h/t Peg Kerr)

Bush and Cheney are clearly guilty of numerous impeachable offenses. They have repeatedly violated the Constitution. They have transgressed national and international law. They have lied to the American people time after time. Their conduct and their barbaric policies have reduced our beloved country to a historic low in the eyes of people around the world. These are truly “high crimes and misdemeanors,” to use the constitutional standard.

Because he’s the only one with the courage to do what’s right.

Resolved, That Richard B. Cheney, Vice President of the United States, is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors, and that the following articles of impeachment be exhibited to the United States Senate….

In his conduct while Vice President of the United States, Richard B. Cheney, in violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of Vice President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has purposely manipulated the intelligence process to deceive the citizens and Congress of the United States by fabricating a threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to justify the use of the United States Armed Forces against the nation of Iraq in a manner damaging to our national security interests…

Watch him introduce the articles at the link above: to read them, see his website, complete with supporting documents.