Rep. Dennis Kucinich introduced 35 articles of impeachment against President Bush yesterday in the House of Representatives. Here's a portion of Kucinich's speech:
Many will watch Rep. Kucinich's speech, roll their eyes, and decide it's a major waste of time. The President's term is almost up, and Americans just don't support impeachment. Right?
Nope, not right. In fact, there is a surprisingly large percentage of Americans who support the impeachment of President Bush.
According to Angus Reid, an InsiderAdvantage poll around May 1, 2007, found 39 percent of American voters to favor impeaching both Bush and Cheney, and 55 percent opposed. Analyzing these numbers, Bob Barr, who initiated the Clinton impeachment hearings, said that "this indicates the surprising depth of dissatisfaction with Bush."
On July 6, 2007, a telephone poll conducted by the American Research Group found that 45 percent of American adults favored the US House of Representatives beginning impeachment proceedings against Bush, with 46 percent opposing the proceedings. In the same poll, 54 percent wanted impeachment proceedings against Cheney, and 40 percent were opposed.
In another July 2007 pool by USA Today/Gallup, 36% of Americans felt there was justification for congress to begin impeachment proceedings against the President, while 62% felt that there was no justification.
A November 13, 2007 nationwide poll by American Research Group found 34% of all voters agreeing that "President Bush has abused his powers as president which rise to the level of impeachable offenses under the Constitution and he should be impeached and removed from office", distributed among 50% of Democrats, 18% of Republicans and 34% of independents. 43% of all voters nationwide agreed Dick Cheney has abused his powers as vice president to the level of impeachable offenses and he should be impeached and removed from office. (Link)
Clearly not majorities, but note that the polling was done a year ago and, even then, the number supporting impeachment was surprisingly high. When the question is rephrased slightly:
A new American Research Group poll finds that 55 percent of voters believe President Bush has “abused his powers” in a manner that rises “to the level of impeachable offenses under the Constitution,” yet just 34 percent believe he should actually be impeached. Fifty-two percent say that Vice President Cheney has similarly abused his powers, with 43 percent supporting impeachment.
It may be that, with only six months left in the President's term, Congress won't have much enthusiasm for beginning an impeachment process. But the meme that the country just isn't interested in impeaching the president is not completely correct.
The president will, undoubtedly, be held accountable for his actions. But it will happen later rather than sooner.
Comments
IMPEACHMENT should begin TODAY. This is the most CRIMINAL administration in our history. Bush has RAPED the national treasury. He has VIOLATED the Constitution that he swore to uphold. He is a war criminal. IMPEACHMENT may be too godd and not enouogh punishment for his crimes against America (wasn't his grandfather punished by the US COngress for Dealing with the Enemy after WWII?) If EVER there was a case for IMPEACHMENT - this is it! Congratulation to Rep. Kucinich for having the guts and brains to do this for America!
Impeach Bush. 52% now support it:
http://www.democrats.com/bush-impeachment-poll-2
Only 36% supported impeaching Clinton back when that was going on.
About damn time. Let's see what the mass media has to say on this. So far this is the only report that I've seen.
Unfortunately, Bush will not "undoubtedly" be held accountable, no matter how much you wish it were the case.
Gotta love those magic elves; they don't ever get to be President, but they can do some awful damage.
I sense a Nancy Pelosi/Harry Reid paddling coming Kucinich's way; he just doesn't get that impeaching Bush NOW would rally the GOP base against the Democrats in November.
As if they had to worry about that, when they already have the problem of 95% of Hillary Clinton Democrats vowing they're going to vote McCain and a straight GOP ticket come November.
Kiss the Democrat majority in BOTH houses good-bye AND the White House come November, no matter what the magic elf says or does. The DNC suicided itself when it selected Rove's Trojan Horse Obama. It's soon to be midnight, and Karl Rove will be crawling out of Obama's wooden belly to light the DNC afire.
As usual the Democratic Party leaders are too little too late. This is just a political ploy to get Obama elected.
Remember Bush claimed votes he did not get in Florida and did not want Florida votes to be counted in full.
Obama claimed votes he did not get in Michigan and did not want all votes counted in Florida either.
November we get to choose McCain who won't know where he is or Obama who won't know what to do. We have that now in the White House.
Americans vote for whom they deserve.
Kucinich - are you trying to be called for VP?
What the f%$^ took so long
Hey PurpleP! No, never mind. Anything I could say would be lost on you. One cannot argue with insanity. School is almost out and perhaps next year, when you're in high school, you'll have the opportunity to take a civics class.
Impeachment would be better now with some kind of future immunity - then waiting until a War Crimes Tribunal takes place and then the punishment might be execution.
Impeach him now....Can anyone explain why this was not the number one news story last night?
xbjllb, is one seriously warped and paranoid individual. Must be a Neocon. They're highly susceptible to that.
Impeachment? Bush and Cheney should be jailed and tried in the same manner that Saddam Hussein was.
Re impeachment of Bush and Cheney; where do I sign up to support the impeachment proceedure and how can I add myself and those that I know to the numbers that are for this? It's never too late to remind Bush, etc. that wrong doing has a price.
Kucinich is a patriot. That is all.
Dennis Kucinich was an idiot when he was a child, is an idiot now and will die an idiot!
Impeachment?? Start that the same day you start the murder and rape trial of Bill and Hilary Clinton. How could a person with any morals at all support those two? Not only the rapes and direct murders that they have been involved in, but Clinton is responsible for the 3000+ deaths on 9/11.
Sure, impeach both of those lunatics. But it's going to take a better speech than this bit of puffery by Kucinich.
PurpleP demonstrates perfectly the far-left modus operandi of the past 8 years - every little thing that republicans did to Clinton should also be done to Bush. It was painfully predictable that any Republican elected in 2000 would be subjected to calls for impeachment. But fine, I'll play along as if this actually merits discussion - what specific, SPECIFIC, high crime and/or misdemeanor has Bush actually committed that would justify impeachment. The fact that he gets your little lefty ire raised doesn't count, PurpleP.
I say we start impeachment hearings on Congress as they have a lower approval rating by the American Poeple. Let's adopt term limits of 6 years for all members of Congress then they can speak freely and hold true to their convictions without worrying about being re-elected. Real change is cleaning house of all of them and elect people who will actually work for the people instead of the lobbyist and special interest groups.
Blow it out your ass.
Kucinich you should be impeached for wasting our TIME and MONEY. Concentrate your efforts on doing something about the IMPOSSIBLE fuel prices instead of worrying about impeaching a president who is already on his way out.
This is EXACTLY what's wrong with this country...politicians who don't give a s*%T about the American people and what we are dealing with on a daily basis. God help the USA and all of us who live here.
okaypues - NICE CALL.
It's all smoke and mirrors. If you will remember, right after Clinton was impeached, the Democrats said they would do this to the next Republican President regardless of who was elected. In the last 7.5 years there has been nothing that comes to the level of impeachment for Bush. There won't be anything in the next .5 years either.
John is right, I'ts too little too late. Bush can NOT be held accountable after he has left office. All ex presidents are exempt fom any legal charges, for anything that they did or that happened while they were in office. It's the highest position power and non accountability, which if you ask me makes no sense at all. An Air force general gets ousted because someone else placed a wrong digit in an order form. Thats accountabilty. A president gets rich on oil and is the cause of thousands of American deaths, and we can't do anything, That's just stupid.
Aren't you little late for impeachment?
It's about time someone stood up to the idiot in the White House.
I didn't roll my eyes, nor did my husband and the friends who e-mailed me the news. We listened to the whole thing, nodding our heads in agreement. Kucinich puts his money where his mouth is. He is one brave man. Thank you Kucinich. Thank you for voicing what many of us think, this administration stinks from the top down, and it needs to be officially noted.
Impeach, prosecute, imprison, torture, execute.
Repeat.
This guy must have a lifetime supply of Kool-Aid.
Someone should remove him from office before he wastes another taxpayer dime on this nonsense.
You guys on the left LOST the last presidental election, time to get over it....
this is America, we don't undo elections like some 3rd world banana republic, idiots!
If we are going to hold government officials in Washington D.C. responsible for their actions we had better be prepared to build an entirely new government from scratch. It's like going into a rat infested home and claiming one rat is nastier than all the other filthy rats. It's much easier to just keep playing the game we play now which is the game that says you can't impeach my guy because your guy is worse. It's wonderful for politicians. It allows them to do all the dirt they want and just claim the last guy was worse.
It is about time someone did something to stop Bush. Thank you.
There is another poll that shows something like 84% of those that took the poll on msnbc want impeachment of Bush. Check it out..
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10562904/
Gee whiz, kiddies! Look at the parade of moonbats! And the leader of the parade is the silly dwarf Denny himself! Amazing how these morons continue to make a case for impeachment only to be shot down again and again. Go ahead liberal morons, make fools of yourselves again!
It is about time!!!
There needs to be something that can be done about second term impunity. Even if the impeachment does not progress in time, not to go on the record about what is happening is irresponsible.
Part of me says to proceed with impeachment, and part of me says it's a waste of time and will only cause more trouble. The part that wants it is still angry about things that happened a long time ago, i.e., GWB reminds me of all of the people I've encountered who seem to get away with everything, who get to have their way, etc. There's other baggage, and that's all it is. Baggage.
The other part of me is more calm and considered. I realize that GWB will get what's coming to him, one way or the other. It's unfortunate that this generation's view of impeachment is warped by whatever it is that happened to Bill Clinton. Not that I'm a fan of Bill, I just happen to believe that that version of the GOP really was on a witch hunt. Funny how they accuse everyone else of copying their tactics. But, I digress. Impeachment is off the table because it's meaningless and because the Bush administration is way too good at delaying and deflecting. George himself seems to have made a lifelong career out of dodging everything except a good time.
Then again, I have had this nagging premonition for about five years now that the Bush administration will be found to have been doing something so utterly despicable as to turn even the most diehard True Believers against them.
Hey Mike,
We spy on our own citizens, we torture and threw out our constitution and the dollar sinking faster than Bush's approval ratings. Are you sure we're not a Banana republic? LOL, your the fool pal, you and the 7 neo-cons left on the sinking ship that is the Bush presidency.
Can we elect any more dumb people? Another politician who wants a bill to wipe his ass with.
No, impeachment is too little too late. Once they leave office, bring them up on charges of treason. Systematic attempts to avert the Constitution is only the beginning of a long list of charges.
It's never too late to hold Bush + Cheney accountable for their actions. Impeachment hearings should have happened years ago... Better late than never.
If he slithers out of Impeachment then get him for War Crimes for approving waterboarding etc.
JUST A LIL TOO FREAKIN LATE HUH!
ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Moving on misinformation is much different than moving with misinformation. President Bush and the intentions of this cabinet were expressed with the information provided to them. If that information was faulty, it is not the responsibility of the person acting on that information, but the person who conveyed the untruthful information in the first place. I guess the Congress and the Senate should also be held accountable for their voting for the war, despite the fact they were provided false information as well. The collective press should look at their own motives before they cast opinion on fact.
Bush and Cheney should not be impeached they should be executed for the hundred of thousand of people they killed in the Iraq war and the thousands of troops they killed and maimed
"Its a little too late" That's what people are thinking? Give me a break!! What if someone shot your child and you knew who it was but took some time to build the case, would you then say "Its a little too late" ? This administration defrauded the entire population of the US, not to mention the entire world, and our children and grandchildren are and will continue to suffer the consequences. Both as far as security is concerned as well as economically. And that's just a drop in the bucket, that's also ignoring the impact on people in Iraq - as well as soldiers. Try watching Winter Soldier Hearings and tell me its not worth the fight to hold this administration accountable. How pathetic it is that people want to just ignore the fraud, deception and corruption because it might require some effort and backbone to do what's right for this nation and the children of it.
I love Lamp
Bush is a liar and a war criminal. Of course he should be impeached! How many more dead to you need to pile up caused by Bush's unnecessary war for oil? It's been ONE NATION UNDER FRAUD WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR OIL with the Bush cabal. Bring on the impeachment trial and save a life!
you lefties better hope that McCain doesnt get elected. Bush will go down in history as a patriot
"Give me a break!! What if someone shot your child and you knew who it was but took some time to build the case, would you then say "Its a little too late" ?"
You're an idiot for making that kind of comparison thinking it makes sense.
To poster known as "Mike",
Don't let the door hit you on the way out. Real Americans are no longer going to put up with the Repubs lies and deceptions. Adios.
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