Should the new Congress start impeachment hearings?

By Carol Wolman

As an advocate of immediate impeachment hearings, I hear all the arguments against proceeding with such hearings, starting at the top, with Nancy Pelosi and John Conyers, Jr. I will list each argument and its rebuttals.

ARGUMENT- Impeachment is time-consuming, and will tie Congress up so it can't do other business.

REBUTTAL- 1 - Congress can walk and chew gum at the same time. There are 435 members; investigation into impeachable offenses takes place in one committee- Judiciary.

REBUTTAL- 2 - If investigations were to start, the evidence would quickly become overwhelming, and the public outcry so great that Bush and Cheney would be forced to resign, as Nixon did.

REBUTTAL - 3 Other business would proceed much more quickly if the occupant of the White House was friendly, a Democrat, rather than hostile.

ARGUMENT- Impeachment would divide the country; it's better to work together.

REBUTTAL 1- Bush has divided the country; the election proved that the people overwhelmingly want him and Cheney out, impeachment hearings would unite the people behind the new Congress, and the replacement president.

REBUTTAL 2- Bush and Cheney have very little support as shown by the polls- less than a third of the country are behind them, and it would be miniscule once their crimes were displayed in Congress. The country would unite against them.

REBUTTAL 3- A healthy democracy encourages disagreement and debate. The one - party system we actually have, with the Democrats covering for Bush, is a sham democracy.

ARGUMENT- Bush has only two more years- we need to concentrate on a Democratic president in 2008.

REBUTTAL 1- Bush and Cheney are still incredibly dangerous. They have gotten the previous rubber-stamp Congress to give them almost unlimited power over every individual in this country, via the Military Commissions Act. This Act gives Bush the power, on any grounds, to label any American citizen an "illegal enemy combatant" and strip him/her of all rights, even habeas corpus. They also have almost unlimited power over the nation as a whole, via the The Fiscal Year 2007 Defense Authorization Bill, which GUTS posse comitatus, giving Bush the power to use the National Guard of each state against the people of any other state, bypassing the governers' authority, in case of a socalled "domestic emergency". Powerhungry people like Bush and Cheney should be removed from power and access to power ASAP.

REBUTTAL 2- It's already clear that Bush has no intention of leaving Iraq. As long as he and Cheney are in office, they will continue to bleed away the wealth of our country via this illegal, immoral, expensive occupation.

REBUTTAL 3- If Bush's war against the environment and against the pocketbooks, rights, and liberties of ordinary Americans is fought piecemeal by the incoming Congress, he can do a lot more damage in all these areas over the next two years. Much better to get rid of him and Cheney, and then set things right.

ARGUMENT - Rather than seek revenge or retribution, the Democrats are taking "the high road" of forgiveness and cooperation.

REBUTTAL 1- Impeachment, properly conducted, is not revenge, it's justice. It is a legal proceeding, designed to protect the American people from criminals or incompetents in high office, people like Bush and Cheney.

REBUTTAL 2- All members of Congress swear an oath to uphold the Constitution, and defend it from all enemies, foreign AND DOMESTIC. Bush and Cheney are the greatest enemies the Constitution has known to date; our Representatives have a duty to keep their oath and impeach the shredders of the Constitution.

REBUTTAL 3- House members are elected to represent their constituents. We the people voted them in to get rid of Bush and Cheney, not to play ball with them. Impeachment would be carrying out the will of the people, who have ultimate authority in this country.

ARGUMENT - Even though the Democrats have a majority in both Houses, they don't have the political clout to impeach Bush and Cheney- it takes 2/3 of the Senate to convict, and the Dems barely have a simple majority.

REBUTTAL- It only takes a simple majority in the House to impeach. The Dems have way more than that. Impeachment hearings would create a momentum that would be hard to stop.

REBUTTAL - Appeasement doesn't work with bullies- as Chamberlain found out with Hitler. The best strategy is forceful, concerted confrontation of the crimes.

REBUTTAL - The crimes of Bush and Cheney are so egregious, that they transcend politics. By playing ball and failing to start impeachment hearings, Pelosi and the Dems are laying themselves open to charges of being accessories to the crimes. Iraq goes on bleeding, our soldiers go on dying, our treasury goes on oozing red ink.

IMPEACHMENT IS PEACEFUL, LEGAL AND DEMOCRATIC. IMPEACHMENT NOW!