Impeachment hearings: The White House prepares for the worst

All the more remarkable, this from a rightwing mag, sister publication to the Washington Times -

They want to get ahead of events prior to the '06 elections, taking a long term approach. It also blindsides the Dems, like the one-day stopping of Congress Sen Reid did awhile ago.

It may or may not succeed, but the votes in the current Congress aren't there for either impeachment nor censure. If done prior to '06 that is...

THEN, all this comes into play whether the GOP wants it or not.

droves because they know if the Dems get control of congress many are going to get their a** wiped. Sorry to be so crude but they make me so angry. They are not good for my health or blood pressure. Damn their rotten hides!!

haven't shown up. This leads to Rove's ability to play games with e-voting machines. We can't give them close poll numbers as in exit poll numbers. We must require accountable voting !

Kids on campus who could not name the Prez or VP in 2004, are fully aware now.

teachers are giving them a crash course in politics and the importance of voting. I also hope they are teaching some critical thin king skills on the issues. If they do that...we should have it made...inspite of the phony voting machines.

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I am glad to have you aboard! This place gets pretty interesting as elections draw near.

:toast:

It's damned hard to believe this is out there without the WH seal of approval. So why are they floating it? Maybe this at the end is a clue:

Administration sources said Mr. Bush would wage a vigorous defense of electronic surveillance and other controversial measures enacted after 9/11. They said the president would begin with pressure on Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Mr. Bush would then point to security measures taken by the former administration of President Bill Clinton.

"The argument is that the American people will never forgive any public official who knowingly hurts national security," an administration source said. "We will tell the American people that while we have done everything we can to protect them, our policies are being endangered by a hypocritical Congress."

I suspect this was planted to tell the repugs on the Judiciary Committee that they better not stray too far or they'll get their heads chopped off. After all, Specter, Graham and Brownback have all had the temerity to suggest that the spying is illegal.

hmmmm....

Those mean ol' Dems are after him.
It's a Left Wing Conspiracy.

Hmmm... sooo many lies, so little time.

Hope C-SPAN shows the hearings in their entirety.

I'd love to see ol' Sam Ervin grilling those GOP goons.
Eyebrows going up and down
"Would y'all like to take a little break heah? Y'all need a little ol' glass o' water 'fo we go on heah?" THAT was theater! THAT was also a great civics lesson.
Who will replace Sam?:kick:

"They said the president would begin with pressure on Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee."

Yep. Rove's gonna kneecap 'em.

a threat. I am sure most if not all of the Committee members have been compromised by means of illegal wiretapping. The administration knows who their mistresses are, where Graham hides his boyfriend, their non-profit fronts, and any other information that they can use to blackmail them.

Bushco expects to try this case in the court of public opinion, not where it belongs in Congress and eventually in front of the Supreme Court.

they would rather face this than impeachment hearings on an illegal war and doctored intelligence. Funny how we don't hear anything on THAT stuff anymore?

on security Conservatives can live with that. Start of the theme
Murtha? We need you.

the LAST thing they want is strong, articulate voices calling them on their shit and pointing out that the Emperor has no clothes.

to join them. Being from Pennsylvania, I will get everyone I know to contact Spector through letters,phone calls and e-mails. It is the only tool we have.

Alito perhaps???

I wondered when the Clenis would be a part of the defense supporting the use of surveillance.:silly:

You gotta hand it to Rove, et al. They sure know how to play the Clenis card when they need to.

How long can they stick with this current regime before they become a lead weight liability? Congressmen and women of all ilk have one thing in mind: keeping THEIR jobs! The bush presidency is becoming an unbearable albatross around their necks. Every time they turn around there's another bush fuck up and once again they have to grovel at the feet of RoveCo. Even the most stupid Republicans must realize at some point that it's time to cut this bunch loose and retool the party. Their "experiment" in controlling every aspect of government with a willing and pliable stooge has gone terribly awry and it's time to put a new face on the Republican party. If they don't, they risk being exposed to the very backlash that propelled them to power in the 90's.

I don't see how moderate Republicans can remain terrified of RoveCo. much longer. The damage they're doing is greater than the rewards. It may be time for the REAL powers that be (Corporate, secret society, whatever) to jettison this bunch of Texas trash and start anew.

Hey, I guy's gotta' hope! :shrug:

"are you better off with him or without him"?;-)

The thing to watch out for is that the White House/NSA leaks the electronic surveillance that was successful and only raises technical issues e.g. the NSA was wiretapping an Albanian in Albania and an American calls him there or two Americans -one in Germany and the other in Russia are overheard and the conversation was transhipped through the USA at some point. Having obtained and monitored many wiretaps I can assure you that there are technical issues that would drive Scotty on Startrek batty. By putting the techno issues out front they may be able to avoid the deeper questions, that is, did you lay an illegal tap on a phone in Virginia? P.S. I heard Randi explain what Clinton did when he went after Ames, but I was being distracted so I missed it-any refreshers for me. LUV Sejanus

SOurce is another Moonie publication connected to Wash Tims... Story itself may be more REPUG/Rove planted crap.

Still, I would love to believe it is true.

remember the call boy sex ring that visited the Reagan-Bush White House?

There's also the related "Conspiracy of Silence" documentary that was never shown on tv:

http://www.indybay.org/news/2003/03/1579613.php

and popcorn :eyes:



:popcorn:

I think people will follow the impeachment through. I think also on the other side of the Atlantic with Tony Bliar.

there....keep the wolves at bay. :shrug:

Don't the polls show that the majority don't see a problem with the wiretapping? (yeah I know stupid)
Isn't their campaign strategy set to continue to make Dems look weak on security and terrorism?
Aren't there stronger/better grounds for impeachment?
Didn't most Americans on both sides (aside from diehard Freepers) get sick of the impeachment hearing on Clinton?
How will Alito fit in?

I don't know, just asking. They are desperate to vent some of the heat and they're slippery little tricksters.

that say the majority are ok with the illegal wiretapping were probably asked:

"do you support President Bush's program to wiretap terrorists?"

Of course a majority do!

in the beginning assuring they're only used for terrorist suspects and that they have to get a warrant (never said they got one - just that they are supposed to). They have gotten away with so many lies in the past. A lot is going to depend on how complacent the media is and their track record hasn't been the greatest so far on exposing his lies.

Like I said, they are desperate and they are trying to define the battle. If they got to choose what nasty deed they'd face for impeachment, this might be their preference. It's just my guess, I don't trust the source, the story or the WH. :shrug:

Oath of Office to protect and defend the Constitution by disregarding the 4th Amendment is a good enough reason for me.

Let's Bring It On!

Good point mate

:hi: Welcome to DU :toast:

incomplete -- Got to keep tabs on Bush and the bombing of Iran -- you know Bush/ would think nothing of nuking Iran in the name of defending you and me and getting the freegin heat off themselves from current scandals - wiretap probes etc! and that don't begin for 2 weeks yet!

Story seems like bunch cropped quotes put together

Maybe why that magazine has ties to Bush?

Maybe its the ultimate deception... maybe Cheney and a few others plan all this, so he can be crowned king.

Meh... thats not possible... is it?

I'm sooo paranoid

Couldn't find anything that attributed the article to anyone... but i just saw Fred Barnes on TDS last night and he was promoting his book about GWB* called the Rebel something or other... total B* apologist and all around slimy character... he's up to something with this article. Maybe a Rethug code? Y'Know like the turrists do...


...little bathroom magnets...

but it took them long enough!

of the administration about the indications that at least Israel, Russia, and Germany were eager in late summer 2001 to alert us to some sort of terrorist action planned within our borders. Then a bit more conversation about one particular Daily Brief and specific warning about use of airplanes as weapons would be instructive.

Then we could all roll up our sleeves and have a good old town meeting to talk about the specific actions of this administration on Sept. 11 as a prelude to a the open dialogue that we know Bush has been eager for about how he proposes in the not-too-distant future to actually think about talking about strategizing about a war on terror. As compared to the bootcamp for terrorists (Fort Bush-league) he has implemented in Iraq.

it needs to be uttered a LOT more than it has been.

Oww!!! :bounce:

I will believe it when I see it.

If the DEMS then get the house after 2006 the media will push the "beating a dead horse" angle over and over and over.

After all, a man can't be tried twice for the same crime, can he?

That may be what they're doing....sending a message to Harry Reid that they'll let impeachment hearings take place under a REPUBLICAN congress. That aught to sweep THOSE crimes under the rug, after all.

Slimey shits.

:kick:

for a fake *president!
You took the thought right out of my head.

- stil

Cuff the thug.

bottom of things" type of hearings?

Anything being brought to us by bush family buddy Rev Moon makes me very suspicious--what is his (their/ as in white house)motivation?

I think that's the key to this whole thing.

I know there are plenty of Dems who want impeachment, but who are the Republicans brave enough to join with them in a coalition?

And then we get....Pres. Frist?!

Hastert THEN Frist...

Cheney is VP and Speaker of the Senate, and Hastert is Speaker of the House. Frist is only Majority Leader, so he's quite a bit further down the line (in fact, almost off the charts, as these things go).

From http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0101032.html:

Prior to the ratification of the 25th Amendment in 1967, there was no provision for filling a vacancy in the vice presidency. When a president died in office, the vice president succeeded him, and the vice presidency then remained vacant. The first vice president to take office under the new procedure was Gerald Ford, who was nominated by Nixon on Oct. 12, 1973, and confirmed by Congress the following Dec. 6.

The Vice President Richard Cheney
Speaker of the House John Dennis Hastert
President pro tempore of the Senate Ted Stevens
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
Secretary of the Treasury John Snow
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
Secretary of the Interior Gale A. Norton
Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns
Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez
Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao
Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson
Secretary of Transportation Norman Yoshio Mineta
Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman
Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson
Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff

Pres. Hastert?


AHH!!

They are immigrants. Have to be a natural-born citizen (includes military hospitals).
:D :hi: :patriot:

How bad is he?

God, these are terrible choices

Have puppet monkey boy preznit impeached, Take over, conduct another "turrist attack", say it was because of the weak kneed yellow bellied libruls, claim Furor status. Cheney needs to be impeached as well or you'd better make sure your passport is in order....

:yoiks:

Now, if it just playes out that way!

Who would take over? I think it's safe to assume Cheney would go down too.

but who?

qualifies as Ford like.

But it seems odd that it's breaking from "Insight" -- which calls itself a "sister publication" of the Moonie Washington Times. And it seems odd that it relies on unnamed "administration sources."

Just sayin'.

Impeachment IS a political price to pay. That's what it's for, that's what it is. It's a damned political price to pay. Get your head outta manure, Arlen.

I read earlier that the admin is really going to be addressing this during this week to try to justify the whole NSA thing.

Maybe this explains the massive PR blitz to convince people that the government needs to read their emails, and yet another timely bin Laden tape.

:think:

1.Gore sat back and the Prince Bush of Cokemonkey steal the 2000 election in broad day light and then refused to support fellow Dems in protest

2. John Kerry vowed to count every vote and the conceded abruptly with out challenge. The electronic voting scandal should have been a rallying cry for democrats yet they sat and watched another white girls kidnapping on CNN like a deer in headlights.

The only encouraging portion of this article is that there is some bipartisn support and I am ecspecially encouraged by Spectar's comments.

They may save their seats.

Please, let this be true. I have never felt so disgusted over anything in my life as I have this criminally insane administration. The injustices are many, too many to count.

I really hope its from the NY Times or Washington Post or something. Then I'm let down when I find its ZippySixPackNews.com or something like that.

When I see a major news source confirm this, then I'll get excited.

How's that for a credible source? I kept hearing msnbc say, "all the polls show Americans aren't concerned about domestic spying.." and had to let them know a shiney new ZOGBY POLL shows different! And then I fired msnbc.. except for Olbermann..

I hope this is true, but I fear--hope I'm wrong--that it may be impossible to dislodge Bush and the GOP from power. They will continue to rig elections. The main stream media will continue to be a propaganda tool of the GOP. Democrats will continue to equivocate. To many Americans will continue to be less than outraged with every liberty lost. Unless and until our Dems start to push a progressive agenda and stop running from the L word, we will be lost. Hillary, you know Hillary that Republican Senator from NY, is certainly not the answer. My biggest fear is another terrorist attack, but not so much the actual attack as the Bushies response to it. Our democracy will then cease to exist and Bush will be dictator for life. If anyone thinks this is an overstatement, please explain to me how and why this isn't a very real possibility. God help us all.

Straight party-line vote: 10-8

:hurts:

Good background info, seems to me there will be MANY different charges, as referred to by Rep.Conyers. There are formal letters of Enquiry,his forums in the basement Findings,more. REAL & legal actions taking place
They will include the MIS-use of intell
(phase 2 of Senate investigation,which so far,have not been addressed at all) that took us to Iraq on wmd threats & lies.
They'll include the Downing Street Memos, Outting CIA ops, and leaking classified info for political/financial gain, taxpayer funds used to buy propaganda in the US and Iraq, to promote bush agendas..
SO many examples of HIGH CRIMES & MISDEMEANORS,leading to spying on Americans in the US without warrant. FYI: The CRS Congressional Research Svc, just issued their 2nd report, that Mr.bush CANNOT SPY on Americans WITHOUT WARRANT. This is a BIG tool in the toolbox.
Here's another:
Ray McGovern, (exCia) delivered INDICTMENTS TO WH, Jan.10,2006, outlining the abuses of power by Mr.bush&cheney,the docs & Updates are at www.bushcomission.org ..So, after years in the Wilderness,the TRUTH will come to Light.
WE will SEE it when we BELIEVE it!;}
Visualize IMPEACHMENT!~===]

can other issues be brought up, like the war or the election?

wiretapping in the first place

Anyway, good point, it could then open up a whole discussion on reasons for war.

You gotta read this! A summary of the Impeachment of Bill Clinton. This is not a joke. Read the reasons Clinton was impeached and the way witnesses were handled. Then think about what's going on today. I don't mean the fairy tales you get from the Republican News Network, I mean reality.

Irony, hypocrisy? There a no words to describe the insanity under which we live today.

www.eagleton.rutgers.edu/e-gov/e-politicalarchive-Clintonimpeach.htm

Check out the gravity of these issues to national security! The following questions were posed to then President Bill Clinton during his deposition:

Quote:
MR. FISHER: You Honor, there are two questions I'd like to ask, and then depending on the answers to those, there would be obvious follow-up questions, but the two questions are:

Number one, Please name every person with whom you had sexual relations when you were either governor of the state of Arkansas or president of the United States;

Number two, Please name every person with whom you sought to have sexual relations when you were either governor of the state of Arkansas or president of the United States.

If any names are given in response to either/or both of those questions, then obviously there would be follow-up questions to determine whether there are factors that make those incidents relevant.

-Jones v Clinton Deposition

innoculate themselves with a sham one, so public will be sick of it by the time Dems win in the Fall (if they are allowed to).

to protect his criminal ass!
:grr:

That is, he'll resign before there's even a chance of impeachment.

:sarcasm:

They just seem too confident and cocky on this wiretapping business.

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20060113.html

snip>

By Cooper's count, George W. Bush issued 23 signing statements in 2001; 34 statements in 2002, raising 168 constitutional objections; 27 statements in 2003, raising 142 constitutional challenges, and 23 statements in 2004, raising 175 constitutional criticisms. In total, during his first term Bush raised a remarkable 505 constitutional challenges to various provisions of legislation that became law.

That number may be approaching 600 challenges by now. Yet Bush has not vetoed a single bill, notwithstanding all these claims, in his own signing statements, that they are unconstitutional insofar as they relate to him.

Rather than veto laws passed by Congress, Bush is using his signing statements to effectively nullify them as they relate to the executive branch. These statements, for him, function as directives to executive branch departments and agencies as to how they are to implement the relevant law.

President Bush and the attorneys advising him may also anticipate that the signing statements will help him if and when the relevant laws are construed in court - for federal courts, depending on their views of executive power, may deem such statements relevant to their interpretation of a given law. After all, the law would not have passed had the President decided to veto it, so arguably, his view on what the law meant ought to (within reason) carry some weight for the court interpreting it. This is the argument, anyway.

snip>

Bush has quietly been using these statements to bolster presidential powers. It is a calculated, systematic scheme that has gone largely unnoticed (even though these statements are published in the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents) until recently, when President Bush's used a signing statement to attempt to nullify the recent, controversial McCain amendment regarding torture, which drew some media attention.

more...

WHY ISN'T IT ON THE FRONT PAGE OF EVERY NEWSPAPER IN THE COUNTRY?

Oh, scratch that- I know the answer.

however i'm afraid i'll believe it when i see it from this congress

Aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!

:D

the public in regard to domestic wire tapping in a statement today. He again claims that the President was given the authoization from congress right after 9-11. Will they ever change strategies? Victory through repetition.

from BEFORE 9-11. They've been doing this since about two months after * took office!

order. End of subject. Even the uninformed sheeple can follow that.

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Al Quaeda wants Shrub removed from office? He's been a boon to them by helping recruit hundreds (and perhaps thousands) that would otherwise never have volunteered! There are more Al Quaeda in Iraq right now than there were world wide before 9-11. Please explain to me how they are cheering the call for impeachment?

pes up. We been living off stuf like this for 5 years now.

Republicans likely to be an "embarrassment" to the administration and to chop them off at the knees with a tsunami of "small dirt". Mistresses, dodgy shareholdings and so on. Little shit for the little minds of America to lap up.

Given that the MSM is in the pocket of the administration, how do you think they'd play a dozen or two swiving Senators and Reps vs. a selfless administration fighting to protect the country in spite of itself. :sarcasm:

They're certainly doing their best to realize all of ours.

You can't even get one damn Republican pig senator to vote against Alito-and you think they are going to dare to try to mpeach the great emperor. People-you aren't paying attention. This is fantasy. There might be a hearing and their might be some things presented and then it will be OVER. They managed to white wash so far-9/11-remember that little crime against America-numerours unanswered questions-Rumsfeld clearly in deriliction of duties, along with a president that did nothing, before during and after. Osama still alive! Oh well. Instead they turn that into a triumph! We were attacked on 9/11- I did nothing-vote for me or die! They are making reality like a bad dream. The Iraq war-the downing street minutes-all those falsehoods-nothing happens. Katrina-look there is a thing saying they are dragging their feet on that today. Oh SURPRISE. There seem to be no honorable men in the Republican party leadership. There is very little media that holds them to account. WHERE was the Conyers hearing on national tv? That's right it was only on C-span. It wasn't worthy of the national news. This is a fantasy. Where's McCain-oh yeah letting little Bush add his "signing statement" to the anti-torture bill AND torture will still happen. Do you hear a fucking peep out of McCain? NO you haven't.

There is no hope with these people. Their demise is the only we have. They are NEVER going to hold this president and this administration accountable. Never. Hell, we can't even get a majority of the Dems to. I promise to not give in but I won't live in a fanatsy. That's what I'm seeing on DU-the "it's not so bad." He can be impeached. No. And it is that bad. If there is any hope-I don't know what it is. I haven't seen any. None. Zero. All we have is Conyers speaking the truth-we speak the truth and nothing happens. It's not even worthy of barely being in the news. We are living in an alternative reality with our truth-and the rest of the country has the Republican version of the truth. We are utterly powerless and I think admitting that is the only to find some power and quit pretending those that despise us are going to save us.

That is if shrub could read.

We're fighting for the good of our country. And yes, he CAN be impeached. Not even trying is the same as conceding defeat. Negative attitude like yours is only going to make things worse. We have to keep up the fight. We need to at least try it now and if it fails, we'll elect a Democratic Congress in November and then the process can get done.

when I see it. Have no faith anymore in news reports anymore.

Why should Bush be impeached? He DID NOT have sexual relations with that woman.

Our democracy needs it, if the America we grew up in is to return to us ever again.

Maybe this is old news but I just found out that the Patriot Act Improvement and Reauthorization Act, which was voted on in December and will be voted on again in February, contains a section 605 which would create a "national" police force:

"..There is hereby created and established a permanent police force, to be known as the `United States Secret Service Uniformed Division’. Subject to the supervision of the Secretary of Homeland Security, the United States Secret Service Uniformed Division shall perform such duties as the Director, United States Secret Service, may prescribe.."

This police force would, amongst other things, be able to:

"..make arrests without warrant for any offense against the United States committed in their presence, or for any felony cognizable under the laws of the United States if they have reasonable grounds to believe that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing such felony.."

Maybe Harry Belafonte wasn't far off the mark with his use of the term 'Gestapo' to describe the department of homeland security.

Link to section 605:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/?&dbname=cp109&sid=cp109SRdIl&refer=&r_n=hr333.109&item=&sel=TOC_208072

Those are pretty much the same powers that any cops have.

The nasty bit is already enacted in the "laws" regarding detention without charge, representation, etc.

Though of course this does give them their own private little police force.

As has been argued before, the problem isn't with any particular section of the Patriot Act, it's with the whole damned thing.

"Bring them on!!!!"

What are these, specifically?

project to fill up those internment camps gets announced. I used to think it would be the immigrants, and gays first, now I think it's the dem party.