(Is this the new House 'plan'?) Censuring President Bush

[babylonsister]

Strong opposition equates to censure? Not nearly enough imo...

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/#56267

Censuring President Bush
Posted by Guest Blogger on July 7, 2007 at 9:20 AM.

This post, written by Rep. Robert Wexler, originally appeared on The Huffington Post

When Congress returns from the 4th of July recess, I will file a Congressional resolution censuring President George W. Bush for his egregious and politically motivated commutation of Scooter Libby's prison sentence.

I strongly believe that presidential intervention in this case is an unconscionable abuse of authority by George W. Bush. This is a case of a man lying to protect the President from the consequences of an Administration that chose petty political retribution over national security. And these lies are not about some trivial personal issue. These are lies that sent America to war on false pretenses.

Scooter Libby was charged by a special prosecutor appointed by George W. Bush. Libby was found guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice by a jury and was appropriately sentenced by a federal judge, also appointed by President Bush. The conviction and sentencing weren't a grave miscarriage of justice by an out-of-control liberal judiciary that had it in for the Bush Administration. The sentence was appropriate for someone who committed the serious crime of perjury to cover up lies made by this administration, lies that go to the heart of President Bush's decision to send American troops to Iraq without justification.

This deceitful chain of events began with the administration's falsifying of intelligence on Iraqi nuclear capabilities in order to drum up support for an invasion of Iraq. Former Ambassador to Gabon Joseph C. Wilson IV was sent by the Bush Administration in 2002 to investigate reports that Niger had sent material for nuclear weapons and equipment to Iraq and returned without finding any evidence to support such claims. When Wilson spoke out against the Administration's bogus claims, the Bush administration, in an attempt to discredit a career foreign service officer, revealed his wife's identity as a covert CIA agent.

It is clear that the perjury of Mr. Libby in this case effectively protected President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and other administration officials from further scrutiny regarding the clear political retaliation against former Ambassador Wilson and his wife, Valerie Plame Wilson.

Commuting Libby's sentence is nothing short of political quid pro quo, and Congress must go on record in strong opposition. It is fitting that Congress step forward to express the disgust that Americans rightfully feel toward this contemptible decision. Censuring the president makes the unequivocal statement that this abrogation of justice will not be tolerated.

more...

[BrklynLiberal]

1. I hope they plan to do more than make Dimson stand in the corner and go to bed without dessert!!!!

[Jackpine Radical]

2. Censure may be an indirect way to impeachment, a way

that doesn't force the Dems to put all their eggs in one basket. It allows them to get some attention focused on them while they lay out the case against Bush, thereby educating the public and testing the media waters, with relatively low stakes for them. Then, if there's a surge of popular revulsion against the Admin, and especially a phalanx of talking heads supporting them, they can go ahead with impeachment "by popular demand." If the public yawns & changes the channel, they can wrap up their censure vote and steal off into the night.

[jaysunb]

9. Seems reasonable...

under the current circumstances, to wit, total denial by the MSM that, this is a lawless admin. :evilfrown:

[sellitman]

3. Censure this.

Impeach or get off the pot.

[snappyturtle]

7. There you go! N/T

[Spazito]

4. One of the dangers of doing less than impeachment is, imo,...

Those responsible for committing "high crimes and misdemeanors" will just fade into the background as they did after Nixon and Watergate, bush/reagan after Iran-Contra. They are the same criminals that just come back over and over again BECAUSE they are never prosecuted.

When will the point come when "enough is enough" if that point is not now? What further destruction can be wrought if these people and their younger apprentices can just fade into the background while they continue to do their "work"?

[babylonsister]

5. I agree; I think we're way beyond censure. Is this a Dem appeasement?

I'm not appeased or impressed.

[jtrockville]

12. YES. They need to be tried, convicted AND

banned from any future public service.

[FourScore]

6. Grow a spine, Wexler...IMPEACH!!! n/t

[VP505]

8. Seems to me

that timing has everything to do with how successful and or effective something like this will be. Feingold called for Censure in the Senate many months back and most of the Dem's didn't want anything to do with it. Had it happened then it could have had max effect, now after so much more crap from the Admin without a whimper, I doubt that Censure could raise an eyebrow and do anything but be laughed off by the WH and cause a lot of snickering from *'S base.

[msongs]

10. let's just send bush a postcard asking him to behave hisself. same result for less $$ nt

[babylonsister]

11. You got that right! nt

[Jack Rabbit]

13. Response on the HuffPost

Jack Rabbit (See profile | I'm a fan of Jack Rabbit)

Congressman, just impeach Bush and Cheney.

Neither one of them has enough respect for Congress or the democratic process to do anything but laugh at a censure resolution. Impeachment and removal is the only thing they will respect, and even then I wonder if we won't have to send a squad of Marines into the White House to drag Bush out of the Oval Office and deposit him on the White House lawn.

Commuting Libby's sentence isn't impeachable in and of itself, but we all why he commuted the sentence and those are impeachable offenses: manipulated prewar intelligence to create a fabricated case for war against Iraq and the deliberate unmasking of a covert agent as part of a political vendetta.

So, please, let's get this unpleasant business over with. It has to be done.

[Harry Monroe]

14. Censure, Schemsure

Fuck them!! And the Dems wonder why they are despised?? Censure was also considered for Clinton. The Republican controlled house wanted to go full tilt and impeach. Tit for tat!! Censure for Bush's crimes?? He's got blood on his hands for Christ's sakes!! If impeachment was worthy of the crime of lying about a blow job, then it is certainly applicable in this case. I don't think impeachment and removal from office go far enough IMHO. Indict and convict is more appropriate for the crimes this cabal has committed.