...if this is assault...
A man walked up to Dick Cheney, calmly told him he thought his Iraq policy was reprehensible, and walked away. A few minutes later he was arrested by the Secret Service, in front of his 8-year-old son, for "assault"....what's this?
When he asked what would happen to his child, the Secret Service said, "He can be sent to Child Services."
The exchange ended when Cheney offered some crass advice.
"Fuck yourself," said the man who is a heartbeat from the presidency.
Lord knows if you're not strong enough to actually stand up to a subordinate (and the Vice President is indeed a subordinate to the President), then you're not The Decider...no matter what your aids tell you while you're jogging and clearing brush...
Uncharacteristically, Bush himself delved into the details. He was especially keen to know if there was compelling evidence that might contradict the jury's verdict that Libby had lied to a federal grand jury about when—and from whom—he learned the identity of Valerie Plame Wilson, wife of Iraq War critic Joe Wilson. But Fielding, one of the advisers tells NEWSWEEK, reluctantly concluded that the jury had reached a reasonable verdict: the evidence was strong that Libby testified falsely about his role in the leak.Nobody stands up to Darth Cheney, I guess...not even his 'boss'...and no, I don't think anybody is shocked by this...
The president was conflicted. He hated the idea that a loyal aide would serve time. Hanging over his deliberations was Cheney, who had said he was "very disappointed" with the jury's verdict. Cheney did not directly weigh in with Fielding, but nobody involved had any doubt where he stood. "I'm not sure Bush had a choice," says one of the advisers. "If he didn't act, it would have caused a fracture with the vice president."
While Woodward and Bernstein were getting the glory and sales after Nixon took the hint, the book that really explained how RMN's near-impeachment happened was written by Jimmy Breslin--How the Good Guys Finally Won: Notes from an Impeachment Summer. The rope and scaffold for Nixon weren't initially prepared for him. They were prepared for Vice-President Spiro Agnew, who eventually resigned for heavy duty bribery while governor of MD before he could be impeached. But, as Breslin noted, Tip O'Neill, in getting the machinery ready for Agnew, got people used to the idea of impeachment, past all the hand-wringing and "oh, no, it won't work" and "what will it do to the country?" that similar hand-wringers are now going through. So, when the time came for Nixon to face the Congressional music, the legislators and the public, and Nixon, were psychologically prepped and the possibility was real. A masterful bit of politicking by O'Neill, who knew how the game was played and, imagine this, was willing and ready to play it.
Clearly, Breslin's book has relevancy now. I'm not going to rehash and get in the mud with the arguments that claim "we can't win so let's not do it" and "it'll divert us from other things" and, my favorite at a time when laws and the Constitution are what Bushnev lines the bird cage with, "defund him" (as if the Busheviks and the Supreme Court will buy that). If impeachment weren't meant for exactly this, Congress' one power not subject to reversal by the other two branches, then let's instead get rid of the damn clause altogether because its only use will be for the right-wingers to fraud up another prosecution and coup in case of blow-job or littering. If we really want to stop an Iran war, then make President Cheney play defense.
And I mean President Cheney. We don't need any more proof that he's the driving force of the worst (and it's all terrible) of this administration so go after him. The latest polls show majority support for it, and an investigation would allow all the necessary questions from the beginning of this administration to be explored EVEN IF THE CHARGES NEVER BRING IMPEACHMENT OR GET ACCEPTED BY THE SENATE. He needs to be crippled as severely and quickly as possible and the magical defunding won't do that. The Dems can demonstrate the testosterone that Digby (surprisingly ineffectual on this question) always advocates, show they stand for making the government responsible again, and shoot holes in anyone who tries to defend Cheney and the rest of the apparatchik in the 2008 elections. As well as put everyone on notice that there are criminals setting up that election. And the downside? "We might lose?" "All the Dems have to do is defund the administration WHICH THEY KEEP REFUSING TO DO???" It would contribute to impeachment as a political mechanism rather than one that should only be used when . . . an intern flashes a thong???
We know how to do it. O'Neill showed us. The pluses far outweigh the minuses, in fact, provide the weapons that the Dems have been lacking. Leadership there? Maybe not. But the other choices (waiting for a 2008 election that will likely have more than a few fears led by Cheney and manipulations foisted by Rove? expecting Bushnev and his "unitary executive" Supreme Court to give in to legislative supremacy?) are worse. Oh, and there's that explicit statement and precedent that no other option provides--WHAT THESE GUYS HAVE DONE IS NOT ONLY WRONG, IT CAN NEVER BE PERMITTED AGAIN. Go send a copy of Breslin's book to every Congresscritter who's demonstrated even an ounce of guts and start the scaffold.
I’m far from a Rahm Emanuel fan, but I can’t think of a better response to the “Cheney = Fourth Branch of Gov’t” issue than this (via C&L):
O.K., says Emanuel.This is absolutely, positively the perfect way to handle this. The Dems are in charge of the legislative branch (well, the House at least...the Connecticut for Lieberman Party controls the Senate), and we should see a lot more now. Be careful, Rahm (and other top Dems)...you start doing this kind of thing, and I might just come to expect it.
If Cheney's a member of the legislative branch, the Democratic Caucus chair suggests, the vice president won't need all the money that currently goes to pay for his executive office, extensive staff and that secure undisclosed location that is so often his haunt. So Emanuel plans this week to offer an amendment to a spending bill that would defund the Office of the Vice President.
Of course, there would still be funding for the Office of the Senate President. But, let's be frank, the rare tie-breaking duties and ceremonial administrative functions associated with that position won't require more than a smidgen of the money that now goes to the vice president's epic executive-branch operations.
"This amendment will ensure that the vice president's funding is consistent with his legal arguments," say Emanuel, a former aide to President Clinton who, like Cheney, has served in both the legislative and executive branches.
This video clip seems to have caught the Vice President lurking in his unnatural habitat – the White House bushes. While the poster took a little liberty in the final seconds, the rest is unedited.
...I've been trying hard not to get my hopes up about this, but...DAMN.
I had done well in distracting myself from Fitzgerald's investigation and the Libby trial...but I guess I have to admit now that my hopes are officially up.WASHINGTON - Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald used his opening statement in the CIA leak trial Tuesday to allege that Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff lied and destroyed a note showing Cheney's early involvement....Also, the trial will show, apparently, that it was Cheney who first told Libby that Valerie Plame was a CIA agent, and that Cheney wrote detailed notes of what Libby was to say in a crucial meeting with a reporter (Judy Miller? He didn't say.)
Fitzgerald said Cheney told his chief of staff, “Scooter” Libby, in 2003 that Wilson’s wife worked for the CIA and Libby spread that information to reporters. When that information got out, it triggered a federal investigation.
“But when the FBI and grand jury asked about what the defendant did,” Fitzgerald said, “he made up a story.”
...As I typed this, Newsweek's Jonathan Alter came on camera to wonder why Cheney is not an unindicted co-conspirator and that Cheney is "a notch about Spiro Agnew as worst vice president in American history." The anchor said she wouldn't "quibble" with the assessment.
With this news, we would have to speculate that the impeachment of Dick Cheney in the new Democratic House is a very, very real possibility. There are significant pros and cons, politically, but it may prove an effective way to keep the White House in check without tearing the nation apart. Perhaps this explains the Negroponte/Condoleezza Rice manuevers, to clear the decks for a new VP.
