Cnn to do segment on "Presidental Censure"

[rodeodance]

[rodeodance]

1. after the commericialS--it was a teaser

[rodeodance]

2. they showed a clip of the Senate in session (nothing yet)

[rodeodance]

3. they prob. will interrupte it for the Bush Iraqi speech! just guessing.

[rodeodance]

4. first talking of severe weather in the midwest--tornadoes

[stop the bleeding]

7. thank you rodeodance, I am at work so your updates

are awesome

[Coexist]

5. thanks for the heads up

I have been flipping around, since the budget will take the entire morning in the Senate - I was hoping Russ was making the rounds.

[Atman]

6. My guess is, three republicans spouting why this is a bad idea

And maybe a snippet of Feingold's announcement.

[Coexist]

8. I'll bet Feingold is on

[Coexist]

9. Here we go!

"expected to come to the floor this afternoon."

[rodeodance]

18. not til this afternoon? damm.

[rodeodance]

10. "any moment now" (will introduce)--says cnn

[rodeodance]

13. showing clip of Russ---new interview---"show Pres. he was wrong" is the

message with the censure resolution.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

11. good. I was just reading up on the history of it

1834 they censured Jackson for assuming privileges the constitution didn't give him.
revoked it 3 years later.

I remember they talked about censureing Clinton in 1999 for pardoning Marc Rich, but didn't go through with it.

[rodeodance]

21. Congress tried to censure Clinton but failed to pass.

[rodeodance]

23. here--from todays AP story

....The president's action were "in the strike zone" in terms of being an impeachable offense, Feingold said. The senator questioned whether impeaching Bush and removing him from office would be good for the country.....

......

Jackson was censured by the Senate in 1834 after he removed the nation's money from a private bank in defiance of the Whig Party, which controlled the Senate.

On Feb. 12, 1999, the Senate failed to gain enough votes to bring a censure resolution against President Clinton. The Senate had just acquitted Clinton after the House impeached him in December 1998, accusing him of committing perjury and obstructing justice in the Monica Lewinsky affair.

Impeachment is the only punishment outlined in the Constitution for a president. But the Constitution says the House and Senate can punish their own members through censure.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060313/ap_on_go_co/bush_censure&printer=1;_ylt=AlDqM7Nv06EaaPI7XY9JzfeMwfIE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-
Feingold Proposes Censuring President Bush

By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 36 minutes ago

[Coexist]

12. Feingold, "do we really want to remove this President from office?"

"censure is seen as a lesser punishment"

No other Dems will not sign on to this.

[rodeodance]

15. Russ thinks impeachment is not feasible with a Repug Congress but

censure will send a strong message--to Jr that what he did was wrong.
Think about it--many in congress, Repugs were upset and lots of rhetoric about the wrongdoing of spying-now they are backpeddling. This is a grand move by Russ.

[Coexist]

14. "are there any Congressional hearings being held?"

answer, "Yes, there was one hearing."

[rodeodance]

16. but this hearing is basically crafting a bill that will allow Jr to legall

y conduct dom. spying.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

17. says they are 'expecting more hearings' well guess what?

I just checked the schedule, and there aren't any scheduled for the rest of this month.
http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/committees/one_item_and_teasers/committee_hearings.htm

[rodeodance]

19. lots of backpeddling by Congress on dom. spying.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

22. It will soooooo piss me off if they change the law

and grandfather in the crimes shrub has already committed! :mad:

[rodeodance]

26. posted ealiers on DU--Roberts said no investigation necessary.

Mon Mar-13-06 05:52 AM
Original message
Op/Ed by Pat Roberts (R, co-Chair Sen Intel Comm) re Surveillance


No investigation needed
By Pat Roberts

Through a criminal leak of highly classified information, the public, and our enemy, learned that President Bush authorized the National Security Agency to intercept international communications of people believed to be linked to al-Qaeda. Many in Congress and the media rushed to judgment, decrying the program as illegal and unconstitutional, demanding congressional investigations.

As chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I - along with Vice Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va. - have been briefed on the details of this program since 2003. I believe this terrorist surveillance capability is legal and constitutional.

The courts have long recognized that the president has the authority under the Constitution to conduct "warrantless" surveillance for the purposes of collecting foreign intelligence.

While Congress enacted the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to establish procedures for foreign intelligence surveillance, this law did not, indeed cannot, extinguish the president's constitutional powers. FISA provides one way for him to conduct foreign intelligence surveillance, but not the only way.
...
It's the constitutional duty of the executive branch to make the tough decisions necessary to win wars. That's not the case for the legislative branch, which has the luxury of criticizing actions with the benefit of hindsight. When it comes to national security, we should fight the enemy, not each other.

More: http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20060310/cm_usatoday/n...

[Atman]

20. The FIRST THING SAID was that Feingold was running for president

and essentially might be viewed as having an axe to grind. The were sure to frame it as entirely political, without ever discussing the legal justifications for his motion. But why did I expect anything less?

[wisteria]

24. Bingo, It looks like he did this to gain attention and nothing more.

Why not bring in other democrats first? Why did he feel he had to do this himself?

[goclark]

27. Somebody had to do it

Conyers and company have been out all by themselves on all of these issues.

Feingold needed to take a lead position too.

[jane_pippin]

25. Earlier this morning they said that and called it "A fresh attack on

the President." They also like to point out that it's "liberal" Senator Russ Feingold. :eyes:

[Harald Ragnarsson]

28. A fresh attack on the President

Are they insinuating a Vast Left Wing Conspiracy?