Talking points: how supporting impeachment will help Congress win in 2008

[babylonsister]

HOW TO LOBBY FOR IMPEACHMENT


We need to impeach Bush and Cheney so that future presidents and vice presidents understand that they cannot commit the same sorts of abuses without risking punishment, so that we can get out of Iraq, so that we can avoid an attack on Iran, so that we can avoid martial law in the event of a catastrophe in the United States, and so that we can begin reversing policies that are creating global warming. Most Congress Members do not care very much about any of these concerns. They want to know, in order of importance, how supporting impeachment will help them win in November of 2008, help their party win in November 2008, keep them in good standing with their party's leadership, make the corporate media like them, and please their constituents.

There are two impeachment bills in the House. H Res 333 sponsored by Kucinich and 18 cosponsors includes three articles of impeachment against Cheney. H Res 589 sponsored by Inslee and 27 cosponsors simply proposes impeachment for Gonzales. Only 5 congress members have sponsored both bills. Others have said publicly that they back impeachment, but have not signed onto these bills. Others have said privately that they want impeachment but not with these bills. Some have said privately that they only want impeachment if it includes Bush. It is important as a citizen lobbyist to understand that Congress is exactly like High School, but with bigger weapons. Congress Members sign onto bills based on how cool they think the sponsor and cosponsors are, who asks them, how they ask them, etc. But if your Representative is resistant to signing onto these two bills, he or she should introduce a new bill, either without any specific charges or including some of these:

BUSH:
1. Refusal to comply with subpoenas (not disputable, and passed by the Judiciary Committee against Nixon)
2. Routine violation of numerous laws, preceded by announcement of intention to do so in signing statements (White House website and GAO study)
3. Violating U.S. law and the Constitution through widespread wiretapping of the phone calls and emails of Americans without a warrant. (Confessed to.)
4. Commuting the sentence of I Lewis Scooter Libby. (Both Madison and Mason argued at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia that impeachment would protect against a president pardoning someone for a crime that he himself was involved in).
5. Violating the United Nations Charter by launching an illegal "War of Aggression" against Iraq without cause, using fraud to sell the war to Congress and the public, and misusing government funds to begin bombing without Congressional authorization.
6. Violating U.S. and international law by authorizing the torture of thousands of captives, resulting in dozens of deaths, and keeping prisoners hidden from the International Committee of the Red Cross.
7. Violating the Constitution by arbitrarily detaining Americans, legal residents, and non-Americans, without due process, without charge, and without access to counsel.
8. Violating the Geneva Conventions by targeting civilians, journalists, hospitals, and ambulances, and using illegal weapons, including white phosphorous, depleted uranium, and a new type of napalm.
9. Violating U.S. law by using paid propaganda and disinformation, selectively and misleadingly leaking classified information, and exposing the identity of a covert CIA operative working on sensitive WMD proliferation for political retribution.
10. Violating U.S. and state law by obstructing honest elections in 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006.
11. Gross negligence in failing to assist New Orleans residents after Hurricane Katrina.

CHENEY:
1. Refusal to comply with subpoenas.
2. Creating and advocating the "Unitary Executive Theory" which is used by the White House to defy laws duly enacted by Congress and thereby justify dictatorial action. Cheney's office has drafted many if not all of the signing statements.
3. Cheney played a key role in setting up illegal spying programs.
4. Coordinating campaign to obstruct the investigation of Patrick Fitzgerald.
5. Coordinating a campaign of retribution against whistleblower Joseph Wilson, including the outing of a covert CIA operative.
6. Leading efforts to institute routine use of torture.
7. Leading campaign to manipulate pre-war intelligence.
8. Creating secret Energy Task Force which operated in defiance of open-government laws.
9. Directing massive no-bid contracts to his company, Halliburton, and profiting from the same illegal war he defrauded the American public to launch.
10-12 from H Res 333:
Cheney has purposely manipulated the intelligence process to deceive the citizens and Congress of the United States by fabricating a threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to justify the use of the United States Armed Forces against the nation of Iraq in a manner damaging to our national security interests, to wit….
Cheney purposely manipulated the intelligence process to deceive the citizens and Congress of the United States about an alleged relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda in order to justify the use of the United States Armed Forces against the nation of Iraq in a manner damaging to our national security interests, to wit….
Cheney has openly threatened aggression against the Republic of Iran absent any real threat to the United States, and done so with the United States proven capability to carry out such threats, thus undermining the national security of the United States, to wit….

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[mmonk]

1. It would definitely help.

People that know the truth are enough to sway elections. If they perceive dems are on the same page as republicans, they will feel there is less of a reason to vote.

[glitch]

2. K & R nt