Why Pelosi Opposes Impeachment
Ari Berman
If she were not in the House--and not Speaker of the House--Nancy Pelosi says she "would probably advocate" impeaching President Bush.
But given her current role as party leader, at a breakfast with progressive journalists today (named after our great friend Maria Leavey) Pelosi sketched her case against impeachment.
"The question of impeachment is something that would divide the country," Pelosi said this morning during a wide-ranging discussion in the ornate Speaker's office. Her top priorities are ending the war in Iraq, expanding health care, creating jobs and preserving the environment. "I know what our success can be on those issues. I don't know what our success can be on impeaching the president."
Where does the Speaker live? The war in Iraq will not end as long as Bush is in power. He recently made plans for a extended military presence in Iraq until 2009.
Maybe the time has come for her to resign.
On the matter of expanding Healthcare, that phrase is setting off all sorts of alarms. The problem isn't expanding Healthcare, it's making it affordable. If anything the expansion of Healthcare has been a double edged sword. More Americans than ever rely on medication. Some things which were formerly serious matters for only a small portion of our population are now major healtcare challenges.
Obesity for one. Addiction is another.
Let's not forget the epidemic of things which were fairly rare a decade ago, Diabetes, and Autism. Somewhere in here we have to address the problem of just being sick. Pollution, Environmental and Health Regulations, monitoring of food imports. This is not an environment we want to preserve.
On the creation of jobs. What an amazing disconnect the Speaker has with reality.
Get a clue, Ms. Speaker most working people already have two jobs, they don't need another. The Bush administration by it's own count is already running this economy at full employment. I would love to hear you argue the numbers on this, and argue how stricter immigration laws, and job creation are going to mesh. Sounds like a recipe for higher unemployment to me.
Democratic Party leaders do not have the votes to pass an impeachment resolution. And Democrats could be judged harshly for partisan gridlock, just as the American people turned on Congressional Republicans in the 90s for pursuing the impeachment of President Clinton.
Who won the election of 2000, and 2004? Have you checked the polls lately, the Republican candidates match up pretty well against their opponents. Well if you want to be President I guess you have to learn to stop reading the polls, and you have done an admirable job of that Ms. Speaker. Over 2/3's of the Democrats polled wanted an Impeachment Resolution when you took office.
"I would like us to stay focused on our agenda this week," she said. Today the entails finalizing ethics and lobbying reform. Tomorrow it will mean expanding children's health care and boosting Medicare benefits. By the end of the week the House will likely pass an energy bill and legislation will be brought to the floor that reins in the Bush Administration's warrantless wiretapping program.
Yes, we need to get control of spending, even while the President awaits your bill with his veto pen at the ready, (and evidently the threat of that veto pen has been known to make even the most determined Democrat wilt under its magic power, and the Senate Republicans will stall that moment indefinitely with filibusters.) How's it going?
Pelosi's no fan of Gonzales or his bosses. "The Administration wants the Attorney General to sign off on what can be collected," she says of the wiretapping proposal. "Absolutely not."
She is greatly disturbed by the lawlessness of this Administration and its contempt for checks and balances. "I take an oath to defend and protect the Constitution, so it is a top priority for me and my colleagues to uphold that." She notes the vigorous oversight hearings held by committee chairman like John Conyers and Henry Waxman.
But Pelosi sees impeaching Gonzales and his superiors as a distraction from the ambitious agenda she has crafted for the House. "If I can just hold my caucus together," she says, "I can take them to this progressive place."
Is disambitious a word? This Progressive place, this Shining CIty on the Hill. Oh God, I am nauseous. I need some expanded Healthcare benefits. There is no Progress without justice. There is no justice without law, and there is no law, without lawmakers to uphold it.
As to whether she fears a primary challenge from pro-impeachment activist Cindy Sheehan, the topic sadly never came up.
I intend to not allow myself to take this report out of context. If so I would be discouraged enough to suggest you resign, Ms. Pelosi (because I know the report doesn't provide the context, but the media has its own built in context), and unless the party breaks out of this funk, it's going to be a long couple years, including your own reelection campaign, which could turn into the sort of political theatre that would derail many of the useful programs you want to implement.
Putting forward an Impeachment Resolution might do the trick. Hurry, because as things heat up, the ice beneath you grows thinner each day.
The terrorists are formenting, the Republicans are consolidating, and the Democrats are, what? Equivicating? Or much worse.
http://www.thenation.com/...