UPDATE: Hear it here - thanks to quantumspin
- Clinton was targeted for a specific offense, Johnson by a politically overreaching congress. Cheney and Bush have mounted a sustained, systematic attack on the constitution and the balance of powers therein. The threat is far higher for these two than Clinton (recall that Fein helped draft the impeachment articles against Clinton).
- Germany, Spain, Italy, and the UK are parliamentary governments with relatively weak executive powers. Far more consensus must be build and maintained for action there. Moreover, they are not in the position of global strength of the US right now. Madison warned that the executive must be closely watched, particularly in times of war, because they will use the pretext of war to reach for more power.
- Impeachment is not a constitutional crisis and will not derail our ability to pass other legislation. Minimum wage increases and increased children's health coverage will be all lost if our constitutional democracy collapses under this onslaught.
Fein also cited his concern for the efforts of Cheney and Bush to go beyond what the despots of history did not do in effectively declaring every square foot of soil where Americans live a war zone in the war on terror, justifying military actions essentially universally.
Hartmann cited this very troubling executive orderr signed yesterday by Bush. The nominal upshot is that if you participate in a conversation which could be perceived as undermining Iraq reconstruction and development, your assets can be seized. The timing, given the all nighter, is chilling. Read it and see if you agree with Hartmann and me.
Fein also brushed aside the concern of Thom Hartmann about double jeopardy should impeachment conviction fail in the senate. He reminded Hartmann that impeachment is for the purpose of removal from office and is not a criminal proceeding and that this was why Ford went to the trouble of pardoning Nixon from Jaworski's possible indictments.
I think Fein would be a perfect person to initiate a hearing inquiring about impeachment. He can recite chapter and verse about the violations and he can be a great educator about the history and constitutional context. He is also a genuine Goldwater style conservative.
Are you reading Rep. Conyers?
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