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Pelosi's Toothless Threat to
Sue Bush
DAVE LINDORFF
Counterpunch
Thursday May 10, 2007
The bankruptcy of the Democratic Party leadership's position in
Congress on impeachment was revealed in stark terms yesterday, when
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that she would sue the president
in court if he resorted to a signing statement to kill the next
version of Congress's Iraq funding bill.
Suing Bush over a signing statement, given the number of Federalist
judges that this administration has named to the federal district
and appellate courts, and to the US Supreme Court, is not just an
exercise in futility; it is a dangerous tactic which could backfire
disastrously by leading to a ruling that it's perfectly constitutional
for a president to ignore laws passed by the Congress. Does Pelosi
really want to risk such a catastrophe?
The only solution is to impeach the president over his signing
statements, and there is no need to wait for the next one to take
action. Bush has invalidated more than 1200 laws or parts of laws
passed by Congress since 2001 using what are called "signing
statements."
Republican apologists for the president have noted that other presidents,
including Clinton, also issued signing statements, which is true.
But they fail to mention that other presidents did not use those
signing statements to then ignore or invalidate laws passed by Congress.
They merely used them to register their view that a law, or a part
of a law, was unconstitutional.
Bush has made a wholly different argument. For the past six years,
he has been claiming that because he is commander in chief in a
time of war, by which he means the so-called "war" on
terror, he has had what he calls "unitary executive" authority.
By this he means that legislative and judicial power, as well as
executive power, are all in his hands for as long as the threat
of terrorism is with us. Since this "war" on terror never
really ends, what he is claiming is that separation of powers no
longer exists in America. Indeed, the Constitution itself is set
aside. The president is a dictator during his term of office, and
Congress is just a debating club.
At this point, it should be clear to anyone, including Speaker
Pelosi, that the only remedy for this gross abuse of power by the
president is impeachment.
Unfortunately for America and the Constitution, Pelosi is still
hamstrung by her foolish insistence that "impeachment is off
the table."
As long as she continues to refuse to allow impeachment of President
Bush, she cannot hope to stop the war, restore habeas corpus, undo
the Military Commissions Act, stop illegal spying on Americans by
the National Security Agency, or win passage of any significant
legislation to deal with global warming. She cannot really do anything,
because Bush will simply issue signing statements and use his claim
of "unitary executive authority" to invalidate any legislation
passed by Congress.
Pelosi needs to be told by her colleagues and by all Americans
who care about the survival of the Constitution that this is not
an issue for the courts. It is an issue that demands impeachment.
The Founding Fathers were clear that where abuse of power occurs,
it is Congress, not the Courts, that must have the responsibility
to take corrective action. Abuse of power is not a violation of
the law, and so it is not something that the courts are likely to
handle properly even under the best of circumstances. Abuse of power
is a so-called "political crime," which requires a political
response, which is precisely why the Founders included an impeachment
clause in the Constitution.
Pelosi has ducked this issue for long enough, and now she's about
to do serious damage to the nation because of her political cowardice.
Basta! Enough!
If the American republic is to survive, it is time to impeach this
president on a charge of abuse of power.
INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
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