Impeachment
There seems to be a growing interest in impeaching Bush and Cheney for "high crimes and misdemeanors". What actually constitutes "high crimes and misdemeanors" is not cut and dried. Gerald Ford said "An impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history."
Wikipedia says "The charge of high crimes and misdemeanours covers allegations of misconduct that do not fall under a more clearly defined impeachable offence; e.g., high treason." And "A high crime is one which seeks the overthrow of the country, which gives aid or comfort to its enemies, or which injures the country to the profit of an individual or group. In democracies and similar societies it also includes crimes which attempt to alter the outcome of elections."
Nixon quit and avoided a for real slam dunk impeachment, K. Starr spent $44 million trying to convict Clinton for lying about a bl****b from "that woman" and he was eventually found innocent. After 5+ years of "whitewatergate" investigations and 1 of Lewinsky, nothing was found that warranted trial or conviction. I don't think Bush and/or Cheney would do so well.
Hopefully, now that power has slightly shifted, investigative committees will be formed and the many questions that have arisen from the actions of the Republican Administration will be at least partly answered. "Which injures the country to the profit of an individual or group" sounds interesting, as does "crimes which attempt to alter the outcome of elections". Maybe with Libby's trial, lying about WMDs and all the ramifications of that will become relevant.
Sam
There seems to be a growing interest in impeaching Bush and Cheney for "high crimes and misdemeanors". What actually constitutes "high crimes and misdemeanors" is not cut and dried. Gerald Ford said "An impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history."
Wikipedia says "The charge of high crimes and misdemeanours covers allegations of misconduct that do not fall under a more clearly defined impeachable offence; e.g., high treason." And "A high crime is one which seeks the overthrow of the country, which gives aid or comfort to its enemies, or which injures the country to the profit of an individual or group. In democracies and similar societies it also includes crimes which attempt to alter the outcome of elections."
Nixon quit and avoided a for real slam dunk impeachment, K. Starr spent $44 million trying to convict Clinton for lying about a bl****b from "that woman" and he was eventually found innocent. After 5+ years of "whitewatergate" investigations and 1 of Lewinsky, nothing was found that warranted trial or conviction. I don't think Bush and/or Cheney would do so well.
Hopefully, now that power has slightly shifted, investigative committees will be formed and the many questions that have arisen from the actions of the Republican Administration will be at least partly answered. "Which injures the country to the profit of an individual or group" sounds interesting, as does "crimes which attempt to alter the outcome of elections". Maybe with Libby's trial, lying about WMDs and all the ramifications of that will become relevant.
Sam
