Governor Dean has often said if we impeach Bush, we get Cheney.

[madfloridian]

I for one have heard him say no impeachment. I have heard other Dem leaders say the same. I don't know all the reasoning behind it, but I do know we would get Cheney right now.

What I resent is Dave Lindorff doing the same thing he did last year. He unjustly criticized Howard Dean over going easy on the Republicans. Dean emailed him this statement:

"The DNC is not in the business of telling Congress to go easy on this President," Dean wrote. "I'd be grateful if you could correct the report."

Here is Lindorff's article at Counterpunch from March of last year, the one in which he replied to Howard Dean's email. He did not really apologize, just changed some of his words around.

Howard Dean emails Counterpunch

It's nice to be noticed as a columnist, and I will clarify my point. I agree with Dean that the DNC as an organization is not telling Congress anything. Indeed, Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA), vice chair of the DNC, is one of the latest in a slowly growing number of Democratic members of the House to sign on to Rep. John Conyers' December bill (HR 635) calling for a special panel to investigate impeachable crimes by the president. But that said, I've also learned from people close to the members of Congress who've been feeling the heat that Democratic Party leaders--the people who run the key party organizations such as the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee and the Democratic House Campaign committee, and the DNC--are putting intense pressure on members to prevent a bill of impeachment.

He still insisted the DNC leaders were working behind the scenes to stop impeachment, but he added the DSCC and DCCC.

Well, I am noticing him again as a columnist, because he is saying almost the same thing he said in the same month last year. I wish I could get away with that stuff here at DU. I could have a lot of fun not having to back up what I said.

Here is what he is saying now.

Impeachment like Spring is in the air

For a year now, Democratic leaders like Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), Rep. Nancy Pelosi D-CA), Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and DNC head Howard Dean have been working to tamp down the pressures to hold the president accountable for his crimes and abuses of power by way of impeachment. But as the weight of the evidence of Bush administration criminality, arrogance and unconstitutional actions have mounted, and as more and more citizens have lost faith in the government, the beam has been tilting. It won’t be long before it is the administration and the Democratic Party leadership who find themselves dangling and without support.

At that point, Pelosi and the DNC will have to surrender to the will of the grassroots, and step aside for the ensuing stampede of impeachment bills. Impeachment, like spring, is in the air.

He should be asked to show that the DNC is working in this way. I don't believe it, and I don't think he should say it unless he can show proof. Especially after last year.

Here is more:

Democratic Party leaders also worked behind the scenes to kill off grassroots attempts to follow Thomas Jefferson’s alternative route to impeachment by getting state legislatures to pass bicameral impeachment resolutions. They strong-armed legislative leaders in the senates of both Washington State and New Mexico to block efforts to put such resolutions to a floor debate and vote in those two states, and have been working mightily to block a similar grassroots campaign in Vermont.

Who are the vague "they" he refers to as doing these things. I believe he should specify which Democrats. I know that if Governor Dean is one working against it in Vermont, we would most likely have heard about it at DFA. That simply makes no sense. Go to www.blogforamerica.com and type in "impeach". You will get all kinds of hits. Many in the DNC and in the DFA are actively working for impeachment.

Fair is fair. If the party chairman himself is doing that, if indeed Reid and Pelosi are doing that behind the scenes, Lindorff should present some proof.

If it is state Democratic leaders, which I highly suspect, that is another thing. Governor Dean is not a big believer of pampering Republicans, but he believes in using proper tactics at the right time. They are building their cases. And he is right, right now if we impeach we get Cheney.

I would never get away with being so vague here at DU. I would be pushed for sources and more. Waiting for clarification.

More from February 06. This may have been partially why Dean wrote him. Not sure.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/9

[MGKrebs]

1. My feeling is that they (the DNC) are trying to "manage" impeachment talk...

but only because they don't see the proper conditions yet. We will need Repubs on board to make impeachment happen, and we don't have that yet, so we have to let these investigations play out a little bit and see what happens. That is democracy in action.

[madfloridian]

2. I agree with your statement.

The hits are coming fast and furious now. I want impeachment, but I don't want Cheney.

:hi:

[ddeclue]

17. The path to impeach and not end up with Cheney is OBVIOUS:

Impeach Cheney FIRST
Let Bush pick a replacement.
Don't confirm the replacement -easy enough since we control the House of Representatives
Meanwhile proceed to impeach Bush.
By the 25th Amendment Speaker Pelosi becomes President.
Speaker Pelosi picks a Veep and the House confirms.

That dispels the straw man argument of "President" Cheney.

Doug D.
Orlando, FL

[madfloridian]

19. Well, didn't I hear something about Carol Lam...

that her investigation was leading toward Cheney...then she was gone.

Things like that might pose a problem.

[ddeclue]

20. Why...it just sounds like the prima facie evidence needed to open an impeachment

investigation.

Impeachment investigations are conducted by CONGRESS not the Justice Department and the President has no power to fire anyone involved in the impeachment investigation.

Doug D.

[madfloridian]

22. Okay.

.

[mmonk]

3. Somebody is.

[madfloridian]

4. We don't like it when the media uses the "some say".

So we should not do it either.

I would like to know details. I can handle the truth. :-)

[mmonk]

6. I didn't.

I did not use the word say and I was more specific by using the word somebody.;-)

[madfloridian]

10. Who is the somebody?

I have doing some searching around trying to find out why we would impeach Bush while Cheney is still VP...cause we sure don't need him as president.

Can't find any answers....

Never did find any details about who is tamping down the impeachment talk...

Guess it doesn't matter because only a few are held to standards of proving stuff. The rest can just say it and it is so.

Me...I have people with lists of my back statements ready to post if I ever say anything suspect or not proven or sourced. But that's just me.

[ORDagnabbit]

5. get rid of the corporate leaders in both parties and remove the money

and power that the corporations hold over them and then we would see a big difference.

[madfloridian]

7. Question: If we impeached Bush tomorrow...who would be president?

That's a lot of the reason for caution.

I just want details of who, not just vague words.

[catgirl]

8. Can't we inpeach Cheney as well?

Afterall, he's even more corrupt than Bush.

[trof]

9. Yeah, we need a twofer.

[mtnsnake]

11. If we impeach Bush we get to the bottom of things. There is no other way

This "getting Cheney if we impeach Bush" stuff is the biggest copout I've ever seen. Sure it would suck to get Cheney, but serving justice to at least one of them is better than serving justice to NONE of them.

It's our moral obligation to go after Bush. No excuses.

[madfloridian]

12. Ok, then we get Cheney. Hey, I don't care if you don't care.

But no one is answering my questions in the OP.

[mtnsnake]

16. Not sure where your coming from. Are you against impeaching or just against doing it now?

Governor Dean is not a big believer of pampering Republicans, but he believes in using proper tactics at the right time. They are building their cases. And he is right, right now if we impeach we get Cheney.

Well when the time comes where we don't have to worry about getting Cheney, it'll be too damn late to impeach Bush. Time is of the essence.

[Radical Activist]

13. That's why we need to impeach Cheney first.

Duh
You can't replace the VP without approval from Congress.

[madfloridian]

15. Don't you think their investigations are heading in that direction?

Eventually? I do. I think most of congress is actively working right now to get the investigations done as quickly as they can.

You can't get much done with "Bushies" installed at so many levels of judgeships and District Attorneys.

[mtnsnake]

14. self delete

re-posted to above post

[madfloridian]

18. I am all for impeachment.

I think they are starting with those around him.

I just get tired of all the simplistic answers around here lately...things are not simple when you have Little Boots and his signing statements. He can declare himself a dictator, most probably, and declare he needs more time in office, most likely.

It is not as simple as yelling "impeach". It is not as simple as saying "get the troops out right now". Now when you have a leader with no heart and no soul who would deprive the troops of basic necessities...he already has...and let them die to spite those who cross him.

Life is not that simple.

[mtnsnake]

21. thanks. Sorry I moved the post around but I meant to reply to the other one at first

I was probably moving it while you were posting. Sorry about thjat.

Anyway, I agree, it's not as simple as just saying it. I'm as guilty as anyone when it comes to that. Still, I'll be disappointed if in the end this business of impeachment isn't taken care of.

[pat_k]

23. Such irrationality is a cry for help. A cry for intervention.

They need our help to conquer http://journals.democraticunderground.com/pat_k/23">Impeachophobia