Pelosi put impeachment off the table to keep us from knowing her own role in Bush's crimes

[IndianaGreen]

If the House were to hold impeachment hearings, all of the dirty laundry will be aired for the world to see. Not just Bush and Cheney's crimes will be exposed, but also the role played by those officials and politicians from both parties that enabled the crimes of this regime.

Pelosi put impeachment off the table to keep us from knowing her own role in Bush's crimes.

Published on Tuesday, October 16, 2007 by CommonDreams.org

What Did Pelosi Know About NSA, and When Did She Know It?

by Ray McGovern

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has admitted knowing for several years about the Bush administration’s eavesdropping on Americans without a court warrant. She was briefed on it when she was ranking Democrat the House Intelligence Committee when Bush and Cheney took office. But was she told that within days of their taking office, the National Security Agency’s electronic vacuum cleaner had already begun to suck up information on Americans-criminal law and the Constitution be damned?

In a Washington Post op-ed of Jan. 15, 2006, Pelosi, with a uniquely long tenure on the Intelligence Committee, acknowledged that she was one of the privileged handful of lawmakers who were briefed. Referring to her seniority as ranking member, she wrote in her Post apologia sans apology, “This is how I came to be informed of President Bush’s authorization for the NSA to conduct certain types of surveillance.” She then proceeded to demonstrate her remarkably-one might say unconstitutionally-subservient attitude toward the Executive Branch:

“But when the administration notifies Congress in this manner, it is not seeking approval. There is a clear expectation that the information will be shared by no one, including other members of the intelligence committees. As a result, only a few members of Congress were aware of the president’s surveillance program, and they were constrained from discussing it more widely.”

<snip>

When the illegal eavesdropping was exposed, many asked why the administration did not simply go to Congress to secure changes in the already flexible FISA law, if such were needed. In an unguarded moment at a press conference on Dec. 19, 2005, Alberto Gonzales let slip that the administration did take soundings in Congress:

“This is not a backdoor approach. We believe Congress has authorized this kind of surveillance. We have had discussions with Congress in the past - certain members of Congress - as to whether or not FISA could be amended to allow us to adequately deal with this kind of threat, and we were advised that that would be difficult, if not impossible.”

Dear Madam Speaker

Were you one of those with whom Gonzales had discussions? Whether you were or you weren’t. In either case it appears you were derelict in your duty.

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/10/16/4561/

[partylessinOhio]

1. What a tangled web we weave when we deceive...

:grr:

[IndianaGreen]

3. Pelosi needs to come clean, repent, and make amends

Pelosi must put as much effort and energy in defending our Constitution as she does about a genocide that took place in Europe way back in 1915.

[partylessinOhio]

5. I don't feel she deserves another chance. She should step down from

the position of speaker of the House. After that I don't care what happens to her. Her district will have her fate in their hands.

Pelosi is guilty of failing to uphold and defend the US Constitution. Taking that gavel went far beyond a week of coronation events and being the first woman to become speaker. But that seems to be all that Madame Squeaker wanted out of the deal.

[UGADUer]

2. Certainly possible, but I think more likely is that she's ideologically against it

She really doesn't feel that strongly about holding the President accountable; she's interested in winning seats (although I have to say she's not that great at it).

[mtnsnake]

4. If true, this is the biggest injustice of the century, even bigger than her diamond earrings

Bush must be impeached. Too bad Dennis Kucinich isn't Speaker. He's one of the only ones with the guts and decency to do the right thing.

[cali]

23. Dennis hasn't exactly shown himself to be adroit

at getting legislation passed. So even if was magically made Speaker, my hopes wouldn't be high.

[Virginia Dare]

31. Wrong Cali..

St. Dennis would wave his magic wand and the entire country would turn into rabid left-wing progressives.

[mr715]

33. Excuse me.

Thats hurtful. Kucinich needs no wand; no phallic instrument of domination. He uses green tea to work his enchantments.


M

[Virginia Dare]

34. My mistake..LOL!...n/t

[robinlynne]

6. ok. Gonzales already knew that congress would not change the fisa law.

But now, our new congress, whose intelligence committee is headed by, ahem, Feinstein, rewrote the whole thing. And they still don't get that this is wrong?

[williesgirl]

7. I agree she's terrified of what will come out. She needs to be replaced as leader. rec'd

[Turbineguy]

8. You mean she

killed more people than Bush?

She snorted more coke than Bush?

She used her position to make her cronies more money than Bush?

Face it lady, when it comes to crime you can't compete with the likes of Bush.

[IndianaGreen]

18. Pelosi is one of the "Good Germans" among us!

Published on Sunday, October 14, 2007 by The New York Times

The ‘Good Germans’ Among Us

by Frank Rich

“Bush lies” doesn’t cut it anymore. It’s time to confront the darker reality that we are lying to ourselves.

<snip>

I have always maintained that the American public was the least culpable of the players during the run-up to Iraq. The war was sold by a brilliant and fear-fueled White House propaganda campaign designed to stampede a nation still shellshocked by 9/11. Both Congress and the press - the powerful institutions that should have provided the checks, balances and due diligence of the administration’s case - failed to do their job. Had they done so, more Americans might have raised more objections. This perfect storm of democratic failure began at the top.

As the war has dragged on, it is hard to give Americans en masse a pass. We are too slow to notice, let alone protest, the calamities that have followed the original sin.

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/10/14/4526/

[creeksneakers2]

9. There was nothing Nancy could do about it

She was bound because the information was classified.

[pnwmom]

10. Logic isn't allowed around here. You must have forgotten.

:shrug:

[pnwmom]

11. So you're saying she should have gone to prison for leaking classified info?

Because you know they would have filed charges against her if she had gone public.

[BornagainDUer]

26. That's what Daniel Ellsberg could have said about the Pentagon Papers

:eyes:
Sometimes you have to lay it on the line and do what's right. She would have been a hero if she had come clean.

[lynnertic]

28. That's right. Blowing the whistle in 2000 could have stopped them

and they wouldn't have had the clout to put her in jail.

[BornagainDUer]

29. Of course they could have threatened her life. But even then there are ways, if

one is willing, to disrupt the process.

[Enrique]

12. is Bernie Sanders in on the scheme with Nancy and Bush?

because he doesn't want to impeach either.

[UGADUer]

14. There are honest reasons for not wanting to impeach, but Pelosi

is a political animal, imo. There has been little real political opposition from here, whereas Sanders has taken pretty stark moves to block Bush appointees, for example. Compare Pelosi v. Bush to Gingrich v. Clinton and you'll see how timid Mrs. Pelosi is.

[The Backlash Cometh]

13. If she's innocent, she can always prove it by showing she has nothing to hide,

and proceed with impeachment.

[Virginia Dare]

32. Guilty until proven innocent, the good old American way...n/t

[BootinUp]

15. What is the point of this?

Are we going to be talking about, I mean attacking Dems, about impeachment right down to November of '08? What a waste of bandwidth. Anyone who doesn't understand that Nancy alone did not decide this raise your hand. I will call the men in the white coats to come to your aid.

[IndianaGreen]

17. There is the matter of the Constitution and our civil liberties

which apparently some Democratic leaders find as bothersome as the Bush/Cheney gang.

Our freedoms are based on the Constitution, they don't rise from the barrel of a gun.

[BornagainDUer]

27. Great post IG. I agree that these political animals don't know much about

how vitally important to democracy our civil liberties are. They don't realize that we become what we are fighting when those liberties are denied.

[IndianaGreen]

36. The Republic has been betrayed by people sworn to defend her

The Republic has been betrayed by people sworn to defend her and here is the latest betrayal:

Published on Thursday, October 18, 2007 by Washington Post

Democrats Caving To Bush: Agree On Terms of Spying Bill

Telecom Companies Would Receive Immunity

by Jonathan Weisman and Ellen Nakashima

Senate Democrats and Republicans reached agreement with the Bush administration yesterday on the terms of new legislation to control the federal government’s domestic surveillance program, which includes a highly controversial grant of legal immunity to telecommunications companies that have assisted the program, according to congressional sources.

Disclosure of the deal followed a decision by House Democratic leaders to pull a competing version of the measure from the floor because they lacked the votes to prevail over Republican opponents and GOP parliamentary maneuvers.

The collapse marked the first time since Democrats took control of the chamber that a major bill was withdrawn from consideration before a scheduled vote. It was a victory for President Bush, whose aides lobbied heavily against the Democrats’ bill, and an embarrassment for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who had pushed for the measure’s passage.

The draft Senate bill has the support of the intelligence committee’s chairman, John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), and Bush’s director of national intelligence, Mike McConnell. It will include full immunity for those companies that can demonstrate to a court that they acted pursuant to a legal directive in helping the government with surveillance in the United States.

Such a demonstration, which the bill says could be made in secret, would wipe out a series of pending lawsuits alleging violations of privacy rights by telecommunications companies that provided telephone records, summaries of e-mail traffic and other information to the government after Sept. 11, 2001, without receiving court warrants. Bush had repeatedly threatened to veto any legislation that lacked this provision.

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/10/18/4653/

[fooj]

19. Rule of Law.

[Senator]

20. The point is to attack DC Dems about impeachment...

...for as long as it takes. Past Nov. '08 and past Jan. '09, unless and until they abide by their oaths of office and our treaty obligations.

If you think there is some better use of bandwidth than to oppose torture, war crimes, and violations of the Constitution, please feel free to say so.

No need to raise your hand.

--

[LWolf]

35. And an excellent point it is. n/t

[MasonJar]

16. I think it is more likely that they are threatening her grandchildren.

These people are evil.

[OneBlueSky]

21. the cardinal rule of politics . . . "CYA At All Times!" . . . truth doesn't matter . . . n/t

.

[cleveramerican]

22. Plenty of blame to go around and everybody knows it.

[Perry Logan]

24. BUT WAIT! A few facts cause your theory to fall apart like wet tissue paper...

Believe it or not, life is not a bad movie script.

If Nancy had something to hide, the Pelosi Congress would not have fought the Bush administration to an historic degree:

"President Bush's success rating in the Democratic-controlled House has fallen this year to a half-century low, and he prevailed on only 14 percent of the 76 roll call votes on which he took a clear position.

"So far this year, Democrats have backed the majority position of their caucus 91 percent of the time on average on such votes. That marks the highest Democratic unity score in 51 years."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=1728952&mesg_id=1728952
http://public.cq.com/docs/cqt/news110-000002576765.html

Don't let the media rhetoric fool you. The Democrats have acquitted themselves quite well--especially given their bare majority in both houses, and a relentlessly obstructionist Republican minority..

[formercia]

25. A close examination of Nancy's social network

will probably reveal the motivation behind her behavior.

When you shave the hair off a Tiger, the stripes remain, no matter what color you dye the hair.

[Why Syzygy]

30. So Bush will pardon Congress

and Congress will pardon Bush and the telecoms. And the people of the Republic be screwed.

[JimboDem]

37. Where

are her loyalties ??

[PBass]

38. This thread raises questions I had never considered.

It seems entirely plausible that Pelosi is weak on enforcing the FISA laws because of her previous tacit approval (or at the least, her inaction) in the face of Bush's illegal spying in the past.

My writing is clumsy tonight, but you know what I mean!

[jillan]

39. Thank you Ray McGovern for enlightening us.

unbelievable!