Gonzales impeachment resolution on the way

July 30, 2007

There’s been some talk of late about impeachment proceedings for the Attorney General, but if the idea is going to go anywhere, lawmakers will need something specific to support. In other words, no one can endorse impeachment without an impeachment resolution.

Tomorrow, some House Dems will take care of that.

A group of House Democrats will introduce a resolution calling on the Judiciary Committee to begin impeachment proceedings against Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA) will sponsor the measure. It will be dropped in the hopper tomorrow.

The resolution will reportedly call on the House Judiciary Committee to investigate “fully whether sufficient grounds exist for the House of Representatives to impeach Alberto Gonzales for high crimes and misdemeanors.”

MSNBC did a breaking-news feature on the story this afternoon, and ThinkProgress has the clip.

Best of luck, guys. Not that you’ll really need it – I mean, c’mon. Besides the President, does anyone else REALLY feel like committing political suicide and vouching for this guy?

  • You might be missing a word between “fully” and “whether.”

    But whatever that word is, why not skip it? We know he has committed high crimes.

  • Oh man, and the price of popcorn is going up too. Maybe it’s time to switch to pita and hummous.

    I guess we’ll see Fratto, Perino & Snow (The Three Stooges’ evil triplets) dancing around squealing that the Democrats are wasting time on trivia any moment now.

  • The Republicans filibustered the no-confidence vote in June – the final tally was 53-38, 7 votes short of bringing it to the floor.

    So what makes anyone think THIS won’t be filibustered?

  • does anyone else REALLY feel like committing political suicide and vouching for this guy?

    Not on Wolf Blitzer’s show, apparently.

    Let us once again thank Harry Reid for suggesting to Bush that he nominate Harriet Miers, and thank Bush for taking a Democrat’s suggestion for once in his life. If he had nominated Gonzales, who was on the shortlist (!!), is it not a certainty that he’d be a Supreme now (and forever)?

    I would prefer to believe it’s not so — convince me. Anyway it ain’t happening now!

  • When Fredo was testifying recently, I couldn’t help but think back to the Watergate days when the Nixon gang let their compliant FBI director testify to Congress about his part in their coverup, and “twist slowly, slowly in the wind.” As I watched Fredo twist, I almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

    I’m delighted about the impeachment resolution. It will put the Republicans in (another) awkward situation, pressured to defend the indefensible Fredo.

    I’m sure that the Bush crowd appreciates Fredo’s loyalty, but hasn’t he become more of a liability than an asset to them? The firewall that he represented has been breached. He would resign on his own if he had even the tiniest speck of decency or self-respect, but he doesn’t, so expect them to cut him loose very soon.

    Or, as it was expressed in a recent post here, “time to take Fredo fishing.”

  • Yay Jay! It *almost* makes up for his ridiculing our attempt for a state resolution calling for the impeachment of Bush.

  • If you agree that it is pragmatically unwise to impeach Bush, this seems to be the perfect solution. You enforce accountability, insist checks and balances remain in place in our system of government, and have a firm rebuke of Bush, while placing him and his administration in extreme legal jeapordy. Rove is betting Dems won’t call their bluff. The first administration to ever be impeached puts the heat on to go to the top, and makes it harder for Bush to issue his blanket pardon without severely damaging the party.

  • Well, according to CBS News, Dick Cheney is, in his words, a “big fan” of Alberto. Hell, I’d be a big fan, too, of someone who was keeping my butt out of jail, wouldn’t you?

    Dick also allowed that he had had his “differences” with Pat Leahy – am surprised the man rounded up enough tact to phrase it like that.

    Theater of the absurd.

  • Makes me proud of my adopted state (though I’m in Norm Dicks’ district, not Inslee’s).

  • So what makes anyone think THIS won’t be filibustered? — Ohioan

    These proceedings are in the House.

  • I really hope this doesn’t garner a recess appointment of a new AG. Alberto should not be AG. He is blocking any investigation into the WH or into his own department but should we begin the impeachment process with Gonzales rather than Cheney, because if we are busy impeaching Gonzales, Cheney will escape oversight and will continue destroying our democracy perhaps by attacking Iran and setting off the “Unitary Directive”.
    Don’t get me wrong, I believe Gonzales should be impeached and removed from office but don’t support this action at this time if it means taking our attention off the WH!
    I mean, don’t we have bigger fish to fry?

    At least congress is attempting to take action…to do “something” and impeaching Gonzales is an excellent action to take to try to bring back some integrity to the DoJ but not at the expense of letting Cheney run free. Why won’t these same Democrats sign on to HR 333 to impeach Cheney who is already on videotape committing “High Crimes and Misdemeanors”? The corruption is just overwhelming… to the point that it’s difficult to decide who to go after first, but it should be the one who is still capable of doing the most damage…and that’s a toss up after hearing how Gonzales has changed the rule book on election prosecutions and has been protecting illegal spying on Americans and treatment of torture victims. Of course, many believe Cheney tells him what to do anyway.
    Oh hell, somebody shoot somebody…oh wait Cheney already did that.. Bush, Cheney, Rove and Gonzales should all be attached to one another…at the wrist and ankles. Whatever is left would govern 10X better than these bozos tied together ever did. We can’t afford to wait until the ’08 elections, that is if the Democratic reps ever hope to gain our respect.

  • ***Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA) will sponsor the measure. It will be dropped in the hopper tomorrow.***

    Tomorrow will be July 31st. Congress begins its August recess in…wait for it…AUGUST. Unless Reid figures out a way to keep the Senate out of recess, I’ll be expecting a resignation/recess-appointment double feature matinee sometime in…wait for it again, please…AUGUST.

    Fortunately, I stocked up on popcorn before the price increases took effect. Screwing over the Congress in…just once more, and you won’t have to wait for it again…AUGUST…will be a very good way to get Congress really, really fed up with the Bushylvania Banjo Boy—just in time for the Iraq isue to roll back onto the agenda…in September….

  • They need to get real, impeach Bush and Cheney at the same time. Otherwise, nothing will change, and our republic will be dead forever.

  • Impeach this, impeach that, it’s the answer for everything and it ain’t gonna happen. At DU we’ve had to send the impeachment threads to the DUngeon because it’s getting embarrassing.

    red? peach? blueberry? Oh ya, orange!

  • I like Jay Inslee, but he’s on the Energy and Commerce Committee. It would have been preferable for someone who serves on the Judiciary Committee to be the lead on this. None of the lefties on this committee wanted to sponsor this resolution?

    • Comments are closed.