Impeachment

(H/T: Professor X)
This is an interesting use of taxpayer time.

Democrat Asks Legislature to Push Bush Impeachment
By Tracy Swartz
The Chicago Sun-Times

Monday 24 April 2006

Springfield - Leave it to the Democratic-controlled state Legislature to find an obscure way to attempt to oust President Bush.

State Rep. Karen Yarbrough (D-Maywood) has sponsored a resolution calling on the General Assembly to submit charges to the U.S. House so its lawmakers could begin impeachment proceedings.

It would be the first state legislature to pass such a resolution, though the measure faces a dim future in a Republican-controlled Congress.

"This is absolutely ridiculous," said John McGovern, a spokesman for U.S. House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.). Only the U.S. House can formally initiate impeachment proceedings.

Yarbrough is hoping to get the U.S. House's attention through her grass-roots effort. She already has picked up two co-sponsors to her legislation, Democratic state Representatives Eddie Washington (Waukegan) and Sara Feigenholtz (Chicago).

According to the resolution, Bush has "willfully violated his oath of office" by manipulating intelligence to start the war in Iraq, leaking classified national secrets and authorizing illegal spying on American citizens.

"This president has acted like an emperor," Yarbrough said.

To support her legislation, Yarbrough is relying on a provision from Jefferson's Manual, a procedural handbook written by Thomas Jefferson as a supplement to U.S. House rules.

Anti-Bush Sentiment There

Jefferson wrote that there are various methods of setting an impeachment in motion, including "charges transmitted from the legislature of a State."

If Yarbrough's resolution passes the General Assembly, it would go to the U.S. House, where it likely would be referred to the Judiciary Committee, said a spokesman for the Committee on U.S. House Administration.

"It's up to that committee to decide what action it will take, if any," committee spokesman Jon Brandt said. "[The resolution] does not, in and of itself, start a process."

Nevertheless, a handful of cities and state Democratic committees have adopted impeachment resolutions similar to Yarbrough's. Vermont Democrats agreed earlier this month to urge lawmakers to approve it at the state level.

These groups hope the measures generate dialogue that will eventually lead to impeachment.

In Illinois, it is uncertain whether Yarbrough's measure will make its way to a floor vote. House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) has not voiced an opinion on the legislation, and the session is winding down.

But the anti-Bush sentiment is there. Lawmakers toyed with keeping him off the presidential ballot in 2004, and Democrats mocked him this month during floor debate.

Said Yarbrough: "I'm not a baseball or a football or a sports person, but I know when the team isn't doing well, they don't get rid of the team, they get rid of the coach."

Now I love how this works. Clinton lied under oath, thus breaking the law. He was impeached. So now Democrats think that whatever they perceive to be a lie (basically anything that disagrees with a partisan is considered a lie, right Andy) is grounds for impeachment though no laws were broken.

Fascinating.

I know, you on the Left are going to go on about the CIA leaks and God knows what else. Prove it. Once you prove with fact (not with rhetoric) that there was a law broken by Bush I will join you in the call for impeachment.

Until then, get a grip and learn the difference between lies (which 99% of politicians do willfully and regularly) versus perjury.