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Lead or Get Out of the Way

by: patrioticresponse

Sun Mar 25, 2007 at 14:38:48 PM EDT

(Let patrioticresponse share the truth on the front page! - promoted by Brattlerouser)

Over the dissent of their executive committee, the Vermont Democratic State Committee today (March 24) voted overwhelmingly to call on the Vermont Legislature to endorse an impeachment resolution that has been until now stuck in the House Judiciary Committee in Montpelier.

Although the Vermont Speaker of the House, Democrat Gaye Symington, does not want to take up the issue, her counterpart in the Senate, President Pro-Temp Peter Shumlin, called on the delegates to support impeachment. The vote was lopsided, with less than eight votes against, The State Committee also included Dick Cheney in their call for accountability, and demanded that the legislature take up the issue in this session.

This is a clear victory for the people of Vermont, who have followed up their town meeting calls for impeachment with a grass roots lobbying effort at the Vermont Statehouse.

Vermont's Congressional delegation of Patrick Leahy, Bernie Sanders and Peter Welch have all voiced opposition to Vermont calls for impeachment. While Sanders and Leahy have great influence in the state, and receive support and admiration from a large majority of the population, they should be starting to realize that citizens know the difference between blind loyalty and thoughtful consideration. Vermonters are acting to save the Constitution and the Republic. Mr. Leahy and Mr. Sanders first interests on this issue seem to be staying loyal to the Democratic Party leadership. Maybe with the Democratic State Committee's rejection of their anti-impeachment attitude, they will begin to see the light.

Peter Welch, who claims to be all about ending the war, is content to put all of his efforts into supporting resolutions that fund the war and make demands that the troops come home in a year and a half. Of course, Mr. Welch knows that if these demands survive a Senate vote (which they won't) they will be greeted with a Presidential veto. But he persists in claiming that they are significant and carry the weight of law. Passing a House bill calling for withdrawal is a worthy symbolic gesture, but by itself is a rather pathetic one. If Mr. Welch wants to get serious about ending this war, then he will recognize that Vermonters are on the right track with their calls for impeachment and he will honor our calls by working with his counterparts in Washington to initiate the impeachment process.

The people's voices are growing louder. As we saw today, even when their "leaders" are aligned against them, they will not be stopped. Today the Dems. Tomorrow the legislature. The next day the nation. We will not be stopped, because the law, the truth and the values of our Republic are on our side.

patrioticresponse :: Lead or Get Out of the Way

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Lead or Get Out of the Way | 4 comments

The ground is shifting (0.00 / 0)

I am a bit ambivalent on the impeachment question in the legislature. I agree with the sentiment, but worry that our elected officials engaging in a bit of grandstanding at a time when there are a number of urgent policy issues that need to be addressed from how we fund education, to renewables, to health care.

I also worry that any resolution coming out of the People's Republic of Vermont will be perceived as a 'hippy witchhunt' (to use the terminology of a less than generous friend on the other side of the aisle). Vermont ain't exactly a bellwhether state.

Sanders, Welch and Leahy are playing it smart. If they push too hard on impeachment it will look like a very partisan play.

The interesting thing is that the "i" word is now being mumbled openly by Republicans - look at Hagel's comments over the weekend. Also, the MSM is starting to raise the impeachment question more and more - look at this morning's WaPo. If Bush doesn't wake up and smell the coffee he may find the impeachment mob being led by his own party.

by: SPS @ Tue Mar 27, 2007 at 05:49:02 AM CDT

I think SPS is correct... (0.00 / 0)

Our congressional delegation is playing it well. They are slowly building a case which the American people will have no choice but to accept on its merits.

Think about HOW Long it took to remove Nixon from the White House...almost two full years of a slow moving investigation while the evidence began to pile up.

But...in the end, Nixon dropped from the tree like an over-ripe fruit. The impeachment process never even ran full course; because, by the time all the players had come to see that impeachment was necessary, it was clear that Nixon would have no allies left.

There has been some talk that the calls for impeachment stem from the voice of "the people".

I say this with no disrespect, but I don't believe that that is true. These calls arise from the party rank-and-file, and from activists...not the people at large.

The argument might be made that we heard the people speak at Town Meeting Day.

I haven't seen the statistics, but does anyone know the percentage of the population that voted last town meeting day? I'm willing to be that it was VERY low.

So…how many of "the people" showed up to express their municipal voice?

The voice of the activists and the party rank and file MUST be heeded and respected.

However, at the same time, I beg the activists to remember who the people REALLY are...and to take the probable nature of their response into account as you lay your plans.

Your goals are laudable...but will your methods lead to victory?

The ball is in your court now...please be very careful how you play it.

---The victors called the revolution a triumph of liberty; but now and then liberty, in the slogans of the strong, means freedom from restraint in the exploitation of the weak.

--Will Durant, "The Story of Civilization: Caesar & Christ"

by: goDLC @ Tue Mar 27, 2007 at 09:11:39 AM CDT

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