High Crimes and Misdemeanors

"The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."

Constitution of the United States, Article II, Section 4

Impeaching President Bush and Vice President Cheney has been a hot topic for many Americans ever since it was made crystal clear just how badly they twisted the workings of government to embroil us in the Iraq War. Once the Democrats retook control of Congress in 2006, we thought we could finally get to the bottom of the many outrages coming out of the White House and get rid of this crowd once and for all. The Democratic leadership, however, has shown no interest at all; even before the midterm elections, future House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told CBS' 60 Minutes that impeachment was "off the table" no matter what.

But that doesn't mean individual Democrats aren't trying. Last night, Rep. Dennis Kucinich defied the leadership and took to the House floor to introduce his 35-count resolution to impeach Bush. Speaking for almost five hours on C-SPAN, he listed a wide variety of offenses, including but by no means limited to:

• Creating a Secret Propaganda Campaign to Manufacture a False Case for War Against Iraq
• Falsely, Systematically, and with Criminal Intent Conflating the Attacks of September 11, 2001, With Misrepresentation of Iraq as a Security Threat as Part of Fraudulent Justification for a War of Aggression
• Invading Iraq Absent a Declaration of War
• Establishment of Permanent U.S. Military Bases in Iraq
• Initiating a War Against Iraq for Control of That Nation's Natural Resources
• Torture: Secretly Authorizing, and Encouraging the Use of Torture Against Captives in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Other Places, as a Matter of Official Policy
• Spying on American Citizens, Without a Court-Ordered Warrant, in Violation of the Law and the Fourth Amendment
• Announcing the Intent to Violate Laws with Signing Statements
• Obstruction of the Investigation into the Attacks of September 11, 2001

And so on, a torrent of criminality from exploiting the 9/11 attacks to botching the response to Hurricane Katrina to defying Congressional subpoenas to much more.

On the one hand, impeachment will obviously go nowhere without the support of the House leadership. With only seven months to go until a new president takes office, Pelosi has successfully stalled to the point where impeachment is simply impractical. The media barely noticed Kucinich's move, consigning it to tiny wire-service articles buried deep within newspapers - and so far, it hasn't been on TV at all.

So what happens now? Only time will tell.