Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), the only incumbent Democrat voted out of office (pending the result of the Jefferson-Carter runoff in Louisiana) is leaving much as she held office-- in other words, anything but quietly.
McKinney introduced a bill to impeach the President.
WASHINGTON - In probably her final legislative act in Congress, outgoing Georgia Rep. Cynthia McKinney has introduced a bill to impeach President George W. Bush.
The legislation from the Democratic congresswoman has no chance of passage and serves as a symbolic parting shot not only at Bush but also at Democratic leaders. Incoming House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi has made clear that she will not entertain proposals to sanction Bush and has warned the liberal wing of her party against making political hay of impeachment.
There is a reason why the Democratic primary voters in Georgia decided to send Hank Johnson (a boring but earnest and hardworking DeKalb County commissioner) to Congress in place of McKinney. Corruption allegations and her much publicized run-in with Capitol Hill police aside, she is always grandstanding, and even on her way out of the House she is still doing the same.
Personally, I have never supported impeachment. There are two reasons for this. The first is on principle; impeachment was intended to be used for 'high crimes and misdemeanors,' and should not therefore be based on a President's policy decisions-- no matter how disastrous those may turn out to be. The second is practical; There is not enough support in the House to get there and certainly would cost much needed political momentum to do so, nor are there votes in the Senate to convict, the political price of such an overreaching would likely be that Democratic control of Congress would last for all of two years, and even if successful it would only make Dick Cheney the President.
But, even if there were to be impeachment, then there have to be some grounds for it. Even if some of my readers are right (and I know some of you who have posted here in the past support impeachment), then there would have to be a full investigation and accounting of why, not some half-baked bill like the one McKinney is offering.
Really, it is not a bill about George Bush at all. It is a bill about Cynthia McKinney. She is about to walk out of Congress tomorrow and into political obscurity. Because of her past behavior, it is unlikely that she will even be able to parlay her former office into a lobbying or consulting job like some retired congressmen do. Really, this is about her last chance to make a headline and in the process thumb the leadership in the eye, so she is taking it. And what it really points out is that even the long stream of Republicans who got booted this year are for the most part showing more class than Cynthia McKinney is on the way out.
You'll hear more from Cynthia Mckinney in the future. She may be gone from congress, but she had 60% support for impeaching Bush in her district that voted on Proposition J.
ReplyDeleteGood God in Heaven. Lets hope we don't hear more from Mckinny. She already looks like a idiot for the things she has said and done and we really don't need anymore.
ReplyDeleteDeep thought (or rather lack there of), Mr. Bush has committed HIGH CRIMES. Ms. McKinney has been a rare glimpse of truth in a hall full of liars. It is too bad that so many seem to rely on a superficial mainstream analysis and are content with their left/right red/blue paradigms. Honestly do you believe everything in the corporate and wanna-be left media?
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