Elizabeth Holtzman, is a former Congresswoman and Brooklyn District Attorney who was a vital member of the House Judiciary Committee during the impeachment of President Richard Nixon. She is the co-author, with Cynthia Cooper, of The Impeachment of George W. Bush: A Practical Guide for Concerned Citizens
This is a transcript of a talk given at the Impeach for Change conference, on November 11, 2006, Veterans Day, at the Constitution Center, in Philadelphia, facing Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell.
November 12, 2006 at 03:24:14
Impeaching Bush to Preserve the Constitution
I want to talk to you about preserving our constitution. Veterans day is about those who fought and died and gave so much and sacrificed, those who returned healthy and those who didn't.
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Why did they do that? To preserve, they were told, our democracy, to preserve our liberty, to preserve the benefits this country provides to so many but not to all. And so, it is an extraordinary subversion of the constitution to send people to die, to be maimed on the basis of a lie. Democracy means you trust people to make their own minds up, But this president knew that if he told the truth, that we wouldn't be in this war.
The framers of the constitution of the constitution knew that someday there was going to be a Richard Nixon who was president of the United States and someday there was going to be a George Bush who was going to be president of the United States, and they gave us the power of impeachment to revoke them.
They put in the impeachment clause because they said that we know that there will be presidents who will commit grave and dangerous offenses that would subvert the constitution. They knew that subverting that constitution was the greatest danger that could befall our country. So all of us here have to be soldiers in that cause.
The Nixon impeachment started-- the act that constitutied the basis for the Nixon impeachement-- started with the illegal bombing of Cambodia. Why? Because it was illegal and it was secret, and when the press began to find out about it, Richard Nixon said, "That can't happen. I don't want the American people to know about this. I don't want the congress to know. So we're going to wiretap... illegally." And that then led to all the rest of the illegalities, because he thought, as president, he could do whatever he wanted, and started out the course of keeping that war going and depriving the American people of the truth. Not too different from today.
The American people get it now on the war in Iraq and they get it on the culture of corruption and arrogance in Washington. And they have said, resoundingly, "No. We're going to have change." An if you think this change doesn't include impeachment, you're wrong. Well some of the people who were running the elections, until September, thought that the war didn't count. They were wrong. When they start seeing polls they understand how wrong they are.
Newsweek did a poll two weeks ago. It is a critical poll. It showed that a majority of Americans are open to the idea of impeaching George W. Bush.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_elizabet_061112_impeaching_bush_to_p.htm
This is a transcript of a talk given at the Impeach for Change conference, on November 11, 2006, Veterans Day, at the Constitution Center, in Philadelphia, facing Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell.
November 12, 2006 at 03:24:14
Impeaching Bush to Preserve the Constitution
I want to talk to you about preserving our constitution. Veterans day is about those who fought and died and gave so much and sacrificed, those who returned healthy and those who didn't.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=4 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width="80%">
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Why did they do that? To preserve, they were told, our democracy, to preserve our liberty, to preserve the benefits this country provides to so many but not to all. And so, it is an extraordinary subversion of the constitution to send people to die, to be maimed on the basis of a lie. Democracy means you trust people to make their own minds up, But this president knew that if he told the truth, that we wouldn't be in this war.
The framers of the constitution of the constitution knew that someday there was going to be a Richard Nixon who was president of the United States and someday there was going to be a George Bush who was going to be president of the United States, and they gave us the power of impeachment to revoke them.
They put in the impeachment clause because they said that we know that there will be presidents who will commit grave and dangerous offenses that would subvert the constitution. They knew that subverting that constitution was the greatest danger that could befall our country. So all of us here have to be soldiers in that cause.
The Nixon impeachment started-- the act that constitutied the basis for the Nixon impeachement-- started with the illegal bombing of Cambodia. Why? Because it was illegal and it was secret, and when the press began to find out about it, Richard Nixon said, "That can't happen. I don't want the American people to know about this. I don't want the congress to know. So we're going to wiretap... illegally." And that then led to all the rest of the illegalities, because he thought, as president, he could do whatever he wanted, and started out the course of keeping that war going and depriving the American people of the truth. Not too different from today.
The American people get it now on the war in Iraq and they get it on the culture of corruption and arrogance in Washington. And they have said, resoundingly, "No. We're going to have change." An if you think this change doesn't include impeachment, you're wrong. Well some of the people who were running the elections, until September, thought that the war didn't count. They were wrong. When they start seeing polls they understand how wrong they are.
Newsweek did a poll two weeks ago. It is a critical poll. It showed that a majority of Americans are open to the idea of impeaching George W. Bush.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_elizabet_061112_impeaching_bush_to_p.htm
