CT City's Dems call for impeachment of the Clown, President Cheney

MIDDLETOWN - The city Democratic Committee unanimously passed a resolution calling for the impeachment of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney in an effort to make a statement that Bush has committed serious enough crimes to be removed from office, said Councilman Gerald Daley.

While the resolution won't actually result in the president's impeachment, Daley said he hopes it will make a statement that will influence not only city residents, but future decisions made by the congressional delegation on a national level.

"This is intended to bring awareness among the public as well as our congressional delegation," Daley said.

"There was a vote in the senate yesterday that would require that deployments in Iraq be no longer than the respites between tours and it fell short by four votes."

"Joe Lieberman was one of the votes. Maybe this will make him think twice about doing something like that the next time a similar vote comes up. People have to get engaged in this - the future is at stake here."

The only other councilman in attendance, Robert Santangelo, said the resolution shows that "people are not pleased with the way things are being done."
Santangelo applauded Daley for bringing the resolution forward, adding that this resolution gives the Democrats a voice and that the Democratic Committee has not been vocal enough in the past.

While he said that the resolution is a good thing, he stressed the need for residents to become more involved in local matters.

Chris Goy, president of the Wesleyan Democrats said, "Disliking President Bush is a popular thing to do right now and that shouldn't be the reason why we pass this. What we need to decide is if he actually committed high crimes and misdemeanors."

After stating that Bush did not have proper congressional authorization for the war, among other offenses, Goy concluded that he did in fact commit impeachable offenses.
Part of the resolution reads: "George W. Bush has committed high crimes and misdemeanors as he has repeatedly violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and the Torture Convention, which under Article VI of the Constitution is considered a treaty."

The resolution includes strong language, including allegations that Bush and Cheney have lied and manipulated intelligence to deceive citizens into supporting the war in Iraq.

Jim Streeto, Democratic Committee parliamentarian who works as a public defender and as a result spends much of his time reading constitutional law, however, felt the language wasn't strong enough.

"If anything, the degree that the constitution has been trampled on is understated in this," Streeto said. "I applaud Gerry (Daley) for bringing this forward ... call this a small link in the chain of what is being brought forth by people all over the world."

A copy of the resolution will be sent to the Connecticut Congressional Delegation and the State Central Committee of the Connecticut Democratic Party.

After initially falling two members short of making a quorum, the committee members were first forced to reach into their pockets and purses for their cell phones in an attempt to reach more members in order to have the necessary number of members required to start the meeting.

The two members needed arrived about 25 minutes after the meeting was scheduled to begin and the committee eventually voted to pass the resolution.

In passing the resolution, the Middletown Democratic Town Committee joins many towns throughout the country that passed similar resolutions.

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