By David Swanson
Congratulations are in order for Congressman and senate-candidate Mike Capuano of Massachusetts for openly acknowledging that Dick Cheney should be prosecuted for his crimes.
Calling Dick Cheney a vampire recently helped Congressman Alan Grayson raise over 1/2 million dollars in a day. But for Capuano to light the sort of fire needed for him to win (or for Grayson to continue exciting people, for that matter) is going to require actions as well as words.
Here’s the action that would put Capuano over the top and energize supporters across the country.
Introduce a 1-sentence bill, as was done on Alberto Gonzales leading to his departure, reading:
“Resolved, That the Committee on the Judiciary shall investigate fully whether sufficient grounds exist for the House of Representatives to impeach Jay Bybee for high crimes and misdemeanors.”
The campaign to recruit cosponsors on that would galvanize the national community of lovers of justice, which includes at least 2/3 of Americans.
Restoring the threat of impeachment to our system of government, and doing it now – doing it the day the OPR Report on the torture lawyers comes out – would work wonders.
Already on record supporting Bybee’s impeachment or resignation are: Congressman Jerrold Nadler, Senator Russ Feingold, the New York Times, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Courage Campaign, Progressive Democrats of America, Bruce Fein, Common Cause, Democrats.com, People for the American Way, The World Can’t Wait, ThinkProgress, Crooks and Liars, Digby, Scott Horton, After Downing Street, ImpeachBybee.org, Jeremy Scahill, Dave Lindorff, Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, Senator Patrick Leahy, American Freedom Campaign, National Lawyers Guild, John Podesta, MoveOn, Veterans for Peace, National Accountability Network, Code Pink, Velvet Revolution, and the Salt Lake Tribune.