Chris Dodd Rejects Calls To Impeach Vice President Dick Cheney
June 26, 2007 | Permalink
The Washington Post’s series on Vice President Dick Cheny is causing quite a stir. Cheney’s claim that his office is “not an office within the Executive Branch” is only fueling the rage against him. House Majority leader Rahm Emanuel responded by threatening to cut off funding to Cheney:
“Today, we discovered that everything we learned in U.S. government class was wrong. Evidently, the Vice President does not consider himself a part of the executive branch, and therefore believes he can obstruct meaningful oversight and avoid being held accountable. If the Vice President truly believes he is not a part of the executive branch, he should return the salary the American taxpayers have been paying him since January 2001, and move out of the home for which they are footing the bill.”
Indeed, there is substantial demand out there amongst Democrats for some response to Dick Cheney. Naturally, people look to presidential candidates to lead the charge. Speaking to a crowd in Rochester, N.H., Sen. Dodd resisted the urge to pander by calling for Cheney’s impeachment and instead offered a sober and what he believes is a practical and serious response to the Cheney issue:
“There are too many other issues out there the American public were hoping Democrats would decide to address and focus on. That’s the choice you make. Others may make a different focus. My choice would be to focus on other agenda items”
Although, Dodd’s candor was well received when discussing the environment and the need for a carbon tax, but the audience was cool to the idea of ignoring the Cheney issue.
My thoughts…
I can’t understand why Dodd continues to play it safe. Time and time again he resists the urge to step out of the box and shake things up a bit. Given the state of his candidacy, he really doesn’t have anything to lose. I’m not suggesting that he start making crazy assertions in order to get attention, but stepping out of the box now and then may compell the mainstream press and voters to take another look at him. In short, he could have at least supported Rahm Emanual’s idea or come up with something similar.
[Photo Credit: Flickr user millhollin]
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There is one teensy little problem with the idea of impeaching the Vice-President that should be noted. From Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution, with my emphasis added:
The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.
In other words, the Chief Justice does not preside when someone other than the President is being impeached. So who does preside? Why, the same person who presides over the Senate in normal session: The Vice-President of the United States.
Dick Cheney would be presiding over his own impeachment trial.