PBS Bill Moyers' Journal: Impeachment Panel Excerpt

[Hissyspit]

Run time: 05:08 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2rqww-eOIs   Posted on YouTube: July 13, 2007 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: July 14, 2007 By DU Member: Hissyspit Views on DU: 3609

 
First five minutes of Bill Fein and John Nichols speaking with Bill Moyers.

This week, Bill Moyers Journal takes an in-depth look at the heated talk of impeachment taking place across the country. To explore the issue, Bill Moyers is joined by Bruce Fein, a constitutional scholar, who was Associate Deputy Attorney General under President Reagan and is a weekly columnist for THE WASHINGTON TIMES and John Nichols, a Washington correspondent for THE NATION magazine and author of THE GENIUS OF IMPEACHMENT: The Founders' Cure for Royalism.

The program airs Friday, July 13 at 9 p.m. on PBS.

To watch online visit: http://wwww.pbs.org/moyers

check your local listings at: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/about/airdates.html

Comment after the broadcast at The Moyers Blog: http://www.pbs.org/moyers

[DS1]

1. thank you for posting this

[emlev]

2. "We have a Congress that basically is invertebrate"

Send "Spine cards" and "Spineless citations" to Congress members!
Check this out!

[mikelgb]

4. great line

pelosiosis

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

3. K&R. Good stuff, thanks for posting...

[Up2Late]

5. "...we have a Congress that is basically invertabrate..." I LIKE that one, even if...

...it's coming from that Washington Times POS.

Back in the 1980's, we would have said they are a bunch of Squids, anyone else here ever use that one?:shrug:

Sure wish I could have seen this one, but the 2 Atlanta PBS Stations have conspired NOT to show this show every week and NOT to show it in Prime-Time when they do show it. The F*ckers at Atlanta Public Broadcasting PBA30 say, they have an agreement with GPB (Georgia Public Broadcasting) NOT to show it so that GPB can show it exclusively.

Yet, GPB has doesn't show it in it's regular time slot either, they moved it to the middle of Sunday Afternoon! A time when almost nobody is looking for a show like this one, and some weeks, they don't show it at all! Even I forget to watch it some times, because it's not on every week!

I'm sorry, but that sure sound like a conspiracy to me, no theory needed.

Anyone know when the video is usually posted? Saturday P.M.? Sunday A.M? :shrug:

[Hissyspit]

7. Full video available at the PBS website now here:

Saturday A.M., apparently.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1332753

[AntiFascist]

6. Great summary of Cheney's crimes at the blog:

According to Fein, Cheney has:
Asserted Presidential power to create military commissions, which combine the functions of judge, jury, and prosecutor in the trial of war crimes.

Claimed authority to detain American citizens as enemy combatants indefinitely at Guantanamo Bay on the President's say-so alone.

Initiated kidnappings, secret detentions, and torture in Eastern European prisons of suspected international terrorists.

Championed a Presidential power to torture in contravention of federal statutes and treaties.

Engineered the National Security Agency's warrantless domestic surveillance program targeting American citizens on American soil in contravention of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978.

Orchestrated the invocation of executive privilege to conceal from Congress secret spying programs to gather foreign intelligence, and their legal justifications.

Summoned the privilege to refuse to disclose his consulting of business executives in conjunction with his Energy Task Force.

Retaliated against Ambassador Joseph Wilson and his wife Valerie Plame, through chief of staff Scooter Libby, for questioning the administration's evidence of weapons of mass destruction as justification for invading Iraq.

The most important is the last item because it demonstrates the use of intimidation tactics against our own intelligence for political purposes. Not only were we lied into going to war, but propaganda was being utilized at the deepest levels.

[ooglymoogly]

17. Big rec for this reality check....

Every voter should have to watch this before voting. The constitution is all that separates us from insanity.

[0007]

8. Bill Moyers as aways did a bang up job last night, as did Peter Fein

and John Nichols. The future of our country is at stake was the main point and impeachment of junior and dick should begin at once.

Please try to see this discourse, it was very powerful.

[Perry Logan]

9. You are eating out of the hand of the guy who tried to impeach Clinton. Can you say "DU-UH"?

"When Clinton was impeached, nearly 500 distinguished American historians, including Arthur Schlesinger Jr. and C. Vann Woodward, signed a letter publicly deploring the impeachment on historical and constitutional grounds. Soon thereafter, a group of more than 400 leading legal scholars, including Cass Sunstein and Laurence Tribe, issued a similar statement."

So Bill is talking to a guy we know to be bogus.

(But thanks for the comments on how cowardly Congress is. I hadn't heard anyone here say that for several minutes...OK, several seconds.)

[tomp]

11. what do you think should have been done to clinton...

...for lying under oath?

[AverageJoe]

15. Are you serious?

Bill Clinton was far from perfect, but he did nothing which required that he be impeached. He was caught in a perjury trap after a 60 million dollar witch hunt failed to turn up a shread of evidence that he had done wrong in the Whitewater affair. Kenneth Star grabbed at the sex scandle because he HAD to have something to show for his slimey, vindictive persecution of the President.

Bush, on the other hand, is criminal to the marrow. He lied us into a catastrophic war just so his corporate handlers could make a few billion dollars, shredded the constitution with the Patriot Act, and stole two elections. And that's just for starters. If you think Clinton deserved to be impeached, what on earth do think Bush deserves...?

[tomp]

18. are you?

try answering the question. or, failing that, you could shut the fuck up.

[TankLV]

27. What the fuck is wrong with YOU?

He replied PERFECTLY.

Oh, and Clinton DIDN'T "LIE", DIDN'T "COMMIT PERJURY" - look it up - stop spewing REPUKE LIES...

[tomp]

28. for the record, numbnuts...

...i do not spew repuke lies.

now answer the question or shut the fuck up.

[Demoiselle]

16. Short answer....Yes I am.

I watched these guys last night. They both made absolute sense. If I heard correctly, Mr. Fein wrote up the article of impeachment for perjury in the Clinton imbroglio. Although I agreed with the Schlesingers, et al, that lying about personal sexual behavior does not constitute high crimes or misdemeanors and Clinton's behavior did not threaten our way of government...the fact remains, he did commit perjury. I'm not going to blame the legal hotshot(and purist, clearly), Mr. Fein, who actually wrote the article. It was up to Delay's House to determine Clinton's impeachability. Delay and his pals are the culprits here. THEM I blame!
Please watch this clip. Both men make irrefutable arguments about the importance of impeaching both Bush and Cheney...NOW. I really don't care what their differing political ideologies are..they are both clearly concerned about the country and our government and are enormously fearful of the precedents Dubya and Unca Dick have already set for an imperial presidency.

[blondeatlast]

19. Not to mention that he clearly stated more than once that clinton's transgressions were nowhere

near as serious as what the current cabal has done.

To hell with partisanship--my country is at stake here.

[thereismore]

21. Me too. Right here. I saw the whole thing, and I was going "YES!" Mr. Fein

made total sense. Every vertebrate in this country should see this Moyer's Journal. And don't forget, even Jonathan Turley, whose face I could see at the Clinton trial (watch carefully), thought Clinton should have been impeached. Can we get past Clinton?

[whistle]

10. I believe his name is Bruce Fein not Bill Fein and his line that "congress is invertebrate"

...just may end up as catch phrase for this next election

Web definitions for invertebrate

An animal without a backbone, such as an insects.

Thanks for posting the link to the whole show. Plan to watch that later in the day because I would like to hear more from John Nichols.

[EVDebs]

12. "The Impeachment Imperative" should be this show's title IMHO

The genius of impeachment is that this act by Dems in Congress will actually SAVE the GOP. Consider what will happen to them should Dems acquire the WhiteHouse in '08 with the kind of sweeping powers that Bush is now using behindthescenes. Do R's really want to be spied upon etc without recourse ? Are they THAT stupid ? Better to impeach now and remain a viable political party.

[sbyte]

33. Sounds logical,

If impeachment starts now then how are all the budget bills going to be passed?

It is all coming to a head. There is only so much stonewalling a congress can take.
It is as if the WH is asking for a showdown and they think the supreme court will save them, i guess.

Do we want to be at war with ourselves and in another country. Is there a push to create anarchy and anger leading to uncontrollability and the imposition of a police state?

Keep a level head. Approach carefully and deliberately the problems of power, just as the congress is doing. Is fine by me.

[L0oniX]

13. BIG HUGE K&R

I also watched the program. It really hit me hard when I realized just what impeachment is to be used for. SAVE OUR CONSTITUTION AND PROTECT THE BALANCE BETWEEN THE 3 BRANCHES OF OUR GOVERNMENT ! If we don't impeach Bush and Cheney then I am packing it up and moving to B.C. and shaking the dust off of my feet when I leave!

[RedEarth]

14. KR for Moyers

[blondeatlast]

20. Attnetion: MSM whores: You can put a far right winger and a left winger

in a room together and not only can they refrain from shouting at each other, they can present their ideas ratioanlly, understandably, and calmly--and hold my rapt attention for a solid hou with no commercials.

BTW, MSM; I exemplify pretty much the ideal target audience for news programs.

Exceptional program. Thank you.

[spindrifter]

22. I was so glad I saw this program last night!

It was definitely the best program I've seen in eons. Now to get the word out!

[Larkspur]

23. This was a great show. Next time our reps say "No!" to Impeaching Bush & Cheney we should...

ask them the question that Nichols and Fein said to ask -- "Do you love your country more than party and wining the next election?" If they respond "Yes!" to that quesiton we then need to say, "So when will you fulfill the oath of office you took to defend the Constitution and begin impeachment proceedings against Bush and Cheney?" Nothing short of Bush and Cheney publicly repenting of their power grab and vowing to obey the laws of this land should stop the impeachment process.

[The Wizard]

24. Impeachment is the remedy for

the Constitutional crisis fomented by the Bush/Cheney cartel, aided and abetted by Tony "The Fixer" Scalia who also should be impeached after being tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail.

[JoeySoCal]

25. Best thing I've seen in 7 years !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kicked and posted all over.
Everybody do your part!

[orleans]

26. this was great. i loved the entire show. n/t

[JoeySoCal]

29. Storm the gates of Nancy Pelosi's office.

The Democrats may be invertebrates, but we, the people, are their commanding officers and we can make them do what they are supposed to do.
Impeach
Impeach

Impeach


Impeach



Impeach

[JoeySoCal]

30. I just finished watching the entire program.....

and I'm pretty sure I came in my pants. That is how deprived I have been for somebody to make some fucking sense. Finally, some common fucking sense. I can't tell you how insane I have been over this cartoon nation. Come one people. Arise, stand up, and stay up. What a relief to see this program. I could watch it ten times and hang on every word. Like a torrential rain in the droughted desert. Please, please let it come to life. Let the common sense voiced in the program come to life.

[JoeySoCal]

31. Correction

It was supposed to read, "Come on people." Not, "Come one people."

[JoeySoCal]

32. Letter to Speaker Pelosi, sent this evening.

Subject: We often say Bush should admit mistakes and change course.

Dear Mrs. Speaker Pelosi,

We often say Bush should admit mistakes he has made, reconsider, and change course. It would be exactly hypocritical of us not to apply the same standard of behavior to ourselves.

Try as I might, I cannot give you the benefit of the doubt on the reasoning as to why you made the illegal and absurd maneuver of 'taking impeachment off the table'. It was an absolutely heinous thing to do. It is difficult for me to express to you in civilized terms how gutted I feel in your doing so. I feel robbed, stripped of power as an American citizen, castrated and muzzled. It is like betrayal from those who are supposed to be on your side. Impeachment is a tool that belongs to the American people, not to you, and you cannot, and should not try, to take it away from us. Every system must have a release, a reset mechanism, and impeachment is an essential one in our government.

After the whole Bill Clinton debacle, you may be afraid of the word and the action of impeachment, but I am not. The Clinton episode may have left you and others with a lingering feeling of adversity toward impeachment. But that is an emotional mistake and folly. Maybe Bill deserved to be impeached. Maybe he did not. The republicans made the decision on that one. But whatever decision republicans have made in the past, in no way shape or form, exempts you from your duties as a United States Congresswoman, Speaker of the House, member of a body of government whose duty it is to check the power of the executive branch. Put another way, no you don't have anything better to do. This is at least as critical as any of the other funtastic legislation you may be considering, it cuts to the heart, soul and core of the way life in this country will proceed.

Whatever political calculus was involved in your single handedly castrating the American people in 'taking impeachment off the table', be it to act above the fray, be the bigger person (how did that work out for John Kerry?), be the adult, to not be distracted with retribution, or because of fears that it will tear the country apart, that it will give the rethuglicans strength, etc. etc.-- whatever the reasoning that brought you to that action, I am telling you now from the bottom of my heart, it is wrong at this time. It is very very wrong at this time. We need strength. We need competence. The two are inextricably intertwined. You cannot be competent without strength. And you cannot be strong without competence. Do not make the mistake of thinking that your great brilliance and competence can compensate for a lack in strength. 'Taking impeachment off the table' (it is such a rediculous concept, I cannot bring myself to state it without putting it in quotes, it makes my spine shiver- yes, this Liberal has a spine) made our position so weak, tactically and in perception, that I am furious about it. Simply furious.

By the time you read this letter, and I really hope you do read this letter, you will have undoubtedly seen the Bill Moyers special on impeachment. But if you haven't, or if you haven't watched it enough times to get the message clearly, here it is. You make me feel like an idiot and a sucker for having passionately supported the democrats. Please, be what the Rethuglicans cannot. Be decent enough to recognize an err of your own, reconsider, and correct it.

TOUGH TALK ON IMPEACHMENT

In Grave Sincerity,
-------------------

By the way: Good work on the minimum wage bill.

[whistle]

34. I took time this Sunday morning to sign on Bill Moyers' Journal

...and watch all four parts of the July 13th video of his program featuring John Nichols and Bruce Fein plus Moyer re and post commentaries. It becomes clearer and clearer that we must have the impeachment debate in congress as soon as possible for ALL OF THE REASONS these distinguished gentlemen outlined. I hope that members of both sides of the isles in the House and the senate take time to invite these men to discuss this, but most certainly the Democratic leaders and members who have the responsibility to save our republic and our democracy from the tyranny of a monarchical executive which most certainly has been made into that under Bush/Cheney.

Both Bush and Cheney must be impeached now, brought before congress to face charges against them of their impeachable offenses and either admit their wrong doing and atone and agree to change their ways, or be forced from office and face the more serious charges and potential prosecution for treason and abuse of power against the United States of America.

Now is the time for congress to act, put politics aside and put the country and our democracy first. :kick:

[JoeySoCal]

35. This warrants the DU front page.