Vermonters agitating for impeachment

By Lee Russ

Wednesday, March 08, 2006 at 04:18 PM

At my new state's series of Town Meetings last night, 5 Vermont towns approved a nonbinding resolution calling on our sole member of the U.S. House, Bernie Sanders, to file articles of impeachment against President Bush for misleading the nation into the Iraq war and engaging in illegal domestic spying.

Bernie, who is busy running for the US Senate to replace the retiring Jim Jeffords, has already responded by calling the notion "impractical."

And impractical it is, at least in terms of winning a vote to begin impeachment.  It is not impractical in terms of making the individuals in congress take a public stand for or against impeachment.

Bernie Sanders undoubtedly doesn't want to risk alienating any voters who would consider filing articles of impeachment a sign that Sanders was "too extreme,"possibly causing him to lose the Senate race.  And I understand his reluctance, given that he's remarkably underfunded compared to his likely Republican opponent (a multimillionaire).  But still.....I'd love to see the members of the House have to take a public stand on this issue before the 2006 elections are held.

In any case, there's likely to be more on this issue in Vermont in the coming weeks.  I have a feeling that two of the state's three parties, the Democratic and the Progressive, may be looking for ways to keep the issue before the public.