Update: Paging Powerline
UPDATE: You'll want to check link for the latest on Powerline's misleading posts.
It's claimed that some Republicans may have voted for it to force the issue. That would be another matter. I imagine a reference will emerge if that's the case.
Having failed in efforts to impeach Vice President Cheney, Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio) escalated his battle against the administration this week by introducing 35 articles of impeachment against President Bush, using a parliamentary maneuver that will probably force a vote today.
I've already noted that Mike Castle voted for Kucinich's resolution to impeach Bush.
I'd like to hear from Powerline as to why they are supporting someone who signed on to such "moonbattery" and did such damage to our country, as they claimed when Kucinich first tried to impeach Cheney. I imagine their reaction to the latter resolution dealing with Bush would be even worse. I'll wait.
Today, Dennis Kucinich offered a resolution to impeach Vice-President Dick Cheney. Kucinich has never been known for lucidity, but it is striking how weak and incoherent his indictment of Cheney is. He trots out the tired, and false, accusation of "deception" in the run-up to the Iraq war, and adds a reference to the Vice-President's "recent belligerent actions toward Iran"–which would be what, exactly?
Of course, the fact that it makes no sense didn't prevent 21 fellow House Democrats from signing on to Kucinich's impeachment resolution. The moonbat Democrats have damaged the country incalculably with this kind of reckless attack.
It is unfortunate that voters in Delaware are left with these two to choose from. Because Christine O has serious issues with being unstable and this lawsuit is a huge redflag that she is not what she seems but is rather an opportunist herself. Having said that, I want Castle to lose, but I don’t think I want to be associated with her. It is a tough call but I would lose the seat now to get rid of a guy who will just go Specter-Jeffords on us later when he thinks he can benefit personally. RINOS like Castle need to be made to understand that while we rightwing “extremists” support waterboarding for terrorists, that isn’t nearly good enough for cap-and-trade and Bush-impeaching POSs like them because it is only simulated drowning.
First of all, Riehl’s claim–which he says may have originated with Mark Levin–is absurd on its face. The House of Representatives never voted on whether to impeach President Bush. The vote that Riehl and other anti-Castle pundits refer to is this one, to refer Kucinich’s impeachment resolution to the House Judiciary Committee. That motion passed; obviously it was not an impeachment resolution, or we would have had an impeachment trial. Castle was one of 24 Republicans who voted for the referral resolution, along with conservative stalwarts like Peter King, Kevin Brady, Ralph Hall, and others.
Was a vote for this referral resolution tantamount to a vote to impeach President Bush, as Dan Riehl and, reportedly, Mark Levin claim? That certainly isn’t what left-wingers thought. Here is how the web site Impeach Bush covered the vote:
Q: Is it a good thing that it was referred to the Judiciary Committee?
A: Yes. The mainstream media is saying the resolution was “scuttled”. But referral to Judiciary Committee is the normal process for moving forward with an impeachment resolution. Now HRes 1258 can be fine tuned while we build support in Congress and with the public. But there is a danger. If we cannot convince John Conyers to schedule time for HRes 1258 then it could die.
Which, of course, is what happened. So Congressman Castle voted, as the media reported at the time, to “scuttle” Kucinich’s impeachment resolution. Here is more from Impeach Bush:
Q. How did our Reps vote and what does it mean?
A: Kucinich moved that HRes 1258 be referred to the Judiciary Committee. All of the Democrats and 24 Republicans voted “Aye” (yes). A yes vote could mean that the Representative supported the resolution and wanted to see it developed further in the Judiciary. Or it could mean they wanted to send it to committee for a slow death.
It is a reasonable supposition that the Republicans who voted for HRes 1258 did so in order that Kucinich’s impeachment drive could die “a slow death.”
Is that what Congressman Castle had in mind? Yes, it was. This left-wing web site sounded out Delaware’s representatives on their position on impeachment. The site’s author was bitterly disappointed by Congressman Castle’s response:
First I called Senator Carper and was told that they would not support Impeachment at this time. I also called Congressman Castle’s office and was completely shocked. I was told that the Congressman would not support Impeachment because they believed there weren’t any crimes committed by the Bush administration.
There you have it. Mike Castle never voted to impeach President Bush; no such vote ever occurred on the floor of the House. He did vote to commit goofball Congressman Dennis Kucinich’s impeachment resolution to the Judiciary Committee, where it died, as intended, a slow death. And Castle’s office said that it opposed impeachment because “they believed there weren’t any crimes committed by the Bush administration.”
Is Mike Castle as conservative as I am? No, I am sure he is not. On the other hand, he, like me, is a Republican, and he, unlike me, has an excellent chance to be elected to the Senate from Delaware. If some conservatives, like Mark Levin, prefer a different candidate, fine. There is a case to be made on both sides. But attacking the motivations of their fellow Republicans and fellow conservatives is stupid; and it is worse than stupid to misrepresent positions that have been taken by Mike Castle, or any other candidate. Such falsehoods are typical of the Left. We conservatives are better than that; or should be, anyway.
“Because Christine O has serious issues with being unstable and this lawsuit is a huge redflag that she is not what she seems but is rather an opportunist herself.”
Oh, c’mon. People are calling her unstable based on one episode in the past? So that one incident proves shes an opportunist? How can you make that assumption? Lots of people get upset when they get fired and file wrongful termination lawsuits. Maybe she felt justified. She later dropped the lawsuit, so what does it matter? If being emotional and filing a lawsuits proves your an evil opportunist and unstable, than a lot of people are bad. And why is the WK standard interpretation and version of the events being so completely swallowed? Huge red flag, my ass.
Oh, I get it, because she not perfect and doesn’t have a political “record” (forget it Americans, if you’re not a politician, you conservative efforts don’t matter and only legislative voting records prove conservatism, so don’t get involved, let it to the professionals you irrelevant slugs!”) then piddling crap like an old lawsuit somehow DQ’s her while Castle being an incredibly corrupt dinosaur who is a liberal somehow means nothing. Give me a break. That’s like comparing someone who has bad breath with a murderer.
We’ve all done things like O’Donnell did and worse and we’re gonna attack her on that? The GOP RINOs couldn’t give up with a pattern (they lied about the IRS incident, they lied that she claimed Castle robbed her house, they lied about her claims that people were following her) so they trump up one incident and make it look like the be and end all of bad things to do. And the useful idiots lap it up.
I don’t get me started about the gossip mongering about her “lying” about going to Princeton. That’s dirty cheap rot, and that’s Mike Castle to a tee. I thought smearing people as nuts was what libs do?
Hey Dan, you need to take your meds.
Nobody, *Nobody*, right or left, voted to impeach Bush. There was never such a vote, thanks in part to people like Castle.
I think that we need to focus on the goal for November. The Delaware race is important, and we can disagree on specific candidates, but let’s not hyperventilate.
Please read the Powerline post on your characterization of the Castle vote. You are really overboard on this. Although you disagree with the Powerline guys, you lose credibility by your loose writing.
This anti-Castle movement is the first thing the tea partiers (or some of the more ideological tea partiers) have done that dismays me to the core. This is the sort of eat-your-own purism that drove me out of the New Left back in the early 1970s and drove the New Left itself into totally marginalized “moonbattery” of a real sort, as opposed to the laughable use of the term here. That the conservative movement cannot see the need to elect Castle and is ready to lose the election by undermining him is a sign it is simply not serious. Pathetic, in fact. Powerline is absolutely correct.
Both of the Delaware candidates have baggage. If I lived in Delaware, though, I’d vote for O’Donnell and take my chances. I have had my fill of RINOs. Been there done that.
That said, I have to say that Mark Levin’s behavior has been very thuggish and ungentlemanly to Mirengoff and Patterico. He has lowered my esteem for him in the process.
This is really beyond the pale stuff, Dan. You and Levin are now basically telling lies. It’s not a mistake or “misleading” or “shading the truth” to say that Castle “voted to impeach Bush.” It’s a goddam lie. If you have to lie and bash other conservatives with vicious invective of the sort better directed elsewhere, you’re a political thug, plain and simple. Levin. too. Shame on you.
Hmmm.
Castle voted for a resolution to impeach Bush. How much clearer can that be? That it didn’t go through wasn’t because of any action by Castle. And that it didn’t go through does not change the fact that Castle voted to impeach Bush.
And hey, don’t like it? Don’t care.
Why not hammer other liberals like Peter King, Kevin Brady, and Ralph Hall? Oh, wait, they’re all stalwart Conservatives.
Then there’s this from the left wing rag website afterdowningstreet.org
“Last week I spoke to Senator Biden’s office and asked if he would support impeachment. He said he is willing to support it if it can make it to the Senate. He said that the recent testimony by Scott McClellan and Bush beating the drums to war for Iran should be enough for any Congressman and Senator to get behind it. He also suggested that I call Senator Carper and Congressman Castle because he didn’t believe they would support it. First I called Senator Carper and was told that they would not support Impeachment at this time. I also called Congressman Castle’s office and was completely shocked. I was told that the Congressman would not support Impeachment because they believed there weren’t any crimes committed by the Bush administration.”
Riehl and Levin are straight up lying. Voting to kill the resolution by referring it to committee (where Pelosi had already determined it would die) does not equal voting for impeachment. No one, D or R, considered it that, and this vote got little to no coverage at the time because it was mere Kucinich kookiness. Seriously, try googling H. Res. 1258 it and see how many blog or newspaper pieces you can find on it. Yet somehow this is the smoking gun of why the GOP should snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in deep blue Delaware.
When did Dan ever care about facts? All he does is call people names.
when did the castlebots ever care about facts? All they do is call their critics extremists christian talibans and all that
This is all very disappointing. What do you think that you are accomplishing other than diminishing you reputation and calling into question your intelligence. Have you read the response from Powerline? Of the two parties, one and only one is making sense, and it is not you.
Very, very disheartening.
memomachine- I agree completely. If I am not mistaken, in order to Impeach the President, the process starts in the House, with someone bringing an Impeachment resolution up for a vote. If the vote passes, it then goes to the Committee, where they conduct an investigation on the charges, in this case, high crimes and misdemeanors, (in other words- Bush lied, and, people died). Castle voted yes, for the Resolution to move to the next step. It stalled there, and, did not come to the floor for a vote. So, technically, no Castle did not vote, on the floor for Impeachment, simply because it never got that far. To vote to move the Resolution forward is absolutely to be complicit with the move to Impeach Bush. Castle could just as easily have voted no, as a majority of Republicans did. Whatever Castle, or his staff told anyone, as to why he voted the way he did, or how he would vote in the future, if the Resolution moved forward, is only guessing, because it never moved to a place where he was required to cast another vote.
From the Powerline website, I read this-
“Is it a reasonable supposition that the Representative (Castle) who voted for HRes 1258 did so in order that Kucinich’s impeachment drive could die a slow death.” “Is that what Congressman Castle had in mind? Yes, it was.
Then the article goes on to say that the author at Impeach Bush called Castle’s office, and was told by a staffer- “Castle would not support impeachment because he believes that there weren’t any crimes committed by the Bush administration.
I’m so glad that they have been able to park themselves in Castle’s brain, and just know that that was what he meant. I love their use of the word “supposition.” No proof, no facts, just “supposition.”
You can bet when that whole incident came up, that any Republican voting to move the Resolution forward was being bombarded with phone calls, and loud screams. I don’t know the timeline between the Resolution vote, and when the call was made to Castle’s staff, but, since Powerline can use “supposition”, I will also say that Castle’s office had time to backtrack on a grave error on Castle’s part.
This morning, I read some comments on another site, as to the Levin/Powerline debate. One of the known flaming Liberal Republicans on that site was screaming about how Levin lied, and that the folks at Powerline have much more credibility than Levin ever did. He has claimed that Levin has always been a loser.
Ain’t hardball politics fun, NOT. As Rush had said a few days ago, (and I’m paraphraising here)there is such animosity within the conservative faction of the Republican Party, and the moderate faction (RINOS) that it is at a boiling point. There is no question in my mind of where the allegiances of the majority of Americans lie. It’s not with the Democrats, and it is not with the Ruling Class Republicans, it is with those with conservative ideas and policies.
Thomas- If you think Dan calls people names, you haven’t been on very many so-called conservative websites. At least I’ve never seen Dan go after everyone who comments on his site, and tell them that they are idiots, dumb, stupid, have reading comprehension problems, all because someone posted an opposing view. Actually Dan has been a real trooper with the attacks, personal and otherwise, against him.
If you think everyone should just hold hands and sing Kumbya, then politics ain’t for you. Your skin is far too thin.
Memomachine,
There is no “fact” there.
Flaunt that ignorance!
Dan,
I’m assuming you weren’t aware of the background information that Powerline brought forward. Now you know about it. There’s nothing wrong with admitting a mistake. In fact, it shows you to be mature. I’ve read you and Powerline for some time now, and I’ve seen those guys fess up when they were wrong. I hope you have it in you.
Interesting of all the people to sign a document to ‘force the issue’ Mike “I oppose the surge!” Castle threw his hat into the ring. IMHO, no conservative or anyone else with any sense should sign any such document merely to “force the issue.” It’s just gives it legitimacy and more staying power. Would Castle have voted on a resolution to kill all children just to force the issue?
Interesting this concept of singing something to “force the issue.” I wonder why the British didn’t think of that, they could have signed the Deceleration of Independence themselves and sped things up.
I’m just amazed how quickly people like Patterico are falling over themselves to defend fat cat liberal Mikey Castle.
By the way, if anyone thinks O’Donnell is a “loon” then you’re the loon. And an idiot.
Hmmmm.
Here is a question for all you pro-Castle folks here.
If voting for a resolution to impeach Bush was such a great idea and such a good “political tactic” then please explain why only few Republicans voted for it. Why not all of them?
Go ahead. I’ve got the popcorn all ready and waiting. But please, keep the stammering and the stuttering to a minimum. It interferes with logical clarity.
Hmmmm.
@ Brian
“Memomachine, There is no “fact” there. Flaunt that ignorance!”
A resolution for impeachment is the first step towards an actual attempt at Impeachment. Voting for the first step *is* a vote for Impeachment because Impeachment cannot occur without the first step.
Saying you’re going to walk the 4,000+ miles across America isn’t true … *unless* you take that first step out of your door to make that journey. Do you understand that rather simplistic analogy I wrote just for you? In such a journey the first step is the last step because all such steps are required for the journey to be completed.
And like I’ve pointed out before. If making that vote was such a good idea then why didn’t the entire GOP vote for it?
Hmmmm.
Amusing to me that Castle, of all people, is the choice du jour for these folks to be crucified upon.
Reminds me of the conservatives who nearly begged the Democrats in 2004 to not run Senator John Kerry because he was a lousy candidate with a suspect past. Whereupon the same Democrats, thinking that this was a false flag effort to torpedo a substantial candidate, then immediately nominate Senator Kerry. Who then proved he was a lousy candidate with a suspect past.
The carousel moves but never goes anywhere, the names change but the dance remains the same.
The Powerline guys are consistently good. They have not resorted to namecalling, and provide specific examples for each of their points. I have not read this blog before, but at this point I am unimpressed.
Powerline readers: at least you get to comment here. Advantage Riehl.
Also, Powerline’s reasoning that Castle could have been voting to send the bill to kill it slowly makes zero sense. Voting against it is what killed it instantly, and Castle chose not to take that path.