Tuesday, November 6, 2007

The secret Cheney impeachment vote

Another Cheney secret revealed!

News sources do not seem to be reporting that a vote on a bill to impeach Cheney occurred in the House of Representatives today. So I guess you heard it here first. I flipped on my TV and happened to surf across CSPAN, which showed people milling around the House floor and a caption, "Vote to table impeachment of Vice-President Cheney." It was high drama of the Robert's Rules variety, the kind of procedural details I like best. When I turned it on, the vote was very close, and I was outraged that even with a Democratic House we couldn't keep this bill alive. And then I noticed: the Democrats were voting for tabling, and the Republicans wanted to keep the bill alive. What was in that cough syrup I took?

It goes even further through the looking-glass. Our favorite Clevelander, Dennis Kucinich, had somehow snuck this bill onto the floor of the House this morning. Got it through the metal detectors and everything. He moved to impeach Cheney for misleading us into Iraq and for possibly considering misleading us into Iran. Not even for, say, flouting the rule of law.

One of the teams, I mean, parties, moved to table it (news is so slim I can't figure out who, but either one makes a good story); the Republicans, halfway through the voting process, decided to vote for impeachment just to mess with everyone (love that impish party), and the Democrats, after some orderly votes-on-whether-to-vote, finally shuttled it into the House Judiciary Committee to prevent having to have an instant debate and, well, vote.

It does restore my faith a bit that a representative can actually bring a bill to the floor and surprise people.

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