"The 35 Articles of Impeachment and the Case for Prosecuting George W. Bush"Why Impeach? | Lies | Uranium/Niger | Torture | Aluminum Tubes | Wiretaps | Subpoenas | Treaties | HJR114 | Talking Points |
Talking Points to use with Members of Congress
Updated 3/20/08 at 6:00 PM
These talking points argue that Bush should be impeached by Congress. We present an opening script followed by rebuttals to Congress members' common objections.
Note: It is assumed here that the listener already agrees that Bush has committed impeachable offenses.
Some Possible Opening Statements
- Do you support Congressman Wexler's call for impeachment hearings for Dick Cheney?
- We all know that Bush and Cheney have committed impeachable offenses. We understand that impeachment is difficult. But our system of Democracy is threatened and we need you to protect and defend our Constitution. Only you can do that for us.
- Bush has resisted every effort at Congressional oversight. He has used executive privilege and the state secrets act to protect himself. Impeachment is the only mechanism we have left that can prevent further abuse of office.
Rebuttals to Common Responses
- When they say "We need to work with the Republicans to pass legislation."
- When they say "Impeachment would distract us from more important matters."
- When they say "The Republicans and the powers behind the President would retaliate politically."
- When they say "There is not enough time for impeachment."
- When they say "Bush will leave office soon anyway."
- When they say "Impeachment would hurt the Democrats in the next election."
- When they ask "Why bother with hearings when we need 218 votes in the House to impeach?"
- When they ask "Why bother with impeachment when we need a 2/3 majority in the Senate to convict?"
- When they say "My constituents are not asking for impeachment."
- When they say "There aren't any crimes that rise to the level of impeachable offense."
- When they say "But John Conyers needs to make the first move."
- When they say "But we are pursuing contempt charges against Miers and Bolton. Isn't that enough?"
- When they think but don't say "We need to occupy Iraq and steal their oil to protect our future."
- When they say "Bush might do something rash like declare martial law to stay in power."
If you hear any new objections please let us know.
When they say "We need to work with the Republicans to pass legislation."
- We need to work with the Republicans to protect and defend the Constitution. If the Republicans are opposed to protecting the Constitution then you are working with the wrong side.
- Bush has been nullifying any meaningful legislation from Democrats by issuing signing statements or vetoing the legislation.
When they say "Impeachment would distract us from more important matters."
- The war in Iraq, the price of oil, the faltering economy, our foreign relations are all suffering because of Bushes crimes. Those problems will get worse unless we impeach.
- Bush has broken our constitutional system of government. That must be fixed before we can use the government to solve other problems.
- Impeachment hearings and even the trial in the Senate can take place in committee. The rest of Congress can attend to other business.
- Members of Congress take an Oath of Office promising that they will defend the Constitution from "enemies both foreign and domestic". This is their primary duty. When the Constitution is safe then they have the luxury to attend to other matters.
When they say "The Republicans and the powers behind the President would retaliate politically."
- When American citizens are afraid of their President then Democracy is in danger. When Congress is afraid to impeach then Democracy is lost.
- The Democrats might suffer from this process. But American soldiers are dying in Iraq and the COnstitution is being shredded. We need for Congress to be brave.
When they say "There is not enough time for impeachment."
- If Congress decided to impeach Bush or Cheney then it could happen fairly quickly.
- Andrew Johnson fired Edwin Stanton on February 21, 1868. On March 2nd, ten days later, the House voted to impeach him for that crime. The trial lasted two months. The Republicans who led the impeachment against Johnson won the Presidential election later that year with 53% of the popular vote.
- On July 27th, 1974, the Judiciary Committee approved Articles of Impeachment against Richard Nixon for spying on Americans and ignoring subpoenas. On August 8th, twelve days later, Nixon announced that he would resign. [BBC]
- The House voted to initiate impeachment hearings for Bill Clinton in October 1998. He was impeached two months later on December 19th. The trial began January 7th after the Winter break and ended one month later on February 6th.
- An aide to Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) once said that the impeachment of Bush might take longer because the crimes were so much more serious and more numerous and there was so much more evidence. But we could focus on one or two of the most serious crimes to begin with. Bush or Cheney need only be convicted on one Article of Impeachment in order to be removed from office.
- At a minimum, we can at least start impeachment hearings in the Judiciary Committee. Representative Wexler and others are asking John Conyers to begin hearings. That is better than doing nothing.
- John Conyers has said that if Bush attacks Iran then he will be impeached. So Conyers thinks there is time.
When they say "Bush will leave office soon anyway."
- If Bush is not impeached for his actions before leaving office then the next President will inherit his expanded powers. It will be nearly impossible to impeach a future President who commits the same crimes.
- Bush has severely damaged America's reputation in the international community. Impeachment will send a message to other countries that America rejects his aggressive policies.
- Starting in March 2008, Bush will have 10 months left in office. Bush can do an incredible amount of damage, even start a war with Iran, in the time he has left.
- Bush and Cheney may be actively destroying evidence and needs to be stopped as soon as possible.
- It is important to educate the American public about why we are truly in Iraq and why America is in such dire straights. We will need that knowledge to solve the problems Bush has created, which could take many years. Impeachment can reveal the truth about his corruption. It will be very difficult to find out the truth after Bush leaves office.
When they say "Impeachment would hurt the Democrats in the next election."
- Many polls show a majority of Americans favor impeachment.
- More than 70% of democrats and a majority of all Americans favor impeachment. 88% of Democrats in Pennsylvania favor impeachment. It may be political suicide to be on the wrong side of this issue. [AmResGrp] [Zogby] [Polls]
- Only 57% of Republicans opposed censure in a March 15 poll by American Research Group. 23% of Republicans supported impeachment according to a January 2006 Zogby poll. Contrary to claims that have been made, impeachment will not galvanize the Republican base. Many Republicans oppose Bush.
- History shows that pursuing impeachment can help in the next election.
- Democrats won in a landslide in the election after drafting Articles of Impeachment against Nixon. (Nixon resigned before he could be officially impeached.)
- When the Republicans impeached Bill Clinton, against the will of the people, they kept both houses of Congress and the White House, losing only a handful of seats in the Senate (which had acquitted), but maintaining the same majority in the House.
- Republicans won the election of 1868 shortly after leading the impeachment of Andrew Johnson.
- If Democrats push for impeachment then it might force John McCain to take unpopular positions supporting Bush.
- The Democratic victory in 2004 was considered to be largely a referendum against Bush. Impeaching Bush in 2008 could help build on that victory.
- Legislators take an oath to protect the Constitution so it is their duty to protect it from Bush's crimes by calling for impeachment regardless of the political consequences.
When they ask "Why bother with hearings when we need 218 votes in the House to impeach?"
- Bush or Cheney may resign before the extent of their crimes are revealed in hearings.
- It is better to fight for justice and lose then to accept injustice.
- If we can force a roll call vote and some Republicans vote with Bush then we will have them on record as being on the wrong side of history.
- We cannot predict the final vote. But impeachment hearings will probably increase support for impeachment.
When they ask "Why bother with impeachment when we need a 2/3 majority in the Senate to convict?"
- After investigations and the trial, it will be obvious to everyone that Bush is guilty of serious crimes. At that point, many Republicans will feel compelled to vote for a guilty verdict.
- Many Republican politicians oppose Bush because they feel he is hurting them politically. Many Republican voters are calling for impeachment. If Senators want to get reelected they may have to convict Bush.
- To convict Bush we only need 16 Republican Senators in addition to all the Democrats. It is quite possible that we will get them.
When they say "My constituents are not asking for impeachment."
- A majority of Americans want Congress to begin impeachment hearings against Vice President Dick Cheney. A total of 70% of American voters say that Cheney has abused his powers as vice president. 63% of Democrats say the abuses rise to the level of impeachable offenses and Cheney should be impeached and removed from office. [AmResGrp] [Zogby] [Polls]
- Many voters feel that there is no point in writing to their Congress members because Congress is not listening. "Impeachment is off the table." But when a confusing email led people to believe that Pelosi was conducting a poll on impeachment, her office was inundated with calls and letters.
- Pete Stark put a poll on his website and asked if people wanted impeachment. Based on the majority of people who wanted impeachment he decided to co-sponsor HRes 333 to impeach Cheney.
- Congress does not need to be asked to defend the Constitution. They already took an Oath of Office promising to do that.
When they say "There aren't any crimes that rise to the level of impeachable offense."
- Andrew Johnson was impeached for firing his Secretary of War improperly. Clinton was impeached for lying about a sexual affair. If Bush misled us into a war with Iraq, which resulted in thousands of deaths and weakened our military, then that is clearly a more serious offense.
- The Judiciary Committee approved Articles of Impeachment against Nixon for spying on a small group of American citizens. The FISA laws were created as a result. Bush spied on millions of Americans without a warrant in violation of those FISA laws and the 4th amendment. Bush is more impeachable than Nixon.
- You're putting the cart before the horse. There is sufficient evidence currently in the public record to warrant impeachment hearings. The hearings will determine whether there is enough evidence to file articles of impeachment. The House will decide whether to impeach. The Senate will hear testimony and ultimately determine where impeachable offenses were committed. All we are asking for now is impeachment hearings.
When they say "But John Conyers needs to make the first move."
- You can help convince Conyers to act. He is looking to other members of Congress for support.
- You can express your thoughts to Conyers by signing Wexler's letter calling for impeachment hearings or by co-sponsoring Kucinich's impeachment resolutions.
When they say "But we are pursuing criminal and civil contempt charges against Miers and Bolten. Isn't that enough?"
- Miers and Bolten are not the problem. The problem is that Bush uses loyal servants to help him break the law.
- Attorney General Mukasey says executive privilege trumps criminal contempt charges. [ABC] Bush and Cheney cannot hide behind executive privilege during the impeachment process.
When they think but don't say "We need to occupy Iraq and steal their oil to protect our future."
- This type of strategy hurts America by creating more enemies and driving up oil prices, as we have already seen.
- We should have spent a trillion dollars developing alternative energy sources so that we do not need Iraqi oil.
- By violating international law we can no longer lead other nations by example.
- It is illegal, immoral and unwise to do so. That should be reason enough.
When they say "Bush might do something rash like declare martial law to stay in power."
This seem crazy but some members of Congress and staffers have actually expressed concern about this.
- When American citizens are afraid of their President then Democracy is in danger. When Congress is afraid to impeach then Democracy is lost.
- The longer we wait, the harder it will be to stop him.
- If you think Bush is capable of this then do you think he will simply leave office at the end of his term?
- An open process of impeachment that reveals Bush's crimes will build support for Congress among the public and the military.
