Watch the video, sign the petition to Impeach Cheney

July 9, 2007 11:29 PM

Robert Greenwald's Brave New Films has a YouTube short outlining the case to impeach Dick Cheney. You can watch the video and sign a petition to be delivered to Congress. If the site is slow, you can watch the video on YouTube here.
posted by commonmedia (48 comments total)

An Internet petition! Cheney's days are surely numbered.
posted by Falconetti at 11:32 PM on July 9, 2007 [5 favorites]

I say shitcan the motherfucker. YMMV.
posted by trondant at 11:37 PM on July 9, 2007

first internet petition i ever signed.
posted by facetious at 11:40 PM on July 9, 2007

Surely this will....
posted by zardoz at 11:41 PM on July 9, 2007

...not make any difference.
posted by 517 at 11:54 PM on July 9, 2007

Oh, I can't watch this. Nerds earnestly explaining things in amateur Internet video always take this obnoxious nasal tone.

It doesn't even matter what the topic is. Every video from government-did-9/11 to check-out-google-street-view features an obnoxious nasal nerd earnestly lecturing at me! Enough!
posted by Mr. President Dr. Steve Elvis America at 11:58 PM on July 9, 2007

I wanna believe. I really do. I used to think, any loading of the discourse with facts is positive.

But the YouTube Video posted here is pixelated to the point of abstraction, and unfortunately isn't telling me I don't already know, and that has not already been ignored by the media.

I wanna believe, but how is this going to do anything?
posted by From Bklyn at 12:47 AM on July 10, 2007

I neither need an internet petition nor You Tube to want to lynch impeach Mr. Cheney.
posted by adamvasco at 12:51 AM on July 10, 2007

Nerds earnestly explaining things in amateur Internet video always take this obnoxious nasal tone.

This guy - The Kurt Cobain was murdered guy: Richard Lee - is to me the archetype of that. Nothing else comes close to that level of obnoxiousness.
posted by psmealey at 12:55 AM on July 10, 2007

The police could be directed to a 'kiddie porn dungeon' full of decomposing infant corpses in the basement of Dick Cheney's summer house and he'd walk. Hell, the policemen who arrived at the scene would probably be fired, as well. He is untouchable. You can't impeach a fucking ghost.

He shot his best friend in the face (whilst 'hunting' birds raised especially for the occasion) and the guy apologised to him on national TV. I'm sure this little internet petition has him shaking in his boots.
posted by chuckdarwin at 1:12 AM on July 10, 2007 [1 favorite]

He shot his best friend in the face

Actually, chuckdarwin, he peppered him. By god, peppered him pretty good.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 2:43 AM on July 10, 2007 [1 favorite]

Suuuuurrre, let's impeach Cheney AND Bush, now that they've already had seven years to screw up both domestic and foreign policies and turn the entire rest of the planet against us.

Even if it could be done, which it can't, it amuses me that there are still those who behave as if kicking them out of office NOW is gonna make a difference; a bit late now to piss and moan over it.

I gotta better idea. Why don't we wait until AFTER Inauguration Day 2009? It'd be about as valid. The wolves took over the farm. We let them do it.

The only people that The American People should be impeaching are themselves. The American People are incompetent. They are incapable of choosing their leaders.

I just hope to God when he leaves the Oval Office, he 'retires' to his ranch in Crawford, and except for occasional charity crap, we never hear from him again. If he runs for some kinda public office again here in Texas I'm gonna have me a temper tantrum.
posted by ZachsMind at 3:11 AM on July 10, 2007 [2 favorites]

If he runs for some kinda public office again here in Texas I'm gonna have me a temper tantrum.

He couldn't get elected to the local school board in Crawford. No sane person would want him running anything, since he has proven to Americans of all stripes (even rabid fundamentalists and fascist neo-cons) that everything he touches turns to shit.

He is the only president I can think of who got everything he ever wanted (at one point): all three branches of government wrapped up with a nice red bow. What did he accomplish with this unfettered power? SWEET FUCK-ALL. He, along with his myopic cabal of bread-heads, completely squandered it.

All he has really managed to do is start the most unpopular war in American history. Nothing has worked out the way they'd hoped. Yeah, they've stopped some things from happening and chipped away at Roe, but really... they haven't managed to accomplish much of anything that they wanted to get done.

p.s. Keith Olbermann thinks Bush and Cheney should both resign.
posted by chuckdarwin at 3:29 AM on July 10, 2007 [1 favorite]

I'd like to see Bush and Cheney impeached. I'd settle for Cheney.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:31 AM on July 10, 2007

p.s. Keith Olbermann thinks Bush and Cheney should both resign.

I quite like Olbermann, but I find the format of these slots slightly strange (and uniquely American). They're like newspaper editorials for a country that's forgotten how to read.
posted by rhymer at 3:58 AM on July 10, 2007 [1 favorite]

54 percent of Americans favor impeaching Cheney. And 45 percent favor impeaching Bush (statistically even with those who don't).

I don't think Nixon had these numbers. They are much more significant than either's raw approval numbers (18 and 26 percent, respectively).

You can hear the pundits desperately backing and filling. Last night on MSNBC Dan Abrams desperately made the case that there were no "actual crimes" fitting the "high crimes and misdemeanors" clause, as Elizabeth Holtzman, who knows a good deal about the subject, politely and calmly explained that the phrase is archaic and refers to *any* abuse of power. Abrams kept saying, as if Clinton had never happened, that we can't use impeachment as a political tool. Dude doesn't even realize *he's* the political tool. Impeachment is always political. If it weren't, we'd never consider it. The press is *way* behind the people on this.

Something is happening.
posted by spitbull at 4:46 AM on July 10, 2007

While I believe an impeachment of the President or Vice President is extremely unlikely, I think attempting it would go a long way to telling the rest of the world the US doesn't approve of this administration's behavior.
posted by infowar at 5:00 AM on July 10, 2007 [1 favorite]

infowar has a point. America's image problem, globally, is much, much, much worse than Joe Sixpack from Newark would ever believe.
posted by chuckdarwin at 5:20 AM on July 10, 2007

I gotta better idea. Why don't we wait until AFTER Inauguration Day 2009? It'd be about as valid. The wolves took over the farm. We let them do it.

It's not about practicality, they should be impeached because they deserve it. And anyway a majority of Americans want to see it happen.

Also 17 months or whatever is plenty of time to fuck things up
posted by delmoi at 5:36 AM on July 10, 2007 [1 favorite]

Actually, chuckdarwin, he peppered him. By god, peppered him pretty good.

Jean Chretien puts pepper on his steaks. So pepper is no big deal.
posted by srboisvert at 5:36 AM on July 10, 2007 [1 favorite]

If El Duce was still alive we could get him to kill Cheney for like fifty bucks and a case of Schlitz.
posted by The Straightener at 5:41 AM on July 10, 2007

but really... they haven't managed to accomplish much of anything that they wanted to get done.

They made their war profiteer friends rich even richer. Mission Accomplished.
posted by The Card Cheat at 6:11 AM on July 10, 2007 [3 favorites]

How is threatening Iran an impeachable offense? I didn't think there was a law against making a series of bad foreign policy speeches. The way I see it is that Cheney is threatening Iran to make short-term political gains. It's fine to see that for what it is, but to call for impeachment over that, I think, is like calling for impeachment just because you don't like his politics. Shouldn't impeachment articles address a crime and not a disagreement over politics? And the language in HR 333 doesn't help much, this doesn't seem like the killer issue that proves that he is not "faithfully" executing his duties.

Don't get me wrong, I am happy to hear the drumbeat for impeachment because there is plenty of evidence that he has used the power of his office to commit real crimes.

On preview, my liberal navel-gazing is probably the reason he hasn't been impeached yet. Sorry if it's all my fault.
posted by peeedro at 6:14 AM on July 10, 2007

If we impeach Cheney, he'll just start killing gnomes and spelling out his evil messages with their corpses.
posted by Astro Zombie at 6:25 AM on July 10, 2007 [2 favorites]

If we impeach Cheney, he'll just start killing gnomes and spelling out his evil messages with their corpses.

Alright, you've convinced me. I support impeachment.
posted by scottreynen at 6:39 AM on July 10, 2007

Yea, I don't think that it will happen either but there really is no exaggerating the harm that this man has done to our country and the world.
posted by octothorpe at 6:48 AM on July 10, 2007

Maybe I'm wrong. 54% of Americans support impeaching Cheney.
posted by octothorpe at 6:54 AM on July 10, 2007

He shot his best friend in the face (whilst 'hunting' birds raised especially for the occasion) and the guy apologised to him on national TV.

You know those Chuck Norris facts that were going around the Internets a few months ago? I think all that shit is actually true about Dick Cheney:

Guns don't kill people, Dick Cheney kills people.
There is no theory of evolution, just a list of animals Dick Cheney allows to live.
The chief export of Dick Cheney is pain.
When the boogeyman goes to bed at night, he checks his closet for Dick Cheney.

Etc.
posted by rkent at 7:13 AM on July 10, 2007 [1 favorite]

The saddest thing about having Bush/Cheney in office for 7 years is that the amount of money they wasted on this war could have paid for universal healthcare for every American a couple of times over. But I believe that was the whole point of installing them in office - to bankrupt the treasury so all forms of government programs will have to be turned over to the private sector. It really saddens me how many Democratic politicians ignore this point and focus on the distractions that paid propagandists like Limbaugh, Coulter and O'Reilly throw out there on a daily basis. Sometimes I feel like the Democrats are colluding with the Republicans to rape our treasury. Either that or they are really really stupid.
posted by any major dude at 7:31 AM on July 10, 2007 [2 favorites]

While I believe an impeachment of the President or Vice President is extremely unlikely, I think attempting it would go a long way to telling the rest of the world the US doesn't approve of this administration's behavior.

Electing him the second time around was a pretty convincing argument that the US does approve of the administration's behaviour.
posted by biffa at 7:33 AM on July 10, 2007

Oh and I don't need impeachment - at this point it would be too easy to run out the clock. I want criminal trials of each AND EVERY member of this administration that was complicit in the criminal acts committed by this administration. I don't care if it takes 10 years to get them all. This is important because somewhere in that administration is a baby Dick Cheney who just started his political career and learned all the tricks from Karl Rove - if he is not prosecuted for his crimes then he will come back to us in 10-20 years just like Cheney and all the Iran/Contra operators- and they will be even more emboldened because they got away scott-free the first time. A message must be sent to future administrations that ANYONE who commits a crime on the people's dime must serve time.
posted by any major dude at 7:40 AM on July 10, 2007

China today executed the former chief of their FDA-equivalent over a ~$850k bribery scandal that led to the deaths of a few dozen people and several pets abroad.

Time to bring the Chinese brand of justice over here, I say.
posted by mkultra at 7:42 AM on July 10, 2007

Maybe I'm wrong. 54% of Americans support impeaching Cheney.
posted by octothorpe at 9:54 AM on July 10 [+] [!]

Oh hey, that would be awesome if the American people got to vote on impeachment. Or if our elected representatives bothered to represent us.
posted by shmegegge at 7:50 AM on July 10, 2007

I'm all for impeaching Cheney, but this video does a pretty bad job of making the case. Especially the Iran bit.

Personally, I think we HAVE to impeach at least Cheney to show the world, and ourselves, that this kind of stuff is not to be tolerated by the American people.

When they ran for reelection, most of these things were only barely at the boiling point, the Bushies put the election process to work like the master manipulators that they are, 9/11 was still a powerful buzzword for them, and the media was still very much doing their patriotic duty of handling the president with kid gloves.

It's not a sign of how much we liked Bush. It's a sign of how messed up things are in this country right now.

Impeachment of Cheney helps to fix some of that, and sends a signal that the American people might be gullible, but when we do get a whiff of the truth, we stand up for it.
posted by JWright at 8:03 AM on July 10, 2007

Time to bring the Chinese brand of justice over here, I say.

I could happily live in a world without the Chinese Death Vans, thanks.
posted by Pope Guilty at 8:18 AM on July 10, 2007

If it were up to me, the president elected in 2009 do a serious investigation of all of these crooks. Bush and Cheney need to spend the rest of their lives in and out of court, or in Jail.

But, it's not up to me and I think our Democratic candidates are pussies on this front. They certainly are not talking about this issue.
posted by delmoi at 8:51 AM on July 10, 2007

It really saddens me how many Democratic politicians ignore this point and focus on the distractions that paid propagandists like Limbaugh, Coulter and O'Reilly throw out there on a daily basis. Sometimes I feel like the Democrats are colluding with the Republicans to rape our treasury. Either that or they are really really stupid.

False dilemma. Democrats can be both colluding with the Republicans and really, really stupid. In fact, I favor this hypothesis.
posted by effwerd at 9:25 AM on July 10, 2007

Bush disapproval rivals Nixon.

"Chris Bowers writes, 'Today Bush reached a historic milestone. His current disapproval rating in the latest Gallup poll, 66%, equals Richard Nixon’s highest Gallup disapproval rating of 66%, registered the week before he resigned from office.'"

posted by ericb at 9:43 AM on July 10, 2007

AP is reporting on a new affliction for the beleaguered Republicans. It's called "Cheney fatigue."

"Dick Cheney, who thrives on secrecy while pulling the levers of power, is getting caught in the glare of an unwelcome spotlight. Once viewed as a sage and mentor to President Bush, Cheney has approval ratings now that are as low as - or lower - than the president's. Recent national polls have put them both in the high 20s.

Bush's decision to spare former Cheney aide I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby from a 2 1/2-year prison sentence has focused new attention on the vice president and his possible role in the commutation.

Cheney's relentless advocacy of the Iraq war, his push to expand presidential authority and his hard-line rhetoric toward North Korea and Iran are raising concerns even among former loyalists now worried about the GOP's chances in 2008.

It seems Cheney fatigue is settling in some Republican circles.

Republican strategist Rich Galen, who worked for both Bush and Bush's father, said he is finding less interest or enthusiasm for Cheney. 'Republicans have, in essence, moved on and focused on who to get behind in 2008,' Galen said."

posted by ericb at 9:46 AM on July 10, 2007

Dick Cheney, the occupant of what John Adams called “the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived,” has been the most influential public official in the country, not necessarily excluding President Bush, and his influence has been entirely malign. He is pathologically (but purposefully) secretive; treacherous toward colleagues; coldly manipulative of the callow, lazy, and ignorant President he serves; contemptuous of public opinion; and dismissive not only of international law (a fairly standard attitude for conservatives of his stripe) but also of the very idea that the Constitution and laws of the United States, including laws signed by his nominal superior, can be construed to limit the power of the executive to take any action that can plausibly be classified as part of an endless, endlessly expandable “war on terror.”
posted by timsteil at 9:49 AM on July 10, 2007

"He couldn't get elected to the local school board in Crawford"

I didn't think he could beat Anne Richards for Texas Governor. I certainly never believed he'd actually win the presidency. Twice!

Either American citizens are brazen idiots, or Bush has had the entire voting system rigged from day one, and it's more difficult to prove the latter.

Wolf in sheep's clothing. I called it years ago. I would bother to say I Told You So to every American citizen who voted that boner in, but that'd be a futile endeavor too.
posted by ZachsMind at 10:21 AM on July 10, 2007

"Electing him the second time around was a pretty convincing argument that the US does approve of the administration's behaviour."

Well then I'm no longer American and haven't been for over seven years cuz I certainly don't approve of my country's behavior since before the 21st century began. Somewhere along the way my citizenship was stolen for me. I assume it won't be long before they cart me away with the illegal immigrants and throw me into Mexico. Unless of course I start working for half what I used to be worth, with less benefits. ...Wait a minute! That's what I'm doing now!
posted by ZachsMind at 10:27 AM on July 10, 2007

Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency -- a Washington Post four-part series looking at the "largely hidden and little-understood role" that Dick Cheney plays in the Bush White House. ("Angler" is the Secret Service code name for Cheney.)
posted by ericb at 10:48 AM on July 10, 2007

I’d like to see jail time for war crimes.
posted by Smedleyman at 11:37 AM on July 10, 2007

I'd like to see impeachment, criminal trials, and jail time, but we won't, and it's really depressing. The Attorney General perjures himself and lies to Congress without consequence and is praised by the president. Bush and Cheney and the rest of them will walk, to our unending shame.
posted by kirkaracha at 12:13 PM on July 10, 2007

Fuck impeachment. Impeachment will be completely fucking moot in a year, anyway.

This fucker needs to be indited, and then put away for a long fucking time, along with that fucking muppet of a president.

Impeachment is for pussies.

Also, this video absolutely fucking blew. Was this YouTube clip a compilation of other, similarly low-res YouTube clips or something? It looked like fucking Salvador Dalí , for fuck's sake.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 4:36 PM on July 10, 2007

Gonzales Knew About FBI Lawbreaking
posted by homunculus at 4:48 PM on July 10, 2007

Silencing The Surgeon General -- Just Where Is The Last Straw?
posted by homunculus at 1:07 PM on July 11, 2007