33 Comments - scoot - Monday, Apr 24, 06 @ 3:27 pm: Is this what they are doing in the overtime session??? This is a complete waste of time…let’s worry about issues in Illinois. While the taxpayers $$$$$$$ wastes away. BRILLLLL-IANT!! - NW burbs - Monday, Apr 24, 06 @ 3:30 pm: If Madigan doesn’t let it go anywhere another state may pick it up. A California Assemblyman just introduced essentially the same resolution though his included Cheney — which would make Denny Hastert Commander-in-Chief (how’s that for a small world). Vermont and I think Massachusetts have also discussed the Jefferson Rules but so far no action. If Madigan does let it go through it might help Blagojevich by keeping Topinka’s quasi-support for Bush in the spotlight. Thank God for Thomas Jefferson. (Of course, this just means the next Dem president will have mighty Wyoming or Utah filing for impeachment… just to get some payback like Hyde wanted for Nixon…) - NW burbs - Monday, Apr 24, 06 @ 3:33 pm: Scoot, Well, where’s your support for state’s rights??!?! Bush is wasting trillions… he and his rubber-stamp Republican Congress are living proof that conservative policies are absolute failures for the American people. Why would anyone want to continue supporting failure? (Hint: 2/3rds of America no longer does support these conservative failures. - Levois - Monday, Apr 24, 06 @ 3:37 pm: This is just another worthless stunt amongst many that may exist out there. There have been so many attempts to get rid of Bush and so far all have failed. Just what is the point of this resolution other than to get attention. - Randall Sherman - Monday, Apr 24, 06 @ 3:38 pm: Hey scoot, this has NOTHING to do with the delays in the budget process, which are largely due to the ineptitude of Gov. Elvis. When the legislative leaders can work out the details on the budget with Rod, then that will get done. Until then, you have legislators with enough time on their hands to actually act like independent parts of a legislative body. Since this impeachment matter is in the form of a resolution, Rod doesn’t even have a say on this (unless he can whip up a budget that everyone can agree on quickly, so the General Assembly can adjourn until the fall). I am certain that it is just a matter of time until the legislature in one or more states approves a resolution like the measure sponsored by Rep. Yarbrough. The oft-maligned Illinois General Assembly might as well have its moment of attention (which will at least distract from the embarassment caused by the George Ryan trial). RANDALL SHERMAN Secretary/Treasurer, Illinois Committee for Honest Government - Goodbye Napoleon - Monday, Apr 24, 06 @ 3:44 pm: Great move by the Dems to fire up the base. Lefties may not be excited about G-Rod yet, but nothing gets the Demos boiling mad like GWB. Look for Pat Quinn to talk about this, but Blago won’t (because he’s actually a Ronald Reagan Republican - “I not only voted for Ronald Reagan Once - But I voted For him Twice!”). - B Hicks - Monday, Apr 24, 06 @ 3:49 pm: The people, for the people, elected George Bush. He should serve his remaining 30+ months. At the conclusion of his term, the people will choose his replacement. You knew what you were voting for. - Prospect - Monday, Apr 24, 06 @ 4:01 pm: NW Burbs, Vermont and California have GOP governors who would veto these silly impeachment proposals. My State REP Sara Feingoltz(D-Chicago) dissappointed many of my neighnors by backing Yarbourough’s inane motion. Madigan will never let it hit the floor because it would destroy the careers of Tammy Duckworth and Melissa Bean. Besides Bush and Daley are good buddies. Could you imagine the revenge of Speaker Dennis Haesert on Democratic Pork Projects in Illinois? - Wumpus - Monday, Apr 24, 06 @ 4:02 pm: NW Burbs, whichever paper “quoted” Hyde as saying Clinton’s impeachement was revenge for nixon did retract the quote. - The King - Monday, Apr 24, 06 @ 4:02 pm: R. Sherman, you are right on point. Get people thinking about the national disaster while we’re waiting for our buffoons (uh, leaders) to get a budget together. - Jeff Trigg - Monday, Apr 24, 06 @ 4:10 pm: Funny. Why did Yarbrough, Feigenholz, and Washington all vote Yes on SB2123 in the 93rd to let Bush get away with ignoring Illinois election laws so he could be on the ballot. And now they want to impeach him after they helped pass special legislation so he could ignore the rule of law. In essence, those three violated our State Constitution that says “All election shall be free and equal”, when they voted for SB2123. - scoot - Monday, Apr 24, 06 @ 4:13 pm: NW Burbs, I’m tired of the dems having a “rubber stamp” in Illinois as well. - NW burbs - Monday, Apr 24, 06 @ 4:15 pm: Scoot, What rubber stamp? The governor has to go along with what Madigan and Jones want, not the other way around. — Wumpus, Hyde said it on TV in his own words (with video)… Why is it that conservatives (from Bush/Cheney to Wumpus him/herself) have this problem with making baloney up when the truth gets in their way? — Prospect, Why would Madigan care about Congressional races? If he did Illinois wouldn’t have had a 10 GOP, 9 Dem split after the last census reapportionment. — B Hicks, the people also elected Clinton but that didn’t stop the GOP from wasting tens of millions of taxpayer dollars trying to embarrass and hamstring the guy. Clinton probably would’ve been able to either nab or outright kill bin Laden if it weren’t for the GOP’s crapola distractions in Congress (and yes, Clinton had plans to deal with bin Laden which Bush 43 subsequently ignored til the morning of 9/11/01). — Goodbye Napoleon, it is not Bush himself that gets Democrats mad, it is the utter failure of conservative policies. And a sizable majority of Americans agree that these conservative plans have been failures — from senseless invasions to destroying Social Security to flunking after national disasters. - Stavros Popodopolis - Monday, Apr 24, 06 @ 4:21 pm: Yeah, Feigenholtz’s area will be real disappointed is her. I know for a fact that it’s not the most liberal district in the state. Then again, I’m an idiot. - NW burbs - Monday, Apr 24, 06 @ 4:22 pm: Since Wumpus can’t be bothered with looking into the truth, I did the work for him: Hyde said it Andy Shaw of ABC-7 (WLS-TV) in Chicago. —– “Was this pay back?” asked Andy Shaw. “I can’t say it wasn’t….” said Hyde. —– - Common Sense in Illinois - Monday, Apr 24, 06 @ 4:28 pm: Speaker Madigan didn’t vote for Bush??? - Enrico con la testarossa - Monday, Apr 24, 06 @ 4:49 pm: Prospect, Sorry, but as a resolution (a House Joint Resolution actually), G-Rod has no say whatsoever about it and neither do Ahnuld or whoever the current Gov. of VT is. And Rep. Madigan couldn’t care less about “the careers of Tammy Duckworth and Melissa Bean,” either. He cares about remaining Speaker. The HJR will most likely languish until the veto session by which time we’ll either have a Democratic US House again and Speaker Pelosi will get things rollin’ - how about the Hon. John Conyers Jr. as the Inquisitor!?! - or Bush will capture or kill Bin Laden and then we’ll start this fight all over. But I can tell you all - this is no stunt. - scoot - Monday, Apr 24, 06 @ 4:55 pm: NW Burbs, Yo, I happen to think this is a very stupid idea and a waste of time….you, on the other hand believe it ’s slice bread. Hey, whatever, we don’t agree….big deal. I meant to say the “DEMS” have a rubber stamp (as a party they don’t need GOP votes to pass legislation)…i never mentioned blago, don’t get technical on me. - Prospect - Monday, Apr 24, 06 @ 5:17 pm: Enrico, NW Burbs do we all agree the most powerful politician in the state is Mayor Daley? The mayor relies on the President to push thru vital $$$ to Illinois for the O’Hare expansion and other Transportation projects. His puppet Rahm Emanuel cares about Bean and Duckworth!! Micheal Madigan is a big fish in a small pond, a State Speaker with no clout outside Illinois. Emanuel and Daley will hammer him not to bring this silly referendum to vote. - Prospect - Monday, Apr 24, 06 @ 5:21 pm: Enrico, if Melissa Bean and Tammy Duckworth lose, their will be no DEM House. Beside Enrico my friend, you should be more worried about the now more powerful Patrick Fitzgerald setting his sights on the Governors fundraisers. - Yellow Dog Democrat - Monday, Apr 24, 06 @ 6:46 pm: Prospect: You are spinning your wheels, pal. No one with spelling as bad as yours could pass the literacy test for Feigenholtz’s district. You misspelled her name, the Speaker of the House, and Rep. Yarborough. Admit it, you work for Peter Roskam and can’t name six landmarks in Feigenholtz’s district without looking at a map. Stavros is right, once again. Feigenholtz’s district isn’t just one of the most liberal, it’s also one of the most intellectual (along with Hyde Park and Evanston). Even though Donald Rumsfeld lives in that district, Democrats regularly win the district 3-1, and even liberal Republicans can’t win it. Feigenholtz got 76% of the vote last election, and even Topinka lost the district in 2002 (although only by 300 votes). Dennis Kucinich would have beat Bush in that district in 2004. - Six Degrees of Separation - Monday, Apr 24, 06 @ 7:14 pm: What B Hicks said. Ever since the Clinton escapade with the GOP house, the impeachment process has been cheapened so much that we should expect an impeachment movement every, say, 4 years or so in the mid-term of every presidency from here on out. If that’s what the people want, we should chuck our system and move to a parliamentary system where the government can change in an instant as soon as a majority can muster a no-confidence vote. - cermak_rd - Monday, Apr 24, 06 @ 7:46 pm: I agree with B Hicks– let him serve out his time and leave a loser when his term expires. Hopefully the scorn and ridicule will follow him for the rest of his natural life. I would actually like him to be the one to clean up the Iraq mess. He’s never had to clean up his messes before–it’d be nice to have him go before the Congress asking for more money for the war and them to say no–and him to have to end the war because of it–to have to make the order to load up the helicopters and transports and get the troops out. - Don Sloan - Monday, Apr 24, 06 @ 9:37 pm: I can’t believe Yarbrough from Maywood would introduce this resloution! Should not she be more worried about the sad situation Maywood and her district are in. Maywood id called the murder capital of Illinois,her husband is the mayor. Also the worst schools in all Cook County are located in Maywood and Proviso Township,yet Yarbrough and her fellow Maywoodian,Sen. Lightford do nothing. They always cry for money for “our schools”, but Proviso students recieve over $15,000 a pupil making it one of the richest school districts in Illinois! Yarbrough should be concerned about getting funds to fix the roads in Maywood and Proviso township,but instead she is concerned with passing a resloution about Bush? She baffles everyone, because when the community asked to help fix our schools, she said she could not do a thing! What a hypocrite, I guess she trying to position herself as a frontrunner to take Danny Davis’s seat once he retires from congress! I guess the voters are really stupid to vote for someone like her, no wonder Maywood is and Proviso is a place you drive around and away from, then actually living there! - Anon - Monday, Apr 24, 06 @ 10:24 pm: Just goes to show you if the media repeats A lie enough times people start believing it. - Proviso Watcher - Monday, Apr 24, 06 @ 11:37 pm: 9:37 is not Don Sloan. He wouldn’t have guts enough to sign his name to anything. Some sour grapes person who got their clock cleaned by both Yarbrough and Lightford in the primary election and a coward. - The King - Tuesday, Apr 25, 06 @ 9:17 am: Don Sloan is obviously Gene Moore. Gene, the schools are a disgrace because you and your toady Chris Welch looted them with your sweetheart deals. It will take time and money to fix those schools and Yarbrough’s on it. Her husband has been in office for five months. What do you think he has, a magic wand or a money machine (actually you HAD the money machine, but that’s gone now). Think about retiring with your lucrative Cook County pension instead of running for re-election for Recorder of Deeds. You’ll just get beat anyway. - Carl Nyberg - Tuesday, Apr 25, 06 @ 10:52 am: How ’bout we move to a system where the President follows the law? And when the president assumes power not authorized Congress investigates and holds the POTUS accountable? In short, let’s use the Constitution to govern the country including the limits it sets on presidential power. - Wayward elephant - Tuesday, Apr 25, 06 @ 11:41 am: This is a gift-wrapped opportunity for Republican candidates to distance themselves from GWB. How could the Democrats be so blind? - Making The Wheels Turn - Tuesday, Apr 25, 06 @ 12:08 pm: Mike Madigan is one smart operator and he proves it again here. No reason to go out of your way to piss people off when there’s no benefit to you. Besides, unlikely as it is, what happens if those Republican votes get needed in the GA this year. - Mr. Grey Ghost - Tuesday, Apr 25, 06 @ 3:46 pm: If liberals had a clue and werent so obsessed with revenge, they’d know that there is no chance in hell that Georgw W. Bush can be impeached, esp. with the GOP controlling both the House and Senate and esp. considering that even moderate Democrats wouldnt vote to impeach Bush. All this “impeach Bush” talk is such a complete waste of time and energy, it’s sad that people actually take it seriously. - Marie Carnes - Tuesday, Apr 25, 06 @ 4:22 pm: Rich, Just minutes ago Jack Cafferty mentioned this resoltuion on Wolf Blitzer’s Situation Room. Something about the “Democratically controlled Illinois state legislature is considering….” No credit to the Capitol Fax, unfortunately. Also, Cafferty is formulating his web question of the day around this topic: “5 p.m. ET: Is it a smart strategy for Democrats to call for the impeachment of President Bush?” Anyway, without having read the above comments, it’s like yelling out to the rest of the country, “hey, Illinois is a blue state.” Which, like, no one knows. Even if such a resolution passes in Illinois, it’ll have no effect on the grand scheme of things. It reminds me of that phase where some municipalities were trying to pass resolutions condemning the war in Iraq. - George Mason - Wednesday, Apr 26, 06 @ 2:42 pm: Rule LIII of the Standing Rules of the House, as supplemented by section 603 of Jefferson’s Manual of Rules, describes the means by which an impeachment proceeding may be set in motion before the House. One method is by way of charges transmitted by the legislature of a State or Territory (thus all the interest in Rep. Yarbrough’s gambit) or grand jury. So, for example, the grand jury considering the Valerie Plame situation could transmit charges to the House concerning the Vice President’s or President’s conduct. The House could, of course, ignore the transmittal. But I wonder if this possibility has occurred to anyone in the White House, Justice, on Capitol Hill, or among the Fitzgeraldines. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.