"Resignation Mr President" MSNBC Commentary, page 3

While listening to Keith Olbermann's commentary, I was particularly intrigued by his mention of James Madison's view of "impeaching any president who pardoned or sheltered those who had committed crimes “advised by” that president…"

Keith Olbermann's statement is made in this context:

Were there any remaining lingering doubt otherwise, or any remaining lingering hope, it ended yesterday when Mr. Bush commuted the prison sentence of one of his own staffers.

Did so even before the appeals process was complete…

Did so without as much as a courtesy consultation with the Department of Justice…

Did so despite what James Madison –at the Constitutional Convention — said about impeaching any president who pardoned or sheltered those who had committed crimes “advised by” that president…

Did so without the slightest concern that even the most detached of citizens must look at the chain of events and wonder:

To what degree was Mr. Libby told: break the law however you wish — the President will keep you out of prison?

In that moment, Mr. Bush, you broke that fundamental compact between yourself and the majority of this nation’s citizens — the ones who did not cast votes for you.

In that moment, Mr. Bush, you ceased to be the President of the United States.

In that moment, Mr. Bush, you became merely the President… of a rabid and irresponsible corner of the Republican Party.

In my efforts to read more about James Madison's view on impeachment, I stumbled upon an equally riveting speech made by Barbara Jordan, in 1974 as a member of the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate Era.

Barbara Jordan: Statement on the Articles of Impeachment

At this point, I would like to juxtapose a few of the impeachment criteria with some of the actions the President has engaged in. Impeachment criteria: James Madison, from the Virginia ratification convention. "If the President be connected in any suspicious manner with any person and there be grounds to believe that he will shelter him, he may be impeached."

I strongly urge you to listen to the audio of her speech. It is equally riveting...and is as relevant today, as it was then.

( Here is another audio link to her speech. )

Dan Froomkin, a columnist for the Washington Post, provides and excellent history lesson on the Founding Father's view on the subject of pardons and impeachment. He writes:

According to a Judiciary Committee report drafted in the aftermath of the Watergate crisis: "In the [Constitutional] convention George Mason argued that the President might use his pardoning power to 'pardon crimes which were advised by himself' or, before indictment or conviction, 'to stop inquiry and prevent detection.' James Madison responded:

"[I]f the President be connected, in any suspicious manner, with any person, and there be grounds [to] believe he will shelter him, the House of Representatives can impeach him; they can remove him if found guilty. . . .

"Madison went on to [say] contrary to his position in the Philadelphia convention, that the President could be suspended when suspected, and his powers would devolve on the Vice President, who could likewise be suspended until impeached and convicted, if he were also suspected."

Link.

An outstanding read, and well worth the time.

It may be that the President ( and all his men

) are ideologically and ethically rudderless, but it is my hope that 'We the People' are not.

Wake up America, our Nation needs us.

[edit on 5-7-2007 by loam]