Law professor and constitutional law expert Jonathan Turley says that America's founders "would have been astonished by the absolute passivity, if not the collusion, of the Democrats in protecting President Bush from impeachment."

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Despite noting that not all of the articles Kucinich presented were "impeachable offenses" in a strict sense, Turley says "there are plenty of crimes there -- this is a target-rich environment."

As they have previously, Democratic leaders staunchly oppose Kucinich's impeachment effort. They expect to table the resolution by referring it to the Judiciary Committee, where they expect it to die.

The House of Representatives voted Wednesday to send articles of impeachment against President Bush to the Judiciary Committee for review.

The impeachment resolution’s sponsor, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, requested a recorded vote on the motion around 3 p.m. Wednesday, and 24 Republicans joined nearly all Democrats in voting to send the impeachment measure to the committee.

The motion passed 251-166.

“It is imperative that Members of Congress have a thorough opportunity to read the Articles of Impeachment and study the documentation,” Kucinich said in a news release Tuesday. “When they do, I am confident that they will agree that it is both appropriate and necessary for the Judiciary Committee to begin hearings on the Resolution.”

The Judiciary Committee, chaired by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), already has before it articles of impeachment aimed at Vice President Dick Cheney. Since receiving that impeachment measure in November, the committee has done nothing.

Democratic leaders in the House seem determined to block the latest impeachment measure as well, and it remains all-but-impossible that the House would proceed with impeachment hearings before Bush leaves office.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi is sticking by her earlier pledge to make sure impeaching Bush and Cheney is an option that remains strictly “off the table.”