We see a lot of Republicans defending the President. Politicians are inclined to support the leaders of their party against almost any charge. Republicans have no monopoly on that tendency. But when the shit goes down and it comes time to kick the President to the curb, people tend to forget the people that were late to put the rule of law before partisan considerations. So, let’s honor some of those tardy politicians. On July 28, 1974, the Washington Post ran the following article:
The House Judiciary Committee took the momentous step last night of recommending that the president of the United States be impeached and removed from office.
The first such impeachment recommendation in more than a century, it charges President Nixon with unlawful activities that formed a “course of conduct or plan” to obstruct the investigation of the Watergate break-in and to cover up other unlawful activities.
The vote was 27 to 11, with 6 of the committee’s 17 Republicans joining all 21 Democrats in voting to send the article to the House…
Most members of the Judiciary Committee cast their votes in low, solemn tones and afterward spoke almost in awe of what they had done.
“It’s a grave and sobering decision,” said Rep. Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.), who had managed the debate on Article I for the impeachment forces as an author of a substitute article.
“I don’t feel very good about it,” said Rep. Tom Railsback (R-Ill.), one of the key Republicans who voted against the President.
Some Republican opponents of impeachment were angry. “It’s not only a bad day for the presidency, it’s a bad day for American justice,” said Rep. Delbert Latta (R-Ohio). He complained that the article of impeachment did not contain enough specific allegations.
“We have weakened the hand of the President and the 220 million people he represents,” said Rep. Joseph Maraziti (R-N.J.), one of Mr. Nixon’s most persistent supporters.
Other anti-impeachment Republicans vowed to fight the impeachment article when it comes to the House floor. “It’s only Round One,” said Rep. David W. Dennis (R-Ind.). “There’ll be a good scramble in the House.”
I want everyone to remember Reps. Delbert Latta (R-Ohio), Joseph Maraziti (R-N.J.), and David W. Dennis (R-Ind.) for the shitbags that they were. They were total fascist scum…the lowest order of American politician. Even segregationists had a better claim to serving the rule of law than these losers that were quite willing to overlook the crimes of Richard Milhous Nixon. These bottom feeders will always exist. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-California) is a current example. But the GOP is filled with them.
Lots of people get in bed with corrupt politicians when they are riding high only to come to regret it. Colin Powell is one of these.
Former secretary of state Colin L. Powell said yesterday that he would close down the U.S. military prison for enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, “this afternoon” because it has become a major problem in “the way the world perceives America.”
“Essentially, we have shaken the belief that the world had in America’s justice system by keeping a place like Guantanamo open and creating things like a military commission,” Powell said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Making it clear that he “would not let any of those people go,” Powell said, “I would simply move them to the United States and put them into our more federal legal system.” He said he sees no problem in detainees having the right of habeas corpus and getting their own lawyers. “Isn’t that what our system is all about?”
Yes, Powell, that is what our system is all about, and that is one of several reasons why Bush and Cheney should be impeached. It’s good to see that you don’t need to see the writing on the wall to know that you should disassociate yourself from your former boss. He’s a crook. He makes Nixon look like a pageboy.
Better late than never. Better now than in the history books with the likes of Reps. Delbert Latta (R-Ohio), Joseph Maraziti (R-N.J.), and David W. Dennis (R-Ind.).
