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Poll: Plurality Oppose Cheney Impeachment

In the wake of Dennis Kucinich's attempt to have Dick Cheney impeached, which was scuttled by the House Democratic leadership, a new Rasmussen poll shows that 31% of likely voters agree that the vice president should be impeached, while 41% do not agree.






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What a great way to determine criminal culpability... So much better than the old system.

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The "old system" includes the fact that a sitting President (and arguably Vice President) cannot be indcited or arrested.

WOO HOO!!!

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How odd that a poll should come out saying the American people don't want to impeach the Prince of Darkness. Still believe the polls?

Rusmussen?, whom Larry Kudlow calls "an everyday must-read" report? How could you doubt it. Cheney must be making a comeback.

And "likely voters"? Who are they? Rasmussen decides. And why likely voters anyway? Are they going hold an impeachment election? Would be nice... Let the people decide.

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vincent wrote on November 10, 2007 1:45 PM:
What a great way to determine criminal culpability... So much better than the old system.

*****Well said Vincent.Maybe the time is coming when punishment for criminality will be determined by polls.Now get the pollsters to frame the questions in the criminals favor & Woop-de-doo-doo they have hit the jackpot for a lifetime.

****Seems very strange .Maybe the folks doing polling for the Dem leadership is in cohoots with Cheney.

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I am a likely voter, and I agree that Vice President Cheney should not be impeached.

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Since so many top politicians are involved in illegal activities, maybe there should be a regular judicial review process to make sure they are not ruining the country and the world for their own interests. Nowhere better or easier to start than with Mr. Halliburton himself.

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This sounds like a pretty negative poll for Cheney that is trying to be spun in his favor. 59% of the public thinks Cheney SHOULD be impeached or they haven't made up their minds. If anything, that is a resounding call for the Judiciary committee to start holding hearings and airing the evidence for the public to see for themselves.

Also, please remember that during Watergate the courts ruled that Executive Privilege cannot be claimed to block testimony or the release of documents if they are being used to investigate criminal acts by the Executive.

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I'd have no problem running the whole government by polls. If they were honest. With the amount of money involved in ownership of the presidency,or VP though, the temptation to lie is just too great.

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How was the impeachment scuttled? It was sent to the Judicial Committee, which is the next step. Call Conyers to expedite it.

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For Cheney, I was hoping for something a bit more Bastille Day like or

A Military Commission, a blindfold and brick wall BUT

Impeachment and removal is acceptable.

I know that Jake D. agrees . . . On the first two, Although his third was a weekend of waterboarding and stress positions . . .

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41% to 31% against Impeachment? These kind of figures tell me there's REASON to Impeachment hearings. Whether or not it is proven beyond a reasonable doubt that VP Cheney should be Impeach will only be known if we have the hearings.

The only way to hear the TRUTH about what was said or done is by forcing the information to be out in the OPEN once and for all.

I sincerely hope the Judicial Committee will hold serious discussions and invite witnesses, for and against the Impeachment. If they don't they will be forever held in history as the group that could have gotten the TRUTH out there but for political reasons - refused to do so.

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31% are for impeachment.
41% are against.
28% are waiting for further evidence to make a determination on this matter. If the evidence proves to be compelling and overwhelming as the impeachment process goes forward then 59% will be for impeachment. In fact, some of the 41% might even change their minds.
So let's begin.
Once that is done we can move on to the really guilty party - Bush.
The quickest way for us to regain our credibility world-wide is to impeach both of them.

Interestingly enough I don't remember any polls being taken as to whether or not Clinton should have been impeached.

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Impeachment is NOT a judicial process, it is a Congressional process. That makes it, above all, a political process. Don't need to go far back to see how it works. Clinton's impeachment was pure unadulterated politics. All it took was rule by the thug party. Dems simply don't have the political will, the backbone so to speak, to impeach George or Dick. (And by the way impeahcing Dick first would be the way to go because you do not want Dick rising to the level of POTUS under any circumstances) In fact the Dems have bent over backwards to accommodate the criminality of the Bush administration as the most recent Mukasey endorsement illustrates. They are clearly afraid of the gangsters running our government. Otherwise impeachment would have been a done deal last year. One can only speculate on the reasons for their fear.

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To clarify MNW (above) a bit, there's really no "might" about some of the 40% (it is 40, not 41 btw) changing their minds. Because 22% of Dems currently "oppose" -- presumably following the lead of DC Dem "strategerists," who've been actively campaigning against doing their sworn duty for over a year now.

Depending on the sample, that alone would likely increase the 59% support number by another 6-8 points.

It's remarkable that, in the face of such manipulation by DC Dem "leaders," the 40ish number that opposes hasn't changed since before the last election.

Anyone honestly trying to guage what the American People would think of impeaching bushcheney can easily see there would be 70/30 support, perhaps a bit more.

And given the circumstances, these "Reverse Clinton Farce" results could even extend to a Senate trial, should the GOP Senators be put on the spot to approve or denounce torture and war crimes, for all the world, their families, and history to clearly see.

Oh, and it would also reverse decades of perception of Dems as weak. Consequently turning '08 into a China Syndrome election for the neofascist Repubs. But that's something you need to live outside the beltway bubble to comprehend.

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I'm willing to wait for the War Crimes trial. Invasion, murdering civilians, torture, occupation, theft of natural resources . . . that ought to do it.

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On the Rasmussen Report front page, "Clinton" appears 10 times Obama once, other Democrats, not at all. Repubicans are all matched up against her. Is this the objective source from which we should be figuring out what the American people want?

If there were a left wing polling company to contrast it with, I'll bet it would be 99% for impeachment.

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I think Cy Guy put it best when he said that the chosen perspective was that 31% do not want impeachment, which is just a political, congressional, grand jury search for an indictment, while a more 'positive one would be that 59% want impeachment or an investigation looking into one, not a very high endorsement of Cheney. Imagine saying 31% don't want him indicted, how would it sound then? It's just incredible that we're even having this discussion. Richard Nixon was nearly impeached for true 'high crimes and misdemeanors against the Constitution'. Bill Clinton was impeached for allegedly lying about a blow job, although we know the political calculus this Republican party utilized to rationalize it, and 8 years later, we have come to this, talk of impeachment for starting a war, killing 1000s based on an ideologically driven lie, spying on your own citizens, then covering it up, stonewalling and lying about it, signing laws, then saying that you won't enforce or live up to them if you don't feel like it, torturing in the name of the US, then lying about it. It sounds like a legal and political no brainer to me.

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2008 Presidential Election Weekly Poll
http://www.votenic.com
Results Posted Every Tuesday Evening.

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I'm sorry I got my numbers all bass ackwards when I tried to follow up on Cy Guy's post. Anyhow, my view after that still stands.

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Do most people, even likely voters, understand that impeachment is a pre-trial step? For years (pre-Clinton) I assumed it meant removal from office, and that may still be the prevailing view. If you asked people if they thought allegations that the VP committed serious crimes should be investigated, you could probably get a majority. Which brings us back to the earlier suggestions to audit the survey.

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I understand that impeachment is a pre-trial (in the House only with trial in the Senate -- see above comments -- actual criminal indictment and arrest, as well as any subsequent trial for "war crimes" ain't gonna happen) step. As for whether the majority of Americans understand, or could even correctly identify the Vice President of the United States, you may have a point there.

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Here are the actual questions asked and results -- 85% agree with me that impeachment is "Not very likely", "Not at all likely" or they are "Not sure" (just read what Pelosi is saying, for God's sake):

National Survey of 800 Likely Voters

November 7-8, 2007

1* How closely have you followed recent news stories about a resolution in Congress to impeach Vice-President Dick Cheney?

21% Very closely

27% Somewhat closely

37% Not very closely

14% Not at all

1% Not sure


2* Did Vice-President Cheney violate his pledge to protect the constitution of the United States?

34% Yes

29% No

36% Not sure


3* Would you be more likely or less likely to vote for a candidate who actively works to have Vice-President Cheney impeached?

25% More likely

36% Less likely

28% No impact

10% Not sure


4* Should Dick Cheney be impeached and removed from office?

31% Yes

40% No

29% Not sure


5* How likely is it that Dick Cheney will be impeached and removed from office?

5% Very likely

10% Somewhat likely

50% Not very likely

25% Not at all likely

10% Not sure

NOTE: Margin of Sampling Error, +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence

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