Representative Wexler Wants Cheney Impeachment Hearings . . . .

. . . . And He Wants You To Sign Another Petition For Them [http://wexlerwantshearings.com/]

I can't help but get the feeling that this is yet another in a long line of the Democrats' bums' rush tactics.

In the last few years, I've signed at least a half a dozen petitions urging Congress to begin impeachment proceedings against Bush and Cheney, and hold more investigations that would compel evidence of what this administration has been up to, with absolutely no results. And I vaguely recall the American people throwing Republicans out of office in the 2006 elections, replacing them with Democrats because (according to the exit polling), "Voters had had enough of Bush, Cheney, Republicans, the war in Iraq, and wanted change and out of Iraq."

So much for "Elections have results".

Why does a U.S. States congressman need yet another petition before holding hearings? Have the others gone astray? To the wrong address? Are members of Congress unaware of the polls which support, by a majority, removing both Bush and Cheney from office?

Wexler isn't without some seniority and power in Congress. He's on the House Judiciary Committee (he sits on the Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property Subcommittee), the Committee on Financial Services (he sits on the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, and the Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade, and Technology Subcommittee, and the Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises Subcommittee), the Foreign Affairs Committee (of which he chairs the Europe Subcommittee and sits on the Middle East and South Asia Subcommittee).

So what is this petition for and who needs to be convinced? How many signatures will be enough? Last week, Wexler wrote on Huffington Post:

If we can get 50,000 or even more people to sign up in support of this effort I will report back to each and every Democratic colleague of mine the true power that exists behind this movement.

I don't know what the magic is in the 50,000 number, but it's been met and ignored before. One petition calling for impeachment at ImpeachBush.org has 985,871 signatures. If that hasn't been enough (as well as all of the other petitions and polls) to move Congress to get this show on the road, it's a mystery what Wexler's petition can accomplish.

But I guess we'll see very shortly what Wexler can do with it, because last I looked, more than 123,000 people had signed Wexler's petition.