Kucinich Moves to Impeach Vice President Cheney

Long considered a staunch opponent of the Bush administration, House representative and 2008 presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) announced early Tuesday the first major legislation urging the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney. While later delaying introduction of the article, Kucinich's decision to jump-start the drive to impeachment represents a historical landmark for modern politics and the Bush administration's legacy.

Kucinich informed Democratic colleagues of his intentions on April 17, 2007, and originally planned to file impeachment articles at the time of public announcement. Recent revelations stemming from Cheney's visit to a personal doctor factored into Kucinich's decision to delay official introduction of the impeachment proceedings. Cheney is known to have met with doctors as recently as March 5, 2007, when he was treated at George Washington University for deep-vein thrombosis of the left leg.

In the impeachment articles, Kucinich lays out three specific charges of "high crimes and misdemeanors" necessary to remove a sitting official from office. The first accuses the Vice President of "[deceiving] the citizens and the Congress of the United States by fabricating a threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction." The second states that Cheney purposefully "manipulated the intelligence process" to deceive citizens into believing the existence of a link between Iraq and al-Qaeda. The third article, introduced in response to Cheney's "openly threatened aggression against the Republic of Iran," accuses Vice President Cheney of violating Article VI of the United States Constitution by ignoring Article II, Section 4 of the signed U.N. charter, which bars members from threatening the use of force against fellow states.

Kucinich's announcement comes on the same day in which Cheney and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid were involved in a press-based verbal scuffle. Cheney decried Senator Reid's recent statements on the Iraq War as examples of "defeatism," with Reid's response labeling Cheney as "the administration's chief attack dog." Cheney framed his statements primarily in response to a recent remark from Reid, in which the Majority Leader claimed "the war [in Iraq] is lost." Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has called Reid's comments "very, very close to treason," while Congressional Democrats are split in their support.

The past year has not been kind to Cheney. The Vice President was skewered in early 2006 when news of a personal hunting accident hit the airwaves. Optimistic remarks on the situation in Iraq have come back to haunt Cheney, as sound clips regarding the Iraq insurgency being in their "last throes" have not been forgotten by critics and party faithful alike. In addition, Cheney's name has been commonly raised in reference to the recent CIA leak scandal that ultimately found Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby, guilty of wrongdoing.

Cheney's approval rating has consistently hovered between 18% and 30%, according to recent CBS News/New York Times polling.