In the tradition of the Lincoln/Douglas Debates, Coalition for the Constitution hosted a Debate on Impeachment between Republican Bruce Fein (pro-impeachment) and Democrat Michael Tomasky (anti-impeachment).

Find our more information at our website www.CoalitionfortheConstitution.com

The Debate was held on January 15, 2008 at 7pm, at the Carrboro Century Center and was be moderated by UNC Professor of Leadership and Public Policy, W. Hodding Carter III, and hosted by Orange County Commissioner Moses Carey. The full debate can be seen here:

Impeachment is mentioned six times in the United States Constitution, including most clearly in Article II, section 3 which reads:

“The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”

Recently, privileged resolution HR 799 (HR 333 re-introduced), Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney, was introduced on the floor of the House. Former presidential candidate Joe Biden has also raised the impeachment issue on the campaign trail in connection with a possible war with Iran. Robert Wexler is also pushing for hearings at www.wexlerwantshearings.com

To help the public better understand the pros and cons of impeachment, the organizers have lined up two well-known political pundits to debate and answer those questions.

Bruce Fein is a lawyer, specializing in constitutional and international law, who served as an associate deputy attorney general under Ronald Reagan. He has recently been a strong advocate for the impeachment of current U.S. vice-president Dick Cheney and President George W Bush. Fein graduated from Harvard Law School in 1972. In March 2007, he founded the American Freedom Agenda with Bob Barr, David Keene and Richard Viguerie. Fein is counsel to Ron Paul’s campaign for the 2008 Presidential nomination. One of his most scathing indictments of Dick Cheney appeared in his article for Slate.com entitled, “Impeach Cheney, The Vice President has run utterly amok and must be stopped.” http://www.slate.com/id/2169292/

Michael Tomasky, is a progressive journalist who has recently written an article about impeachment, entitled, “The Dumbest Move the Dems Could Make”, which has been cited by the Democratic Leadership, and 4th District North Carolina Congressman, David Price, as the reasoning behind their refusal to support impeachment. Tomasky has served as the executive editor of The American Prospect and is the author of Left for Dead: The Life, Death, and Possible Resurrection of Progressive Politics in America (1996), a study of the intellectual collapse of the American left. “Here is a link to his article “The Dumbest Move the Dems could Make”: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/02/AR2007080201767.html