5 Vermont Towns endorse impeaching
5 Vermont Towns endorse impeaching the President, right? Well, only sort of. The AP article makes it seem like this marathon session, late into the night, drives the issue:
Now I read that, and have this image in my head of a meeting running until 9 or 10 at night, and saving this monumental item for the end. But wait:
Hmm. So the 150 town residents without day jobs (day jobs including, I'm guessing, parents with small children), vote on behalf of the town, without putting the question to the populace at large. Clearly I shouldn't be suggesting that the bias of that self-selected pool could be extrapolated to infer nationally that the anti-Bush, anti-Republican, anti-defense crowd may be significantly made up of those who are more dilettantes than day-to-day providers? That perhaps it is, in fact, only in the absence of discussions with responsible, in-touch adults that would lead a community to this sort of invective?
I wonder.
The article, approved by a paper ballot 121-29, calls on Vermont's lone member of the U.S. House, independent Rep. Bernie Sanders, to file articles of impeachment against the president, alleging that Bush misled the nation into the Iraq war and engaged in illegal domestic spying.
At least four other Vermont towns, spurred by publicity about Newfane's resolution, brought up similar resolutions during Tuesday's meetings and endorsed them. They were Brookfield, Dummerston, Marlboro and Putney.
In Newfane, the impeachment item came at the end of a roughly four-hour meeting that was devoted mostly to the local affairs of the town of 1,600 located in southeastern Vermont. Some residents stayed alert with the help of coffee and sweet pastries offered as a school fundraiser at the back of the hall.
Now I read that, and have this image in my head of a meeting running until 9 or 10 at night, and saving this monumental item for the end. But wait:
The debate also touched on an age-old criticism of Vermont's Town Meeting Day tradition: Many residents work during the day and can't participate. Helen Prescott said she wished the impeachment resolution had been put on the ballot, giving residents until 7 p.m. to come to the poll at the town's Union Hall and vote on the question.
"For us to make this decision for all the residents of Newfane scares me," she said.
Hmm. So the 150 town residents without day jobs (day jobs including, I'm guessing, parents with small children), vote on behalf of the town, without putting the question to the populace at large. Clearly I shouldn't be suggesting that the bias of that self-selected pool could be extrapolated to infer nationally that the anti-Bush, anti-Republican, anti-defense crowd may be significantly made up of those who are more dilettantes than day-to-day providers? That perhaps it is, in fact, only in the absence of discussions with responsible, in-touch adults that would lead a community to this sort of invective?
I wonder.
