Freyne Land

"I agree with what she said in her statement there. It is a highly divisive issue. Vermonters have problems that they want to have solved that are closer to home, and I commend her for the stand she has taken on this!"

Whoa: "Commend her for the stand she has taken!"

Words of praise for Democratic House Speaker Gaye Symington of Jericho last night on VPR's "Switchboard," hosted by veteran Vermont journalist Bob Kinzel.

Words of praise from a unusual source - Rob Roper, partisan chairman of the Vermont Republican Party and a staunch George W. Bush supporter and defender.

And what Symington, the Democratic Speaker, said in her somewhat convoluted statement to Kinzel earlier in the day was back up her decision to keep J.R.H. 15 - the resolution calling on Congress to investigate President George W. Liar to find if he has committed impeachable offenses - out of play in the people's House under Montpeculiar's golden dome.

SYMINGTON: "I feel that the job of the Vermont state legislature is tofocus on issues that we directly have an influence on: property taxes,health care, our energy future as a state, the state hospital, roadsand bridges, broadband, economic development. We have huge and complex issues that face the state and we really need to work together to solvethem."

And they've made such progress, eh?

At 11:30 this morning, Symington and Senate Leader Peter Shumlin, a fellow Democrat, are scheduled to meet for all of "five minutes" with Vermont citizen leaders of the grassroots movement to impeach George WMD Bush. (Lord knows the high crimes and misdemeanors are countless, eh?)

In addition to making the case the legislature simply "does not have the time" to deal with the Bush Impeachment Resolution that passed almost 40 Vermont towns on Town Meeting Day, Speaker Gaye also argued on VPR that if Vermont's legislature passed the resolution and Congress actually addressed it, the nation's legislative branch would grind to a halt, focusing on just one issue.

SYMINGTON: "If instead Congress focuses on impeachment, that becomes the issue in and of itself and all of the others get lost. That’s not where I think the priority should be for our Congress."

Having lived through "Watergate" and the impeachment of President Richard M. Nixon, I assure you, the rest of Congress, outside of the Judiciary Committees continued to function just fine and produce some landmark legislation.

Someone else who lived through Watergate is Pulitzer-Prize-winning cartoonist Garry Trudeau. And would you believe this week's Doonesbury series, Monday-thru-Saturday, is all about the Vermont impeachment battle!

At some point, the Vermont Legislature's Democratic leadership might want to consider removing their heads from the sand, eh?

Thanks, Garry!