Democracy Has Prevailed.

February 10, 2018

Senator Toomey RESPONDS to Another Letter

And so quickly!

It was only yesterday when I posted another non-answer response from Senator Pat Toomey.

This one is interesting - not necessarily for what it says but what it represents. I'll explain.

First the letter. It begins with this:
Thank you for contacting me about impeachment of President Trump. I appreciate hearing from you.
IMPEACHMENT? When did I ever ask Senator Toomey about impeachment?

The letter is dated January 31, 2018 so we can safely assume he's not responding to any letter written after that date.

This is a mystery as I've never, as far as I can tell with a google advanced search, specifically asked Senator Toomey about "impeachment." The Senator writes:
As you may know, the U.S. Constitution provides that the President is removable from office "on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors."
In my 47th open letter to the Senator I do specifically as about treason

In that letter, I ask about Donald Trump's commentary on his State of the Union address, specifically when he (Trump) called out those Democrats who decided not to applaud him as "un-American" and "traitorous." I asked Senator Toomey if he ever felt like he was committing treason whenever he decided not to applaud any part of any Democratic President's State of the Union address. Then there's the question:
If not, then how can you continue to support, as president, a man who just accused some of your Senatorial and Congressional colleagues of committing treason for simply not applauding him enough? The Constitution is very clear on a definition of treason. Political dissent is not a part of it. So which side are you on? Trump's or the Constitution's?
But that's not necessary about Trump's treason but his charge that disloyalty in the Democratic Party equals treason. And in any case it's in a letter written after January 31 so unless there's a Senatorial TARDIS that no one knows about, this can't be about that.

So let's go backwards from there. What are my recent Toomey + Trump letters and can any of them be said to address "impeachment"?
  • 46th letter - Where I ask if Toomey is willing to support legislation protecting Robert Mueller's investigation into the Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
  • 45th letter - Where I ask if Toomey, a social conservative, still supports Donald Trump, who had unprotected sex with an adult film star even though he was married to another woman.
  • 44th letter - Where I ask for Toomey's reaction to Trump's inaction regarding the false missile alarm in Hawaii.
  • 43rd letter - Where I ask whether Toomey thinks Trump's assault on the First Amendment regarding the publication of the book "Fire and Fury" is acceptable.
  • 42nd letter - Where I ask for Toomey's reaction to some then-recent false statements of Trump's as well as his assertion that he has the "absolute right" to do what he pleases with the DOJ.
  • 41st letter - Where I ask Toomey what he'd do if Trump were to fire Robert Mueller.
  • 39th letter - This one is about Roy Moore and Toomey responded to it.
  • 38th letter - Where I ask Toomey about Trump's relationship with the First Amendment and which side he (Toomey) is on: Trump's or the Constitution's. Toomey responded here, too.
Do we need to go any further back?  We've hit two letters that Toomey (or his office) has already responded to and there's still nothing about impeachment.

Can anyone find a letter of mine where I ask about impeachment? I really wanna know.

But this leads me to a rather larger broader question. As I've been able to find a couple of letters he sent to me posted elsewhere online, it should be obvious that the letters I receive from Senator Toomey are, in one way or another, form letters. The basic idea must be this: You write about Afghanistan, he sends you "the Afghanistan letter." You write about tax policy, he sends you "the tax policy letter." And so on.

But think of what that means in regards to this letter.

It means that Senator Pat Toomey has a constituent letter already prepared for whenever a someone writes to him about impeaching Donald J Trump. It's "the impeachment letter."
How interesting/scary/funny - take your pick (I'll take the shovel) is that?

Text of the letter
Thank you for contacting me about impeachment of President Trump. I appreciate hearing from you.

As you may know, the U.S. Constitution provides that the President is removable from office "on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." As a Senator, I am unable to begin impeachment proceedings. Impeachment proceeding s must originate in the House of Representatives, with a majority voting to impeach the President. If this occurs the U.S. Senate holds a trial, and can only convict with a vote of two-thirds of members present.

Currently, the Senate has not received an impeachment resolution from the House of Representatives. Please be assured that I value your input and will keep your thoughts in mind.

Thank you again for your correspondence. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future if I can be of assistance.

1 comment:

Ed Heath said...

Gotta love the "House hasn't sent us anything, so I won't say how I would vote on impeachment".