(Update) Vermont Senate Demonstrates Ignorance of the Constitution

The Vermont State Senate today voted to recommend the commencement of impeachment proceedings against the president and vice president...yes, both of them:

Vermont senators voted Friday to call for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, saying their actions in Iraq and the U.S. "raise serious questions of constitutionally."

The non-binding resolution was approved 16-9 without debate - all six Republicans in the chamber at the time and three Democrats voted against it.

The text of the impeachment resolution is here:

Whereas, President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney have exercised the duties of their respective offices with respect to both domestic and foreign affairs in ways that raise serious questions of constitutionality, statutory legality, and abuse of the public trust, and

Whereas, the President's conduct in his role as Commander in Chief in leading our nation into the military conflict in Iraq, and the Vice President's continual advocacy for American troops remaining in Iraq, have cost the United States much of the good will that was extended to our country in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, and

Whereas, the President's and the Vice President's domestic leadership on issues relating to individual privacy and personal liberty under law has raised constitutional issues of the greatest concern to the nation's citizenry,

Perhaps there's some misconception owing to the fact that none of the framers of the U.S. Constitution hailed from the Green Mountain State, but you need to identify a 'high crime or misdemeanor' to impeach the president or vice president--or both in this case. "We don't like them,' doesn't really cut it. Similarly, one cannot offer a list of complaints and suggest--as the Vermont Senate seems to have done--there must be something impeachable in there!

It's curious that on both Iraq and the 'question' of impeachment, Republicans are now in the position of almost daring Congressional Democrats to do what their base is asking of them: to defund the war, or to impeach the president.

Update: Looks like the Vermont Senate is just trying to catch the wave.