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In March, 2006, Elizabeth Holtzman repeated a point made by Al Gore in January:

President Bush has thrown down the gauntlet to the people of the United States, the Congress, and the Courts. He said, I am above the law, and we have to pick up that challenge because otherwise what is the democracy that we’re handing to our children?

This is a tidbit from the forum held by Harper’s Magazine, with panelists Representative John Conyers Jr., John Dean, Former Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman, Lewis Lapham, and Michael Ratner, and moderated by Sam Seder.

At that time, Rep. Conyers argued,

Well, that’s why we have House Resolution 635 that calls for a select committee to investigate those questions. We’ve got a mountain of evidence. None of this is secret material. It’s not classified. But it does not refute or meet the questions that you have raised—because we don’t have subpoena power to get the people in front of us, under oath, to help confirm, deny, or exculpate the charges that are piling up so high here today.

There’s only one way to find out. Start a select committee like Sam Irving did, in which we ask these very same questions of the people that know the answers. And then, under oath, we will get to the truth.

[He’s referring, I believe, to Sen. Sam Ervin, one of the star performers in the Watergate hearings.] Conyers is speaking with a different tone, now.

Holtzman also spoke about the role of the current special prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald. At the time of this forum last March, the White House had withheld records from Fitzgerald (I think they said that they “lost” them.) She suggested that this could wind up as Obstruction of Justice. This points out that discussions about impeachment of Bush and Cheney are already referring to a special prosecutor who is already on the job.
Of course, this was before the elections. Holtzman strongly made the point that none of this will happen unless the public demands it:

But the critical thing for us to remember is that the only presidential impeachment process that has withstood the test of time and the scrutiny of history, and has been respected for its fairness and the integrity of the process and the result, was the impeachment that was conducted of Richard Millhouse Nixon by the House Judiciary Committee. That impeachment process did not start in the Congress. It started because the people of the United States said enough is enough.

So, when are we going to rise up and say enough is enough?!?!?

The website at Harper’s Magazine provides an MP3 audio of the 90 minute forum, and a partial transcript. Highly recommended, even if it is a bit dated.
Bob Schacht