( – promoted by buhdydharma )
Rep. Dennis Kucinich has led the fight for impeachment since April 2007, when he defied Speaker Pelosi and courageously introduced 3 Articles of Impeachment (H.Res. 333/799) against Vice President Cheney. On June 10, Kucinich defied Speaker Pelosi again and introduced 35 Articles of Impeachment (H.Res. 1258) against President Bush.
When Pelosi refused to allow hearings on any of the 38 Articles of Impeachment, Kucinich returned to the floor of Congress to introduce one more Article of Impeachment against President Bush (H.Res. 1345).
Thanks to massive pressure from Democrats.com and our pro-impeachment allies, Speaker Pelosi finally allowed Chairman Conyers to hold a hearing this Friday. Kucinich will finally get a few minutes to argue for impeachment, along with Rep. Robert Wexler, former Rep. Liz Holtzman, and former Salt Lake City mayor Rocky Anderson. Kucinich made a video to thank us for our efforts.
H.Res. 1345 focuses on Bush’s ultimate crime – invading Iraq on the basis of lies. The evidence is overwhelming that George Bush, Dick Cheney, Condi Rice, Karl Rove, Andy Card, and other top officials deliberately manufactured those lies to “sell” an invasion whose real purpose was to gain control of Iraq’s oil and establish military bases in the heart of the Middle East.
This was the agenda of the Project for a New American Century that Bush adopted after stealing the 2000 election. And it’s the reason Bush and John McCain are determined to stay in Iraq forever, even though Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki supports Barack Obama’s plan to remove all our troops by 2010.
When Kucinich testifies on Friday, he will naturally face hostile questions from rightwing Republicans who impeached President Clinton. But Kucinich will also face hostile questions from key Democrats who oppose impeachment.
Some of these Democrats supported the invasion of Iraq: Howard Berman (CA28), Rick Boucher (VA09), Adam Schiff (CA29), Brad Sherman (CA27), and Anthony Weiner (NY09).
But most of these Democrats oppose impeachment because they are cowering in fear of a counterattack from the White House and FOX News: John Conyers (MI14), Artur Davis (AL07), Bill Delahunt (MA10), Zoe Lofgren (CA16), Jerry Nadler (NY08), Linda Sanchez (CA39), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL20), Bobby Scott (VA03), Betty Sutton (OH13), and Mel Watt (NC12).
Only a few Judiciary Democrats understand that the Founding Fathers gave Congress the power of impeachment as the only way to stop a President from defying the Constitution and becoming a dictator, as Bush has done: Robert Wexler (FL19), Tammy Baldwin (WI02), Steve Cohen (TN09), Keith Ellison (MN05), Luis Gutierrez (IL04), Sheila Jackson Lee (TX18), Hank Johnson (GA04), and Maxine Waters (CA35).
If anti-impeachment Democrats get their way, Friday’s 2-hour hearing will be the only “impeachment” hearing for this entire Congress – and then Bush will try to pardon himself and everyone else before leaving office next January, just as his father pardoned six Iran-contra criminals.
So it is crucial for all of us – now over 500,000! – to tell our Representatives today to support impeachment by cosponsoring Kucinich’s H. Res. 1345:
http://www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/142
And if you can do more, please make free calls to every Judiciary Democrat who opposes impeachment through CauseCaller:
http://www.causecaller.com/causes.php?c=House_Judiciary_Democrats_Impeachment
Simply enter your phone number and click the “Start Calling” button. (Click “Call me back if I accidentally hang up” in case you hang up by mistake.) In a few seconds, your phone will “magically” ring and CauseCaller will say the name of the first Representative on the list. Listen carefully for the name of each Member so you can repeat the name to the receptionist – or just say “The Representative.” Don’t hang up between calls – let the receptionists hang up and CauseCaller will dial the next Representative.
If you want to do even more, call your favorite radio or TV talk shows and tell them how important Friday’s hearings will be, and how strongly you support impeachment for whichever reasons are most important to you. Prepare your thoughts in advance so you sound informed and determined.
And if you’re near Washington DC, join Veterans for Peace to lobby Congress on Thursday and hold a pro-impeachment rally on Friday:
http://www.democrats.com/node/17211
Lots more details and actions here:
27 comments
Skip to comment form
A two-hours only for a hearing on Kucinich’s resolution, with only 5 minutes allowed for each speaker, seems to me a pitiable amount of time in terms of the most criminal administration in our history. It seems but an appeasement to the American people, who have been screaming endlessly for Impeachment — a crumb. However, we must GRAB that crumb and DO the MOST with it.
Laughable is the fact that the Clemmen’s steroid hearing consumed an ENTIRE DAY!
I am grateful for your essay — was on the verge of posting one myself!
I’m sorry to sound so cynical, but it’s too little and much too late. Hearings could take months, and they would delay it as long as possible, and then Jan 21 2009 the entire process would become irrelevant.
What we do NOT need is a reason for disenfranchised and disillusioned conservatives to rally behind McCain in a show of spontaneous support in November to keep the democrats from doing to their guy what they did to our guy 10 years ago.
It’s all political posturing now – Kucinich is one of the last remaining honorable public servants in Congress, but why did he wait so long? Wexler seems to be rabidly pro-impeachment, but he must have known when he started his rhetoric that it was too late. His timing is two years off. I have to wonder if what he was really after was better national name recognition. (I told you I was feeling cynical)
I want nothing more than to have George W. Bush, on Inauguration Day, handcuffed by U.S. Marshal’s with Secret Service cooperation, and held over for trial where he most definitely will not be tortured until he spills his yellow guts.
It won’t happen, he’s already legally outmaneuvered his opposition and is safe from prosecution from war crimes courtesy of the last Republican majority Congress in August 2006.
It’s my dream, and I dream it often. Won’t make it happen though.
Text at Kucinich
to use the wrong button because i really do believe you are wrong.
if you still read there, please go over and rec to get it up on the rec list to get as many calls going as possible.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/…
…very important post. BTW: my Norton Security blocked the After Downing Street video with Dennis’ speech, saying it might contain “malicious” something or other. I by-passed and opened anyway. So far, I’ve seen no adverse effects. My computer has not exploded with little wires poking out and smouldering. I’ll get in touch with Norton later and tell them their judgement on this was in error.
Cause Caller, and spoke with every single Democratic Judiciary Congressperson on the list. And I expressed myself in an earnest and emphatic manner. My name and zip-code was taken, and a couple asked for my phone number, as well.
I hope each of you, who are able, takes the time to do the same. Give it your ALL!
I’d love to see a live blog essay for this hearing tomorrow.
The hearing can be seen 10:00 a.m. eastern time at this link:
House Judiciary Committee Schedule
I’m not sure if CSPAN is covering this – does anyone know?
The afterdowningstreet site has some updates.
Thanks for this excellent essay bob fertik!
about the hearings: ConyersBlog He usually likes to change the subject by posting a new thread when we all get a bit too critical of his lack of action, but I’m betting he or someone on his staff reads the comments & he gets an earful.
BTW, feline has suggested liveblogging the hearing on ConyersBlog, in the thread “Spying on Antiwar Protestors”. The Congressman has since posted a new thread, so we could comment in the new thread too.