IMPEACHMENT: Bush, Cheney; The Pelosi Wall Is Starting To Crack

SLOWLY BUT SURELY THE WAVE IS RISING AND THE PELOSI WALL IS STARTING TO CRACK AND CRUMBLE. NO MATTER WHAT DISAPPOINTMENT WE MAY FACE; WE CANNOT STOP; WE CANNOT RELAX!

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Submitted by davidswanson on May 30, 2007 - 1:42am.
ImpeachForChange

By David Swanson

Advocates for impeachment can take some measure of encouragement not just from the 85 cities and towns and 14 state Democratic parties that have passed impeachment resolutions, or the 11 state legislatures that have introduced them (Maine was #11 on Tuesday), but also from comments made Tuesday evening in Detroit by House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers.

For about a year now there have been two Congressmen Conyers, the defender of our Constitution and the follower of Nancy Pelosi in her ban on impeachment. Citizens in Detroit organized a town hall forum on impeachment and invited the Congressman. Both John Conyerses came on Tuesday, and they both left partway through the event. But, judging by the Associated Press story, Conyers the impeachment advocate was winning the internal battle.

Submitted by davidswanson on May 30, 2007 - 1:42am. ImpeachForChange

By David Swanson

Advocates for impeachment can take some measure of encouragement not just from the 85 cities and towns and 14 state Democratic parties that have passed impeachment resolutions, or the 11 state legislatures that have introduced them (Maine was #11 on Tuesday), but also from comments made Tuesday evening in Detroit by House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers.

For about a year now there have been two Congressmen Conyers, the defender of our Constitution and the follower of Nancy Pelosi in her ban on impeachment. Citizens in Detroit organized a town hall forum on impeachment and invited the Congressman. Both John Conyerses came on Tuesday, and they both left partway through the event. But, judging by the Associated Press story, Conyers the impeachment advocate was winning the internal battle.

There's a very short version of the AP report posted on websites including http://www.wlns.com/Global/story.asp?S=6583728&nav=0RbQ and

http://www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=6583728

The report reads in its entirety:

"Detroit Congressman John Conyers says he supports a national effort calling for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. But he stopped short today of pledging to take action to back it. The veteran democratic [sic] lawmaker chairs the House Judiciary Committee, which would lead any impeachment hearings. Conyers did say that he encourages nationwide efforts to build support for impeaching Bush."

Judging by that story, Conyers is not yet committed to acting, but he wants to be able to, and he wants to see an increase in public pressure to make it easier for him to move ahead.

Let's give it to him!

There's a longer AP article posted on websites includinghttp://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=6583653&nav=0Rcd and

http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/regional/index.ssf?/base/news-44/11804846...

This longer article begins:

"U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., said Tuesday he supports a national effort calling for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, but stopped short of pledging to take action to back it.

'I've been supportive of that movement,' said Conyers, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee that would lead impeachment hearings. 'I encourage that nationwide.'

But Conyers, who left a Detroit church before a town-hall meeting attended by a standing-room-only crowd of about 250 people, remained noncommittal about lending his official backing for impeachment proceedings. Conyers had also convened a separate town-hall meeting in Detroit on Tuesday evening to discuss high gas prices.

'The goal is whether to impeach or follow up on the defects and disabilities of an administration' that has shut out Congress, he said."

So far, the longer article gives about the same impression as the shorter one as to Conyers' position. And, reading on, it continues to do so, but the reporter throws in material from other sources:

"A message was seeking comment were left [sic] Tuesday night with the Republican National Committee. Saul Anuzis, chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, suggested Conyers was simply indulging old obsessions, adding, 'It has no legs, it's gaining no support in Michigan, let alone nationally.'"

This charge is called into question later in the same article by the report that Detroit City Council recently passed a resolution to petition the US House for impeachment. And pronouncements on public support for impeachment, or lack thereof, are almost always complete guesses or fabrications.

The few polls that have been done show strong support for impeachment: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/polling but none of these polls are recent, none are focused on Michigan, and none are likely to be repeated anytime soon, since polling companies are refusing to touch the subject even for cold hard cash. The article continues:

"Anuzis cited the recent approval by Congress to fund the Iraq war, and he said there is serious analysis going on to determine how best to deal with the situation there.’This is moving along the way it should in the normal course of action and I think that the Democrats in Congress that are a little more reasonable are working with the president,' he said."

More reasonable than Conyers? Or more reasonable than the public? Or more reasonable than the Detroit City Council?

"Speakers and audience members expressed frustration and disappointment Tuesday that Conyers did not return by the event's conclusion. The town-hall meeting featured panelists who took questions from the audience. Behind the panel, a large sign bearing handwritten signatures hung endorsing impeachment proceedings. On May 16, the Detroit City Council unanimously passed an impeachment resolution that claimed the two [presumably this means Bush and Cheney] had conspired to defraud the public to justify the Iraq war.

The resolution was sponsored by Councilwoman Monica Conyers, the Democratic congressman's wife. Nationwide, more than 70 cities and 14 state Democratic parties have urged impeachment or investigations that could lead to impeachment."

Not 70, but at least 85: http://www.impeachpac.org/resolutions-list

Next the AP article simply quotes from a McClatchy article that came out Tuesday about the national movement for impeachment:

"'There's a lot growing in support [sic],' Tim Carpenter, director of the liberal group Progressive Democrats of America, told McClatchy Newspapers for a Tuesday story. 'Whether Congress will respond, that's another question.' On the Judiciary Committee, Conyers has been criticized by Republicans for his vocal opposition to the White House's handling of the Iraq War."

Yeah? What does the public think? Any idea?

"During the last session, when Republicans controlled Congress, he introduced a bill calling on lawmakers to determine whether there are grounds for impeachment over the government's warrantless wiretapping program."

In fact, Congressman Conyers introduced H Res 635 before the warrantless wiretapping program was first reported on. The bill would have created "a select committee to investigate the Administration's intent to go to war before congressional authorization, manipulation of pre-war intelligence, encouraging and countenancing torture, and retaliating against critics, and to make recommendations regarding grounds for possible impeachment." http://afterdowningstreet.org/635

Conyers released a report at the time on some of the apparent crimes of Bush and Cheney, which his staff later updated to include the warrantless spying. http://afterdowningstreet.org/constitutionincrisis

Tuesday night's AP article adds a final sentence that appears not to be a quotation or even to derive from Tuesday night. It reads:

"But amid pressure from party leaders, Conyers has said that he does not intend to move forward with any impeachment effort."

Of all the things Conyers has said for and against impeachment, why pick this one to paraphrase? The people packed into the meeting in Detroit might have preferred a beauty like this one:

"I have a choice. I can either stand by and lead my constituents to believe I do not care that the president apparently no longer believes he is bound by any law or code of decency. Or I can act."

Here's a description of Tuesday evening's event from the media advisory sent out beforehand:

Metro Detroiters to Hold Impeachment Town Hall DiscussionCongressman John Conyers, Jr., is expected to appear

Tuesday, May 29th @ 5 pm (Refreshments & Organizing 5pm; Panel Starts Promptly at 5:45pm; Parking Available at Church)Central United Methodist Church23 E. Adams Ave., Detroit, MI 48226

with Special Guests: Jazz Great Spencer Barefield & FriendsPanel & Discussion to Include:

*Jack Lessenberry: Detroit Metro Times editorialist.

*Bill Goodman: Former Legal Director of Center for Constitutional Rights, local Detroit NLG attorney.

*JoAnn Watson: Detroit City Council Member.

*Maureen Taylor: State Chair of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization.

*Malik Rahim: Co-founder Common Ground, New Orleans; Green Party Candidate for NO City Council in 2002; former Black Panther Party member.

*Ann Wright: U.S. Army Colonel and diplomat who resigned in protest the day before the war began.

*Ray McGovern: Former CIA analyst who prepared the President's Daily Brief and chaired National Intelligence Estimates; Steering Group of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity member.

*Debra Sweet: National Coordinator, World Can't Wait! Drive Out the Bush Regime!

Initial List of Sponsors: National Lawyers Guild, Detroit & Michigan Chapter;

MIImpeach.org;

Veterans for Peace;

Latinos Unidos of Michigan;

Michigan Welfare Rights Organization;

Democrats.com;

AfterDowningStreet.org;

Progressive Democrats of America;

World Can’t Wait--Detroit Chapter; A28;

Green Party of Michigan.

For more information: NLG at 313.963.0843 or Michigan NLG (at) michigannlg(dot)org; www.michigannlg.org; David Palmer: www.MIImpeach.org; miimpeach(at)yahoo(dot)com

Reporting on recent passage of impeachment resolution by Detroit City Council:

The Detroit Free Press: http://tinyurl.com/2tp8gc

The Detroit News: http://tinyurl.com/32gu72

AfterDowningStreet.org, including full text of the resolution: http://tinyurl.com/3yvmdm

As more reports come in from Tuesday's event they'll be posted at http://afterdowningstreet.org/mi

To contact and encourage John Conyers and his colleagues, go here: http://afterdowningstreet.org/judiciarycommittee

Today Cindy Sheehan "retired" from the anti-war movement after leading the fight for two years with every piece of her heart and soul.

Cindy wrote: "Good-bye America… you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can't make you be that country unless you want it. It's up to you now."

Sadly, America needs Cindy more than ever. Eight more Casey Sheehans died today in Iraq, leaving eight more grieving Cindy Sheehans back home. Sgt. David Safstrom of the 82nd Airborne told the NY Times, "What are we doing here? Why are we still here? We're helping guys that are trying to kill us. We help them in the day. They turn around at night and try to kill us."

Cindy lost heart after a few dozen "Bush Democrats" voted with virtually every Republican to keep Bush's criminal occupation going forever.

And it's easy to lose heart when we put our time and money into electing anti-war Democratic majorities, only to have those majorities betrayed by a few dozen "Bush Democrats" who are bribed by powerful defense contractors or intimidated by Karl Rove's political henchmen.

But we cannot afford to lose heart because May's total deaths of U.S. troops hit 114, the highest since Cindy began her anti-war campaign and the third highest of the war. And at the current monthly rate, 2007 will be the deadliest year for U.S. troops in the four years of Bush's criminal occupation.

So all of us must pick up the torch that Cindy laid down and find a way to end this war. But how?

In May, 169 House Democrats voted for the McGovern Amendment to end the occupation in March 2008, while only 59 "Bush Democrats" voted against it. If we can switch 43 of those 59 "Bush Democrats," the McGovern Amendment will pass. So let's recruit anti-war Democrats to run against those 59 "Bush Democrats" in the 2008 primaries.

This strategy produced dramatic results in 2006. Both Jane Harman (CA-36) and Al Wynn (MD-4) voted for the war in 2002, but voted against the occupation in 2007 as a direct result of primary challenges by outstanding anti-war candidates Marcy Winograd and Donna Edwards. (Edwards lost by only 3% and will run again in 2008.)

So let's find challengers for all 59 "Bush Democrats"! We created a map of all 59 "Bush Democrat" districts here:

http://tinyurl.com/2hl9vz

Click the pins to see the incumbent's name and a link to a page for that incumbent. If you know an anti-war candidate who could run a good race, click that link and nominate that candidate in a comment. Also share your thoughts on other nominees you find there.

We also created an online pledge form to start building support for our anti-war challengers:

"I pledge to vote against every Senator and Representative who approves funding to continue the disastrous Iraq War. We have already given far too much of our blood and treasure - and killed far too many Iraqis - for a war based on lies. We are now occupying a hostile nation divided by civil war for the benefit of military contractors and Big Oil.

The only way to support our troops is to bring them home NOW, and no funds should be used for any other purpose. If Congress fails to bring our troops home, I will do everything I can - and urge everyone I know - to defeat pro-war Senators and Representatives, both in my party's primary elections and in the November general election."

Over 18,000 have already signed our pledge. Sign it now and tell your friends:

http://www.democrats.com/iraq-vote-pledge

Let's do it for Cindy Sheehan - and for her beloved son Casey.