After more than three years of grassroots pressure from true patriots like you, Congress finally took step 1 towards impeaching George W. Bush for his High Crimes by holding a "non-impeachment hearing" last Friday.
Witnesses led by Dennis Kucinich, Elliot Adams, Rocky Anderson, Bob Barr, Vincent Bugliosi, Bruce Fein, Maurice Hinchey, and Elizabeth Holtzman presented an overwhelming case for impeachment. Watch the individual videos and the wrap-up by American News Project.
Most of the Democrats who attended the hearings were excellent. If one of these is your Representative, or if you contributed to their campaigns, please call 202-224-3121 to thank them for supporting impeachment: Dennis Kucinich, Robert Wexler, Tammy Baldwin, Keith Ellison, Maurice Hinchey, Sheila Jackson-Lee, and Hank Johnson.
After yesterday's Netroots Nation 2008 session with the Speaker of the U.S. House, I went up and shook Nancy Pelosi's hand and asked her directly whether impeachment and censure are still off the table. She answered that no, censure is not off the table (or even "definitely" not off the table, maybe); and as for impeachment, she again stepped aside from the question, as she did during her answers on the stage, by saying that (inherent) contempt was up to John Conyers. (Earth to Nancy: "contempt" and "impeachment" are separate issues...)
So, while NP offered No Palaver about impeachment, the silver lining is that, as per my (non-used) question from askthespeaker.org, censure is still possible.
I had to laugh as confident Cheney hatchet man David Addington dropped Nancy Pelosi's name during torture hearings last week. It was right out of the Senate hearings in The Godfather II - where the Corleones have systematically corrupted key legislators, and are sending tough, coded messages even in their own public testimony.
Addington's message: 'Chairman Conyers, if these hearings go any further than today, I'll publicly ask why your precious Speaker - who my staff secretly briefed about these interrogation methods starting in 2002 - hasn't been called as a witness. You've earned enough political capital; I won't be charged. Don't push it.'
The Bush administration has done what the best con artists and criminals love to do: get The Mark involved in something illegal so they never go to the police - or even better, get police and prosecutors themselves involved.
We have an utterly unique opportunity between now and the day in July that FISA is raised again in the Senate.
Many recent diaries, a damning poll, and strong appearances by Prof. Jonathan Turley on Olbermann's Countdown (links below) all lead to the same conclusion: we - the Democratic base and increasingly the American people - are realizing that the Democrats in power are accessories, colluding with the Bush administration to prevent crimes they participated in from ever being prosecuted.
Turley makes the compelling (some would say obvious) case that Democrats' 'mysterious collapses' on FISA, Iraq, impeachment, even censure - almost every issue - has its roots in what Turley calls criminal collusion. In the guise of "compromise", Democrats are carefully obstructing justice, sparing themselves from subpeonas and prosecution.
In the next 2 weeks we have our best chance - and maybe our last - for a "Mr Smith" moment where someone actually speaks this truth into the record on the Senate and House floor and changes the game.
I have already begun speaking directly with Judiciary Chair John Conyers and his staff about this.
Cross-posted by Will Bunch at my Philadelphia Daily News blog, Attytood. Like most newspaper blogs, sadly, a lot of right-wingers camp out there, so I urge you come to come over and join the battle.
That quote in the headline doesn't come from Michael Moore or some commenter on Democratic Underground or here at Daily Kos.
It comes from a retired major general of the U.S. Army, Antonio Taguba. It was Taguba, you may recall, that President Bush asked to investigate the original claims of detainee abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib back in 2004.
George W. Bush's speech in the Israeli Parliament (The Knesset) yesterday was simply despicable. He used a solemn occasion marking the 60th Anniversery of the foundation of the Israeli State to launch a political attack against Barack Obama and the Democratic party, insinuating that they are akin to "Nazi appeasers."
Never in the history of this nation has a sitting President so pointedly denounced other Americans while speaking on foreign soil.
It is our duty, as progressive Democrats, to send a message to our representatives in the Senate that this President has, once again, gone too far. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has now come out to say that these comments were "beneath the dignity of the office." Senator Joe Biden has bluntly stated it is "bullshit."
Thus, I call on each of you to send a letter to your member of the Senate asking them to immediately put forward a motion to censure President Bush.
In March 2008, as Americans pay homage to the thousands of soldiers and civilians lost in five years of battle we discover that the Administration and the elite allied with earlier Executive Branches are more contemptuous of the citizenry than we ever thought possible.
Glenn Greenwald made an amazing point a few days ago that we never think about.
Why is it when republican asswipes make their usual racist, fear mongering, baiting or just generally outrageous lies, the democratic majority in Congress is completely silent?
When republicans had the majorities, they routinely forced apologies over the slightest criticism of the Iraq fiasco from democrats.
They shouted on the talk radio fests. They shouted on CNN.
They crickled their brows and acted like the high moral standing of the republican party (in between indictments and hooker sex, I presume) hung in the balance over a comment from a democrat that didn't sound patriotic enough through their distorted prism.
A day after some impressive and good news from the Democrats in the House of Representatives, who have finally decided to go up against "Mr. 24%" (as Atrios says) I think it's time we reward good behavior.
George W. Bush was in the United Arab Emirates today, where, as CNN.com reports, he had a few words for Iran.
"President Bush said Sunday that Iran is threatening the security of the world, and that the United States and Arab allies must join together to confront the danger ‘before it’s too late’...
‘Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terror,’ Bush said in a speech he delivered about midway through his eight-day Mideast trip that began with a renewed push for an Israeli-Palestinian peace pact — an accord he said whose ‘time has come’...
"‘Iran’s actions threaten the security of nations everywhere,’ Bush said. ‘So the United States is strengthening our long-standing security commitments with our friends in the Gulf, and rallying friends around the world to confront this danger before it is too late.’"
May I offer my sincerest gratitude to Representatives, Robert Wexler, Luis Gutierrez, and Tammy Baldwin. These glorious members of the House Judiciary Committee, recently raised the volume on the issue of impeachment for Vice President Cheney. The three invite us, the average citizen, to join them. Please express your distress; sign the petition. Call for Hearings. Without you the Vice President will continue to avoid an official and necessary censure.
For those of us who have spent an inordinate amount of time writing letter after letter to our unresponsive Senator, CENSURE of her by three of the caucuses within the California Democratic Party this weekend was sweet.
Now, perhaps now, will she finally start to vote WITH her party? Now, perhaps now, will she start to vote to end the war? Now, perhaps now, will she stand up for the Constitution which has been largely dismantled under her watch and often with her complicity? Too long we have stood by while our senior senator acted as an enabler for this renegade president. And too long has the party brass stood in the way of holding her accountable for voting with the Republicans more times than we can count.
The call for the California Democratic Party to censure Senator Dianne Feinstein has grown exponentially over the past few days and a huge log was just thrown on the fire. MoveOn.org just sent an email to all of their California members urging them to sign on to the call for censure over at Courage Campaign.
They are now one of 19 grassroots organizations in California who have signed on to the call since Monday. That is absolutely amazing considering how long it takes many Democratic Clubs to pass resolutions given their high barriers for endorsement.
The response by the party structure and the Senator have been well documented here by dday and hekebolos. Needless to say, we stirred up one heck of a hornet's nest and it really could not have been done without you.
California Democratic Party to Consider Censuring Senator Feinstein
Submitted by davidswanson on Mon, 2007-11-12 21:20. Congress
A resolution has been created to censure Senator Feinstein for her outrageous votes in the last two weeks as a member of the judiciary committee. There are many other votes that she has taken that have made many of us wonder when she became the Joe Lieberman of the West. If you know any people who are E-board delegates and who will attend the CDP E-board meeting this coming weekend, please contact them and ask them to vote for the resolution which follows:
The Rhetoric of the Far Right: Exposing it to make a far more effective case to the rest of America. To define the issues, and to define the Right itself.
"Breaking News: Rush Limbaugh reverses position, and now Condemns Congress over MoveOn ad censure."
I suppose this might end up with a GBCW tag on it, but that's not really true. I'll be back.
Now, I have never registered as a Democrat. I usually skip the primary votes, simply because I don't care. I'm pulling the lever for whomever wins the Democratic nomination anyway.
But after the public humiliation of Pete Stark, I'm just too embarassed. As of right now I will not work for anybody's campaign in 2008. I'm not giving any money.
There is no Democratic party. Nothing that I recognize anyway.
