In response to public demand for impeachment hearings and pressure from Congressman Dennis Kucinich, Congressman Robert Wexler, and others, as well as electoral challenges by pro-impeachment candidates, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi finally caved and proposed to allow Kucinich to present impeachment in a Judiciary Committee hearing.
The hearing was then scheduled for a Friday (July 25) and scheduled to last a full two-hours (10 a.m. to noon). Then the topic was altered. Rather than being about impeachment, the hearing will be about impeachment and other supposed remedies to a lawless presidency, with the bulk of the time devoted to those other remedies. Most of those other remedies will involve, believe it or not, legislative proposals. Thus, the dererrence to future presidents who follow the Bush-Cheney tradition of violating all laws and checks on power will be the knowledge that during the administration following Bush-Cheney some bills were passed criminalizing what had always been criminal activity.
Rumor has it there are two panels being planned for the hearing, one consisting of Kucinich and four other members of Congress (Jane Harman, Walter Jones, Brad Miller, and Maurice Hinchey), and the other consisting of five non-Congress Members (Elizabeth Holtzman, Bruce Fein, Frederick Schwartz, John Dean, and Bob Barr). Each of these speakers will likely have 5 minutes for opening remarks. So, Kucinich's presentation of the impeachable offenses of 7.5 years will be limited to 5 minutes. The hope of those planning this afair will be to bury impeachment.
Here's why they'll fail. Holtzman and Fein -- and Kucinich -- are among the most persuasive advocates for impeachment alive. At least those three speakers, it is safe to assume, will be standing up for our Constitution. Another you can add to that list is commmittee member Robert Wexler. Others are committee members Shiela Jackson-Lee and Tammy Baldwin. It is safe to assume that these members will direct their questioning to the need for impeachment and the advocates of beginning it. Plus Hinchey favors impeachment too.
Other supporters of impeachment on the committee are Keith Ellison, Steve Cohen, Hank Johnson, and Maxine Waters, as well as Luis Gutierrez and Anthony Weiner. Zoe Lofgren is also likely to speak up for impeachment. And those in the room as audience will be overwhelmingly defenders of our Constitution. But you can help defend it without coming to Washington. Here's how:
Contact the members of the Judiciary Committee and insist that they be there on Friday the 25th and that they speak up for impeachment:
Take action -- click here to contact your local newspaper or congress people: IMPEACH
David Swanson is the author of the upcoming book "Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union" by Seven Stories Press and of the introduction to "The 35 Articles of Impeachment and the Case for Prosecuting George W. (more...)
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
"five non-Congress Members (Elizabeth Holtzman, Bruce Fein, Frederick Schwartz, John Dean, and Bob Barr)"
If that is correct and these astute minds, their combined brainpower, will actually be present, then this is brilliant news! The most optimistic in a very long time. It represents the real possibility of attaining, finally, significant longterm change for the better.
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Aurora (0 articles, 95 quicklinks, 52 diaries, 648 comments [5 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, Jul 19, 2008 at 2:43:18 AM
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