There are tons of people around the country who are cursing out
the Democrats in general, and Nancy Pelosi and John Conyers in
particular, for being wimpy on impeachment. "Impeachment is off
the table", proclaimed these worthies; and straightaway massive
E-mail and U.S. Postal Service paper hits their offices.

Far be it from me, a Green Party supporter, to defend the
Democrats. But on this impeachment issue two of their best and
brightest need defending.

Re Pelosi: Consider, folks, what happens if we should be
fortunate enough to get a Bill of Impeachment considered on the
House floor. Is it remotely conceivable that Cheney, with his
low 20s approval ratings and his fingerprints all over all the
administration policies, won't get added to the Bill? The
answer is clear: it is not conceivable.
Then think a step further: Bush and Cheney are tried in the
Senate and removed from office. What then? Why, then we get
President Nancy Pelosi. And her first speech to the nation after
taking the oath of office has got to start: "My fellow citizens,
I am an accidental president, the first this country has ever
had. I am the first president who has never campaigned across
the country for any national office. And you all know that I
certainly did nothing to bring me to this podium. I have _never_
supported the impeachment drive, I have kept my fingers far from
this movement. You will all recall that back in fall 2007 I
urged that impeachment be kept 'off the table' . . ." Etc.

If she doesn't say something like this, if she can't truthfully
say something like this, she will never be able to govern. So
give the lady a break! She is the last American who can advocate
impeachment of the two criminals mentioned above. And hence any
utterance she makes on this subject should be discounted.

Re John Conyers: He is supposed to say, before he ever becomes
the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, "And now we're finally
going to get our own back; we'll impeach the sumbitch"? How
would that look?

This is the man who has held private hearings on the crimes we
all know about, in the basement office that is all the Repubs
would grant him. He has forgotten more about these issues than
most of us know, and spent more dreary time on them, taking
testimony, reading documents . . .

So be easy on him too. His present role: to take testimony, to
listen to witnesses, give Repubs a chance to query said witnesses
too, go through the whole business, publicly and formally, that
he -- and you and I -- know so well. So let him go through the
process. It is our role as citizens to demand that the press
watch him, as he moves judiciously through the process that will,
we hope and pray, bring our criminal kings down.