Congressman John Conyers, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, has used the following rhetoric repeatedly in recent weeks:
"George Bush has the habit of firing military leaders who tells him the Iraq war is failing. But let me tell you something. He can't fire you. He can't fire us. But we can fire him! We can fire him!"
He said the same thing at an event a few days later, and went further, suggesting that he will favor impeachment if Bush attacks Iran. Here's the audio.
Meanwhile, of all the endless lists of crimes and abuses committed by Bush and Cheney, Conyers is using his committee to "investigate" the two easiest ones to impeach on: the illegal spying that Bush has openly confessed to, and the dictatorial signing statements, which are readily available on the White House website. These issues do not require any investigating. They do require publicizing. And if Congress finds the collective nerve to move forward on them, they are the most likely to be carried through to a successful impeachment. They are the crimes in which Congress Members have been least complicit, for which the evidence is most apparently and simply indisputable, and prosecution of which least threatens powerful corporate interests.
Say what you want about Conyers, he's not lacking in
intelligence or wisdom. He's lacking only in sufficient public pressure
to move a group of brave Congress Members forward. Conyers won't step
out on his own. And a group of Members won't ask him to lead unless
there is a sufficient groundswell of support. But citizen activists
should recognize that they are already having an impact. Public
pressure is the only reason Conyers is giving the speeches he's giving,
and the only reason he's committing to moving on impeachment if Bush
attacks Iran. Conyers does not actually believe an attack on Iran would
be any more impeachable an offense than was the attack on Iraq. After
all, Conyers has published a lengthy report on the impeachable offenses
involved in the attack on Iraq:
So,
when Conyers goes on Democracy Now as he did on Friday or on any other
radio show and claims that he opposes impeachment and that by "we can
fire him" he means that we can elect someone new when Bush's term runs
out, it's important to understand that you are listening to Conyers the
wily partisan politician operating under Pelosi's heel, not Conyers the
patriotic prosecutor who recognizes better than anyone else the fatal
wound that will be given to our republic if 2009 arrives with no one having been impeached.
Conyers
should be thanked for the groundwork he's laid, applauded for the
stance he's taken on Iran, and encouraged to step up and serve his
country before a single bomb hits Iranian soil. And he should be asked
to look very closely at the evidence against Vice President Cheney that
has emerged in the Libby trial. This is evidence that Pelosi had not
seen when she ordered impeachment "off the table." And it is evidence
against a different person from the one she said not to impeach.
a guest: Impeachment is the only way forward against the Bush administration. http://www.cyanidehole.com
Congress has no other way to go. Talk about cutting funding for the war is nonsense. Bush will take Congress to the Supreme Court, where Roberts and Scalia will uphold him absolutely. Democrats don't have a veto-proof majority, so Bush can simply veto anything they pass. If he doesn't want to use the veto on them, he can nullify any piece of legislation with one of his famous signing statements. Impeachment is thus the only course open to a Congress that wants to check this president.
If Pelosi cannot see that, it's because she's pig-stupid. If she doesn't want to see it, it's because she's been bought.
1
February 19, 2007
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Congressman John Conyers, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, has used the following rhetoric repeatedly in recent weeks:
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