outing a CIA agent, illegal wire taps, lies that got us into Iraq

[still_one]

and it hardly counts as mention in the news

This is pathetic!!!

For practically 8 frickn' years all we heard about was whitewater and a BJ. We have impeachable offenses committed against our country, and it falls silent...

[John Q. Citizen]

1. It is up to us to make Impeachment the #1 issue of the mid terms.

Are we up to the task?

[still_one]

3. I am up to it, and we were up to it for alito

but I doubt the candidates will want to use that as their campaign platform in 2006, and unless we take over congress in 2006 it isn't going to happen

[John Q. Citizen]

4. The point isn't too allow the candidates to define the race, any more

than the grassroots push on blocking Alito was to let the Senators define opposition to Alito.

Here's an idea I got that arose from the grassroots filibuster attempt. I saw the power of the fusion between on-line communications, talk-radio and various other forms of non- big Corporate Media organizing that resulted in a majority of 24 Demo Senators voting against cloture on Alito. The mention of filibuster was in the corporate media air for about three days at least. So I started thinking about what if we did a larger, longer, better integrated and well thought out effort to engage the American people in their political future?

Strategy

We need an umbrella issue that encompasses all the fascism, brutality, and failure of the bush vision. I believe that issue is Impeachment. Every single issue that is important to people in this country can be summed up by that word. From health care, to Katrina, from Abramoff to Spying, from 9/11 to no child left behind from Energy policy to elections policy from Baghdad to the environment and back we have seen the same lying, cheating, stealing, ideologically driven disaster of leadership. There are too many issues and instances to list. But I believe we should make Impeachment the catch-all repository for all the evil and stupidity of the bush administration. After all, Impeachment is the only remedy we have to correct the quickening downward spiral.

So how do we get impeachment? Simply put, we don’t, at least until we get a congress that will seriously investigate and prosecute criminal activity in the White House. Which is maybe after the mid-terms.

This makes it the perfect issue and the perfect campaign. No matter how many people call and write they can’t do what the people ask. When it gets pointed out that we are "picking on the Republicans" we agree, and expand our targets to the Democrats, who then (most of them I reckon) make statements in support of Impeachment. (or at least open and fair investigations, or call for a special prosecutor.).

So we build Impeachment into a campaign issue, where Congress critters are being asked by their TV local news guys and gals, "How do you stand on the Impeachment issue?"

After 10 days to 2 weeks days of this, we switch gears and start to seriously push for a national mobilization. (much of it previously organized if not publicly announced) Do we go for record numbers marching in DC and SF? Do we go for town-hall meetings across the country? No!

We do a National Accountability Day(s)

"National Accountability Day."

We could do a National Accountability lobby Day (actually 3 days, like Wed. Thrus. Friday) the week or so after graduation. It would take about a minimum of 25,000 people participating nationwide. While that’s a formidable number, it’s small compared to the # who have shown up at marches, for instance. And the relatively local nature of going to your US Senator’s or US Congressman’s field office makes for easier participation by a lot more people.

We line up at least one hundred people in front of five Republican US senate or congressional offices in each state, and people go in and lobby the staffers, all day long, preferably alone or in pairs.

Every citizen lobbyist would take 2 messages to their representative. One would be of their choosing or their coalition groups choosing, and the other would be impeachment. We ask if the Rep will support impeachment. We target Repos and bush loving Dems Reps (on a mid term targeted basis) for our lobby day targets , and make sure local press covers the events (our bigger target) and then National Media. Our biggest target.

Turning out 100+ citizen lobbyists would require a loose coalition of lefty interest groups both local and national to help turn out the crowd. Music, street theater and food to entertain the waiting citizens would help insure larger turnouts and happy, yet determined, people for good media as well as encouraging citizen walk-ins.

We could have bloggers writing while waiting in line, some celebrity lobbyists, celebrity entertainment, local entertainment, video cams of the crowd , talk radio hosts broadcasting from small town America.

The most daunting part. It would require 300 organizers (5 per 5 state field offices + one state wide organizer = 6 people a state x 50 states) as well as a healthy sprinkling of other local support but it would be a great run up to the mid terms in terms of organizing, networking, energizing people, and giving people a good reason to vote in a dem congress, ie impeachment ie everything that’s wrong. We could time it for after school is out would facilitate better weather in many places for standing in line. Maybe we could get the Wellstone Activist School to put out a call to past graduates, maybe the Dems

(4 people an hour (15 minutes per lobbyists per office would be only 32 people in eight hours per office) we could have bloggers writing while waiting in line, some celebrity lobbyists, celebrity entertainment, local entertainment, video cams of the crowd , talk radio hosts broadcasting from small town America.

Folks at home could be writing the congress critters before and during this action asking them to be at an office to meet with people.


This is a rough draft of my idea and I would like a discussion of the pros and cons of this strategy and tactics. Thanks.

[still_one]

5. It makes sense, but are we really that organized

or for that matter together on this?

[emulatorloo]

2. But that's old news! We've moved on!

<sarcasm>