Conyers Now Says He's "on Edge" of Starting Impeachment

[99th_Monkey]

I know, I know ... Probably most of you (as I have) already have signed petitions, sent letters & emails, made phone calls on this to Pelosi, to your reps. and to Conyers... but it you haven't yet, this might be a good time to do so. And even if you have, more may be helpful, if this report is true.

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February 7, 2008 at 22:41:10

Headlined on 2/7/08:
Conyers Says He's on Edge of Starting Impeachment

by David Swanson Page 1 of 1 page(s)

On Thursday, Chairman John Conyers' House Judiciary Committee held a hearing at which Attorney General Michael Mukasey said that he would not investigate torture (video) or warrantless spying (video), he would not enforce contempt citations (video), and he would treat Justice Department opinions as providing immunity for crimes (report).

None of this was new, but perhaps it touched something in Conyers that had not been touched before. Following the hearing, he and two staffers met for an hour and 15 minutes with two members of Code Pink to discuss impeachment.

Conyers expressed fear of what might happen following an impeachment, fear of installing a Bush replacement or losing an election. The "corporate power structure", he said, would not allow impeachment without unleashing "blowback." Conyers told Ellen Taylor and Manijeh Saba: "You need to be more than brave and courageous. You need to be smart."

Their response? They are asking people who care about justice to help them let Conyers know that the smart thing right now would be bravery and courage.

On Rosa Parks' birthday last week, Leslie Angeline began a fast for impeachment. Taylor and over 20 other activists have joined the fast. Conyers has agreed to meet with Angeline to discuss impeachment on Tuesday.

The Chairman told Taylor and Saba that he is listening to several advocates for impeachment, including Liz Holtzman and this author, and asked "So how would it look if I allowed two women to push me over the edge?" Conyers leaned out of his chair for dramatic effect.

A number of organizations will be sending their members this alert Monday morning:

Let's push Conyers over the edge by flooding his office with phone calls, faxes, and Emails on Monday and Tuesday. Let him know that only impeachment hearings
1-will make it on TV,
2-will force compliance with subpoenas by eliminating "executive privilege",
3-will hold brazen criminals accountable, and
4-will convince voters that Democrats care about the Constitution.
Call 202-225-5126
Fax [phone]
Email [e-mail]

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_david_sw_080207_conyers_says_he_s_on.htm

[Horse with no Name]

1. Impeachment should never be about political security

It should be about national security.
If this group of thugs that have overtaken our White House do NOT deserve to be impeached...then there really is no reason to ever consider impeachment as an option again.

[99th_Monkey]

6. Oops.. this was for you.

I agree, especially in light of the Plame and Edmonds cases in point.

We need a national security strategy and infrastructure that conduct themselves as professionals and can be taken seriously as such, unlike this bad joke Bushies have foisted on us.

I called Conyers office, and the staffer implied that John's words were being "misconstrued" ... sigh.

[ORDagnabbit]

2. yeah and he'll be on the edge for an infinite amount of time...he's playing us all for fools..

[99th_Monkey]

9. I know, it's a really sick and depressing game he's playing

When I called his office just now, his staffer claimed John's "words were being misconstrued"

And my response was basically what you said... "why is the good Congressman playing with us on this?"
why would he even imply he's leaning towards moving on impeachment if it's bullshit?

[Freddie Stubbs]

15. He is from another era when

you could get away with telling one thing to one group of people and another to a different group and neither would know. The Internet makes this a little more difficult.

[lovuian]

3. Talk is cheap and we have heard this

Any Congressman who approved Mukasey is war criminal

the more protect them the more criminals they are

[Old Codger]

4. Impeachment

Is almost to good for Bush and Co. but it is the least our so called representatives can do irrespective of end results the attempt would go a long way towards healing our once great nation and showing the world that we really do care about the rule of law.

(sent this to them )

[99th_Monkey]

5. I agree, especially in light of the Plame and Edmonds cases in point.

We need a national security strategy and infrastructure that conduct themselves as professionals and can be taken seriously as such, unlike this bad joke Bushies have foisted on us.

I called Conyers office, and the staffer implied that John's words were being "misconstrued" ... sigh.

[warren pease]

7. Translation:

In our native tongue, this means:

The honorable Congressman has decided to form an exploratory committee to kick-start the process of beginning to consider the possibility that at some point in the unforeseeable future it might be an idea to look into the positives and negatives that a thorough investigation might uncover regarding an effort to take into account the feasibility of forming a task force to determine if there's any remote chance that impeachable offenses have been committed by the president of vice and his slack-jawed marionette and that said task force be granted subpoena power just in case they're not completely ignored again and if they are there's already a working draft of a strongly worded statement sitting near the bottom of the same pile of paper where H Res. 333 / H Res. 799 has been gathering dust for months now just waiting for the light of truth to point the way to a new blue ribbon fact-finding panel charged with helping the task force and the exploratory committee determine if it's politically advantageous to launch hearings that might eventually result in some form of sanctions, including but not limited to IMPEACHMENT.

Plain enough, eh?


wp

[99th_Monkey]

12. Clear as mud..Cowardice & Corruption masquerading as "the People's business" -nt

[Ichingcarpenter]

8. I can't believe you guys don't give David Swanson the credit for this piece

He is a fellow DUer and wrote the original article to DU and its on the same page.
But you start the same title and thread again.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2833226&mesg_id=2833226

[99th_Monkey]

13. I hadn't seen this elsewhere on DU, no slight intended. -nt

but thanks for the link and the heads up. ;-)

[Ichingcarpenter]

14. Well, you did

[99th_Monkey]

17. I "did" what, Snarky?

What I "did" was saw in on OpEd.com and passed it along, and David's name was on the article...so what's the big deal?

[pleah]

10. I am sick to death of these dickless bunch of twits in Washington.

I'm ready to march up to DC with pitch forks, tar and feathers, and pull all of them out by their hair. Then put them all in a big cage for everyone to see.. After about a year of public humiliation, throw their asses in prison.

[99th_Monkey]

18. "I'm a human being God damnit, and mad as Hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!!!"

I just watched that classic lastnight for the first time...
great flick if you haven't seen it.. called "Network" circa 1976

[pleah]

19. I remember it well.

I was a sophomore in high school. Great movie.

[Freddie Stubbs]

11. Conyers: 3 More Congress Members and I'll Impeach

Submitted by davidswanson on Sat, 2007-07-21 22:50.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers has said that if three more Congress Members get behind impeachment he will start the impeachment proceedings.

I was a guest today on Bree Walker's radio show. She's the progressive radio host from California who purchased Cindy Sheehan's land from her in Crawford, Texas.

Bree attended an event on Friday in San Diego at which Congressman Conyers spoke about impeachment. Her report was extremely interesting. I had already heard reports that Conyers had said: "What are we waiting for? Let's take these two guys out!" But, of course, what we're waiting for is John Conyers. Is he ready to act? It was hard to tell from that comment. In January, Conyers spoke at a huge rally on the National Mall and declared "We can fire them!" but later explained that what he meant was that we could wait for two years and Bush and Cheney's terms would end. Was this week's remark just more empty rhetoric?

It appears to be more than that. Bree Walker told me, on the air, that Conyers said that all he needs is three more Congress Members backing impeachment, and he'll move on it, even without Pelosi. I asked whether that meant specifically moving from 14 cosponsors of H Res 333 to 17, or adding 3 to the larger number of Congress Members who have spoken favorably of impeachment but not all signed onto bills. Bree said she didn't know and that Conyers had declined to take any questions.

more: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/24962

[99th_Monkey]

16. Yes, John's sorry string of teases to placate the public he must face is disgusting -nt

[hvn_nbr_2]

20. I've been "right on the edge" of winning the Lotto for ten years now. nt

[Senator]

21. Edge Or Not -- Keep Hammering

Hammer Conyers. Hammer the committee. Hammer your local Dems. Hammer Reid. Hammer Pelosi.

Hammer Pelosi hard, because the DC "narrative" is about to include her in the circle of war criminals. She needs to be told that her ONLY way out is by turning on them through impeachment.

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