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 202-225-0072
Email john.conyers@mail.house.gov
No Trackbacks To “Conyers Said He’s On The Edge Of Starting Impeachment“
Ooooooo! He’s on the edge of starting impeachment!!! Wake me next month when he says it again.
Please, please please let the trial begin. E
Yeah, whatever. All lip service.
What a coincidence. I’m on the edge of never supporting another establishment Democrat.
If impeachment hearings start, say goodbye to a November win.
I’m not saying don’t do it, I think the whole administration are crooks and deserve life in prison. I really do. But we have to pick our battles. What more can we stop them from? And do you want President McCain?
Whatever. Gawd. Call me when he grows a set.
Funny how Conyers’ is one of the big cogs in the wheel of letting the Sirius/ XM merger go thru, keep taking money from Fox and the NAB, shithead.
Yeah right…same old same old..its just so worthless…i resign…
5. A tiny babystep towards restoring any kind of good will for America in the rest of the world. …
Letting these criminals leave office legally in ‘09 is tantamount to consent to every treasonous crime they have committed.
…or maybe hes on the edge of sending a strongly worded letter …(think: Ned Flanders)
Three words: (i) Not, (ii)Gonna, and (iii) Happen
The story doesn’t mention who Conyers is thinking about trying to impeach.
Well, lets go Conyers! Americans have been waiting for the Dems to show some spine! Impeach everyone! Bush, Chaney. Investigate Wolfiwitz, Bremmer all of them. It’s like ripping a band-aid off your crotch. Do it quickly and immediately. This is too important. I just pray it’s true. I don’t want to hopeful. But at least do SOMETHING.
all we need to do now is wait for meester boosh to lie about a blow job.
Bush-4750
Dems-1
I have lost count of how many petitions, emails, calls etc. that I’ve done, hoping that this time it’ll go somewhere. I just don’t believe they’ll do it anymore–we’ve proved over and over again that this is what America wants.
As was said before: “STOP! OR I’LL SAY STOP, AGAIN!”
Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z
I just called his office and let some young lady, very nice and polite, know that we MUST begin impeachment immediately, that the “Be Smart, not just brave” thinking was foolish beyond words and that it isn’t JUST two Code Pink ladies who want impeachment, it’s THE MAJORITY OF THE NATION!!! I urge you all to call Conyers’ office and get every person you know to do likewise.
Conyers’ Office Phone:
Call 202-225-5126
Now!?! The bull is halfway out the door of the china shop, and Cowboy Conyers is going to chase him with a lasso?
Lame.
Of course, the will be blowback from the corporate power structure, in fact, Democrats don’t need to do anything to enrage them and there already trashing our candidates and Congress in the corporate controlled media. They’ve been doing it for years and they’re not going to stop even if you cave to them on impeachment.
They want total control and won’t settle for half measures that any wishy-washy Liberal offers up to them on a silver plate.
Remember, it wasn’t enough for the Corporate Media giants that Bill Clinton signed the 1996 Telecommunications act as a givaway of control of our publically owned highly valuable broadcast spectrum. They went after him anyway. Now that they’ve got almost complete control over the FCC, they won’t give it up easily.
I say go for it, the corporate power structure won’t treat Democrats any better if you don’t.
c_ray_86 @ 5:
i agree - Conyers makes some compelling points that essentially state the same thing…i think.
Impeachment?
Of whom? C&L doesn’t say.
Bush? Cheney? Mukasey? Donald Duck? (That’s Bush again.) Or do we get to choose who to bring charges against? It needs to be Bush, FWIW, since he is the titular head of the administration.
Kath @ 15:
No doubt.
I called this liar for almost 2 years now. Ever since he campaigned on how he ws going to start impeachment proceedings. Then we got majority and he exposed himself for the complicit tool of the Shrub Administration.
John Conyers is the living embodiement of why we should have term limits. No one benefits from entrenched power.
And hes is fuckin liar,enjoy watching the kabuke theatre.
BFD! Is this how Democrats avoid doing real meaningful work!
Indigowatcher @ 17:
Just keep in mind the people like the nice and polite young lady who answer the phones are trained to listen, agree, say thank you, hang up, then ignore.
“So how would it look if I allowed two women to push me over the edge?”
It would look like you finally found your spine, Congressman.
Joementum @ 18:
No silly, hes just gonna talk the talk.
No walking of the walk.
He is just going to tell you he is impeaching them, like he did while stumpin in 06′.
Perhaps Rep. Conyers could begin hearings by next January.
The Dems are almost worse than Bush. With W, there really aren’t any surprises. He’s acted as you would expect an extreme right wing politician to act. What still boggles the mind is how Democrats have been willing to just lie down and let him do it. They even appear willing to wear the “spineless” badge so as to avoid what is probably the most accurate assessment: complicity.
This is news. And do we hear it on MSM? No they are to busy talking about the election and 911 suspects who may get the death penality. Meanwhile Gates now tells us the the withdrawl may be stalled and don’t forget the 50 plus deaths in Iraq this weekend. I’m afraid for the future of this counrty. To coin Darth Chaney, “Be very afraid.”
Whatever happened to America.
i had a long call yesterday from a dem rep in washington asking me to again support monetarily the democratic party. my response: never another penny as long as pelosi’s statement, “impeachment isn’t even on the table.” the woman from washington who was petitioning for funds then went on to give a litany of all the good things dem had done since they took over the congress. i again reiterated not another penny until impeachment proceedings had begun. she then gave the standard why impeachment won’t fly at this time, we just don’t have the numbers. i explained that it wasn’t about the result, it was the effort and the willingness to put it forth. she wouldn’t hear any of it. she had her point, i had mine. obama or hillary??? whom to vote for? i ended up voting for obama with mixed feelings. kucinich was my candidate, even edwards, or gore had he elected to run. as it was, i voted for obama. it would be a strong ticket with him at the top and hillary as his running mate. all that’s left is for mcCain to select elmer fudd as his running mate. hope so. then they can both flame out together.
Don’t blame the republicans- It’s Pelosi who said, “…Impeachement is off the the table.”
How can we expect a congress that cut its’ teeth on knucking under to the republicans to ever syand up to them?
Just my opinion.
The “corporate power structure”, he said, would not allow impeachment without unleashing “blowback.”
This is such bullshit. The past 6 years have been nothing except fear. This is terrorism. People afraid to do the right thing for fear of reprisals.
Just ship Bush, Cheney & Conyers to Guantanamo & throw away the key, & then look the “corporate power structure” in the eye & say, “You’re next, muthafuxxer!”
Thanks to both sides of the D.C. political spectrum I have a hunch our former allies and probably most everyone else outside our border will enjoy watching us suffer for a few decades.
the dems disappoint again and again…
can anyone think of a more deserved administration to be impeached? war, domestic spying, torture, etc. and this only brings conyers to “the edge”.
the GOP, who was so panicked about a dem takeover of congress in 06, must be laughing and pinching themselves.
it would have been better had the dems not won over congress, at least there would be more of an excuse for their continual failures and embarrassments. pathetic.
and the subtle sexism of his statement, “So how would it look if I allowed two women to push me over the edge?”, has been noted and filed away for future use.
On the edge of impeachment?
I swear booshco are playing that game of drawing a line in the sand saying I dare you to step over this. They draw line after line, until the other side falls off a cliff.
L.A. Confidential @ 33:
No one hear seriously believes that the minute Bush leaves office say a Hill or Ob win the world is just going to forget everything that happened this past 7 years and say “Yippee we can be friends with USA again!”
I doubt it. I think in general the American populace is probably as despised as anyone ever has been at this point for letting the Neocons get away with this sh*t.
“I’m fixin’ to start getting ready to become almost prepared to do something nearly similar to almost speaking about writing about making a movement toward the edge of a possibility to maybe start beginning to consider thinking about doing something that nearly resembles taking a stand toward sitting closer to the possibility of giving a great deal of thought toward drafting a letter that could state something to the tune of impeachment. I would then proceed to the next stage: narrowing down the list of names of the elected and hired officials who might have participated in the deeds that could possibly get these people impeached.”
— John Conyers
30 no longer a proud american
I want Hillary to be the front-runner and Obama her running mate.
It’s simple age logistics. By the time she finishes two terms she’ll be pushing seventy, whereas Obama will be in his mid-fifties. That’s a good age for running for the Oval office, and after 8 years of veephood will be unquestionable a solid experience.
Then if he’s in office for eight years, that’ll be 16 years of Democrats in control of the office.
It’ll probably take that long just to fix boosh’s colossal f**kups.
And you remember when they reichwing were complaining that the departing Clintons took all the W’s from all the White House keyboards with them?
Let the repugs win the election cycle anyway…. they already ruined the country into oblivion with their Nazi agenda… what its gonna take is the economy to go into full standstill to wake up the sheep… Then we can point at these cockroaches for what they really are…
Thanks for reminding me what Mukasey stands for, and thank you once again, Diane Feinstein and “Chuckie” Schumer. (I bet that’s what Mukasey calls him.)
We just learned that the administration officially admitted to waterboarding. The illegally wiretap. They sent us into a war with lies. There is so much else, and it is all illegal. A district attorney would not be reelected if he/she did not prosecute an offender. Impeachment is a power of Congress, and they should not be afraid to use it. The fact that they might not win next time is no excuse. We have an administration that has broken the law, and the congress is skirting its own duties if it doesn’t at least investigate.
c_ray_86 @ 5:
Unfortunately, I think you’re right. One of the things about “being smart” is picking fights that you can win, and no Republican is going to vote for impeachment. It’ll just be a wasted effort, and when we’ve got such poor leaders as Pelosi and Reid that will make things worse. The real bad thing about “blowback” is not so much attacks on Democrats - you have to expect that kind of thing in politics - as that Republicans are allowed to get away with doing stupid things, like impeaching Clinton, while Democrats aren’t.
Noam Chomsky points out that our “two party system” is really just two factions of the same capitalist class. Let Rome burn. Nothing’s gonna save it.
These Dems are treating us exaclty like the Repugs are treating us, like children. Until I see Conyers come out on the floor and reads the charges, I WILL NOT BELIEVE HIM! They are playing a game.
Gimme an “I,” Gimme a “M” Gimme a “P” Gimme an “E” Gimme an “A” Gimme a “C” Gimme a “H” What’s that spell? IMPEACH.
If the Dems win, what will they do about Bush or Chaney? We just can’t let these guys just walk away and not do anything! I’m afraid if they don’t impeach, they will do just that. We need closure, we need to shed light on everything this adminstration has done.
kulshan @ 26:
Well, I figured as much, but it doesn’t even make sense to pretend he’s going to do something at this point.
looking at the need for impeachement….
from a partisan vantage point seems dangerous, a way to possibly throw the election to the GOP
-YET-
from an american vantage point: necessary and vital.
i am an american before i am a partisan (well, to be honest, i am an indep). for the GOOD of the NATION, for fuck’s sake, we MUST impeach. if your sole concern is getting another dem into office then we have nothing to talk about. BUT, if your concern is the future of the nation, the sanctity of the constitution, the reaffirment (coin) of our civil rights, etc. then we MUST impeach.
and those that are afraid to impeach b/c of the GOP backslash need to step aside~
c. atrox @ 43:
Funny you said that, becasue I was just listening to Thom Hartmann and he had Raloh Nader on to talk about his possible entry in the race for president this year. After that segment, you would not believe the hate calls towards Nader for, of course, helping Bush to win in 2000. I can’t believe people, in a supposed democratic nation would blame a candidate for wanting to run. Actually I do believe it since it is a Democratic country. But it is still amazing to me that so called progressives think like that!!! Go figure.
The world watches the American system fail. That system says that impeachment is an avenue for removing liars and lawbreakers from public office. So not only do we get monumental lying and lawbreaking from the office of the president, we get failure to begin impeachment proceedings from the opposition. Get a clue, Conyers. Stop worrying about from what corporation will your next dollar arrive; start worrying about the needs of the majority and the future of this nation. And the world. Show them the system works. And by the way, we are tired of hearing about why we must not impeach. Make us proud to be called Americans again.