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September 25, 2007

[Video] Conyers/Ellison Minnesota Health Care/Impeachment Town Hall

Filed under: IfP Events,Impeachment Progress News,Michigan,Minnesota — Jodin Morey @ 12:04 am

conyers.jpg519.jpgWe’ve just completed our action at this meeting, and are busy compiling text to let you know how it went, stand by for more…
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ImpeachForPeace.org Minneapolis advocates for impeachment with Congressmen John Conyers and Keith Ellison at a Health Care Town Hall Meeting.

Health care is important, but living in a democracy is even more important. John Conyers, who — as head of the House Judiciary has the power to initiate it — knows what’s at stake, but he’s more concerned with making sure that Democrats win in ’08 than holding the Administration accountable (never mind that all historical attempts at impeachment have benefitted the party pursuing them). Any push by Democratic leadership to pass a single-payer universal health-care resolution prior to removing Bush from office is nothing than a dog and pony show designed to win elections, not pass good legislation. Bush’s veto of such legislation is obvious. What Conyers and other representatives fail to see is the historical precedent. Every push for impeachment throughout history has aided the party which pursued it. So, even if their moral compass can’t prioritize our democracy above their political careers, this fact should cause their support of impeachment. Let’s help inform them!


3 Comments

  1. [Video] Conyers/Ellison Minnesota Health Care/Impeachment Town Hall…

    Health care is important, but living in a democracy is even more important. John Conyers, who — as head of the House Judiciary has the power to initiate it — knows what’s at stake, but he’s more concerned with making sure that Democrats win in …

    Trackback by www.buzzflash.net — September 26, 2007 @ 2:08 am

  2. [...] By Jennifer Umolac of ImpeachforPeace.org — On Tuesday, October 23rd, Impeach for Peace was granted a meeting with Representative John Conyers in Washington DC to discuss H. Res 333 and the status of impeachment. The meeting took place in the Judiciary Offices of the Rayburn building and was attended by Rep. John Conyers, an aide to Rep. Conyers and myself. There was no scheduled endtime for the meeting and ultimately the meeting lasted nearly 45 minutes. During this time many different aspects of the impeachment process were discussed. Representative Conyers was very generous with his time and made it very clear that he considers it very important for him to continue these conversations about impeachment. Unlike during his visit to Minneapolis, Rep. Conyers did not mention the matter of “time” as one of the factors against bringing forward H. Res 333. His most prominent rationale for not bringing forward the resolution was that he felt there wouldn’t be support for the measure and subsequently that it wouldn’t go anywhere. He spoke about all of the freshman Congresspeople who were elected in Red States and how they were unlikely to come out in favor of impeachment. He then stated that if he weren’t in his position, he would be “one of you…lobbying for impeachment.” I implored him to be one of us IN his position and to lobby his fellow Representatives in support of H. Res 333. [...]

    Pingback by Impeach Bush For Peace » Reps Conyers/Ellison/Waters Discuss Impeachment — November 7, 2007 @ 6:15 pm

  3. [...] By their actions and equally important, lack of action our elected officials have abandoned their oath to “defend and protect the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic.” Even more damning, they have, as stated earlier actually protected the Bush Administration from being held accountable by us for their criminal and immoral actions. In Minnesota recently Congressman John Conyers was recently challenged on this very point. He told us that it was more important to be re-elected and have a Democrat in the White House than this critical issue of accountability for those criminals in the White House. These are his words here, not mine. I told him that we have reached a point in our nation that we need to hold those people accountable who refuse to hold this criminal Administration itself accountable. Remember this term for later. [...]

    Pingback by Impeach Bush For Peace » Impeachment: Now The Gloves Are Off — December 13, 2007 @ 10:16 pm

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"I just want you to know that,
when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace."
-Bush, June 18, 2002

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-Big Brother in George Orwell's 1984

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Arguments Against Bush Impeachment...

• If we impeach Bush, we’ll get President Cheney!
The first impeachment resolution introduced by McKinney included Bush, Cheney, and Rice. Although, even if we only initially pursue Bush, initiating the impeachment process will lead to an investigation that will implicate lots of people in the Bush administration who are guilty of committing crimes, including Cheney.

No matter who we get to replace Bush, we’ll be showing those in power that anyone who breaks the law will be held accountable.

• Promoting impeachment will seem too “extreme.”
Demanding that crimes be investigated is NOT extreme. Some previous impeachment attempts were considered extreme because they were pursued for actions that didn't rise to the level of a Constitutional crisis, which is what the impeachment tool is meant to be used for. Nixon's impeachment, however, was bipartisan.

  • We should wait to impeach...
Wait to impeach? We've waited 3 or more years too long already. We had enough evidence to impeach years ago. Remember, an impeachment only means you have enough evidence to warrant a trial, just like an indictment. Our congress people didn't take an oath to bipartisanship. They took an oath to the Constitution. Besides which, our troops, Iraqi civilians, and our own civil liberties are all waiting for this.
 
• Before we impeach, we should get some legislation passed...
And with unconstitutional Presidential Signing Statements, veto power, and the power of "Commander in Chief" at his disposal, how do you think Congress is going to get anything accomplished without first impeaching Bush?

If your tire blows while you're driving, do you stop to fix it? Or do you continue driving on your rim because to stop would take too much time?

• It hurts the democracy to go through a presidential impeachment. And Bush is a lame duck anyway.
Holding government officials accountable for their actions strengthens our democracy. Letting lawlessness stand weakens it.

Sometimes reprimanding a child (president) doesn't make the family (Washington) a happy place. But you still have to do it so the child and his siblings (future presidents) learn about accountability. Impeachment is horribly UNDERUSED, which is part of why there's so much corruption at the top. Politicians must learn to fear it. People think things are better because we improved the make-up of our law-making body, Congress. But Bush is BREAKING LAWS. So, it doesn't matter how many laws Congress passes if they don't serve their OVERSIGHT duties as well by impeaching. They swore to defend the Constitution. What are laws without enforcement?

Besides, considering Bush's track-record of breaking laws, he can still do a lot of damage. Our troops, Iran, and our Supreme Court are all endangered so long as he remains in office. Waiting until Bush is out of office will leave us complicit in any further crimes he commits. The Union of Concerned Scientists has estimated that the death toll from a "tactical" nuclear weapon of the kind Bush is contemplating using in Iran would be at minimum 3 million men, women, and children. The path of death would stretch across country boundaries into India.

Perhaps worst of all, we set a terrible precedent by allowing Bush to stay in office after he's broken so many laws. Impeachment will stop future presidents from using Bush's actions as justification for even more lawbreaking and erosion of civil liberties.

• I'm a Democrat/
Republican. If we support impeachment it will lower the chances of my party winning in 2008.

So, your party would rather win elections than do what's right for the country? I hope you're wrong. I also hope the public is willing to throw additional support to any party that holds our elected officials accountable for their actions. This has been historically true with every single impeachment effort launched. And this impeachment effort would begin with majority support (unlike most past impeachments including Nixon).

• Impeachment will never happen. Congress members will block it.
Well, all we need is a majority of support in the House. And 2/3rds vote in the Senate to remove Bush from office will happen once the evidence gets aired on the floor of the House, and subsequently the national media outlets. The political pressure will become too great.

Today's impossibility is tomorrow's reality. Congress members will realize that tying their political future to Bush reduces their chances of getting elected. Remember, one way or another, Bush is gone by 2009— but members of Congress may retain their offices beyond that date. Bush's poll numbers are extremely low, and most Americans support impeachment. This is a bipartisan movement. This means that if we make the pressure unbearable for Members of Congress, they'll turn on him to keep their own seats (like they did with Nixon). It's already starting to happen. While many Members of Congress have behaved unethically in the last few years, it's important to understand that this is related to their warped view of what's in their self-interest. Let's wake them up to their true self-interest (impeaching the president), by showing them our support for impeachment.

And even if we only impeach, and the Senate fails to do their duty and remove him from office, it will only implicate the Senators who fail to do their sworn Constitutional duty.

• But Speaker of the House Pelosi said that Impeachment was "off the table."

Pelosi most likely said this to remove any appearance of conflict-of-interest that would arise if she were thrust into the presidency as a result of the coming impeachment. What we need to do is to pressure Pelosi not to interfere with impeachment maneuverings within her party. Sending her Do-It-Yourself impeachments legitimizes her when she joins the impeachment movement in the future.

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