Answer Conyers’ Impeachment Request!
Filed under: Impeachment Progress News — Jodin Morey @ 11:46 pm 
Answer Conyers’ Impeachment Request!
From the NATIONAL IMPEACHMENT NETWORK:
On June 5, John Conyers agreed to a meeting with a group of CodePinkers. He challenged them to explain how to he should overcome the five reasons why impeachment is not possible.
His reasons are below, with my suggested or possible rebuttals in parens. Please use your own wording to rebut his objections, but no accusations, no emotion, no rants — as respectful as can be.
Then mail or fax them to Chairman Conyers, with the notation that here are rebuttals to his objections to impeachment. Ask him to please consider these rebuttals carefully. (EVEN if you’ve done it a million times before, we must keep chipping away at it, and now is the perfect time — maybe the only time — to do it!)
The 5 reasons Mr. Conyers gives for not impeaching (I have paraphrased):
1. While the majority of people in this country want Bush gone, they don’t want impeachment. (Rebuttal: What facts or polls do you use to support your contention that people don’t want impeachment? Our interactions with the public for years now indicates otherwise.)
2. The corporate media will slay us. (Rebuttal: Isn’t the object to carry out justice? If the media tries to slay the Dems for that, then it seems the Dems have plenty of reason to slay that corporate media! The Dems should have more faith in the people, and should understand the people know the truth when they hear it.)
3. No time. (We all know the answer to that one. Clinton and Nixon, both in a matter of months. Besides, all we’re asking for now is hearings, to begin exposure of this administration. The rest will take care of itself.)
4. No votes. (Again, Besides, all we’re asking for now is hearings, to begin exposure of this administration. The rest will take care of itself, and the votes will be there once the people begin to overrule political motivation.)
5. Election defeat. (We know this one too: Historically, the impeaching party has won in a landslide. His staffer’s suggestion that while the Republicans won the presidential election after Clinton, they lost seats in Congress. We can easily argue that there is likely no or little correlation at all — or, that even Republican voters were disgusted with that “impeachment.)
Chairman Conyers indicated he would welcome our individual Congressional reps onto the (I believe Wexler?) letter that currently has 15 signers, five of whom are on the Judiciary Committee.
Washington Office
2426 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-5126
(202) 225-0072 Fax
Detroit District Office
669 Federal Building
231 W. Lafayette
Detroit, MI 48226
(313) 961-5670
(313) 226-2085 Fax
Trenton District Office
2615 W. Jefferson
Trenton, MI 48183
(734) 675-4084
(734) 675-4218 Fax
I did my part. A simple fax and a few mouse clicks was all it really took. Here is what I wrote. I held back as much as humanly possible.
Dear Sir: I am respectfully submitting my rebuttal to the 5 reasons you gave the CodePinkers on June 5th why we shouldn’t impeach Cheney and Bush now. To refresh your memory, I have included your 5 reasons.
Reason 1: While the majority of people in this country want Bush gone, they don’t want impeachment.
Rebuttal 1: Please provide documented proof to this opinion.
Reason 2: The corporate media will slay us.
Rebuttal 2: Don’t you think it’s time something is done about the corporate media, anyway? Won’t they “slay†us, anyway. Won’t they do everything in their power to keep the Republicans in office, anyway? If not, why? We don’t even have freedom of speech anymore. Why didn’t any of them cover the Iraq War veterans for Peace? Obviously, because they have financial stake in the war.
Hearings should be held on the exact numbers of dollars at stake by this corporate media. Maybe some regulation to end no-bid contracts and the mishandling of billions of dollars, too.
Reason 3: No time.
Rebuttal 3: Can you imagine the catastrophic economic damage this administration could do from November to January? Or the wars it can start, borrowing more money to pay for them? Who will pay?
Reason 4: No votes.
Rebuttal 4: Not yet. If we truly had our constitutional right of freedom of speech, this would be a different story. But we’re all afraid of getting our heads bashed in by an illegal paramilitary used against US citizens. How did that ever happen, anyway?
Reason 5: Election defeat.
Rebuttal 5: It is going to happen anyway with the corporate controlled media you yourself mention and most importantly because of totally ineffective Democratic representatives that we elected in 2006.
A lot can happen from now until January. Do you want that all to be part of YOUR legacy?
Thank you very much for reading this letter in it’s entirety. You are our only hope.
Comment by Pete — June 9, 2008 @ 7:54 am
The disgusting frat boy has 7 months left in office, and his corpulent greedy sleazebag of a VP is as dangerous as the class clown, if not more so. Impeach them both ASAP and send them to the well-earned right-wing political dungheap from whose putrid ooze they will not dare to interfere again in our country’s political affairs. Start with these two and we can roll back the lying propaganda machine of America’s royalty that has, for ten years at least, stolen from the working people to more vastly benefit the already filthy rich!
If the Dems don’t get smart and recognise that the people have finally had enough and that we’d better get some progress in correcting the massive inequalities in this country, and that includes leadership from Democrats who understand what’s been happening to us the past ten years, and know how to correct it (tax increases for the rich, corporate reform, election reform, overhaul of the supreme court, to name just a few), then WE THE PEOPLE will take our own actions. One thing is certain, things cannot continue this way. We’d have to be the stupidest nation on earth to allow the rape and pillage of our country by the rich to continue any longer!
Comment by Peter & Bonnie Hainey — June 9, 2008 @ 11:47 pm
Dear Mr. conyers,
Comment by Martha Thacker — June 10, 2008 @ 6:05 am
Dear Mr. Conyers, Please impeach Bush and Cheney. (1) It is the right thing to do. You would feel better about yourself (2) Don’t worry about the corporate media. Most of US don’t believe one thing they have to say. A few lies are all it takes to make a network irrelevant. Democracy Now is the only news program worth watching. (3) Don’t worry about the time it takes to impeach. Bush has admitted to torture. Lying US into a war could be proven in about thirty minutes. Who is the democratic leadership against impeachment..besides Nancy Pelosi? She doesn’t have respect outside DC. Remember you represent America …WE go considerably beyond the beltway. Sincerely, Martha Thacker
Comment by Martha Thacker — June 10, 2008 @ 6:12 am
All the rebuttals to your objections to impeachment, neatly laid out here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389×3414315
I agree with them. Please do not delay a second longer. It’s the right thing to do, and the right time to do it. We must stop wasting time and squandering our freedom.
Comment by Carrie Hamby — June 10, 2008 @ 10:21 am
Dear Mr. Conyers,
Please do the right thing. Do you recall the presentations made by members of the Congressional Black Caucus on the eve of the U.S. led invasion of Iraq in 2003? Were you there?
When one considers all the evidence to date regarding events of the U.S. led Iraq invasion, including last week’s Senate Select Committee on Intelligence’s report, plus the many writings from those who worked inside the Bush White House, the scope and depth of the lying is staggering.
President Bush and his White House Neo-Con-men (who signed the Project for the New American Century manifesto for world domination at all cost) should be put on trial before the public for the atrocities they have caused.
And Speaker Nancy Pelosi should be investigated for aiding them, saying the impeachment issue over the Iraq War is “off the table”, and as she states in a recent letter to me, “I believe impeachment proceedings against Vice President Dick Cheney will distract us from our mission…”. Well, to Ms. Pelosi and all those who are relentlessly enabling this epic tragedy of senseless death, shattered lives, broken families, mind-numbing abuses of our hard-earned tax dollars, savage corporate exploitation; I say, JUSTICE IS NO DISTRACTION! There is no justice without impeachment!
Many in Congress and the Senate had the same intelligence as the White House administration, yet their conclusions were vastly different and, as it turns out, shockingly correct.
The press, which as we now know from Bill Moyers’ insightful PBS documentary, “Buying the War”, rather than giving us the benefit of being watch-dog, instead served as lap-dog to the Bush White House—providing no real means for adequate public scrutiny.
The Congressional Black Caucus was, and is, a shining example of stewardship of the public interest and welfare. They stood in the House on the eve of the invasion on Iraq and made fact based, rational, and passionate presentations pleading with the President not to invade Iraq.
Sadly, most Americans to this day still do not know about those presentations because the mainstream press never reported that historic event.
Nevertheless, I shall forever remember that night in 2003, while watching C-SPAN—those powerful words, with truth and humanity from Rep. Maxine Waters:
“Mr. President, you cannot substitute a preemptive strike on Saddam Hussein for finding the terrorists. We want the terrorists to be found….
We want to secure the homeland. We are worried that you have been diverted, that you are about to do this preemptive strike without the documentation….
Yes, every country should be able to defend itself, but we are in no danger from Iraq. As a matter of fact, that is probably one of the weakest points on the globe for us to attack. We are not threatened by Saddam Hussein….
What we see and we are witnessing is the mismanagement of America. Someone today criticized Senator Daschle because he talked about the diplomatic disaster. Mr. President, it is a diplomatic disaster. We are watching before our very eyes the mismanagement of our beloved country. Our schools are falling apart. You said you wished to leave no child behind, but, Mr. President, you have not funded assistance to education that will have our children in the best possible situations where they can learn. Our health care system has fallen apart. In my city, in my county we are closing healthcare clinics. We are closing hospitals….
Mr. President, you are not able to tell us what this war is going to cost and what the cleanup, what the revitalization, the reconstruction of Iraq is going to cost. The American people need to know where our dollars are going. The American people need to understand the cost of this war and why….
Mr. President, we must raise these questions. We must raise these questions because we are patriots. We are folks who love this country. We are folks who have stood by this country no matter what, and we will continue to stand by this country. We will continue to stand by our soldiers. But, Mr. President, you are going to have to account for the leadership that you are giving, and I say to you and all those who are advising you, be it Wolfowitz, be it Secretary of State Colin Powell, be it Condoleezza Rice, be it Karl Rove, or any of those in the inner circle, you are going to be held responsible for what takes place in this world, what takes place with this preemptive strike, what takes place with our soldiers and our families….”
It is now time for us, all of us, to speak up in the name of justice. Our laws say we are entitled to impeachment proceedings, and our morality demands it.
Because we were fooled into war with Iraq, there are so many in this country who weep at the mere sight of the empty chair at the dinner table, knowing their loved one will never return to break bread in the sacred fellowship of family.
Indeed, justice is no distraction! There will be no justice without impeachment!
Please, Mr. Conyers, let history record that you stood up and did the right thing.
Comment by Ellison Horne — June 10, 2008 @ 10:06 pm
Rep. Conyers,
You said one of your reasons for not impeaching Bush was that there was no public support, however, polls show the opposite.
With a near complete media blackout of the issue, the very first poll showed more support for impeaching Bush than there was for impeaching Clinton after eight years of 24/7 scandal-mongering, and only slightly less than there was for impeaching Nixon, THE DAY BEFORE HE RESIGNED.
So lack of public support is not an argument. Once proceedings start, it would likely dwarf support for impeaching Nixon as well.
GRAPHIC COMPARING BUSH, CLINTON & NIXON IMPEACHMENT POLLS:
http://professorsmartass.blogspot.com/2007/11/animation-is-support-for-impeaching.html
Comment by Mike Dixon — June 12, 2008 @ 1:24 pm