Contact: David Swanson 202-329-7847
Today, September 10, 2008, at 1 p.m. ET, Congressman Dennis Kucinich
(D., Ohio) will hold a press conference in Room 2456 in the Rayburn
House Office Building in Washington, D.C., to discuss his delivery today
to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of petitions calling for the immediate
commencement of impeachment hearings, and a new proposal for a national
truth and reconciliation commission.
David Swanson, Cofounder of AfterDowningStreet.org and Washington
Director of Democrats.com will join Kucinich at the event, along with
representatives of several allied organizations, including Susan Serpa
and Ralph Lopez of Northeast Impeachment Coalition, Linda Boyd of
Washington For Impeachment, Sandra Marshall of Progressive Democrats of
San Luis Obispo, CA, Cynthia Papermaster of National Impeachment
Network, Gael Murphy of CODEPINK: Women for Peace, and John Heuer of
North Carolina Grassroots Impeachment Movement.
Yesterday Congressman Jim McDermott spoke on the floor in support of
Kucinich’s articles of impeachment against President Bush (H. Res.
1258). McDermott is the latest cosponsor, signing on the day after
having met with citizen activists. Citizens lobbying Congress members
this week are finding a new level of interest in impeachment. Factors
contributing to this are:
–New evidence of old crimes, including the evidence reported in Ron
Suskind’s “The Way of the World.”
–New concerns that refusing to uphold the Constitution is not leading
to an electoral landslide after all.
–New concerns that Bush will attempt to pardon himself, his vice
president, and all of their subordinates for crimes the president
himself authorized.
–Accumulated frustration of two years’ of subpoenas and contempt
citations being ignored, along with questions as to whether Congress
will renew those subpoenas and contempt citations in January.
–The ongoing disaster of policies increasing global warming, global
weapons proliferation, and global animosity toward the United States.
–The risk of what Bush and Cheney might do during the next four months,
with Congress on vacation when it ought to be restoring the rule of law
to the nation and the world.
Pelosi took impeachment “off the table” in May 2006 in response to a
claim by the Republican National Committee that impeachment would
benefit Republicans in the November 2006 elections. Polls shortly
before those elections showed a majority of Americans believing that
Democrats would impeach. Voters elected 30 new Democrats and no new
Republicans.
The movement for impeachment has for years now registered major support
— at times majority support — in various polls
(http://afterdowningstreet.org/polling ) and has seen intense and
widespread activism around the country and on Capitol Hill: phone calls,
emails, faxes, lobby visits, public forums, marches, creative dramas,
media activism, civil disobedience, and all forms of public education,
including the production of numerous books, DVDs, and websites
containing proposed articles of impeachment.
AfterDowningStreet.org and Democrats.com have collected hundreds of
thousands of petition signatures in support of impeachment, as have many
of our allied organizations.
The case for impeachment has never before been laid out as thoroughly as
in Kucinich’s articles (H. Res. 1258), but it was made in print in 2005
by a group called the International Commission of Inquiry on Crimes
Against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration of the United
States, as well as by Congressman John Conyers and his staff in a book
written in 2005, and in books in 2006 by the Center for Constitutional
Rights, Dave Lindorff and Barbara Olshansky, Elizabeth Holtzman and
Cynthia L. Cooper, and Dennis Loo and Peter Phillips, among others.
“Bush and Cheney should be impeached now, or even after they are out of
office, or even after they are dead,” said David Swanson of
AfterDowningStreet.org. “The point is not to remove them from office or
to strip them of their pensions or to deny them the right to hold public
office in the future. The point is to communicate to future
administrations, even in the distant future, that they must obey the
law. Even electing a saint president for a term, even legislating new
checks and balances, even amending the Constitution, would not deter
future abuses of presidential power as well as impeachment and prosecution.”
“Impeachment is only a lengthy process when you don’t already have the
evidence,” Swanson said. “President Andrew Johnson was impeached three
days after the offense for which he was impeached. Senator William
Blount was impeached four days after the offense for which he was
impeached. The Senate expelled Blount the day after he was impeached.
Judge Halsted Ritter’s Senate trial took 11 days. Judge John Pickering’s
trial took nine days. Judge James Peck’s trial took three days. Judge
West Humphreys’ trial took one day. Bush and Cheney could be impeached,
tried, and convicted in a week.”
“When Cheney and Bush finally face trial in a criminal court,” said
Swanson, “their first line of defense is likely to be ‘We served the
American people, whose representatives chose not to impeach us.’ If, on
the other hand, they are impeached, even after having left office, the
likelihood of prosecution and of successful prosecution will increase
dramatically. It is the responsibility of Congress to impeach, to pass
legislation to ban self-pardons and pardons of crimes authorized by the
pardoner, and to commit now to reintroducing all subpoenas and contempt
citations in January.
“Upholding the Constitution is extremely popular with voters. The
Democrats won big after working to impeach Nixon, but lost when they
avoided impeaching Reagan. The Republicans won after working to impeach
Truman, and even suffered minimal losses while holding the House,
Senate, and White House after impeaching Clinton against the
overwhelming will of the public. The tragedy here is that the Democrats
now leading Congress place the outcome of a single election above the
preservation of our republic; it’s compounded by the fact that their
strategy may cost them the election.
“A truth and reconciliation commission is needed to fix a great many
failings in our political system and to empower people to aspire and
work to take their place as the rightful sovereigns of a democratic
republic.
[received via email to IFP]