Conyers: Give up on Impeachment, Single Payer Health Plan – Surrender Everything

And he told the 150 or so of us to forget about Single Payer, forget about getting Rove to testify or impeaching Bush. Forget about all that. Because as we learned in 2000, elections matter.

Until after November 4, we should do nothing but WORK to make sure that this election results in electing a President and larger majorities in the Senate and House in order to make those things we want more likely.

On November 5, we can go back to work on each of our individual causes.

(Source)

And this from National Impeachment Network co-founder Cynthia Papermaster:

“Conyers has been giving us this message all along.

John Conyers is NOT correct that an impeachment inquiry would hurt Obama’s chances, but his and the leadership’s flawed judgment is going to rule the day and it could possibly cost Obama and the Democrats the election. I told Wexler’s Chief of Staff Eric Johnson, his Legislative Director Ellen McLaren, and Wexler himself that convincing the Obama campaign that starting a hearing will help Obama win, and then letting Conyers know to go ahead, would help all Democrats if they don’t cave to the media spin about it being a partisan stunt. It would have to be completely behind the scenes; Obama can’t be seen to play a part. Eric was all ears. He even embellished the plan and said he’d talk to Robert about it.

The Democrats are stuck in old, illogical thinking and this is one reason they have lost in the past. It was only by coming out with strong rhetoric against the war that they won in 2006. The party hasn’t made the connection that ending the war equates with winning. If they did get it they would overrule the blue dogs and work to end it. So if their anti-war stance was acceptable to the media and public, then why wouldn’t impeachment be acceptable to the public? Can’t the Judiciary Committee defend itself from the right wing? Don’t the numbers show that voters want accountability, especially now that they’re seeing the economy crumble? But the Democrats don’t learn, do they? Even when they have a winning strategy staring them in the face, they flub it. The Democrats make mistake after mistake. They can’t even figure out how to win! (I don’t agree with those who say the Democrats don’t care if they win or not because they take money from corporations too so it doesn’t matter who’s in the White House.)

I was going to keep this strategy under wraps, but since I’m now in favor of the blank vote strategy, I’m sharing it. If you know someone who can talk to the campaign, like Bobby Kennedy Jr., please go ahead and work it.

[Ed. Note: The blank vote strategy is to make clear to Democrats that in key districts with competitive races, we favor a write-in vote of “None of the Above” if the Democrat has been in breech of their oath of office to defend the Constitution by not actively pushing for impeachment of Bush and Cheney.]