AP: Bush Critics Get an Unimpeachable Forum

[Hissyspit]

Source: Associated Press

Bush critics get an unimpeachable forum

By JIM ABRAMS – 3 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Call it the un-impeachment hearing.
The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing Friday it insisted was not about removing President Bush from office. But critics of Bush's policies couldn't pass up the chance to charge the president with a long list of impeachable "high crimes and misdemeanors. Leading the way was Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, the former Democratic presidential candidate who has brought repeated impeachment resolutions on the House floor against Bush and Vice President Cheney.

Kucinich got a rock star welcome of whistles, hoots and clapping as he walked into the hearing room, holding hands with his wife, from hundreds of anti-war, anti-Bush people crammed into the room and lining the hallways outside. T-shirts reading "Arrest Bush" and "Veterans for Impeachment" illustrated the sentiments of many. "The decision before us is whether to demand accountability for one of the gravest injustices imaginable," Kucinich testified, avoiding use of the "I" word.

The House Democratic leadership, not interested in a bloody impeachment battle in the last year of Bush's presidency, steered Kucinich's resolutions to the Judiciary Committee where they could quietly fade away, but Friday's hearing gave Kucinich and his allies an opportunity to air their views.

"To the regret of many, this is not an impeachment hearing," said committee chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., pointing out the less incendiary title of the event, "executive power and its constitutional limitations."
Still, Conyers, a vocal opponent of Bush, noted that his panel had pursued many issues that Kucinich and others regard as impeachable offenses: manipulating intelligence about Iraq; misusing authority with regard to torture, detention and rendition; politicizing the Justice Department and retaliating against critics, as in the outing of former CIA agent Valerie Plame.

Read more: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iE21FOVAfMfEbAE5LDwiYm8fGh4QD9252IFO0

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[pattmarty]

1. Saw it and was impressed, but it will (and hasn't so far at 716pm CST).......

....get virtually no media coverage. I'm going to watch the PBS friday night political shows and see if any mention tonight.

[Jefferson23]

2. I could cry, I swear I could. Thank God for you Kucinich and all

those that spoke out today.

[jaybeat]

3. Still, Conyers noted that his panel had pursued many issues...

And done JACK SHIT about stopping them, or holding those responsible to account.

:grr:

[salguine]

5. Conyers needs to be kicked to the curb right alongside Pelosi. Frankly, of the 535

member of Congress, I'd only spare Wexler, Waxman and Kucinich. The rest are criminals or cowards or both.

[nc4bo]

4. Will this country EVER see these criminals punished for their crimes?! What is wrong with us??

So proud of Kucinich and soooooooooooooo disappointed with the current state of affairs.