Where Are You, Conyers?

[Postman]

In 2005, before John Conyers became chair of the House Committee on the Judiciary, he introduced a bill to explore impeaching the president and was asked by Lewis Lapham of Harpers why he was for impeachment then. He replied:

“To take away the excuse that we didn’t know. So that two, or four, or ten years from now, if somebody should ask, ‘Where were you, Conyers, and where was the U.S. Congress?’ when the Bush administration declared the Constitution inoperative…none of the company here present can plead ignorance or temporary insanity say that ‘somehow it escaped our notice.’”

In the three years since then, the train of abuses and usurpations has gotten longer and Conyers has become chair of the committee. Yet he has dawdled and dawdled, and has shown no appetite for impeachment.

On July 23, 2007, Conyers told Cindy Sheehan, Rev. Lennox Yearwood, and me that he would need 218 votes in the House and they were not there.

A week ago, 251 members of the House voted to refer to Conyers’ committee the 35 Articles of Impeachment proposed by Congressman Dennis Kucinich.

Former Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman, who sat on Judiciary with Conyers when it voted out three articles of impeachment on President Richard Nixon, spoke out immediately: “The House should commence an impeachment inquiry forthwith.”

Much of the work has been done. As Holtzman noted, Kucinich’s Articles of Impeachment, together with the Senate report that on Iraq we were led to war based on false pretenses — arguably the most serious charge — go a long way toward jump-starting any additional investigative work Congress needs to do.

And seldom mentioned is the voluminous book published by Conyers himself, “Constitution in Crisis,” containing a wealth of relevant detail on the crimes of the current executive.

Conyers’ complaint that there is not enough time is a dog that won’t hunt, as Lyndon Johnson would say.

How can Conyers say this one day, and on the next say that if Bush attacks Iran, well then, the House may move toward impeachment.

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/06/20/9771/

[orleans]

1. pelosi ate up his courage. n/t

[G_j]

2. something doesn't seem right

in my eyes, a great man ruined. His quote says it all.

[Fire Walk With Me]

3. "Constitution in Crisis" was terrific, highly recommended.

Things have only gotten worse in the time since he and his staff wrote it.

It seriously begs the question of just how much power and destruction the Bush Regime wield behind the scenes, as well as that of which we are aware.

Edit for spelling, and to ask who wants to receive an anthrax letter in return for championing freedom? No one.

[notfullofit]

4. He's a

politician, is a politician, is a politician.

[Mojorabbit]

5. No, something really did change

remember this, the impeachment petition with over half a million citizen signatures and 122 reps?


Yes, something changed.

[midnight]

6. Something did change.

[crickets]

9. That man no longer exists.

He was one of the good guys who truly wanted to do the right thing, and I have trouble believing the recent spinelessness is completely due to Nancy Pelosi's leash in his case. The question is: what happened?

[Mojorabbit]

10. I wish I knew

because I think it holds the key to all the rest of what has been happening in the house or at least a big clue.

[lonestarnot]

7. 251 God damn it! 251 There's your numbers! Where the hell are you!

On July 23, 2007, Conyers told Cindy Sheehan, Rev. Lennox Yearwood, and me that he would need 218 votes in the House and they were not there.

A week ago, 251 members of the House voted to refer to Conyers’ committee the 35 Articles of Impeachment proposed by Congressman Dennis Kucinich.

[Swamp Rat]

8. Something is rotten in the State of Denmark