Nichols: Congress should answer the call of conscience

[undeterred]

John Nichols is challenging his congressperson (and mine) to do the right thing:

John Nichols: Baldwin should answer the call of conscience
John Nichols — 6/25/2008 10:14 am

The Constitution is a constant document. It is not some artifact that has meaning only on July Fourth or other patriotic holidays. It always applies. Members of Congress do not swear an oath "to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic ... except in election years."

Unfortunately, most members of Congress view their commitment to the Constitution in just that way. They take the document that underpins the American system seriously only when it is politically convenient. So it is that, while George Bush's high crimes and misdemeanors merit impeachment, there has been no rush by House members to co-sponsor Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich's proposal to hold the president to account.

Kucinich has introduced 35 articles of impeachment that detail a litany of abuses ranging from the dispatching of U.S. troops to fight undeclared wars to warrantless wiretapping to the sanctioning of torture and the radical abuses of authority associated with the administration's campaign to discredit critics such as former Ambassador Joe Wilson. The charges are not new. Nor are they particularly adventurous. And, as former White House spokesman Scott McClellan's testimony before the House Judiciary Committee has confirmed, they are supported by evidence from within the Bush-Cheney White House. Yet, for the most part, even progressive members of Congress have shied away from signing on to Kucinich's resolution.

Why? Because, in this presidential election year, House Democrats are more focused on the political work of avoiding controversy than they are on their constitutional obligations. While it may be true that the republic has been endangered, that the rule of law has been undermined, that the essential underpinning of the American experiment -- a system of checks and balances designed by the Founders to prevent monarchical rule by a president turned warrior king -- hangs in the balance, the political class in Washington chooses not to engage in a process of renewal.

http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion/293146

As of today, there are three members of the House worthy of sitting in the chamber created by the framers and once occupied by Barbara Jordan: Kucinich, the maverick congressman who regularly puts principle above party; Congressional Progressive Caucus Co-chair Barbara Lee, the California Democrat who cast the sole vote in 2001 against allowing President Bush to initiate a limitless "war on terror"; and Florida Democrat Robert Wexler, a senior member of the Judiciary Committee who has emerged as the chamber's noisiest advocate for presidential accountability.

Call or write your congressperson today to sign on for impeaching Bush! :kick:

[rodeodance]

1. Baldwin answers call of conscience, backs impeachment

John Nichols: Baldwin answers call of conscience, backs impeachment

John Nichols — 6/25/2008 11:00 am

U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, recognizes that the Constitution is a constant document.

Baldwin knows that the Constitution is not some artifact that has meaning only on July Fourth or other patriotic holidays. It always applies. Members of Congress do not swear an oath "to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic ... except in election years."

It is with this understanding that Baldwin, who represents a city named for the father of the Constitution, has added her name to the honor roll of House members who support the impeachment of President Bush.

Unfortunately, most members of Congress take the document that underpins the American system seriously only when it is politically convenient............


http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion/293276

[undeterred]

3. Wow, it really got to her.

Much better than the 3 months of lobbying it took to get her to sign on to HR 333.

[rodeodance]

2. good on Tammy---my Rep

[undeterred]

4. Update: 7 members have signed on

As of today, there are seven members of the House worthy of sitting in the chamber created by the framers and once occupied by Barbara Jordan: Kucinich, the maverick congressman who regularly puts principle above party; Congressional Progressive Caucus Co-chairs Barbara Lee and Lynn Woolsey plus Sam Farr, another Californian with a long track record of opposing the war in Iraq and presidential lawlessness; Florida Democrat Robert Wexler, a senior member of the Judiciary Committee; and progressive stalwart Maurine Hinchey, D-N.Y.; and Tammy Baldwin.