PDHblog
This is a place for members of Progressive Democrats of Hawai‘i to express their thoughts
and exasperations about political happenings. The opinions and views are not necessarily
those of PDH's steering committee or membership as a whole.

Conyers is hard to figure. He was the main driving force behind the After Downing Street hearings, and a book on impeachment last year. And just last week, in an anti-war rally, he give a fiery speech saying that the President “can’t fire us, but we can fire him.”

He said in an interview last Friday with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now that what he meant was that next year we can elect a new President. This seems to me disingenuous, because that does not amount to firing, because Bush can’t serve another term.
He also commented in this interview that we don’t have the “luxury” of impeachment when there are so many other important things to deal with. This seemed to me to be strange logic, because what can be more basic than defending our Constitution??? But later in the interview, explained himself this way: After ticking off half a dozen important issues, including the war, he said that we “can’t afford” to tie up Congress with impeachment proceedings.
This puts us in an awkward position: every time we petition him about something other than impeachment, it fortifies his resolve not to impeach. We have to be clear and careful about how we prioritize our petitions to our representatives.

Meanwhile, David Swanson has published a resource-filled blog on this subject that makes good reading.

Conyers can be reached at (202) 225-5126 or John.Conyers@mail.house.gov

The bottom line for me is that this is not about bashing Bush. If that’s all, then Conyers and Pelosi are right. But what it really is about is defending the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the rule of law. Yes, to me, these things are even more important than the War. But I don’t think we have to choose between these issues. Congress can handle both!

Bob Schacht