Leave it to the corporate media to COMPLETELY ignore Dennis Kucinich's Articles of Impeachment against George Bush this Sunday. Sure, I don't think Kucinich will get the support of most of Congress (with the exception of Robert Wexler), but isn't it even worth discussing?

The Seminal

I disagree with Ian's post this morning on impeachment, and specifically the first reason against going through with it:

When the House of Representatives voted to send Dennis Kucinich's Articles of Impeachment against George W. Bush to the Judiciary Committee yesterday, it was understood that the vote in reality killed the bill. And it is understandable why the House will not actually take up the Articles no matter how legitimate the case against Bush may be. First, they do not want to distract from the presidential election and redefine the debate when it already favors the Democrats. Second, if successful, then Cheney is President. If you impeached both Bush and Cheney and made Pelosi President, then it would look like a powergrab by the Democrats. However, having the Judiciary Committee hold the hearings might at least document the criminality of the Bush Administration in a coherent manner.

I'm actually pretty convinced impeaching George Bush is a great electoral strategy for the Democrats.

There are two basic reasons Democratic leadership puts forward against impeaching George Bush and/or Dick Cheney. Speaker Pelosi's public reasoning is that she would rather focus on other issues more important to average Americans:

"The question of impeachment is something that would divide the country," Pelosi said this morning during a wide-ranging discussion in the ornate Speaker's office. Her top priorities are ending the war in Iraq, expanding health care, creating jobs and preserving the environment. "I know what our success can be on those issues. I don't know what our success can be on impeaching the president."

The implicit reason is that Bush has been a huge electoral aid for Democrats. Largely running against Bush, they were able to capture both houses of Congress in 2006 and they hope to repeat the feat with the White House in 2008 - not to mention pick up a great many House and Senate seats in the process. Eliminating Bush, or doing anything that could cause citizens to rally around him, would take out that advantage.

She's wrong.

Never mind my belief that holding those in power accountable is just about the most important issue there is. Impeaching President Bush will actually help Democrats accomplish their electoral goals.

It's no secret that the Democrat's top strategy to win the White House this year is to label John McCain as 4 more years of Bush. Outside groups like MoveOn.org are going all out with their Bush-McCain challenge, spending millions on organizing and ads. Barack Obama himself is touting how often McCain votes with Bush. (95% of the time last year!) This is the attack, and it looks like it's starting to stick.

UPDATE: It's on CSPAN right now!

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Chicago Tribune:

Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a former Democratic presidential contender, said Monday he wants the House to consider a resolution to impeach President Bush. Speaker Nancy Pelosi consistently has said impeachment was "off the table."

Kucinich, D-Ohio, read his proposed impeachment language in a floor speech. He contended Bush deceived the nation and violated his oath of office in leading the country into the Iraq war.

Kucinich introduced a resolution last year to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney. That resolution was killed, but only after Republicans initially voted in favor of taking up the measure to force a debate.

I'm doubtful he'll get support of the House on this, but if you want to send an "Attaboy!" to Kucinich, contact him here.

Democrats.com Applauds Dennis Kucinich

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) recently delivered a major-league pep-talk to his Republican caucus, which was very well received. GOP lawmakers gave Boehner a standing ovation, and were all smiles as they looked ahead to the rest of the year. They were led to believe that tying Dems in congressional races to Obama and Pelosi would be a recipe for success, and Republicans might even gain seats this year.

This same Republican caucus was feeling far less jovial during their confab yesterday. Boehner’s election strategy has been tested twice now in two months in two reliably Republican districts — first in Illinois’ 14th, then in Louisiana’s 6th. The GOP went 0-for-2. Worse, the NRCC has very little money to make a serious go at actually narrowing the Dems’ majority. None of these guys left the room smiling yesterday.

What might cheer congressional Republicans up? How ’bout a trip to the White House?

House Republicans will hold a rally with President Bush on Wednesday morning, with all 199 members invited to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. to show solidarity with the president, according to GOP sources.

Oddly enough, I’m not sure whose spirits this is supposed to boost — Republicans’ or Dems’.

As Tim F. noted, “Blind, deaf Americans living under rocks for very long periods of time have figured out that everything the President touches is a half-assed failure. Any sane person would treat the guy as radioactive. So what gives? I have to assume that this little pep rally will be about as well attended as Alberto ‘abu’ Gonzales’s farewell party at the DoJ.”

From Democrats.com:

On Thursday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi will force the House to approve $163 billion more of our tax dollars for the occupation of Iraq - nearly $100 billion for 2008 plus nearly $70 billion more for 2009.

We are outraged. This Democratic Congress was elected to end the occupation, not fund it forever.

On Monday, a new Democrats.com poll found an overwhelming 68% of Americans want to bring our troops safely home within 6 months - a significant increase from 54% last September. Support among Democrats increased 14% to 85%, while support among Independents increased 20% to 78%. Why is the Democratic Congress defying the will of the overwhelming majority of Democrats and Independents?

Each day's news underscores how disastrous the occupation is. April was the deadliest month for U.S. soldiers since last September. One in five Iraq and Afghanistan veterans - roughly 300,000 - report symptoms of PTSD or major depression. The V.A. covered up the fact that 12,000 veterans attempt suicide each year while under V.A. treatment. As Cindy Sheehan asked, "for what noble cause" are our sons and daughters suffering and dying?[..]

It's urgent for everyone to call your Representative today with a simple message: Not One More Penny for Iraq.

This battle is not impossible. On January 16, 42 progressive Democrats voted against the last $70 billion blank check. Most Republicans oppose Pelosi's bill because it includes some domestic spending, so a large bloc of progressive Democrats can defeat it.

Call the House switchboard at 202-224-3121 or find your Representative's name and direct dial by entering your address on the right side here .

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Lizz Winstead's group, Wake Up World with Hope & Davis, a comedy newscast similar to The Daily Show has a new newsbreak video out that could either be a simple slip of the tongue or a very scary peek into the real souls of the Bush administration.

Earlier this week at the press briefing, Dana Perino was asked about the official White House stand towards China's brutality in Tibet, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was visiting with the exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama at the same time that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with Chinese leaders to urge them to speak to the Dalai Lama. Meanwhile, rioters raged through Lhasa, and Tibetans are claiming more than 130 dead.

Maybe all of those things rocketing through that perky little brain of hers yielded some confusion. Because, while Rice is supposed to be working her way to a peaceful accord, Perino claimed the exact opposite.

Q China sent more troops into Tibet to crack down on the demonstrators. The United States have any reaction to that?

MS. PERINO: I hadn't heard about that development. What I can tell you is that last night Secretary Rice spoke to the Chinese Foreign Minister to very directly reiterate our views and concerns about the situation and told the Chinese that we would urge restraint in dealing with protestors, to refrain from non-violence and then Secretary Rice informed the President this morning of that conversation.

YahooNews:

President Bush said Saturday he vetoed legislation that would ban the CIA from using harsh interrogation methods such as waterboarding to break suspected terrorists because it would end practices that have prevented attacks.

"The bill Congress sent me would take away one of the most valuable tools in the war on terror," Bush said in his weekly radio address taped for broadcast Saturday. "So today I vetoed it," Bush said. The bill provides guidelines for intelligence activities for the year and includes the interrogation requirement. It passed the House in December and the Senate last month.

"This is no time for Congress to abandon practices that have a proven track record of keeping America safe," the president said. Read on...

Both Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer have issued statements calling Bush's veto "deeply misguided" and that "the world must know that American doesn't torture." But a letter to Bush from 30 retired military admirals and generals says it all:

We believe it is vital to the safety of our men and women in uniform that the United States not sanction the use of interrogation methods it would find unacceptable if inflicted by the enemy against captured Americans…The current situation, in which the military operates under one set of interrogation rules that are public and the CIA operates under a separate, secret set of rules, is unwise and impractical…What sets us apart from our enemies in this fight…is how we behave. In everything we do, we must observe the standards and values that dictate that we treat noncombatants and detainees with dignity and respect.

So the question is, will George W. Bush listen to the generals?

Dennis Perrin: My so-called life.

Suburban Guerrilla: Our president's good friend, the man called "Bandar Bush."

Truthdig: Pelosi to Superdelegates: Don't overule the voters

The Reaction: The chief internal watchdog, and frequent Bush critic, David M. Walker, has resigned as Comptroller General.

Danger Room: The Pentagon says it has to shoot down a malfunctioning spy satellite because of the threat of a toxic gas cloud. Space security experts are calling the rationale "comedic gold."

the talking dog: The only thing they have is fear...oh, and impeccable timing

It is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad. -- James Madison

The Congress has joined the 21st Century and several of the Congressional Democratic members blogged their responses to the final Bush State of the Union speech:

I Continue To Believe That We Must Do More by Rep. John Lewis

Pelosi and Reid: ‘If the President Holds Fast to the Commitment He Made to Bipartisanship Tonight, We Can Make Great Progress for the American People' by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

On the War in Iraq by Rep. John Murtha

On Private School Vouchers by Chairman George Miller

Fighting for Change by Leader Steny Hoyer

The President Needs to Abandon His Partisan Ways by Democratic Whip James Clyburn

President Bush’s Last State of the Union Address by Chairman John Conyers

I Didn’t Hear Anything New by Rep. Hilda Solis

A State of Denial by Rep. Jim McDermott

On Tax Reform by Chairman Charles Rangel

Senator Dick Durbin created a diary and video at DKos.

And 1Democratic Presidential contender Barack Obama released a video with his response.

When I first read this report, I admit that I got angry. Then I got smart. Look carefully at the names named in this report. Isn't it interesting that the WaPo reporters made sure to point out the Democrats in attendance when Congress was still operating under a Republican majority? Hmmm....who do you suppose could have leaked this story to the press to perhaps deflect from their own negative stories?

No matter how you slice it, there's some serious 'splaining that needs to be done, but the lopsidedness of this article makes me more than a little leery of its accuracy.

WaPo:

In September 2002, four members of Congress met in secret for a first look at a unique CIA program designed to wring vital information from reticent terrorism suspects in U.S. custody. For more than an hour, the bipartisan group, which included current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), was given a virtual tour of the CIA's overseas detention sites and the harsh techniques interrogators had devised to try to make their prisoners talk.

Among the techniques described, said two officials present, was waterboarding, a practice that years later would be condemned as torture by Democrats and some Republicans on Capitol Hill. But on that day, no objections were raised. Instead, at least two lawmakers in the room asked the CIA to push harder, two U.S. officials said.[..]

"The briefer was specifically asked if the methods were tough enough," said a U.S. official who witnessed the exchange.[..]

With one known exception, no formal objections were raised by the lawmakers briefed about the harsh methods during the two years in which waterboarding was employed, from 2002 to 2003, said Democrats and Republicans with direct knowledge of the matter. The lawmakers who held oversight roles during the period included Pelosi and Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) and Sens. Bob Graham (D-Fla.) and John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), as well as Rep. Porter J. Goss (R-Fla.) and Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan).

(Guest blogged by Bill W)

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Steve wrote about this scandal previously, now the author is now speaking out and giving more details. Just four days ago Speaker Nancy Pelosi was calling for Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Acting Chairman Nancy Nord to resign after she fired off a couple of letters to Congress opposing tougher legislation that would strengthen the agency that is supposed to oversee the safety of consumer goods, echoing White House concerns that favored industry profits over the health and welfare of consumers, especially children in the wake of recall after recall and the revelation that the CPSC has only one full-time employee that tests toys.

Well, as it turns out, Nancy Nord should have taken Pelosi's advice and left to spend more time with her family while the getting was good. CNN had WaPo's Elizabeth Williamson on to discuss her article today which reveals that Nord "and her predecessor have taken dozens of trips at the expense of the toy, appliance and children's furniture industries and others they regulate" while parents were buying millions of lead-tainted toys. Some of the trips "were sponsored by lobbying groups and lawyers representing the makers of products linked to consumer hazards."