It's not just the Constitution that's suffering because of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's nutty and unprincipled "impeachment-off-the-table" position blocking any effort to impeach President Bush or Vice President Cheney for their many crimes and abuses of power.
Her position on impeachment is killing the Democratic Party too, by driving away not just progressived members of the party, but independents who voted for Democrats last November expecting some action in defense of the Constitution.
I see this anger welling up among progressives and independents everywhere I travel, as people say they've simply had it with the Democrats. The support of the party for a bill continuing funding for the war through September was terrible. The Democrats' rush to pass a bill granting Bush the authority to spy without a warrant on Americans, and to expand the power to spy domestically well beyond phones and internet to even include break-ins was a last straw.
My own little call for people so sign an "I Quit This Party" petition has seen a jump from 300 to now 400 signers. (Sign up on the column to the right.) When it gets to 500 I'll be sending the list off to Pelosi, as well as to the offices of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean.
Four or five hundred party defectors may seem like small loss, but it reflects a larger trend across the country.
Here's a letter I got from the head of a group of active Democrats in central Pennsylvania — the very kind of heartland area that Democrats will need if they are going to win the presidency and hang on to or make gains in Congress next year.
Writes Kathy Ember, a Democratic Committee member in Pennsylvania, and president of the Kutztown Democratic Club:
I am the president of a very active grassroots Democratic club just outside Philadelphia in PA. Recently, I got an email from Nancy Pelosi, asking all of us to help build the grassroots.
EXCUSE ME Nancy, but we have been working our butts off out here for years trying to do just that. WE are the ones that put that Democrats back in power in Congress. We've been there for you, but you have let us down by not holding the current administration responsible for their crimes.
Not only are you losing us...you are making it impossible for us to "build the grassroots". Do you know how people look at you now when you ask them to join the Democrats? They laugh in your face. Why, they want to know, should we join or support a party that has done nothing toward getting out of Iraq or impeaching this president?
I am in contact with other Democratic clubs across PA. Some have recently changed the word "Democrats" in their name to a lower case "d". Others have abandoned their association with the Democrats altogether and have formed instead "citizen action groups."
When will the Democrats in Washington wake up and realize that it's not impeachment that will hurt the party...it is the lack of it.
I believe that the aptly named Ember is just one spark in a prairie fire that is going to sweep away the conservative Democratic establishment in 2008. Whether it is by turning to third party candidates, or just sitting out the next election, these angry and frustrated Democrats are showing that they've been betrayed one too many times by the Democratic Party.
Either Pelosi — who is facing an election challenge by Cindy Sheehan in her own San Francisco district — better do an about face and open the path to impeachment of Bush and/or Cheney. Otherwise, she and her fellow party leaders are going to find themselves either ousted in primaries, or back in the position of minority "leaders" in 2009.
Pelosi has been a major disappoint for me. She looks remarkably like a female George Bush posing for photo-ops and not much else. George Bush and Dick Cheney have thumbed their noses at the Constitution & the people of this country from day one when they used the Supreme Court to steal the first election. From day one the "war president" has been a miserable failure just as in ever other business/job.
I saw a hoax quote credited to Reagan that, in it's description, is very truthful.....whether Reagan said it or not. It goes like this:
'A moment I've been dreading. George brought his ne're-do-well son around this morning and asked me to find the kid a job. Not the political one who lives in Florida. The one who hangs around here all the time looking shiftless. This so-called kid is already almost 40 and has never had a real job. Maybe I'll call Kinsley over at The New Republic and see if they'll hire him as a contributing editor or something. That looks like easy work.'
I would have substituted Fox 'Spews' as a source for a job for the dim one.
1
August 21, 2007
a guest: Democrat Who Has Had Enough
Excellent! Finally an article expressing The Problem. Through all my 35 years of voting I have never been tempted to change my party, until now. The only action that would prove to me that this great experiment, our democracy, is working and will survive into the future would be the sight of Congress actually defending and upholding the Constitution. How is it possible that they don't know that this is their first priority and that everything else is not only secondary, but meaningless without keeping that oath they all took? The inconvenience of saving the Republic interferes with their other projects? Well, uh yup, I guess it would...
2
August 21, 2007
a guest: Democrat Bailing!
Where is the petition? I want to sign it!
3
August 21, 2007
a guest: Tell Congress Directly!
Have you heard about H Res 333? I urge you and your readers to take a few minutes to look at:
It's a list of the 25 most recent comments made by real Americans participating in an online poll/letter-writing campaign concerning the impeachment charges recently filed against Vice President Cheney, which are now being evaluated by the House Judiciary Committee. Comments can be sent to elected representatives and local newspapers at your option. The participation page is at:
http://www.usalone.com/cheney_impeachment.php
Since this campaign began, several members of Congress have signed on as co-sponsors, in part due to hearing from their constituents. Has yours? Make your voice heard, and let others know!
4
August 22, 2007
a guest: Pe-LOST-i
How possibly is the Democratic nominee for President of the United States going to convince voters that he or she will end the war in Iraq or follow through on anything given Pelosi and Reid's total failure of leadership. I'm looking forward to writing a check to Cindy Sheehan. Anyone who thinks Cindy has no chance to knock off Pelosi is living in a fantasy world. Republicans will gladly join anti-war Democrats to support getting rid of Pelosi. I can't wait to write my check to help.
Dave
5
August 23, 2007
a guest: ...
Message to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid: IMPEACH, CONVICT AND REMOVE FROM OFFICE BUSH AND CHENEY NOW, IMMEDIATELY, PRONTO. DO YOU HEAR US? DO YOU HEAR THE NATION CRYING OUT FOR YOU TO TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION ON THIS NOW? IMPEACH NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!
6
August 26, 2007
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