Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Not giving up the fight

from the inbox---
Dear [hipparchia],

Last night, significant news broke that directly impacts our push for Impeachment Hearings and a possible Inherent Contempt charge for Bush Administration officials such as Karl Rove:

Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan has revealed in his upcoming book that:

• Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, and Vice President Cheney lied about their role in revealing the identity of Valerie Plame Wilson – actions easily amounting to obstruction of Justice.

McClellan also admitted that:

• There was a coordinated effort within the Bush Administration to use propaganda to pump up the case for the Iraq war and hide the projected costs of the war from the public.

Scott McClellan must be called to testify under oath before the House Judiciary Committee to tell Congress and the American people everything he knows about this massive effort by the White House to deceive this nation into war.

Last week, a subpoena was issued for Karl Rove to testify before the Judiciary Committee. It appears he will take every legal action to block this subpoena. The truth is that Congress has the right – and obligation – to hold him accountable now - not months or years from now. It is long past time to pass Inherent Contempt and bring Rove, Libby and others before Congress.

We simply cannot ignore these recent developments, nor should we postpone serious inquiry until after the next election.

Your commitment to accountability for the Bush/Cheney Administration, and the support of 230,000 other Americans who signed up at wexlerwantshearings.com, has inspired and motivated me in my effort to hold impeachment hearings for Vice President Dick Cheney and Inherent Contempt for Rove and others. During the past months I have been a tireless and dogged advocate of this vitally important cause.

Many of you have written me, asking for an update on where we stand with regards to impeachment hearings. I know most of you believe - as I do - that impeachment hearings for Vice President Cheney – are not only justified, but that it is our constitutional obligation to look into the serious allegations of wrongdoing that have been raised. This is especially true based on the newest revelations from Scott McClellan.

I believe that it is the duty of Congress to pursue impeachment whenever there's significant evidence of wrongdoing, be it by Republicans or Democrats, regardless of the timing of elections or the current political environment.

Some of you have written me demanding that I deliver hearings or impeachment. As hard as I have been fighting for this cause, I cannot make impeachment happen by myself. What I can do, and what I have been doing at every turn, is trying to communicate two simple messages to my colleagues:

• the serious allegations of wrongdoing and the clear-cut rationale for impeachment hearings;and
• the fact that the public will support our efforts when Congress boldly acts on the side of justice and accountability.

Unfortunately, to date, these arguments have not been enough to convince even a majority of the liberal and progressive Members of Congress to support impeachment hearings. In addition, the leadership of the Democratic Party in Congress genuinely feels that pursuing impeachment will jeopardize our congressional agenda and threaten gains in the November elections. Although I genuinely disagree with this view, to date I have been unable to convince them to change this policy.

I understand the challenges that we are up against, and I recognize the odds that we face. Nevertheless, I remain unfazed and unyielding.

This new evidence from Scott McClellan could be the tipping point – but we must move quickly. I will use the McClellan admissions to help convince my colleagues that we must hold impeachment hearings.

Regardless, I will continue to fight for progressive values and our Constitution. I will do everything I can to pursue accountability for criminal actions taken by this Administration and this Vice President. I will be a furious opponent to any expansion of this misguided war, and I will fight against the use of torture by our government and to protect our civil liberties here at home.

Most of all, I will continue my efforts to convince my fellow members of Congress and voters, that we should not be a party of passivity - but that we succeed when we present the public with stark choices that are based on the guarantees in our Constitution, and not on the politics of the moment.

I will continue - at every pass - to call for impeachment and accountability. While I wish more of my colleagues supported our movement, we must not let our discouragement lead to apathy and distraction in this important election year when we must break free from eight long years of illegalities, corporate handouts, and a tragic and devastating war.

We should not end the calls for impeachment. I will push against the crimes of the Bush Administration whenever I am provided the opportunity. I will use my role on the Judiciary Committee to take on Administration officials – like I have done with Condoleezza Rice, Attorney Generals Gonzalez and Mukasey, and FBI Director Mueller.

I have not given up our fight to hold this Administration accountable and neither can you. I am grateful for your patriotism and your support. I'll continue to keep you informed and part of the conversation.

Sincerely,

Congressman Robert Wexler

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pelosi and Reid aren't going to do anything. Pelosi won't even push to enforce subpoenas, so she certainly has no intention of doing an impeachment.

hipparchia said...

you are undoubtedly correct, but i'm glad wexler isn't giving up on this. it's important, to me at least, that we keep pointing out the thoroughgoing criminality of this administration.

Anonymous said...

Oh, I'm not for quitting, but I think that we need to get rid of Pelosi and Reid.

I notice you've started writing over at Corrente. The NFP is an interesting idea. I would love to see a real liberal political party in the US.

hipparchia said...

everybody's entitled to my opinion. :twisted:

group blogs aren't my thing [nor are groups irl], but a misogyny-free zone populated by smart, snarky, literate, wonky mostly edwards supporters was irresistible.

to be honest, i'm not entirely sure just how liberal a feminist party would be, moms with kids can't afford to get too radical. otoh, some of the best ideas of socialism [single-payer] and populism [smashing the corporatocracy, or at least reining it in] are truly family-friendly. i can has taxation?


reid was one of the early adopters of backbone among the democrats, and madame speaker just rolls trippingly on the tongue, as does president pelosi. i'm a little bit peeved with those 2 at the moment though. how many more crimes does an administration have to perpetrate before we can even hold hearings?!? sheesh.

if wexler ever runs for president, i'll probably vote for him.

Anonymous said...

The media will ignore him, just like Edwards. That's what happens to liberals in this country.

hipparchia said...

That's what happens to liberals in this country.

yep. and blogs don't yet have the reach to counteract the media, but i'm hoping we can change that in the foreseeable future.

Frederick said...

Reid definitely needs to go (might be a good job for Hillary) and Pelosi at least needs to be sent a message. I'm interested in how far Cindy Sheehan's primary challenge will go.

hipparchia said...

i was thrilled when we finally got our first 'madam speaker' and reid looked promising for awhile there, but yeah, that all fizzled out right quicklike.

i haven't been paying any attention to pelosi's home district lately, so i don't what kinds of news coverage her constituents are absorbing, but if it's like the national news, they're not hearing enough about iraq anymore to help sheehan.

i do have to agree with the author here that being the next in line for succession to the presidency, pelosi wouldn't look good if she openly advocated for impeachment, and it's probably even best that she appear reluctant on the issue, but she's gone far enough now to convince me she's not in it as a roundabout way to become the first woman president.


it'll be interesting to see what happens.





much as i hate to admit it, the republicans were pretty darn smart making sure that an entire generation, maybe more, won't be able to think of impeachment without also thinking of vaguely icky sex acts.

Keifus said...

By now, you'll have noticed Mr. Kucinich, I imagine?

hipparchia said...

yep. i get emails from both kucinich and wexler. i started to post from kucinich's email, but blogging has been light here at chez hipp recently [just in case nobody noticed :)]

Unknown said...

High crimes and treason are what they have committed!

hipparchia said...

that's what i would have thought too, nick, but apparently you and i don't know much. if only we could catch them lying about their sex lives...