Kucinich to introduce Impeachment of Bush

Congressman Dennis Kucinich said on a conference call Monday evening that after moving to impeach Vice President Cheney on Tuesday he will also introduce, at a future date, a resolution to impeach President Bush. Or rather, he would have said that on the conference call if not for several technical SNAFUs.

The call was advertised as a one-way call on which only Kucinich could speak, but Kucinich was unable to get through because of the incredible number of people on the call (I have no count yet, but the dings of the new people coming on were a steady stream of noise for half an hour).

So Kucinich phoned me, and I held one of my phones up to another so that everyone on the call could hear him. That was working fine for about 20 seconds, until the geniuses running the call chose that moment to mute everyone except Dennis (without stopping to realize that by muting me they were muting Dennis). So, Kucinich gave a nice speech through my phones, but I was the only one listening.

Here's what he said. He is going to introduce a privileged resolution on the floor of the U.S. House Tuesday morning to force a vote on his resolution to impeach Cheney (H Res 333). While that bill includes offenses related to Iraq and Iran, Kucinich plans to focus his remarks on Iran and the fact that the current Pentagon bill includes funding to retrofit bombers to carry 15-ton bombs.

Kucinich said he would hold a press conference at 3 p.m. in 2456 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C., and would post on his House website and at http://impeachcheney.org an account of what transpired on the floor.

He said that there might be an actual debate on the substance of the charges, for which he said he was prepared, or there might be a motion to table the matter (effectively killing it if successful), or it might be referred to a committee. If it is sent to committee, Kucinich, said, it will be the House Judiciary Committee. I asked whether (as has been done with impeachment resolutions in the past) he would be able to insist on a time limit for the committee to report back. Kucinich seemed unsure whether that could be done, but proposed that whether or not the matter is sent to committee he might start a discharge petition as another tool for forcing real action on the floor of the House.

Currently H Res 333 sits in the Constitution Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee, where Chairman Jerrold Nadler has done nothing with it for months.

Kucinich expressed great appreciation for what all the activist groups and individuals on the call are doing to help promote impeachment. He also wanted to let everyone know that he will not only continue pushing for the impeachment of Cheney but will also take up the impeachment of Bush with a new resolution.

This was terrific to hear. I wish I had not been the only one to hear it.