John Conyers -- teasing us again, or the real thing?

THE BOTTOM LINE

JOHN CONYERS -- TEASING US AGAIN, OR THE REAL THING?

Either something real and exciting happened to John Conyers last Thursday, or else he's jerking our chains again.

In case you can't recall Conyers' former courageous self, let's remember that he was for several years perhaps the nation's loudest, clearest voice for impeachment. (Conyers is the senior member, as well as the Chair, of the House Judiciary Committee, and is also the last
remaining member of that committee to have voted on articles of impeachment against Nixon in 1974.) Until fifteen months ago, Conyers cared so deeply about Bush's transgressions that he went to the trouble of writing two books documenting "the high crimes of the Bush administration" and laying out a "blueprint for impeachment." And then -- Shazam! -- the
Democrats win the 2006 election, Conyers becomes chair of the Judiciary Committee, and is finally in a position to actually TAKE ACTION. But the very next day Conyers starts parroting the words of Nancy Pelosi: "Impeachment is off the table." Over-friggin-night! You can not blame those of us who felt viciously betrayed.

Well, either Conyers is doing the same thing to us again, or he's had a sudden change of... heart? Maybe all the pro-impeachment calls and letters (and Beach Impeach postcards)
he's been receiving have made a difference. Maybe he has grown tired of the accusations that he's let Pelosi muzzle his once brave and eloquent voice; tired of hearing people question his manhood or his mental competence (he turns 80 next year); maybe he finally read his
own books! Or maybe the events of last Thursday finally got to him.

On Thursday Conyers summoned Attorney General Michael Mukasey to a hearing in front of the Judiciary Committee, where Mukasey basically said: No, I will not investigate torture or warrantless spying; No I will not enforce the contempt citations Congress has issued against White House staffers: and Oh, by the way, I am, in essence, planning to support pardons for any and all of the crimes with which the Bush administration has been charged.

It appears that having all this said so bluntly to his face on national television may finally have been just too much for Conyers. Following the hearing, he and two staffers met for over an hour with two members of Code Pink and had a wide-ranging discussion about impeachment. They discussed the "Impeach Cheney" bill that Dennis Kucinich filed (nearly a year ago now!) and
which Conyers has kept bottled up in a subcommittee, and they discussed the heat that Congressman Robert Wexler has recently applied (Wexler's pro-impeachment petition now has
226,000 signers.)

THE BOTTOM LINE

Conyers "hinted" that he could be swayed here. There are twenty members of the impeachment movement currently fasting in DC in support of hearings, and Conyers has agreed to meet with one of them on Tuesday (Leslie Angeline, whose father was one of the original freedom riders, is a Beach Impeach veteran). Conyers could AT ANY MINUTE HE CHOOSES initiate impeachment hearings. And impeachment movement leaders have asked that on Monday and Tuesday ALL OF US call, fax, or email Conyers and demand that he stop diddling around, stop playing with us, and start hearings.

Psst! Got a moment for the Constitution? Conyers' contact info:

Phone: 202-225-5126
Fax: 202-225-0072
Email: john.conyers [at] mail.house.gov
Mail postcards to: 669 Federal Bldg, 231 W. Lafayette, Detroit, MI
48226

Please and thank you!

Brad Newsham

Beach Impeach 5, Saturday, April 26, Ocean Beach, San Francisco. 10
a.m. (Helicopters overhead at 11 sharp.)