“Somewhere in America, on the highest perches of a tall mountain, a small rock has begun its descent, bringing others down with it,” says David Michael Green. “This rock was loosed by the release of a secret memo far across the Atlantic, but its path has been prepared by years of political deceit, arrogance, and aggression at home and abroad.”
Let’s watch one of those rocks that kicked loose and began its tumble on Saturday June 11, 2005. During their annual State Convention at the Park Plaza in downtown Oshkosh the Democratic Party of Wisconsin adopted the following resolution:
CALLING ON THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO INITIATE IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS AGAINST PRESIDENT BUSH, VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY AND DEFENSE SECRETARY RUMSFELD FOR HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS
WHEREAS, the Downing Street Memo shows that Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld began planning and executing the war on Iraq before seeking Congressional and UN approval;
WHEREAS, UN weapons inspectors showed prior to the invasion that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq; and
WHEREAS, there is further mounting evidence that the Administration lied or misled about “mushroom clouds,” “connections to 9/11,” and “war as a last resort” as they sought UN, Congressional, and public approvals;
THEREFORE, RESOLVED, the DPW asks Congress to immediately begin impeachment proceedings against President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld.
It is believed that Wisconsin is the first state Democratic Party to have passed a resolution calling for the impeachment of President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld. We hope that others will do the same.
The first and only mention of the Wisconsin Democratic Party’s call to impeach Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, aside from right here, that I can find is in Collective Bellaciao, France with a link to an earlier mention in the Portland Independent Media Center. Bella Ciao also points to ColdFusion04’s post in DailyKos.com on Sunday June 12, 2005 at 09:07:37 PDT. Search Google… 2 days later and it’s still a secret!
On Monday, June 13, 2005 at 1:34 PM CST David Callender of the Capitol Times posts the first mainstream news story: State Dems: Impeach Bush Cheney, Rumsfeld too.
FLASH… the Callender story gets copied on uruknet.info an Italian Web site dedicated to providing, ” information from occupied iraq.”
Callender’s story provides the following quotes:
“Democrats, not only in Wisconsin but throughout the U.S., have been outraged by what we believe has been a clear cover-up of why the U.S. went into Iraq,” said newly elected state party Chairman Joe Wineke.”
“Wineke said the resolution expresses the “the sense of frustration that Democrats in Wisconsin have over fighting a war for the wrong reasons.”
Later on Monday the same story – with no byline is pasted in the Racine Journal Times Online and BuzzFlash posts a link to the original Cap Times version.
On Tuesday, June 14, 2005 A letter to the editor by Dennis Coyier: State Dems leaders on impeachment appears in the Cap Times.
While the original Callender article derides the effort of Wisconsin Dems with a disparaging quote from UW Madison poly-sci professor, Charles Franklin:
“It’s the sort of thing you might imagine spreads among opposition parties, but it is so far from the political reality of anything that could happen in Washington that it makes your party look a little ridiculous,” he said.
…CommonDreams.org publishes an essay by another professor of political science that takes encouragement from the Wisconsin Resolution. On Tuesday, June 14, 2005 Hofstra University’s David Michael Green provides, “In the American Bunker,” which mentions the Wisconsin Resolution:
“Consider. On Memorial Day, a major metropolitan newspaper called the US president a liar who has abused his most sacred trust as commander in chief. No, it wasn’t Le Monde or The Guardian. It was the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, crying out from the American Heartland. Then, yesterday, from next door in Wisconsin, came passage of a resolution at the state Democratic Party convention, calling on Congress to initiate impeachment proceedings against America’s president, vice-president and secretary of defense. Meanwhile, increasing numbers of major newspapers across the country are editorializing angrily on the Downing Street Memo, even while their front pages so far remain bizarrely and unaccountably (in both senses of the word) silent.”
Take heart! Watergate opened with a trickle.
Here’s the link on Dailykos:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/6/12/12737/8920
Also, Cap Times article is linked from http://www.buzzflash.com
The State party HQ has reported multiple requests from the press for copies of the resolutions!
Can’t say much for the comment about possible impeachment made by Charles Franklin, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin, other than he doesn’t deserve to be a professor of political science for reason of incompetence.
Here’s what the Constitution of the United States says about impeachment:
United States Constitution Art.II, Sec.4
” The president, vice-president and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for , and convictions of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”
That matches what MY copy of the Constitution says. (No telling what the Republican version would say after censoring and revisions.)
This obviously does NOT exclude Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld.
By the way, I think that impeaching a President for lying about a BlowJob is what REALLY makes your party look ridiculous.