Live Blogging from Dartmouth Impeachment

by: mataliandy

Wed Nov 28, 2007 at 15:58:47 PM EST

I'm sitting in Filene Auditorium at Dartmouth, waiting for the festivities to begin.  The Impeach Bush & Cheney banner has been hung, and the room is rumbling with the sound of excited people.

Dan DeWalt, Adrienne Kinne, and John Nichols have arrived. The Kucinch folks are everywhere. Tim Carpenter of Progressive Democrats of America is handing out stickers and flyers. 

I'll try to keep up with the speakers and will likely do multiple updates over the evening, so I won't lose everything if the connection drops. 

All the meat will appear in the extended text.

Live Blogging from Dartmouth Impeachment

by: mataliandy

Mon Nov 26, 2007 at 18:08:12 PM EST

I'm sitting in Filene Auditorium at Dartmouth, waiting for the festivities to begin.  The Impeach Bush & Cheney banner has been hung, and the room is rumbling with the sound of excited people.

Dan DeWalt, Adrienne Kinne, and John Nichols have arrived. The Kucinch folks are everywhere. Tim Carpenter of Progressive Democrats of America is handing out stickers and flyers. 

I'll try to keep up with the speakers and will likely do multiple updates over the evening, so I won't lose everything if the connection drops. 

All the meat will appear in the extended text.

US House Dramas: Watching Kucinich and Welch

by: odum

Wed Nov 07, 2007 at 07:56:52 AM EST

A couple of issues near and dear to the hearts of Vermont activists are playing out (or beginning to).

First is the aftermath of Rep. Dennis Kucinich's move to do what so many Vermonters wanted Rep. Peter Welch to do - sort of. As everyone has no doubt heard by now, Kucinich called the impeachment question on the floor of the House (where motions on impeachment are considered privileged and must be addressed). Yay Dennis, except, well - it was a call for the impeachment of Cheney, which seems to me to miss the target politically and ethically. Long past are the bygone days where people on the left wondered whether President Bush was no more than an ineffectual empty suit. Cheney may be his most crude, effective and brazen hatchet man, but he is still a hatchet man - a mere symptom of the problem that is Bush himself.

In any event, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland moved quickly to table the motion, but was stymied by a block of Democrats joined (ultimately, after some vote-switching) by Republicans who thought a public debate over the merits of ditching a vice president whose approval rating is nearly in the single digits would somehow embarass his critics more than his defenders (this is bizarro world, isn't it?). The motion was not tabled, but, after getting the dissident Dems marching to his drum, was then quickly sent by Hoyer to the Judiciary committee where the profoundly disappointing Chair, Rep. John Conyers, will simply stack it to die along with the other Kucinich impeachment resolution gathering cobwebs in that committee.

But the question on everyone's mind is - will Kucinich simply bring it to the floor again (and aim at Bush next time)? By House rules, it remains a privileged motion that must be considered. If Kucinich is serious, he could well bring it to the floor on primetime every day of the session. He's gotten gobs of good feedback on this, so activists are watching and waiting...

Second is Rep. Welch's moment of truth on Iraq funding that is now on on its way.

Pelosi staffer: "Dems fail w/AAR; no one wanted to listen..."? NOT.

by: kestrel9000

Wed May 16, 2007 at 19:46:31 PM EDT