It was by far the most remarkable public statement I have heard an American politician - ANY politician - make, something I did not think one could see delivered in an American government body: everything that intelligent people know and fear about the Bush regime was articulated with razor clarity and abundant examples in the House of Representatives yesterday by Rep. Dennis Kucinich. I spent over two hours watching C-Span last night, in awe, as he went point by point, from lying to the American people to get them embroiled in war, to Guantanamo and the process of extraordinary rendition - which he compared to "disappearing" in Latin American dictatorships, and illustrated by citing the Maher Arar case - to issues of illegal surveillance, violations of due process and the Geneva Conventions,reckless misspending in Iraq - the Halliburton no-bid contract... and much more. It went on for several hours. After each point, he said more or less the same thing - like a prayer, of sorts, which I copied out: "In all these actions and decisions, in violation of US and International law president George W. Bush has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President and Commander-in-Chief, and subversive of constitutional government, to the prejudice of the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States, wherefore President George W. Bush, by such conduct is guilty of an impeachable offence, warranting removal from office." The list is not yet online that I can see, though you can probably find it in the next few days by checking the "Impeachment" link on this page. Right now there's just a PDF of his proposals to impeach Dick Cheney, which he read to the House in April. The Bush impeachment document is apparently some 50 pages long...
Nothing will come of this, of course, except that I will now follow the career and actions of Kucinich - who ran for the Democratic leadership earlier this year - with some curiosity, and I will no longer automatically assume that all American politicians are corrupt, contaminated creatures acting in the service of private interests. Kucinich appears to be virtuous, courageous man. In a way, it's horrifying that statements so transparently true can be read aloud in the House without it actually changing anything... but who knows...
Post-script: here's a measure of how remarkable (or ineffectual?) Kucinich's statement was: mainstream media stayed far, far away. No mention in the Independent, no mention in CNN - brief mention on Reuters saying that the action was not likely to amount to anything, which fails to detail any of Kucinich's more resonant charges against Bush, and ends with a White House denial... Too much honesty is bad for business, I guess, but the fact that this happened seems like news to me...
Heh... It just occurs to me to mention that I never would have known about this if it weren't for the Phil Ochs mailing list! Phil would be proud of you!
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joseph-a-palermo/dennis-kucinich-makes-his_b_106193.html
There was a fair amount of coverage on MSNBC, and a little on CNN (although that was during the second reading by the clerk and not Kucinich). That Keith Olberman guy really hates Bush. Seems like the Dems think of it as a distraction that could negatively affect the Presidential race. I guess being known as the worst president ever is the worst he will get.
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