Update [2005-6-14 17:35:16 by susanhu]: The Downing Street Memo/Minutes hearing, led by Rep. John Conyers, is Thurs., June 16, at 1:30pm EST in the Wasserman Room at 430 S Capitol St. SE, Washington, D.C. The rally is at 5pm EST in Lafayette Park. Urge C-SPAN to cover these events: Main Number: (202) 737-3220; Viewer Services: (765) 464-3080 (for programming Qs); events@c-span.org
“Sean McLaughlin, deputy chief of staff for Chairman James Sensenbrenner, recently wrote to a minority staffer on the House Judiciary Committee:
“’I’m sitting here watching your “forum” on C-SPAN,’ McLaughlin wrote. ‘just to let you know, it was your last. Don’t bother asking [for a room] again’, ” reports The Hill.
“[T]he Judiciary Committee may well be the worst” when it comes to “bipartisan comity,” reports The Hill.
In a sign of how far relationships on the committee have soured, majority staff recently announced a new policy to deny any request from a committee Democrat for the use of a committee hearing room.
[…….]
Majority spokesman Jeff Lungren said the Republicans have given Democrats three opportunities to make clear that the forums are not official committee business. Nevertheless, Lungren said, in at least one case, members were addressing Conyers as “Mr. Chairman.”
“They were unwilling or unable to make those changes,” Lungren said. “At this point, if they want to hold these forums, they’ll have to find some other place to do it.”
[…….]
A committee source said committee Democrats are still planning to hold the forums when they find other available space.
Related BooTrib story:: Resolution to Rebuke Sensenbrenner
Oh Susan, they are scared shitless because they know the dems are not going to let up for a minute. i had already read somewhere else today that Conyers was denied access to a meeting room so he took it to a building across the street from the capitol. What a bunch of pond scum!
This is one of the reasons those founding dads of ours made a system of checks and balances… darn it that the dads didn’t foresee the monstrosity of ego and entitlement that is the GOP.
Amen to that Susan. Our founding fathers are rolling over in their graves on a daily basis. DO you ever think this all will end and we will ever get back what we’ve lost due to Bushco? I wonder sometimes.
’06, ’06, ’06, ’06, repeat as needed for bad news overload.
I also recommend Keith Olbermann … okay, so he’s doing his Michael Jackson Puppet Theater again, but it is funny 🙂 (He’s on right now.)
This is gonna blow up in their faces and we have to MAKE SURE that it does. They wanted to keep a lid on this thing. They blew it.
It’s time to hit back and make some noise.
We do need to make some noise about this, but you know I have become so depressed about our corporate media I can’t even express it. It’s like we have these little echo chambers where we talk about it and then it dies out. Like Jeff Gannon. Like the looted arms dumps before the election. And on and on.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not giving up. But I am depressed. Sometimes I feel like we are in our own liberal ghetto on the web and we can talk all we want and nobody is listening.
Oh well, back to chipping away at the republican edifice…
At least the company and conversation is good here.
Oh Andy, how well I understand your feeling of dispair. It certainly gets harder to cope on some days. I think at times I feel as if I am going crazy with disgust and anger. I never knew of such anger till the time gw entered the picture. He has actually caused me more hypertension than necessary.
I degress to get back ontop to fight yet one more day..but like you there are time I simply do not know if I can do it anymore. BUT I DO….we have to do this for not only us but the world…so much depends on us and the sanity of/as the whole. Hang in there Kiddo… Really come to think aboutit, his dad did cause me somewhat those things when he was in the picture at any level he was at. I could not stand the man. Looks like the ripe nut did not fall far fromthe tree…..
Why should we go on? Keep looking at the polls. GWB is stepping lower and lower in the polls, which means a more receptive audience for what we want to get out there.
Never give up hope.
For the first 4 years of the Bush administration Daschle did nothing but roll over and whimper, “Don’t hurt me.”
Senator Reid has united the Democrats in the Senate and come out fighting. The result is the GOP machine has stalled. The reason Rove was successful is NOBODY WAS FIGHTING BACK! It’s easy to win if your opponent just sits there.
Thank you for reminding me! I am very pleased with Senator Reid and Howard Dean.
Hell Chairman Conyers.
My adopted U.S. Representative in Michigan.
According to this diary at dkos.
I just read that and have to agree with most posters over at Dkos that holding this forum at the DNC is a huge mistake. Rove will spin this so fast we won’t know what hit us. Anyone have a fax# for Conyers office. They always look at the faxes and usually Dkos but we have to let him know we think this is a bad move and fast!!!!!!!
couldn’t agree more. anywhere but at the DNC.
a conference room at the Watergate Hotel? <g>
Totally agree. Can’t they find SOMEWHERE else?
I sorta liked the idea of holding the hearings on the steps of the Capitol, but the broadcast facilities at the DNC sound like they’re better.
I mean, I know why people are saying this, but it depends on the way Conyers plays this. “We wanted to hold hearings on the issue, but the obstructionist chairman of the committee has forced us out of the Capitol, which is owned by the people of the United States, in order to hold them. So we had to come over here and have the hearings housed in space graciously donated by an organization dedicated to making sure that the people who would obstruct the committee’s business lose the opportunity to do so.”
Too wordy, but paint it as: The GOP is being obstructionist. What are they trying to hide, that they don’t want these hearings to take place?
As for Rove, what makes you think he won’t spin this any way it’s done? We have to stop worrying about what the Republicans think or say, because they’re going to think or say it no matter what we do.
….delivered to the DNC on time and under budget a complete professional broadcast television studio.
Gee, ya think they had a reason to go there? Glad they finally remembered they had the tools. [Dem Media diary.]
Good point!
I didn’t know they had that… it does change the equation a little.
It looks like Kerry is going around getting signatures on a letter to Bush, that will be made public soon. According to a WaPo article diaried here:
Kerry / DSM Update
(yes, it’s mine. Am I the only Kerry fan here?)
I like Kerry, MH. There are at least two of us.
I’m very glad he’s working on this in the Senate. We’ll see where it leads.
When I watched Going Upriver before the election, I thought it would give me some clues about how to get a President Kerry to end the Iraq War. Now we need to use those clues to get Senator Kerry to end the war.
was to start withdrawing troops in June. THIS June. Of course that was contingent on being successful with the other three points of his plan. Which the rethugs would have been trying to block him on every step of the way, just to try to make him fail.
too. Did you see this E.J. Dionne article yet? He’s a WaPo writer, but it was syndicated all over the country.
As I asked Elsewhere:
What are they hiding?
What are they hiding?
What are they hiding?
What are they hiding?
A few days ago, I posted a diary about Sensenbrenner turning off the mikes and storming out of a Judiciary Committee hearing over the renewal of the Patriot Act–because Democrats insisted on bringing up the very sticky topic of torture in the American gulag of Guantanamo Bay.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2005/6/11/122053/978
Now, this–again, with one of Sensenbrenner’s trolls doing his dirty work for him.
Do I sense a whiff of desperation, of panic, on the Republic side of the aisle?
The issue of torture, coupled with the daily debacles of Iraq and Afghanistan (suicide bombings, two countries in chaos), is the Achilles’ Heel of the Bush/Cheney presidency.
Note Cheney’s denunciation of the ACLU report on torture and unlawful imprisonment at Guantanamo Bay–when President Cheney bothers to disconnect himself from life-support long enough to attack something, then it’s REAL news.
Democrats need to stay on the attack on this one.
Let’s help Representative Conyers!
Go to THIS link–
http://johnconyers.campaignoffice.com/index.asp?Type=SUPERFORMS&SEC={9DB0E3C6-5974-4BCB-B453-24484A5FFFDE}
To sign a letter asking “President” Bush key questions regarding his knowledge of the Downing Street Memo. Representative Conyers and 88 other Representatives have already signed the letter–and Conyers wants
250,000 citizen signatures before he delivers it to Bush.