Wading Into the Deep End

Look at our logo! Of course I think Bush should be impeached. I think he should be arrested. I make no secret of that. Let other web sites navigate politically, trying to ‘frame’ the progressive agenda effectively. Fuck that. I am not about that. I’m about frog-marching corrupt politicians, no matter what party they belong to. I’m a proud Democrat, but I won’t tolerate corruption from anyone. And all the kiddies that are afraid to wade into the deep end, take a look at this:

For Immediate Release: June 30, 2005
To Interview Bob Fertik:
http://democrats.com/contact

According to a poll released by Zogby today, 42% of Americans say they would favor impeachment proceedings if President Bush misled the nation about his reasons for going to war with Iraq.

“The results of this Zogby poll are astonishing and reveal the depth of anger among the American people over President Bush’s lies about Iraq, even among 25% of Republicans” said Bob Fertik, president of Democrats.com.

“These results are especially remarkable because few Americans are even aware of the secret Downing Street Memos, which prove that President Bush was determined to invade Iraq long before he consulted Congress or the United Nations in the fall of 2002,” Fertik said. “These official minutes of Prime Minister Blair’s national security council meeting prove ‘the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy’ – that Bush knowingly lied to the world to sell his war plans.”

Democrats.com helped create a grassroots coalition at AfterDowningStreet.org to break through the blackout of the “Downing Street Minutes” by the White House, Congress and the American news media. This coalition worked closely with Rep. John Conyers on his June 16 hearings about the memos, which was attended by 35 House Democrats and broadcast by C-Span.

On July 23, grassroots activists around the country will hold events to mark the third anniversary of the Downing Street Minutes. These events will feature veterans of the Iraq War, families of those killed in Iraq, Members of Congress, and experts on the Iraq War. The theme of these events is to “Mourn the Losses, Learn the Truth, and Investigate the Lies.”

Following the publication of the Downing Street Minutes in May, Democrats.com also renewed its campaign to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney. This campaign, at ImpeachCentral.com, has collected 20,000 petition signatures so far. Democrats.com members are lobbying Members of Congress to introduce Articles of Impeachment to begin the impeachment process, which requires a majority vote in the House of Representatives before a trial is held in the Senate. Democrats.com hosts the ImpeachBush Meetup, which has 295 chapters and nearly 6,000 members.

Several Democratic Members have said Bush’s lies might be impeachable offenses, including Rep. Charlie Rangel. The Democratic Parties of Wisconsin and Nevada have officially called for Bush’s impeachment, as well as the Green Party, Veterans for Peace, and numerous Web sites including ImpeachBush.org and Impeach.TV.

Before President Bush spoke to soldiers at Fort Bragg on Tuesday, Democrats.com urged Bush to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq by Thanksgiving, and to resign by New Year’s Day to “let a new team put American on a new road to security and peace.”

According to Fertik, “President Bush gave a prime-time speech with all the trappings of the Presidency to urge Americans to ‘stay the course’ in Iraq. Bush’s speech fell on deaf ears because the American people know that we are in Iraq only because of the deliberate lies told by the President. The War in Iraq has already cost the lives of 1,744 young Americans and added $200 billion to our national debt, but it has only increased global terrorism and made America less secure. Americans want a change, and if President Bush won’t change his policies, then the American people will change their President through impeachment,” Fertik said.

Recent polls show Americans have turned against the war in Iraq. A solid majority believes the war was a mistake, and over 60% of Americans believe Bush has no plan for winning – or leaving. The Zogby poll shows Bush’s speech actually reduced his dismal approval rating by one more point to 43%. This is the lowest approval rating for a President in his fifth year in the history of polling. At this stage in his Presidency, Bill Clinton’s approval ratings were 60%, and they rose to 70% when Republicans tried to impeach him for a personal weakness.

Democrats.com, founded in 2000, is the largest online community of Democratic Party activists with over 300,000 subscribers. Democrats.com recently co-founded AfterDowningStreet.org to end the media blackout of the explosive Downing Street Minutes and to demand a Congressional investigation of grounds for impeachment.

Author: BooMan

Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.