On Tuesday evening, June 28th (yes, the same evening of Bush’s speech), Rep Conyers et al will bring the Downing Street Memo discussion to the floor of the House and afterdowningstreet.org is asking for your help.

They need our help. Please contact your Congress Member right away and ask them to contact the Judiciary Committee staff and commit to taking part.
Phone: 1-877-762-8762
Email: http://www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/39

more…
Here is the letter sent out by Conyers, Waters and Lee:

Join the ‘Out of Iraq’ Caucus
On June 28, 2005 for an Hour of Special Order on the Downing Street Minutes

June 24, 2005
Dear Democratic Colleague:

Please join the ‘Out of Iraq’ Caucus this Tuesday, June 28th for a Special Order hour on the Downing Street Minutes. The Democratic hour for these remarks is scheduled for the second hour of the Special Orders, which will commence immediately after votes for the day have ended

Over the past month, 128 Members of Congress, along with some 560,000 citizens have sent letters to the President demanding a response to reports of a pre-war deal between Great Britain and the United States and to evidence that pre-war intelligence was intentionally manipulated. All of these letters have gone unanswered.

Given the importance of these matters, we believe it is incumbent upon Congress to discuss these issues in a public and forthright manner. We hope you will join us in this hour of Special Orders.

To reserve time during the Special Order, please contact Stacey Dansky or Adam Cohen of the Judiciary Committee staff at 225-6906. Thank you.

Sincerely,

John Conyers, Jr.
Ranking Member, Committee on the Judiciary

Maxine Waters
Member, Committee on the Judiciary

Barbara Lee
Member, Committee on International Relations

Do your part. Contact your congressperson!

For those who have decided to boycott Bush’s speech, hopefully C-SPAN will cover this event live. It isn’t on their schedule yet, unless it’s covered under the House session, but you can contact C-SPAN here to ask nicely that they provide online streaming.

Let Conyers, Waters and Lee know that you support them in their efforts:

(Local contact info can be found on their sites.)

The Honorable John Conyers, Jr:
John.Conyers@mail.house.gov

2426 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-5126
(202) 225-0072 Fax

The Honorable Maxine Waters:
online contact form

Washington
Congresswoman Waters
2344 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

202-225-2201 phone
202-225-7854 fax

The Honorable Barbara Lee:
Barbara.Lee@mail.house.gov

Washington, D.C. Office
1724 Longworth HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515

Phone: (202) 225-2661
Fax: (202) 225-9817

Update [2005-6-28 8:24:51 by catnip]:

Rep Conyers insists that Bush must answer lingering questions tonite. The following has been posted on his blog:

This evening, the President of the United States will address the country on national television. His goal, we are told, is to reinvigorate support for a war that has grown increasingly unpopular as the American people learn more about it. I do not know if the President plans on answering the dozen senators, now 128 congressmen, and more than 560,000 citizens who have demanded a response to the Downing Street Minutes. But I am prepared to answer him. A few leads from yesterday and today’s headlines suggest that he cannot afford to ignore us much longer.

Yesterday afternoon, CNN-USA Today-Gallup reported that the President’s disapproval rating has hit an all-time high for his administration—at 53%—and the 45% approval rating matches his worst performance as a sitting President.

At the same time, the Washington Post released the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll. The numbers demonstrate an increased intolerance for stonewalling or dissembling in the White House. More than 77% of Americans disagree with the Vice President’s assessment that the Iraqi insurgency is in its “last throes.” And, for the first time since the invasion of Iraq began in January 2003, a majority of the country believes the Administration deliberately misled the American public in the lead up to war.

This morning, the front page of the Post features the most substantive coverage of the Downing Street Minutes yet afforded by the mainstream press. From the initial efforts of a few dedicated radio hosts, bloggers, and concerned citizens, our message has absolutely broken through. The trivial “victories” of the relatively insignificant right wing blogosphere and noise machine pale in comparison to the resusitation of a life and death issue that the conventional wisdom had long ago left behind.

No matter what the President tells us tonight, we can be certain that his persistent but diminishing camp of Administration loyalists will single us out. They will accuse us of playing politics with an issue they claim to have settled long ago. I am prepared to respond, and I hope that you will join me:

Questioning the President is not an agenda item, or a plank in the party platform. Questioning the President is our obligation—and I, for one, will not rest until we have been answered.

I can’t imagine that there is anything Bush could say at this point to swing the pendulum back in his favour and that is damn good news.