A 7/31/08 report by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) shows even the most token coverage of the impeachment hearings as receiving no respect: “CNN's Election Center program devoted a July 25 report to mocking a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee investigating White House abuses of power. ‘Believe it or not, there was a congressional hearing today about impeaching the president,’ scoffed host Campbell Brown, who added: ‘It was all stagecraft, though.’ Brown went on to introduce the report by CNN correspondent Erica Hill by saying, ‘Tell us about this piece of Kabuki theater, Erica.’’ According to FAIR Brown is married to Dan Senor; a former deputy. press secretary for Bush.
The word Kabuki derives from the verb Kabuku; “to lean” or “to be out of the ordinary” as in avant-garde or bizarre theater. Attributing the word to the Kucinich hearings is a shot at his lack of coverage and political support. Hill explained: "The Democratic leadership made it clear impeachment is not on the table at this hearing today for two reasons. Not only is there not enough time left in President Bush's term, but also they know any real impeachment hearings at this point could cause a major backlash." This goes deeper than partisan issues, when any firm bombards their colleges and clients with corruption, there will be those who’ll find ways to defend it. What the Bush administration has done is inspire or give license to all the difficult personalities within various sectors of government and secular industry from civil rights divisions to law inforcement, to oil, real estate etc., to play fast and loose with the public’s rights, liberties and priviledges just by their watching him.
Former Congresswoman Elizabeth Holzman who sat on the House Judiciary Committee during Richard Nixon’s impeachment proceedings, is the author of HR 23 which is the article to remove Bush for a similar crime as Nixon; wiretapping. I say forget the time issue and why let all that writing go to waste? Democrats.com said a couple years ago that Conyers took impeachment off the table because he was afraid “Fox News” would attack him permanently and at that time he needed 218 votes. I wondered then if he and Pelosi thought this was going to be easy.
FAIR continued: “The report closed with Hill assuring voters that George W. Bush was not threatened by any of this: ‘As for the president today, clearly, not too worried about this hearing. He was in Peoria, Illinois. As you can see here, kissing babies, smiling, taking pictures.’” Sadly Bush can afford to relax, the efforts to remove him have obviously been sporadic.
A recent interview by Katrina vanden Heuvel; the editor of “The Nation” with Nancy Pelosi on why she dropped the impeachment issue, instead of admitting she got cold feet, she hinted this would risk national unity. “When I interviewed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi about her new book, Know Your Power, I asked her the question all of us have been asking for two years: how could she take impeachment ‘off the table’? Her answer: she wants Democrats to control the House… and in order to stop the wealthiest 1% from "sucking the money out of the middle class" and creating a "caste system."
According to Democrats.com, “Many progressives disagree with Speaker Pelosi because they believe holding this administration accountable for its staggering abuse of power is essential for preserving our Constitution. They also believe the American people would reward those who defend the Constitution.” Since I take it personally when the right-wing is trying to push W as one of the all-time great presidents, this in itself should be enough incentive to oust the one whom even Reagan called “shiftless” looking. Bush needs impeachment on his permanent record; a record his Daddy can't expunge. Like I said, the impeachment movement needs players, not acclimated zombies who went from disregard to indoctrination due to over-exposure to corruption.
--Chris Stevenson is a columnist for the Buffalo Challenger, contact him at pointblankdta@yahoo.com.
