Sheehan Wants Impeachment, Pelosi's Job

[Hissyspit]

Source: Associated Press

July 23rd, 2007 4:37 pm
Sheehan wants impeachment, Pelosi's job

By Natasha T. Metzler / Associated Press

ARLINGTON, Va. - Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan on Monday moved another step — actually several thousand of them — toward carrying out her promise to run against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi because the California Democrat won't consider impeachment proceedings against President Bush.

Sheehan and about 200 other war protesters began walking from Arlington National Cemetery to the Capitol Hill office of Rep. John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, where any impeachment proceedings would begin. Sheehan said she would ask Conyers to initiate impeachment proceedings against both Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

"Impeachment is not a fringe movement, it is mandated in our Constitution; Nancy Pelosi had no authority to take it off the table, " Sheehan told her group of orange-clad activists Monday. "If Nancy Pelosi doesn't do her constitutionally mandated job by midnight ... I will announce that I'm going to run against her."

Across the street, about 20 people demonstrated against Sheehan and the other anti-war protesters.

Sheehan, whose 24-year-old son Casey was killed in Iraq, has been saying for two weeks that she would seek to oust Pelosi from office by running against her as an independent in her San Francisco district if Pelosi didn't change her mind by July 23 on trying to impeach Bush.

Read more: http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10062

[saracat]

1. More publicity for Cindy.Anything to be on TV! She must be thrilled.AP release for her scrapbook!

[Lerkfish]

2. yeah, what a shame that she broke through the media guantlet to point out

this administration's crimes.

*knocks on saracat's wooden head* Isn't that a GOOD thing?

[saracat]

3. She didn't.She is being used(or volunteering to be used) to make the left

look juvenile.No credible lawmaker wants to be affiliated with her.Many want to end the war, which has NOTHING to do with Impeachment BTW,but Cindy's tavctics are an embarrassment.She looks like an ignorant sideshow freak, I am sorry to say.She used to be an inspiration and worthy of respect.She no longer is.

[Lerkfish]

4. In.your.opinion.

and thanks for sharing it.


personally, I don't understand your vehemence, but whatever.

I'm happy ANYONE for ANY reason is able to break through the media complicity long enough to get a message out that is not bush-loyal.
I take whatever we can get.

[saracat]

6. I don't adhere to the theory "any publicity is good publicity"

Some publicity makes one look like a jackass.IMHO.

[Lerkfish]

10. who else you got?

who else, not a politician, is getting this message through at this time?

give me someone else and I'm Listen to you.

c'mon, who else you got?

that's right, NOBODY.

[saracat]

12. John Dean, Bill Moyers. Real spokes persons

[Lerkfish]

15. And if they did what Cindy did, would you support them?

[saracat]

17. I wouldn't support anyone who behaved like a clown!

[Lerkfish]

18. in what way is this behaving like a clown? I'm curious.

[saracat]

20. Getting arrested, protesting those that supported you, calling the police car a campgin bus

surrounding yourself with Code Pinkers dressing like Glinda in OZ, this was a circus!

[Lerkfish]

25. so you consider civil dissent undignified?

do you believe we should not have the right to dissent? Or if we do, under what parameters that would not upset your sense of decorum?

[saracat]

32. Civil Dissent should not be made into a joke.MLK was not a joke. Cindy is.

[BushOut06]

37. She's protesting the FUCKING WAR

Both MLK and Sheehan were protesting for noble causes. Maybe you think that trying to stop an illegal war isn't worth getting arrested for, that she should just sit home in the comfort and privacy of her house. Maybe you would prefer if she merely hid behind some anonymous username on a site like this?

[saracat]

39. in her case? Yes.It isn't getting arrested! It is pink feather boas and

calling police cars "campaign buses". The woman conducts herself like a clown.MLK took civil disobedience seriously as did Rosa Parks.Arrest is meant to be serious to make apoint.It isn't a joke or attention getting devise for a phony campaign. MLK didn;t protest his supporters And this isn't about ending the WAR.it was about IMPEACHMENT.One has nothing to do with the other. Impeachment won't end the war

[truedelphi]

41. PLS read MLK's history.

At one point, the entire leadership of his Southern Baptist colleagues told him to backoff and go slow.

He ws forced to take his message to high school and college kids.

It was those groups - the youth - who unconcerned about what the more politically oriented thought should go down, it was those kids that moved the ball on Civil rights.

[NotGivingUp]

54. No, you are the joke. nt

[Puglover]

67. I agree.

I think she has some alert on her computer to scan for a Cindy thread so she can bash her. It's tired and IMHO pathetic.

[pberq]

80. So, does that mean you support the Iraq war and all the other

crimes of the Bush administration?

Cindy is one of the few people that are actually doing something about these things.

How many more American and Iraqis do you believe should die while we wait around for Congress to do something? 500? 5,000? How many?

[marylanddem]

27. So you'd rather she sit home and watch TV?

[saracat]

33. Rather than perform with her circus? Absolutely.She is an embarrassment.

[coalition_unwilling]

44. Actually, you are an embarrassment -n/t

[orleans]

60. oh sara, back in the day people thought the civil rights marches

were a circus

kent state was a circus

the impeach nixon rallies turned into a circus

the 1968 democratic convention was a circus

and so was the trial of the chicago 7 (8)

and they all helped to change this country

"We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.

"You deplore the demonstrations taking place In Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. I am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes. It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city's white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative.

"In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action.

--letter from birmingham jail, 1963

it's all a matter of perspective sara.

maybe 44 years down the road cindy's actions won't look so crazy to you. maybe 44 years from now you'll look back on it and realize she was doing what she had to do the best way she could. the same as those who have gone before her and before us.

calling her an embarrassment? because she is pushing for change? how do you push for change? were you able to sit down and talk to conyers for an hour lately?

[Name removed]

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[saracat]

23. Did you know N ancy voted against the war? What did Cindy do to prevent it?

[Lerkfish]

26. My guess is, since she is private citizen, she watched in horror while her son died.

not really sure what you are expecting her to do?

:shrug:

is that your litmus test?

[saracat]

29. So until she was directly affected by it, she did nothing? Hmmm.

I guess if it doesn't involve her, why bother? Many of us marched and petitioned and made an effort though we didn't have kids in the fight or husbands . She didn't care apparently.Why not judge her by the same standards you judge other candidates on the war issue? Why should she beallowed to change her ming and not Edwards or Hillary Hmm? Obama didn't have a personal interest yet he spoke out.

[BushOut06]

38. Do you personally know Cindy Sheehan?

If you don't, then how can you possibly state how she felt before the war?

[saracat]

40. I don't "know her, but we have met.She herself says she wasn't interested before Caseys death

[Lerkfish]

48. I'm sure she felt extremely honored to be in your presence.

you impress me as such a wonderful human being and a big supporter of progressive causes.

I suppose she got down on her knees and kissed your holy ring.

[Lerkfish]

47. man, you are far out. You both expect Cindy to do nothing now and demand that

she did everything before.

which is it?


make up your mind.

why are YOU embarrassed? Are you FOR this illegal war?

[Bake]

70. And Bruce Fein on the conservative side ...

... just to name another.

Bake

[emilyg]

63. Very true.

[CANDO]

28. So by your standards, MLK was a sideshow freak. I say good on her!

By god, she is doing what thousands upon thousands of American soldiers have given their lives for. Shame on YOU for denigrating her exercising of her RIGHTS. Go read the US Constitution.

[saracat]

35. Not at all.MLK had dignity and grace.

[Lerkfish]

49. not everyone thought so. If MLK had stopped because people were embarrassed, we'd still

have whites only restaurants.

ARe you sure you want to be lumped into the same group of people that called MLK ridiculous?

[John Q. Citizen]

42. Cindy uses the power that she has. The Dems nueter their own power.

They have taken the power of the purse off the table. They have taken impeachment off the table.

Talk about embarrasing....The Dems look like enablers, afraid to wield power. Content to dream of a better day, far in the future, when they hope yet another election isn't stolen from them yet again.

Dream on, little dreamers, dream on....

[Lerkfish]

50. well put.

[TechBear_Seattle]

5. Would you say the same about Don Quixote?

I doubt very much she "wants Pelosi's job;" she is not a stupid woman. But she would be stupid if, while she has the media attention, she does not use it to continue her ongoing message: end the occupation of Iraq and bring our troops home alive and intact. Her campaign is to A) Draw media attention to the lack of meaningful action Congress has taken on the matter, B) draw media attention to this country's desperate need to remove the Junta from power and take back America, and C) once again be a lightning rod by saying the things that many Americans want to be able to say, but who have no voice.

I think you would do well to respect her rather than deride her.

[saracat]

7. Is Cindy mentally ill? Don Quixote was and Don Quixote wasn't attempting to run for office.

And Don Quixote wasn't interested in getting attention for himself.

[TechBear_Seattle]

46. Forgive me

I overestimated your capacity for literary metaphor.

If you had read the story -- the actual story and not the American high school text which has been abridged, sanitized and abridged a few times more -- you would know that Cervantes was not portraying a madman in Alonso Quixano; he was portraying a man who believed so strongly in the virtues of chivalry and nobility that he was unable to see anything else. The pathos of the story is not Don Quixote's view of reality, but that so few others were willing to share that view.

Cindy Sheehan is Don Quixote all over again. She believes so strongly in chivalry and nobility that she has trouble seeing anything else. The pathos of her doing what she is doing is not her vision, but that so few other Americans are willing to share that vision.

[Name removed]

59. Deleted message

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[lazer47]

8. I didn't know Don was running

[LibertyorDeath]

57. Shit saracat is that the best you can come up with

Bush is a fucking parasite on the body politic

anyone with half a fucking brain knows this.

Pelosi has other thoughts

"You know, he comes from a beautiful, lovely family, great patriotic family, serves in the highest office of the land, leader of the free world. And he’s a nice person. It’s not his personality, it’s his policies." (PBS's Charlie Rose: Interview with Speaker Nancy Pelosi

06/27/2007)

Pelosi needs to do her fucking job.

Cindy Sheehan has more integrity and honesty in her words and actions

than Pelosi will ever have and thats a fact.

[olddad56]

73. She is doing a lot more than you are.

[Mend]

9. All it takes is votes, Cindy. Let's see if she

can get the votes to be speaker, since she seems to think it is so easy for Nancy Pelosi to get the votes for impeachment.

[Vidar]

22. She's not trying to become Speaker, she's trying to force Pelosi;s hand.

[pinto]

11. (just a side note) Impeachment and the Constitution.

It is not mandated, it is a tool available and assigned to the Congress by the Constitution. This seems a minor point in the political debate about the possibility of impeachment, but one worth noting, imho.

Senator Feingold, discussing his censure bill on CNN today, noted the point as well.

I don't know how this will play out. Censure may well build momentum for impeachment.
It may not. Either way, it would be a powerful statement in and of itself within the government.

[Pastiche423]

14. Powerful statement = Nothing will be done

[madrchsod]

31. i read last night that feingold is another sell-out

at this rate there will be no one left in the democratic party.....oh well i`m looking back at the stupid things we did in the 60`s....

[truedelphi]

43. Impeachment not legally mandated - in fact if as a nation we want

To allow what Bush took from us last week to stay in his hands, we can give up and surrender right now.

I mean, do we really need elections? Do we really need to own property unless our beliefs are in line with the State?

[pschoeb]

45. There's nothing that mandates Congress make laws either

But I'm guessing if a Congress sat back and did not even attempt to make and pass legislation, most people would consider them to be not fulfilling their obligations to the People.

There is also nothing that requires a district attorney to prosecute a suspected criminal.

[MilesColtrane]

13. In order for impeachment to work there has to be direct, overwhelming,...

...evidence of crimes.

Nixon's impeachment was going nowhere, even though he was guilty as hell, until the White House tapes were released that showed to the whole world his undeniable involvement in a crime and it's cover up.

Congress is making a case for impeachment now.
Investigations are proceeding in order to gather real, undeniable evidence of Bush and Cheney's guilt. Until we have that, they aren't going anywhere.

The removal of a President or Vice President has never happened in two hundred and thirty years.

Let the sleuthing continue, but for now Congress should concentrate on something it actually has the power to do, ENDING THE WAR.

[pinto]

16. Good points. Nixon - assumed to be considered as an unindicted co-conspirator -

was directly implicated, via the tapes, in a criminal case. The current administration covers its tracks better, it seems.

[madrchsod]

36. the tracks are there in plain site but

there is not enough republicans that will stand by our constitution and vote to impeach and convict bush.

[AndyTiedye]

53. Bush** Admitted to Violating the FISA Act on National Television

[orleans]

62. yes, but...

"do we have evidence?"


:sarcasm:

(venting here. sick of all these fucking straw men people keep spewing out. of course we have them on video! the case would be a "slam dunk"! i know we have them by the balls--if only the dems want to touch it!)

[orleans]

61. well, thank god we have evidence

because we've got bush & cheney on video, lying us into this war; we've got bush on video saying he broke the fisa law

that should do it for starters

[bluestateguy]

19. Does she live in the district?

has she ever lived in the district?

The irony is that if she were to win--and she won't--then Steny Hoyer would likely be the next Speaker (assuming a continued Democratic majority). Hoyer would be even more DLCish than she is accusing Pelosi of being.

[rinsd]

24. CA only requires state residency, not district, to run for Congress.

And it would not necessarily be Hoyer as replacing Speaker even though he certainly would be a top candidate for the job.

[CreekDog]

51. The law may allow Sheehan to run from Sacramento and represent SF

But I don't think the voters will.

[knight_of_the_star]

30. I want to see her stances on ALL the issues

Although from what I've seen and heard so far she isn't the progressive people say she is.

[CreekDog]

52. Sheehan's position?

aside from the well-known ones, there are these:

-says income taxes unconstitutional
-says Democratic Party, called it "party of slavery"

[pitohui]

34. seerms like a great way to shoot herself in the foot

why not find a GOP fuckwit to run against, seriously?

[ckramer]

56. This is what she said

"The Democrats will not hold this administration accountable, so we have to hold the Democrats accountable,"

I think she has the case.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

58. Here's how I see it......

If Pelosi doesn't like having competition, she should get off her keister right now and start impeachment proceedings.

It's that simple.

[NotGivingUp]

55. We need somebody who is willing to DO the job. Obviously, Nancy isn't. nt

[rcdean]

64. Nancy's doing a fine job. What we need is a veto-proof majority.

Can't do much when you don't have the votes. It's a fact of democracy.

[onehandle]

68. Yep. nt

[Gman]

65. Does Sheehan think she'll be Speaker of the House if she wins?

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

77. I don't want Sheehan to win - I want Pelosi to change her mind

I'd like to see such overwhelming pressure put upon her that she changes course and at least makes an effort towards impeachment.

[LeftHander]

66. Well if Cindy wins won't you all be eating crow....nt

[BigDDem]

69. If Cindy wins...

I'll crawl on my hands and knees from Dallas to Waukesha and eat a crow.

[Bake]

71. I'm not exactly too worried about that.

Snowball's chance in hell.

Bake

[La Lioness Priyanka]

72. if cindy wins she will soon turn into a real politician or be ineffective,

its naivette to assume that she will glide around politics without becoming a politician, and when she does, her supporters will turn on her.

then i will personally get a laugh out of this mess.

[customerserviceguy]

74. I'll bring a fine wine

to eat with the crow. In the meantime, the repukes are laughing their asses off over the Cindy vs. Nancy feud.

[cobalt1999]

78. If I win the lottery, I'll be eating filet mignon.

IF games are fun :)

[knight_of_the_star]

79. I'll have scotch with my crow thank you

And you'll be eating crow when you see how little she actually gets done if that should happen.

[dkofos]

75. So do I. If pelosi won't do her job she should give it up!!

[BigDDem]

76. Sheehan Wants Impeachment, Pelosi's Job

In other news....
I want world peace and the winning lottery ticket.