[Peace-discuss] Is this being reported? - here's the snarky report from the WPost

[Robert Naiman]

Here's the snarky report from the Washington Post: The usual
anti-Kucinich venom is on steroids. Amazing. We couldn't have printed
Dana Milbank's piece in our high school newspaper.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042402341_pf.html

Kucinich's Battle Against Cheney Not So (Im)Peachy Keen

By Dana Milbank
Wednesday, April 25, 2007; 8:18 AM

"I do not stand alone," Dennis Kucinich said as he stood, alone, in
front of a cluster of microphones yesterday evening.

The Ohio congressman, a Democratic presidential candidate, was holding
a news conference outside the Capitol to announce that he had just
filed articles of impeachment against Vice President Cheney. But
subsequent questioning quickly revealed that Kucinich had not yet
persuaded any of his 434 colleagues to be a cosponsor, that he had not
even discussed the matter with House Democratic leaders, and that he
had not raised the subject with the Judiciary Committee.

Kucinich did have one thing: a copy of the Declaration of
Independence. And he was not afraid to read it. "We hold these truths
to be self-evident," the aspiring impeachment manager read at the
start of his news conference. He continued all the way through the bit
about the right of the people to abolish the government.

"These words from the Declaration of Independence are instructive at
this moment," he said.

A reporter from the Cleveland Plain Dealer encouraged USS Kucinich to
contact planet Earth. "But Nancy Pelosi says this is not going
anywhere," she pointed out.

"Have you talked to her today?" Kucinich shot back.

"Yes, I did," she replied.

Kucinich had not expected that answer. "Then I would say I have not
talked to her," he acknowledged.

It was not an auspicious beginning for the impeachment of Richard B. Cheney.

Kucinich had called his news conference for noon on the terrace of the
Cannon building. But minutes before the event, his office sent out a
statement: "News reports this morning indicate the Vice President was
experiencing a medical crisis. Until the vice president's condition is
clarified, I am placing any action on hold."

This was odd, because the vice president's spokeswoman had already
announced that Cheney had merely gone to a doctor's office to check on
a blood clot in his leg, which is improving. Cheney himself, far from
suffering a medical crisis, joined Senate Republicans for lunch at the
Capitol. "The leg's doing good," Cheney announced after lunch, his
lips in his trademark snarl. Indeed, he was feeling so well that he
chose to start a new fight with congressional Democrats. Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid was not only "uninformed and misleading,"
but also practicing "defeatism," Cheney said. Democrats are guilty of
"political calculation" and "blind opposition."

Reid visited the same microphones minutes later to return the
playground taunts: "I'm not going to get into a name-calling match
with somebody who has a 9 percent approval rating." And: "I'm not
going to get into a name-calling match with the administration's chief
attack dog."

Kucinich evidently realized there was no reason for him to get cold
feet just because of Cheney's leg. A few minutes after the Cheney-Reid
showdown, the congressman arrived in the Speaker's Lobby off the House
floor, handing out news releases to any reporter he could find:
"Kucinich to Move Forward with Impeachment News Conference."

Washingtonpost.com's Paul Kane showed the news release to House
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), who declined to endorse the
Kucinich crusade. "He was busily engaged in handing that out," Hoyer
observed. "Beyond that, I don't have any thought about it."

Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), chairman of the House Democratic caucus, was
equally dismissive -- "Dennis can do what he wants; I'm not going to
support it" -- but used the occasion to try out some Cheney material:
"This is the biggest setback for the vice president since oil went
under 65 bucks a barrel."

Kucinich, however, did not find humor in the matter. Standing perhaps
5 feet 6 inches tall in shoes, he wore a solemn face as he approached
the microphones, which nearly reached his eye level. He beckoned to
aides, who handed out thick binders detailing the case.

Kucinich read at length from his articles of impeachment, undeterred
by rush-hour traffic noise on Independence Avenue ("I'll wait till the
truck goes by here," he said at one point) and wind that ruffled his
text and the few strands of his hair that were insufficiently weighted
by Brylcreem.

Tom Ferraro of Reuters asked Kucinich if any other lawmakers supported
impeachment.

"Because this resolution is so weighty in its import, it's going to be
important for members of Congress to have sufficient time to study the
articles," Kucinich answered.

We'll take that as a no. "So at this point you stand alone?" Ferraro pressed.

"I believe I stand with millions of Americans," Kucinich parried.

Someone else asked why Kucinich targeted Cheney but not Cheney's boss.
"There's a practical reason," the congressman explained. "If we were
to start with the president and pursue articles of impeachment, Mr.
Cheney would then become president. . . . You would then have to go
through the constitutional agony of impeaching two presidents
consecutively."

It was a valid point. If Kucinich is having this much trouble
impeaching one vice president, imagine the difficulty impeaching two
presidents.


On 4/25/07, Chuck Minne <mincam2 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Here we see that Kucinich has filed three articles of impeachment against Cheney. The question is: "Is this Newsworthy?"
>
> Is it being reported in the mainstream media? On NPR? I really don't know and am curious. It seems to be newsworthy to me.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>   April 24, 2007
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) has just introduced Articles of Impeachment against Vice-President Dick Cheney.
>   Kucinich Files Three Articles of Impeachment against Cheney
>
>
> Article I
> The Vice President of the United States, Richard B. Cheney, has purposely manipulated the intelligence process to deceive the citizens and Congress of the United States by fabricating a threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to justify the use of the U.S. Armed Forces against the nation of Iraq in a manner damaging to our national security interests.
>
> Article II
> The Vice President of the United States, Richard B. Cheney, has purposely manipulated the intelligence process to deceive the citizens and  Congress of the United States about an alleged relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda in order to justify the use of the U.S. Armed Forces against the nation of Iraq in a manner damagin to our national security interests.
>
> Article III
> In his conduce while Vice President of the United States, Richard B. Cheney, in violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of Vice President of the United States and, to  the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has openly threatened aggression against the Republic of Iran absent any real threat to the the United States, and done so with the United States' proven capability to carry out such threats, thus undermining the national security of the United States.
>
> The full text of H. Res. 333 is now available here, along with supporting documentation.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Okay folks, it's on! Now is the time to speak up loud and clear to demand that Congress do the right thing and impeach Cheney, and that the media give this story the attention it deserves. A page has been set up at ImpeachCheney.org with complete information on whom to contact to make this happen. Do it now!
>