Kucinich, Congress & Cheney impeachment....

From the Washington Post:


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Kucinich Emboldened In Impeachment Quest

House Democratic leaders think they've gotten rid of Dennis the Menace, but the congressman himself tells us - they ain't seen nothing yet.

We spoke to Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) late Wednesday evening about the havoc he helped wreak on the House floor Tuesday. Even though his own leadership did everything it could to quash the underdog presidential candidate's impeachment proposal and ship it off to the House Judiciary Committee (Siberia, for all intents and purposes), Kucinich feels emboldened by Tuesday's floor action.

"There were 86 Democrats who voted with me, and that was pretty significant: the support for impeachment is growing inside the Democratic caucus," he told the Sleuth. He's convinced the Judiciary Committee will wind up holding hearings on his resolution to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney for, as he sees it, dragging this country into a war based on lies.

Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), a member of the Judiciary Committee, also predicts the committee will hold hearings.
"I get that impression," he said. "The issue is still alive."

Cohen was one of 14 Democrats on the panel, including the chairman, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), who initially voted with Kucinich on the floor Tuesday, signaling some level of impeachment interest.
But Cohen, even though he is a co-sponsor of the Kucinich resolution, sided with the Democratic leadership in sending the issue to committee. "You don't impeach anybody in a kangaroo court," Cohen said. "That in and of itself is an impeachable offense."

Sources say Conyers gave assurances to a group of liberal backers of impeachment that he will hold hearings, over the objections of Democratic leaders. Kucinich declined to say whether Conyers had given him or his supporters an outright commitment but he said, "I think Chairman Conyers has strong interest in holding hearings and I'm hopeful that we will hold hearings on the resolution."

Kucinich can't believe how far he got Tuesday. "The House came very close to having the impeachment resolution be directly considered," he said incredulously. "I was ready for that. I was absolutely prepared and yet I was surprised that it was moving in the direction of impeachment in that moment."

It's not at all what he had expected. "I was expecting that I would introduce the bill and that it would be immediately tabled (killed). I think that was a modest expectation."
And the end result isn't at all what the nervous Democratic leadership wanted. "Now it's back on center stage," Kucinich said.

Next up in his impeachment quest: a series of town hall meetings around the country organized by his anti-war grass-roots supporters, who seem more energized than ever by this week's House maneuvering.


By Mary Ann Akers | November 8, 2007; 9:31 AM ET

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