Fwd: Remarks at the White House 1-10-06

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Tue, 10 Jan 2006 22:03:02 -0500

[Fwd: Remarks at the White House 1-10-06]

 

 

 

 

Remarks at the White House 1-10-06

 

My name is Mike Hersh. I'm here representing Progressive Democrats of

America, Convict Bush Cheney dot Org, and After Downing Street dot Org.

I've been working to impeach Bush and Cheney since 2000, even before

they took the oath of office, on the theory that if fibbing about a

blow job is sufficient reason for impeachment, then cheating in the

elections, losing, and having your friends on the Supreme Court throw

out the votes to put you into office is grounds for impeachment and

removal from office.

 

Apparently this attracted notice, because I was visited by Secret

Service agents in early January 2001. They were investigating the

" threat " I posed to the incoming Bush Administration because of a

protest website a friend and I set up in late 2000: bushoccupation.com

which is still up today. So this domestic spying issue is very

personal to me. I believe this visit was intended to intimidate me. It

didn't.

 

Immediately after the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, a

Mrs. Powel asked Benjamin Franklin: " Well Doctor, what have we got, a

republic or a monarchy? " He replied, " A republic " but added, " If you

can keep it. " Today more than ever before that question challenges us:

Can we keep it? Can we keep our republic? That was 1787.

 

That landmark convention enshrined the primacy of the people over

their government. It crowned the work begun in 1776 when brave

Patriots rose up opposing a crazy King George. The more things

change.... We're here today speaking out against another crazy George

who thinks he's a king.

I'm telling you today, we don't need Congress to extend the Patriot Act.

We need members of Congress to act like patriots.

 

In his chilling cautionary tale It Can't Happen Here Sinclair Lewis

warned: " When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag

and carrying the cross. " Sound familiar? That was in 1935.

 

When I was a child, I watched the Watergate hearings on television. I

heard testimony about an administration run amok, wiretapping and

spying, arrogantly abusing the power " We the People " entrusted to it,

and lying about it all. Many of us thought that the Nixon gang reached

the zenith of presidential corruption, but we were sadly mistaken.

 

Today, in that building over there, sit men and women who not only

believe they're above the law, they who openly arrogate to themselves

powers and prerogatives which would make a monarch blush. When he

spoke to America about the outrage of illegal spying it was not to

condemn the lawbreakers, it was to rage against the truth-tellers who

exposed his administration's reckless lawlessness.

 

We are here today to tell the denizens of that building that the White

House they work in doesn't belong to them. It belongs to us. We are

here to tell them that the White House is the house of the people, not

the castle of a king. The powers they have, they have on loan.

 

Ironically the Republican Party and its supporters, so quick to call

us " soft on crime " seek to defend wholesale criminality on high. They

were so quick to impeach a President over fibbing about sex, now

suddenly they're forgotten their rhetoric about the " rule of law " and

accountability. We're here to remind them of their principles and to

insist they follow them - not just impose them on their opponents.

 

Rep. Conyers said, " This administration must be held accountable for

its misdeeds. I am taking steps against the Bush Administration's

handling of the Iraq War and its collection of intelligence. I am

going to need you to stand with me in fighting for accountability.

Join me to demand censure for Bush and Cheney in addition to the

creation of a Special Committee to investigate impeaching the Bush

Administration for its widespread abuses of power. " We're here to

answer his call.

 

Senator Robert Byrd said, " Americans have been stunned at the recent

news of the abuses of power by an overzealous President. It has become

apparent that this Administration has engaged in a consistent and

unrelenting pattern of abuse against our Country's law-abiding

citizens, and against our Constitution. " Bush and Cheney promised to

defend the Constitution against all enemies, but they lied under the

oath of office. We're here to defend our rights and our Constitution.

 

Republican Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter said this

about the out-of-control Bush Administration: " They talk about

constitutional authority, " but he added, " There are limits as to what

the president can do. Specter called the domestic spying " inexcusable

.... clearly and categorically wrong, " and he promised his committee

will " look at what they did, whose conversations they listened to,

what they did with the material, and what purported justification

there was for it. " Let's insist they do all of that and more.

 

Senator Russ Feingold says of Bush, " He is the president, not a king. "

He adds, " The president has, I think, made up a law that we never

passed. " Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said " The president can't

pass the buck on this one. This is his program. " Reid added " He's

commander in chief. But commander in chief does not trump the Bill of

Rights. " There are consequences for trying to trample the Constitution.

 

Attorney Jon Bonifaz, Constitutional Law expert and author of Warrior

King: The Case for Impeaching George Bush says, " Now is the time to

return to the rule of law and to hold those who have defied the

Constitution accountable for their actions. " How shall we hold these

people accountable?

 

We the People have no choice. We must demand our rights. We must

insist the officials who work for us will respect our freedom. We must

investigate, impeach, indict and convict the lawbreakers who put their

narrow personal and partisan interests far above the Constitution and

the national need and betrayed their solemn oath to defend it.

 

PDA director Tim Carpenter promises to help " mobilize and organize a

broad based coalition that will demand action from Congress to

investigate the lies of the Bush administration and their conduct

related to the war in Iraq. "

 

Rep. Conyers' resolutions would direct Congress use to all of its

powers to hold the president and vice president accountable even

including the power to impeach them and remove them from office.

 

H.Res.635 would establish a select committee to investigate whether

members of the administration took actions to " invade Iraq before

receiving congressional authorization, manipulated pre-war

intelligence, encouraged the use of torture in Iraq and elsewhere, and

used their positions to retaliate against critics of the war. The

select committee would be asked to make recommendations regarding

grounds for possible impeachment of Bush and Cheney. "

 

H.Res.636 would impose Congressional censure of the president " 'for

failing to respond to requests for information concerning allegations

that he and others in his Administration misled Congress and the

American people regarding the decision to go to war in Iraq, misstated

and manipulated intelligence information regarding the justification

for the war, countenanced torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading

treatment of persons in Iraq, and permitted inappropriate retaliation

against critics of his Administration, for failing to adequately

account for specific misstatements he made regarding the war, and for

failing to comply with Executive Order 12958.'

 

H.Res.637, would impose similar Congressional censure of Cheney.

 

Progressive Democrats of America, After Downing Street, Convict Bush

Cheney and others are asking you to take an assertive stance against

these alarming abuses of power. You will play the critical role in our

efforts mobilizing in defense of our Constitution and our rights.

 

Mike Hersh

 

- MikeHersh.com - http://www.mikehersh.com