Conyers: "We came very close to removal proceedings on the president (Bush)"

[sabra]

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=21372

WASHINGTON — House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. says he is not ready to “move on” and shrug off the alleged constitutional violations of the Bush administration.

“We’ve come out of a horrible period,” Conyers said in a keynote address before the 11th annual National Freedom of Information Day Conference at the Newseum in D.C. March 13. “This is going to be examined for quite a while.”

The Michigan Democrat pointed to a lengthy report issued in January by his committee that cataloged what Conyers characterized as the misdeeds of President George W. Bush’s tenure, ranging from the “contrived” war in Iraq to the politicization of the Justice Department. In a foreword to the report, Conyers referred to Bush and then-Vice President Dick Cheney when he wrote, “I have never wavered in my belief that this President and Vice-President are among the most impeachable officials in our Nation’s history, and the more we learn the truer that becomes.”

In his talk before FOI advocates, Conyers repeated that view, stating, “We came very close to removal proceedings on the president on a large number of counts.”

Conyers said his investigation of the Bush administration would include deposition testimony from former White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove and former White House counsel Harriet Miers about alleged political firings of U.S. attorneys. Under an agreement reached earlier this month, claims of executive privilege by the two will be “significantly limited.”

[liberal N proud]

1. Not close enough

[Laelth]

6. Hear, hear. n/t

:dem:

-Laelth

[AndyA]

7. That says it all.

Instead of removing them, they allowed them to stay in place and cause more damage.

What does that say about Conyers and the rest of Congress? They are all complicit because they did...nothing. Sword waving, but nothing else. :(

Are we supposed to somehow feel grateful to Conyers for his inaction? Or is the mere fact that he now talks about it supposed to make us happy?

[Fireweed247]

52. Are we supposed to somehow feel grateful to Conyers for his inaction?

Conyers loves the attention he got when activists considered him a hero, before he had the power to do anything. He just wants people to love him again.

Conyers represents all that is wrong with Congress, and has inspired my theories that all of Congress was either placed in advanced by the Bush mob and/or brainwashed and controlled afterward.

[populistdriven]

58. STFU Conyers go suck on the RIAA/BET teat eom

[roguevalley]

56. I came very close to scratching my ass just a moment ago. I am

currently in committee with myself to see if I should move on or not.

[tbyg52]

63. Thank you! A good laugh is always welcome.

:rofl:

That said - yep, I sure don't care about hearing him talk about what he *almost* did. Has Rove shown up for his subpoena yet?

[Rockholm]

91. Only in horseshoes does close count.

[fascisthunter]

2. BS (nt)

[Echo In Light]

5. Ha...BS, Inc, indeed. Golly, gosh darn-it, anyhow, guess they just didn't try hard enough

[global1]

3. We're Not Playing Horseshoes Here - This Is Serious Business.....

get on with it.

[KatieW]

4. Close only counts in horseshoes

[H2O Man]

23. and hand grenades

[L. Coyote]

30. and atomic bombs, but they even ignored those!

[madmom]

37. and shit fights, don't forget shit fights!

[rucky]

85. and pregnancy

[acmavm]

97. and drive-in movies (if there are any left)

[PCIntern]

38. ...and hand grenades! n/t

[guitar man]

8. yeah right

Now they want to join the "me too" chorus after the fact, Bunch of craven candy-asses! :grr:

[cobalt1999]

9. I came close to asking out Jennifer in the 9th grade.

But I didn't!

[pleah]

10. Send some more strongly worded letters!

What a load of crap.

[Marr]

11. Yeah, so basically, "good thing you were there or I woulda kicked his ass!".

Uh-huh.

[tularetom]

12. Talk's cheap

For all the talk, Conyers never did anything about these crooks while they were in office. Now he wants to boast about almost impeaching them. He won't even insist on taking the testimony of Miers and Rove in public session and under oath.

I used to be impressed by Mr Conyers.

[ORDagnabbit]

13. yeah right...what an eye opening disappointment Conyers became...n/t

[ogneopasno]

14. Boy, I guess we showed him, eh, Conyers?

[flyarm]

15. Oh bullshit Conyers!..what a load of turds. eom

[chimpymustgo]

16. This ain't horseshoes.

[earth mom]

17. Spare us the lame excuses Conyers, because Impeachment is still not back on the table.

:grr:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

18. Uh-huh. If some Dems hadn't been complicit in the crimes he would have been impeached.

That can of worms contains a lot of worms and not all of them are repugs.

[chimpymustgo]

20. We had to keep our powder dry! Between the bailouts, the non-impeachment - can't we see????

It's all one party, only concerned about money and power.

[Doremus]

19. What a crock.

We came very close to removal proceedings, but we wet our pants and had to go home and let mommy make it all better.

:eyes:

[BlooInBloo]

21. Apparently Conyers still has some Sternly Worded Letters he wants to write.

[Vinca]

22. Woulda, coulda, shoulda. STFU. It's too late.

:grr:

[driver8]

24. I didn't realize that today was April Fool's Day?

Talk is cheap, Conyers...talk is cheap.

This is fucking bullshit.

[flvegan]

25. Shut up, Conyers.

Kucinich handed Bush and Cheney to you folks. You failed.

[burythehatchet]

28. co-signed

[jobycom]

26. We almost respect what you almost did.

I've always loved Conyers, but he needs to shut up about this or write it in a book. I understood why they didn't impeach, I accepted it, I even begrudgingly defended it around here. But for him to try to get brownie points for something he failed to do just because he really wanted to is backwards. We don't remember anyone for almost ending slavery, for almost avoiding a recession, for almost doing their job. "Almost" is called failing, and we have too many in our leadership who don't get that.

[L. Coyote]

27. Does this mean Conyers may someday respond to offers of evidence of criminal conduct?

Or, was there just too much evidence in hand to bother to reply to citizens with more :rofl:

[peace13]

29. Hey John we been watchin' you for a long time.

What about Ohio and the stolen election? What about the illegal war? I am beginning to think that every time there is a situation your buddies look around and say, 'Hey John, we need you to do a hokey investigation to pacify the peons.' and you being the good soldier rent a room and hold a hearing, at which point the rest of us are sooo fed up that we can never remember the outcome. Guess what, you have not done your duty to the American people and we have noticed.

[Raksha]

62. It's sure starting to look that way.

Re What about Ohio and the stolen election? What about the illegal war? I am beginning to think that every time there is a situation your buddies look around and say, 'Hey John, we need you to do a hokey investigation to pacify the peons.'

But it's getting harder and harder to pacify the peons every day, and the "entitled" thieves at AIG are the last straw! With the peons out for blood, they may soon have to REALLY do something...not just put on a good show.

[WI_DEM]

31. Bull!!!!

[anonymous171]

32. lol yeah right. Probably means he would have written another letter threatening removal. nt

[deaniac21]

33. Wake me when it's over.

[H2O Man]

34. I like to remember

the John Conyers from long ago, who I had respect for. With nonsense like this, the only question is if he thinks he is fooling others, or is he simply fooling himself?

[Canuckistanian]

35. "We came very close" = "We did nothing"

ACTION please, Mr Conyers.

[Gregorian]

36. Since we aren't part of the system, perhaps you could tell us why you didn't remove him.

You know, we're just the little creatures. The ones whose votes don't really count, whose Bill of Rights was too good for us, but whose money is more than important.

Tell us why you didn't remove them.

[kestrel91316]

39. Very close indeed, John. But of course YOU and NANCY blocked it.

Go suck an egg.

[cherokeeprogressive]

40. I think Conyers is dirty and the former occupant of the White House knew it.

I think Conyers was on the WH payroll and was tasked with rattling chains with no real plan to do anything substantive.

I think Conyers' constituents are assholes if they send a scarecrow like him back to Capitol Hill. That should be his new nickname: Scarecrow.

[barbtries]

41. i have a feeling

that when all is said and done, not impeaching them will be conyers's greatest regret.

[Lyric]

42. "All the federales say, they could have had him any day...

they only let him slip away out of kindness, I suppose..."

:eyes:

[jmowreader]

43. I'm glad they didn't, and in retrospect you are too

Impeaching the president would have been no problem. It takes a simple majority in the House of Representatives to refer an impeachment to the Senate. We had that.

Convicting would have been a different matter: it takes 67 votes in the Senate to get rid of Bush. We would have needed the votes of all 51 members of the Democratic Caucus, plus 16 votes from the Pack Animal Party. The end result of an impeachment trial: "Bush Vindicated By Partisan Witch Hunt."

[Diane R]

53. A voice of reason.

[EstimatedProphet]

92. There's no point in bringing reason into a thread like this

Because after all, the fact that impeachment never happened has nothing to do with the fact that it could never pass. It has nothing to do with the fact that in being defeated, it would only strenghthen Bush. It has nothing to do with the fact that in failing, it would be used to secure a Repub majority and the Bush doctrine of total war for the next 50 years. It couldn't possibly have anything to do with the fact that forcing the issue of impeachment would guarantee that the Dems would lose, and lose big, and keep us increasing troop numbers in Iraq for 100 years, just like McCain said he wanted. No, the only reason that impeachment never proceeded could only be because Conyers, Pelosi, and all the other Dems were the real culprits behind the invasion of Iraq, and the Bush administration which was really trying to keep the invasion from happenning was held hostage by Dem blackmail.

[blm]

61. And we certainly wouldn't care about the historic record that would've been preserved with

revelations gleaned during the deposition and discovery stage, would we?

And Kerry shouldn't have wasted 5 1/2 years uncovering BCCI's criminal layers because he should have known that the next Dem president would come along and deepsix the outstanding matters, right?

[Solly Mack]

44. snort

[Lugnut]

45. Yeah, right.

I'm tired of playing Lucy-and-the-football, Rep Conyers. Now run along and write some strongly worded letters.

[nichomachus]

46. Let me at him -- don't hold me back -- let me at him

[DKRC]

47. Bullshit!

[Individualist]

48. The Conyers dog and pony show continues

What an ass!

[shadowknows69]

49. Shadow says: Go fuck yourself Conyers (D-Traitor)

[Crabby Appleton]

50. Bullshit - Talk's cheap nt

[Cleita]

51. Coming close in this move towards impeachment is like almost being pregnant.

Nothing is going to happen in either instance. I still think our Congress didn't do their job because they were afraid of Bush and Cheney.

[librechik]

54. "We tried. We really really tried."

"Unfortunately, we don't believe in American Justice anymore, so we didn't want to take the chance that it might not work."

Thanks for the "effort," Rep. Conyers.

If I had been in your spot, I would GIVE MY LIFE to prosecute those fuckers for America.

I guess it wasn't even worth a large embarrassment to you.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

55. Blah, blah, blah, blah...... Conyers has lost all credibility with me.

[BuyingThyme]

57. Does anybody know where that puts him on the cigar meter?

[nilram]

59. Vehwy, Vehwy Cwose! Vehwy!

[Raksha]

60. Sorry, Conyers (not). "Very close" isn't good enough. n/t

[JuniperLea]

64. This isn't horseshoes...

Close doesn't count.

[Edweird]

65. Mmmm hmm. If you say so Mr. Conyers.

[krispos42]

66. Close only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades

[rosesaylavee]

67. Shut. Up.

[Uncle Joe]

68. The other night I came close to hooking up with J-Lo,

...no wait that was Jello, it was late and I woke up standing in front of the refrigerator in my boxer shorts with a bowl of Jello in my hand.

[Stinky The Clown]

69. Go write a letter .....

[spanone]

70. two words mr conyers....hand grenades and horseshoes

[BlooInBloo]

75. And nuclear war.

:P

[rateyes]

71. Fuck off, John.

Close, my rosy red ass. So damned close that you wouldn't even investigate Cheney, when the whole house voted to refer the investigation to your committee.

You, Mr. Conyers, are a goddamned liar.

Go away.

[krispos42]

72. I printed out this picture on heavy stock paper

I made it postcard-sized, and I'm mailing it to him.


Three times.


Cuz I can get three postcards from a sheet of paper.


And yes, there are snarky comments on the back.






I'm sending them anonymously. If the FBI finds me, I know that somebody on Conyers' staff reads DU! :-)

[tomp]

83. beautiful cartoon, btw. nt

[ProgressIn2008]

73. At this point, I consider congressional Dems complicit with Bush crimes. nt

[Initech]

74. Should've removed both him and Cheney when they had the chance.

[tblue37]

76. When Carol Burnett (the comedienne, for you youngsters)

was told that a friend of hers had once said she was almost very pretty, she responded, "Why, that's almost very nice of him."

[Juche]

77. Let the sternly worded letters roll

[MilesColtrane]

78. If Rep. Conyers were a tree...

...his fruit wouldn't taste as nearly as good as his blossoms looked.

[SoCalDem]

79. Dear Son, I would have enclosed $20 in this letter, but I already sealed the envelope,

Love mom:rtofl:

[Control-Z]

80. All I can say (actually, ask) is

why didn't they? “We came very close to removal proceedings on the president on a large number of counts.”

I'm sorry, but talk is cheap. Actually, it's quite free for a relatively small number of people.

[LynnTheDem]

81. Did ya also come very close to making the 5000 dead Americans alive again?

How 'bout very close to making the 1,000,000 dead Iraqis alive again?

Pretty much the same kind of "very close", huh.

[Kablooie]

82. They didn't come close. Some wanted it but they never had the power to do anything.

[tomp]

84. he's there to make us think democrats care.

congress is a talk shop with the intention of misleading americans.

[tkmorris]

86. Came very close did you?

Well that's nice then.

[BR_Parkway]

87. We should write a sternly worded Thank You note - seems appropriate

[acmavm]

88. Oh bullshit.

[OwnedByFerrets]

89. Oh STFU....you screwed the pooch, nothing less.

[leftofthedial]

90. I came very close to believing Conyers was an honorable man once.

I also once came very close to believing that "democrats" in Congress mattered.

[proud2BlibKansan]

93. "Very close" - does that mean one more strongly worded letter?

:rofl:

[bdamomma]

94. sure you did sure you did.

[we can do it]

95. yeah right whatever- I almost won the lotto, too

[Raster]

96. Really? "...very close..."?

[Vickers]

98. I came close to training as an astronaut.

Well, as close as Conyers came to removal proceedings...

:eyes:

[tangent90]

99. Like within 48 business hours?

:silly:

[badgerpup]

100. Promises, promises...

Promises, promises, promises, promises, promises, promises...

IT'S ELECTION TIME!! THE BAD GUYS RUNNIN' A-SCAIRT OF ME! :scared::hide:
RE-ELECT ME AND I'LL KICK THE BASTARDS OUT! :patriot:

Promises, promises, promises, promises....

You get a big fat FAIL on "delivery", Congressman.


S'pose you'll be wanting a bonus too...



edit for (I hope) clarity...