Anti-war crowd loses it’s cachet

Raoul emailed me a link to IVAW’s Adam Kokesh’s blog (which I won’t link – you can Google it) where Adam reports on the impeachment hearing in Congress yesterday. As expected, it was nothing but a good bit of theater starring Dennis Kucinich, Bob Barr and Cindy Sheehan.

To his credit, Conyers is completely ignoring the IVAW and Vets for Peace after their confrontation last week. I think Conyers realizes that his mouth wrote a check his ass can’t cash. The Democrats promised impeachment hearings in 2006 and now they’ve got nuthin’. They either lack the will or the legal footing to continue with impeachment, but they don’t have the guts to admit it to their base.

Apparently, Kucinich was upset that Conyers wouldn’t allow any testimony against specific people;

“The rules of the House prevent me or any witness from utilizing familiar terms. But we can put two and two together in our minds.”

While Kokesh didn’t bother to record much of Kucinich, he does make mention of Kucinich having a spine. I’d need a medical opinion on that one. Kokesh seems enamored with Bob Barr;

“What we are facing now is a Constitutional clock, and it is counting down what remains of the Constitution of this great land. I might ask then to introduce for the record the disappearing Bill of Rights. This is the Bill of Rights that we as member of the Judiciary Committee know [he holds up a copy of the Bill of Rights] as adopted in 1791. [he flips it over to reveal a copy of the Bill of Rights that is largely redacted] This is what it is fast becoming.”

But the anti-war Left had their typical drama plays to act out. One IVAW member (TJ Buonomo – the weasel that owes us for his education at the Air Force Academy) was tossed out of the hearings for making a scene about removing his “Vets For Impeachment” pin in the hearing room. He was treated more gently than Gerry Kiley was when he was escorted from the WInter Soldier hearings by the union and VFP thugs.

Kokesh records the incident when Cindy Sheehan got tossed;

Testifier Vince Bugliosi: “By taking this nation into war on a lie, all of the killings of American soldiers in Iraq became unlawful killings, and therefore murders.”
Cindy Sheehan: “Thank you Vince.”
Conyers: “Members are urging me to take more action than merely reminding our audience.”
Cindy Sheehan: “I urge you to take action.”
Conyers: “OK then, Sheehan, you’re out.”
Cindy Sheehan: [already getting up and leaving] “I’m going. Good-bye.”
She was allowed to leave without incident. It’s ironic that it wasn’t for her original interruption, but rather for urging Conyers to take action that she was told to leave.

So much for her absolute moral authority.

Kokesh quotes Lamar Smith(R-TX) and we both agree that he made a correct assessment of the hearings;

“It seems that we are hosting an anger management class. This hearing will not cause us to impeach the president; it will only serve to impeach Congress’s credibility.”

Well, what’s left of it anyway. Kokesh also arrived at the same conclusion I arrived at two years ago;

[Democrats] seemed to be really trying to make a case for their own party’s reelection.

Welcome to the real world, folks. Democrats aren’t in the business of making things happen, they’re in the business of making promises and pointing fingers. That’s why they have the lowest approval rating in history. They ran and won on a completely illogical platform in 2006, the only they legislation they passed was a minimum wage increase which has caused higher unemployment – especially among teenagers. And someone expects them actually follow through on something as complicated and time-consuming as impeachment? Ha!

CBS News reports that Conyers claimed they weren’t impeachment hearings at all;

Despite claims by President Bush’s critics and supporters, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) said today’s session by the panel is not a prelude to impeachment.

“To the regret of many, this is not an impeachment hearing,” Conyers said.

“To have an impeachment hearing, the House of Representatives has to vote to authorize an inquiry,” which has not occurred yet, Conyers noted.

But Republicans disagreed with Conyers’ assessment, saying the hearing was actually on impeaching Bush. Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.) called it “impeachment lite,” and said the committee has wandered into “Never-Never Land” by holding this hearing.

Members of his committee just decided it was one last chance to bash Bush before he leaves office according to AP;

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., was less circumspect in asserting that Bush was “the worst president that our nation has ever suffered.”

Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., concluded that “this is the most impeachable administration in the history of America because of the way that it has clearly violated the law.”

“I am really astonished at the mood in this room,” commented one witness, George Mason University School of Law professor Jeremy Rabkin.

“The tone of these deliberations is slightly demented,” Rabkin said. “You should all remind yourselves that the rest of the country is not necessarily in this same bubble in which people think it is reasonable to describe the president as if he were Caligula.”

Only slightly demented, Professor?

The following are screen caps of Kokesh’s blog if you don’t want to go over there;

Category: Antiwar crowd, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Politics