George W Bush is perhaps the worst American president who has ever served.  To this day it is a mystery to me how the man was able to gain the Republican nomination, steal the election, start two wars, get re-elected and then drag on a failed war for five years and drive the economy into the ground without getting impeached.  Although the light is fading on the Presidency of Bush, it is not too late to impeach the man who lied to us about weapons of mass destruction.  As of result of the President's deception, over four thousand American soldiers have died in Iraq and tens of thousands have been wounded, not to mention the one million or so Iraqis who have died directly or indirectly due to Bush's interference in their country.

My name is Adam Sullivan. Until recently, I was just another citizen of New York’s 8th Congressional District. Now I am running for Congress as a challenger to Jerrold Nadler for nomination in CD8 by the Democratic Party. And I need your help.

You may legitimately ask why I would challenge Congressman Nadler, a representative with a long liberal voting record. While this is true, Nadler has failed us all where it matters most.

The issue—Impeachment

Some months ago, I joined a pro-impeachment group with the intent of encouraging my congressman to co-sponsor the Articles of Impeachment introduced in the House by Dennis Kucinich of Ohio.

Here’s how the propaganda model works: Take an issue that is at odds with how elite policy makers view the world, say Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s (D-OH) bid to impeach President Bush in early June 2008, and evaluate the media coverage of the event.  Kucinich’s attempt to impeach the President elicited a mere 132 words in every major media outlet including the New York Times, Washington Post, and CNN.com.  In this case, the mainstream media (MSM) did not conduct any of its own reporting or writing, instead it presented the public with an Associated Press (AP) report, which lacked depth and context regarding Kucinich’s argument.  The paltry word count aside, the article was rarely found in print, but left to be discovered on the websites of major media players, designated to an obscure link on the margins. The only remnants of the media coverage can be found in an exact and precise Google search, which will lead readers to the brief article.

The logic behind the case for impeaching President Bush is pretty straightforward: lying about having an affair, which was previously used as a basis for impeachment, is far less of a crime than lying about the basis for sending 3 thousand Americans and 90 thousand-plus Iraqis to their deaths. Compounding this logic is the consideration that Bush a.) violated international law by plunging into war without UN approval b.) violated constitutional law by signing off on torture, detaining without trial, and wiping out adherence to basic human rights, and c.) had a clear personal motive for launching the war, considering the profit reaped by military contractors linking to Halliburton, Cheney, and other cronies, as well as U.S. oil companies.

You may have heard that NY CD-08 resident Adam Sullivan is challenging Rep. Jerry Nadler in the Democratic primary, but you may not know why.

Why would someone challenge such a well-established and well-liked progressive like Rep. Jerry Nadler?  What could possibly be gained in such an audacious move?

I had to laugh as confident Cheney hatchet man David Addington dropped Nancy Pelosi's name during torture hearings last week.  It was right out of the Senate hearings in The Godfather II - where the Corleones have systematically corrupted key legislators, and are sending tough, coded messages even in their own public testimony.  

Addington's message: 'Chairman Conyers, if these hearings go any further than today, I'll publicly ask why your precious Speaker - who my staff secretly briefed about these interrogation methods starting in 2002 - hasn't been called as a witness.  You've earned enough political capital; I won't be charged.  Don't push it.'

This perfectly fits an observation in yesterday's diary We Can End FISA Obstruction Next Week:

The Bush administration has done what the best con artists and criminals love to do: get The Mark involved in something illegal so they never go to the police - or even better, get police and prosecutors themselves involved.

We have an utterly unique opportunity between now and the day in July that FISA is raised again in the Senate.

Many recent diaries, a damning poll, and strong appearances by Prof. Jonathan Turley on Olbermann's Countdown (links below) all lead to the same conclusion: we - the Democratic base and increasingly the American people - are realizing that the Democrats in power are accessories, colluding with the Bush administration to prevent crimes they participated in from ever being prosecuted.

Turley makes the compelling (some would say obvious) case that Democrats' 'mysterious collapses' on FISA, Iraq, impeachment, even censure - almost every issue - has its roots in what Turley calls criminal collusion.  In the guise of "compromise", Democrats are carefully obstructing justice, sparing themselves from subpeonas and prosecution.

In the next 2 weeks we have our best chance - and maybe our last - for a "Mr Smith" moment where someone actually speaks this truth into the record on the Senate and House floor and changes the game.  

I have already begun speaking directly with Judiciary Chair John Conyers and his staff about this.

Let's use this forum to help make it happen.

Our Republic, as envisioned by the Founding Fathers, was intended to prevent us from being in the situation we find ourselves in. If everything worked as intended, Bush would never have been selected in 2000, re-elected in 2004, or would have been impeached by the end of 2007.

But everything has failed us. Our economy is declining. We're deep in debt. Our troops are bogged down in the Middle East. Our dependence on oil and fossil fuels threatens to cripple us further. (Ironic how the price of oil is hurting our economy so much, when steps to move away from it are often cast aside as likely to 'hurt our economy.')

And now, the venerable Seymour Hersh, who has been right about so many things these past eight years, brings us this: Preparing the Battlefield, a report on how the Bush Administration, with the consent of the so-called "Gang of Eight" have been stepping up covert activities inside Iran.

BENEATH THE SPIN    • ERIC L. WATTREE

WATTREE:
A TURNCOAT AGAINST OBAMA?

I’ve been roundly criticized by many on the left for taking Obama to task for his position on FISA.  My critics made many good points that  I'll be addressing in detail in an article that I'm writing this morning.

Dear Friends,

Last night, while in NY, I had a whirlwind tour of a number of studios - not least of which my good friend Stephen Colbert.

Suffice to say, this time, I declined his invitation to "repeat after me."  I had a great time though, and if you haven't seen the interview, I'm sure it's available online.

However, I thought you'd be most interested in the fact that I took my argument for Impeachment Hearings straight into the heart of conservative media: Fox News.

Yes... they actually let me in the building.  Twice.

On both Hannity and Colmes as well as this morning on Fox and Friends, I explained my belief that Congress has no choice but to address these's obvious and deliberate abuses of power.

I argued that we can protect our nation - and still adhere to the Constitution.

Tennessee has been knocked around for the past couple of weeks and we won't dwell on it, but I want to highlight a shining star in the Tennessee Progressive Movement:  Representative Steve Cohen.

Congressman Cohen is NOT, I repeat NOT a Blue Dog Democrat.  In fact, he's a member of the Out of Iraq Caucus, voted against funding Iraq, for impeachment, and, most pressing to Dkossacks right now,(DRUMROLL) voted against the FISA Bill too.

Before you jump below, isn't this enough to sell you on a teeny weenie ActBlue donation to the good gentleman from Tennessee?  

This is good news indeed, as Nancy Pelosi has proven to be a miserable failure as a House Speaker. That was no surprise of course, but still.

Break on through to the other side for some of the article and further commentary:

FACT: GEORGE W. BUSH AND CABINET ARE GUILTY OF WAR CRIMES.

PROOF: VINCENT BUGLIOSI'S The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder and Elizabeth de la Vega’s United States v George Bush et al and the 35 Articles of Impeachment introduced by the honorable Dennis Kucinich.

I won't try to emulate some of the eloquent rage and contempt expressed on many other diaries about the moral and pragmatic grounds for impeachment. I just want to reiterate that while Bush and Cheney are in the WH there's a high probability that there will be a major attack on Iran. For the sake of self preservation I would think that Barack would want to use those masterful powers of unification of his to unite Congress behind an impeachment.

Not trying is tantamount to capitulating to the unspeakable.

UPDATE: Seriously, if you vote no in the poll please tell HOW you can imagine MLK being any less vocal than Kucinich? Do you not agree with Dennis? If not, WTF, dude?!

This is not breaking news, but I thought I would post a brief update on the current co-sponsors of the Articles of Impeachment (all thanks to Democrats.com), to keep We the People informed.

Since day one, Pelosi has held that impeachment is off the table, but is that what she REALLY means? I think not! Follow me below the fold to find out more.

Last November, Senator Joe Biden (DE) stated:

"The president has no authority to unilaterally attack Iran, and if he does, as Foreign Relations Committee chairman, I will move to impeach

Considering that regardless of this statement Bush still seems obsessed with attacking Iran, it might be time we got some clarification from our other Dems on the Executive's rights and powers.

A fellow kossack, JWSwift, has gotten a LTE published by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in response to their moronic call "Impeachment not worth another minute of anybody's time".

The opinion piece by the Sentinel calls for Wexler and Kucinich to drop their impeachment bid for "real issues"

He is a liar, a liar who lied America into a war of aggression for a false mission in Iraq over 935 well-documented times. He is a murderer, a murdering war criminal, who has committed unspeakable war crimes and crimes against humanity in our names with impunity as one who has the blood of over 1.4 million innocent Iraqis, and over 4100 American soldiers on his hands-and ours by collusion and extension.

And nobody, but nobody has the courage, save a handful of brave Congress members on our side to impeach these bastards! He has proven himself, by his own words, deeds, and hands that he is a scourge on this Republic, a parasite on our treasury, the undisputed Public Enemy #1 of our Constitution. Yet, "Mister 29%" continues to have his way with us, especially with the People's Body, the Congress, time and time again!

Inquiring minds want to know why, and exactly when did they crown him our King, while nobody was looking? More of my rant under the fold...