Bipartisan Support for Impeachment a Welcome Sign of the Times

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From Leland Lehrman of Northern NM's Mother Media:
New Mexicans may recall that the overwhelming majority of Democrats who showed up this Spring to vote on the Party's Platform want to impeach George W. Bush. Ask anyone who was there, the noise was thunderous. If you were not aware of that very relevant fact, you will soon be reminded when an official flyer describing the platform of the Democratic Party of New Mexico starts making the rounds as we approach Election Day. Under the heading "Election Issues," along with important voting system watchdog provisions such as "Support the requirement that electronic voting machines have open source code" and "Support automatic recounts of paper ballots and machine rechecks in a randomized sample of precincts in each election," stand the brave words of New Mexico's Democratic Party faithful: "Support the impeachment of President George W. Bush."

Sadly, on this and other issues, the men and women who make up the party have had to fight with the leadership to make their views known and have them officially recognized. And although I'm sure there are many who deserve the credit for making sure that the will of the people gets put down in black and white, Terry Riley, a veteran and activist from Albuquerque gets my thanks for his courage and tenacity in the face of officialdom.

Terry Riley talking to NM Sen. Linda Lopez at
the 3/5/06 signing of the paper ballot bill

Mr. Riley, a friend and colleague from recent Legislative Sessions where we both worked on voting system reform, is the man who put together the nicely designed brochure entitled Issues of the Democratic Party of New Mexico, now available for download and distribution. Check out these other gems from the broadsheet:

• "Support the preservation of Otero Mesa, Valle Vidal and rejoin the Kyoto Treaty."
• "Oppose the continued military occupation of Iraq, and urge the government of the United States of America to plan immediately for the withdrawal of its military forces from Iraq, specify a target date for the completion of the withdrawal which is no later than December, 2006..."
• "Call for an immediate repeal of the Patriot Act."

New Mexico's Democrats are not alone in wanting accountability, and as Chris Hassell of Santa Fe Beeswax Candle recently commented, Americans must beat the divide and conquer strategy of partisan politics and take on criminal behavior with one voice. Republican House leader from Texas, Representative Ron Paul has also called for Bush's impeachment. In a recent radio interview on the GCN radio network, Rep. Paul stated "President Bush has presided over a system wide doctrine of violating the Constitution at every turn and that he should be impeached..." Amazing as it sounds, other Republicans may follow suit. Randi Rhodes recently reported on Air America that as many as five Republican candidates for State Assembly as well as the Republican candidate for Attorney General in Kansas have switched to the Democratic Party, either from genuine conviction or from a desire to be able to win.

Rep. John Conyers, whose office produced the excellent documentation of voter disenfranchisement and possible fraud in Ohio in 2004, will move to the Chairmanship of the House Judiciary Committee if Democrats win back the House in November. Rep. Conyers has stated, albeit very obliquely, that in that event, and given he finds impeachable offenses during his investigation of Administration criminality, he "would forward that information to the Judiciary Committee," read: begin impeachment proceedings. Any real investigation of this Administration will find impeachable offenses. Let's get him in position and then hold Conyers to his word.

With the Middle East rapidly descending into total chaos, courtesy the international neoconservative militants, time is of the essence, and Americans must weigh in loudly to drown out the blaring wartime propaganda from the media establishment. The next election, and those immediately following, will have an enormous impact on the safety of our world, and all its people, so get busy. Whether conservative or liberal, right wing or left wing, make sure your voice is heard and support leaders who represent you accurately.

Note: To subscribe to Mother Media's email newsletter, contact leland.lehrman@gmail.com. Leland Lehrman also has a blog and a Mother Media website.