Impeachment appeal to trail Pelosi in New Orleans Tuesday Nick Juliano

Published: Tuesday August 14, 2007





Print This Email This House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has so far refused calls from some congressional Democrats to begin impeachment proceedings against President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. While Pelosi tours New Orleans Tuesday morning, a group of pro-impeachment activists is planning on trailing the top House Democrat with a flying banner urging her to reconsider impeachment. "PELOSI IMPEACH BUSH! text IMPEACH to 30644," the banner to be towed by an airplane over the hurricane-ravaged city's Lower Ninth Ward will read. Democrats.com and AfterDowningStreet.org, two liberal websites that also act as sort of online clearinghouses of impeachment information, are sponsoring the banner. The same groups were behind an effort last month to fly a pro-impeachment banner over baseball's All Star Game in San Francisco, Pelosi's hometown. "Bush was warned about Katrina and claimed he was not. In the months since, he has failed to serve the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast," David Swanson, the co-founder of AfterDowningStreet.org, said in a statement released to RAW STORY . "This abuse of power falls under the heading of the old British phrase 'high crimes and misdemeanors.' That we have not yet impeached Bush for the same charges brought against Nixon, including the now routine refusal to comply with subpoenas, is troubling. That we have not yet impeached him for what he has done to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast is a deep moral disgrace." Pelosi is one of 14 members of the House visiting New Orleans this week to assess recovery efforts as the city prepares to mark the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Tuesday is the last of a three-day tour of the city. The Congressional delegation is expected to tour several health clinics in the Lower Ninth Ward from 9 a.m. until noon Tuesday; the pro-impeachment banner will be circling overhead then. A resolution introduced in April calling for Cheney's impeachment has gained 16 co-sponsors in the House so far. Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who also is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, introduced the resolution. Pelosi and Rep. John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee that would begin impeachment proceedings, so far have refused to consider calls for Bush and Cheney's ouster from the White House. Late last month more than a dozen activists, led by Cindy Sheehan, were arrested outside Conyers's office after the Michigan Democrat refused to begin deliberations on impeachment. Sheehan announced she would challenge Pelosi in next year's election because of the Speaker's refusal to work toward Bush's impeachment.



