Bumped…originally posted July 22, 2007 @ 22:37

St. Cindy Sheehan and her unhinged minions will descend on Arlington National Cemetery Monday morning for an impeachment parade that will end at John Conyers’ office doorstep. Similar protests are taking place in the offices of Rep. Howard Berman in California and Rep. Pete Visclosky in Indiana, and at Rep. Conyers’ district offices in Detroit, among others. This is no fringe movement. The nutroots machine has kicked into high gear. Far Lefty Bill Moyers joined the bandwagon with a one-hour PBS special on impeachment last week. Jimmy Breslin banged the impeachment drum in his Newsday column today. Sen. Russ Feingold is crusading for censure.

West Hollywood’s city council passed an impeachment resolution last week–”the 80th city or township in the nation to pass such a declaration, following similar actions in Michigan, Ohio and Vermont as well as six cities in Northern California, including Arcada and Eureka.” Telluride, Colorado approved one last week as well. There is an active ImpeachPAC and there is now something called a “National Impeachment Center” in L.A. And Conyers, via Weasel Zippers, says he just needs to gather three more congressional members and then he’ll move to impeach.

An After Downing Street blogger exults:

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers has said that if three more Congress Members get behind impeachment he will start the impeachment proceedings.

I was a guest today on Bree Walker’s radio show. She’s the progressive radio host from California who purchased Cindy Sheehan’s land from her in Crawford, Texas.

Bree attended an event on Friday in San Diego at which Congressman Conyers spoke about impeachment. Her report was extremely interesting. I had already heard reports that Conyers had said: “What are we waiting for? Let’s take these two guys out!” But, of course, what we’re waiting for is John Conyers. Is he ready to act? It was hard to tell from that comment. In January, Conyers spoke at a huge rally on the National Mall and declared “We can fire them!” but later explained that what he meant was that we could wait for two years and Bush and Cheney’s terms would end. Was this week’s remark just more empty rhetoric?

It appears to be more than that. Bree Walker told me, on the air, that Conyers said that all he needs is three more Congress Members backing impeachment, and he’ll move on it, even without Pelosi. I asked whether that meant specifically moving from 14 cosponsors of H Res 333 to 17, or adding 3 to the larger number of Congress Members who have spoken favorably of impeachment but not all signed onto bills. Bree said she didn’t know and that Conyers had declined to take any questions.

Either way, this target of three more members seems perfectly doable. It’s safe to assume, I think, that we’re talking about impeaching Cheney first. But, even if Conyers is talking about Bush, the target is perfectly achievable.

Cindy Sheehan is going to make sure Conyers keeps his word. Her followers have pledged to park themselves at his office until he makes his impeachment plans official. Meanwhile, the moonbats are touting a possible congressional campaign announcement from Sheehan. More from After Downing Street:

Cindy Sheehan to Lead March for Impeachment, Arlington to Capitol Hill, July 23rd

Congressional Campaign Announcement Possible

WHAT: March from Arlington National Cemetery to the Capitol Hill Office of Congressman John Conyers to ask him to begin impeachment proceedings against Vice President Dick Cheney or President George W. Bush or both. Participants hope to meet with Congressman Conyers and receive his assurance that impeachment proceedings will begin at once in the House Judiciary Committee, which he chairs. Many of those participating have committed to only leave if Conyers agrees to begin impeachment or they are arrested.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been the driving force against impeachment in Congress. If there is no agreement to begin impeachment proceedings by Monday, Sheehan will announce her candidacy challenging Pelosi for election in California’s 8th Congressional District.

WHO: Cindy Sheehan, mother of Casey Sheehan, KIA in Iraq 2004, founder of Gold Star Families for Peace and of the Camp Casey Peace Institute; Ray McGovern, 27-year veteran of the CIA and cofounder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity; Rev. Lennox Yearwood, President of the Hip Hop Caucus; Ann Wright, retired U.S. Army Colonel and diplomat who resigned in protest the day the U.S. invaded Iraq; Debra Sweet, national coordinator of the World Can’t Wait; Dave Lindorff, author of “The Case for Impeachment,” David Swanson, cofounder of AfterDowningStreet.org; Jodie Evans and Medea Benjamin, both cofounders of Code Pink; Kevin Zeese, director of Democracy Rising; Tina Richards, military mother and creator of GrassRootsAmerica4Us; and many many others.

WHEN AND WHERE:

10:00 a.m. gathering outside the Arlington National Cemetery metro stop. Cindy Sheehan will make remarks.
10:30 a.m. beginning march to Capitol Hill, to 2426 Rayburn House Office Building, office of Chairman John Conyers.
12:00 p.m. noon – approximate arrival time.

“We have the deepest respect for Chairman John Conyers,” Sheehan said, “and I’m glad he’s the one who will lead the impeachment hearings. But time is wasting and people are dying every day that he holds off. The majority of Americans want Dick Cheney impeached. We are bringing that message to the chairman of the judiciary committee of our house of representatives. It is our house, the house of American citizens, and any representatives currently serving there who disagree should be challenged in the next election.”

Freepers plan to be at Arlington to counter-protest. But what about the Republican Party? The BDS-ers are not going away. They’ve been emboldened by the White House’s reticence. And the Beltway Republicans’ idiotic dissing of its own base has weakened its ability to unite the Right when the president needs a strong defense. The GOP needs to do more than just remind Americans of Nancy Pelosi’s 60 Minutes pledge (“Impeachment is off the table…it’s a pledge. Of course it is. It is a waste of time…”). It needs to launch an aggressive counter-attack exposing the shadow party behind the Democrat Party.

Look at these people. Look. At. Them:

These people mean business. They’re organized, energized, and relentless. They have substantial public support, funding, and legal/academic infrastructure. Does the GOP plan to rely on Nancy Pelosi to fend these impeachment hounds off? If so, they vastly underestimate the nutroots’ zeal–and Pelosi’s fecklessness.