September 17, 2008

Dear Congressman Nadler,

We are sure this will come as no surprise, but your inexplicable refusal to uphold your oath of office or wield the power entrusted to you as a member of the House Judiciary Committee and the chair of the its Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties subcommittee to bring about impeachment hearings has gravely disappointed thousands of your constituents.

You did not challenge Nancy Pelosi when she took impeachment off the table. You did not call upon John Conyers to initiate hearings, and you did not stand with your courageous colleagues who put principle before Party by calling for impeachment hearings.

By Dave Lindorff

The dramatic hearing on presidential crimes and abuses of power
held on Friday by the House Judiciary Committee was both a staged
farce, and at the same time, a powerful demonstration of the power of a
grassroots movement in defense of the Constitution. It was at once both
testimony to the cowardice and self-inflicted impotence of Congress and
of the Democratic Party that technically controls that body, and to the
enormity of the damage that has been wrought to the nation’s democracy
by two aspiring tyrants in the White House.

At Friday's impeachment hearing, Rep. Jerrold Nadler took impeachment a lot more seriously than he has until now. And there's a good reason - he escaped a primary challenge by the skin of his teeth.

Because of New York's strict ballot access laws, Nadler's pro-impeachment constituents had to organize a massive petition-gathering effort. Unfortunately candidate Adam Sullivan was tripped up by those strict laws, but Nadler seems to have gotten the message!

Sullivan Ends Primary Bid Against Nadler, Vows to Fight on Over Impeachment 

On C-SPAN's Washington Journal, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) declared George Bush guilty of "impeachable offenses" and "some people" in his Administration with "war crimes."

Nevertheless, Nadler insisted Bush should not be impeached because it would "distort the presidential campaign." Watch it:

Thanks to your emails (over 58,000!) and calls, House Democrats once again stood up to Bush! 

House Democrats stood up to endless televised rants by Bush, lying TV ads against key freshmen, and bullshit news articles and editorials throughout the Corporate Media.

Instead, Democrats carefully wrote a bill that will let telecom giants try to defend themselves against lawsuits by giving judges the power to review White House secrets.

Tonight a smart and determined group of impeachment activists gathered in front of the Yale Club of New York City to urge Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) to hold impeachment hearings. Nadler was scheduled to speak at the annual dinner for Citizen Action of New York, one of New York's leading progressive organizations, which does outstanding work on education, health care, and other important issues.