Day: July 16, 2008

Nine House Republicans Vote for Impeachment Hearings

Jon Ponder

Passes 238-180, 10 Republicans Abstain

An unidentified government official of a U.S. ally wants to participate if and when Kucinich makes his case to impeach President Bush before the House Judiciary Committee.There will be a hearing related to Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s Article of Impeachment against George Bush in the House Judiciary Committee. That was assured by a vote of 238 to 180 on Tuesday.

But, according to Keith Olbermann on MSNBC’s “Countdown” Wednesday night, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has mandated that questioning in the hearing be relegated to Bush’s abuses of power, not his criminal wrongdoing.

“There’s never been one [hearing] that accumulated all the things that constitute an imperial presidency,” said Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, according to CQ Politics. He indicated topics covered in the hearing would include the firing of U.S. attorneys for political reasons, the betrayal of CIA agent Valerie Plame and Bush’s alleged lying to Congress about the reasons for invading Iraq.

Kucinich’s single Article of Impeachment only deals with Bush’s lies to Congress.

[…]

Dr. Ron Paul’s Campaign Manager Dies Uninsured, $400,000 in Debt

Jon Ponder

As the campaign manager for the presidential bid of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), Kent Snyder received a lot of credit for raising $35 million from grassroots supporters, a phenomenal accomplishment for an insurgent campaign.

But, like 48 million other Americans, Snyder had no health insurance, and when he died from pneumonia on June 26 after a two-month hospital stay, he left medical bills totaling over $400,000.

It is emblematic of our age that Snyder’s boss, Rep. Paul, is a physician.

The story comes from the Washington Blade [that link is now inactive, here is an excerpt from the story published in the Daily Paul, a Paulestinian propaganda site – Editors, Sept. 14, 2011]:

Gay staffers from the Paul campaign, some speaking on condition that they not be identified, said they learned about Snyder’s unpaid medical bills from a web site created by his friends that calls on Paul supporters to contribute to a special fund to help Snyder’s family pay the bills, which come mostly from a two-month hospitalization. So far, the site (kentsnyder.com) has raised about $32,000.

[…]

JibJab ‘Campaignin” Video References Charges That POW ‘Songbird’ McCain Collaborated with His Captors

Jon Ponder

It never came up in the GOP primaries. The mainstream media won’t dare mention it. Even John McCain’s most liberal opponents won’t go there. But leave it to equal opportunity offenders, brothers Evan and Gregg Spiridellis and their animation team at JibJab, to introduce into the 2008 presidential campaign the allegations that John McCain cooperated with the enemy when he was a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

Not that most people will notice it. The reference comes about one minute into the group’s latest campaign video, “Time for Some Campaignin’,” when the McCain character sings that he “spent years in a rat hole in North Vietnam” over animated graphics showing him swinging in a bird cage — a reference to the fact that McCain’s accusers refer to him as “Songbird.”

A charge as heinous as collaborating with the enemy may sound like liberal revenge for the Swiftboating of John Kerry by Republicans in 2004, but the allegations against McCain come from conservatives, notably including former Rep. Bob Dornan of California and former Sen. Bob Smith of New Hampshire, both of whom are Republicans.