MR. CONYERS, THE BALL IS IN YOUR COURT!

[rateyes]

It's time to put your money where your mouth is.

Let's put on the full court press. Let Congressman Conyers know that we won't tolerate the dragging of his feet on H.R. 333. The whole house authorized the Committee to investigate. NOW INVESTIGATE, DAMMIT!!

[JDPriestly]

1. This is really getting interesting.

[rateyes]

3. Yes, it is!!

I can't wait for the televised hearings!! Going to air the dirty laundry!!

Let the sunshine, let the sunshine in, the sunshine in!!

[puebloknot]

5. Yes! "Let the sunshine in, face it with a grin...

...open up your heart and let the sunshine in"! (From my Girl Scout days!)

[rateyes]

7. Sunshine is the best disinfectant! nt

[puebloknot]

13. And we certainly need to have a House cleaning and disinfection! nt

[in_cog_ni_to]

2. Man, I wouldn't want John Conyers dribbling MY Impeachment Ball!!

I can't wait to see what happens.

[karlrschneider]

4. Conyers has already shot up on kool-aid. He won't do a fucking thing with it.

:grr:

[Gloria]

6. Yup, Conyers said this would take far too much time from the other very important

business that they are working on feverishly!
He's already said NO.

[robinlynne]

9. I read that this is because Pelosi made Conyers promise to not go for impeachment,

otherwisde she would not let him head the committee.
I think some public pressure will work wonders here. Conyers is a great mna, and if the public creis out for the investigations, he will do them. he is not a dlc bullshitter. He is the real deal. He is not going to go against justice.

[liberalnurse]

14. She is not that powerful!

He has the Seniority and everyone knows that seat was his before the 06 win.

[robinlynne]

15. Then why did he change his mind?

[liberalnurse]

17. It was a loose game at that point....safe decision to move on as tomorrow is another day thinking.

Things change, as in the Congressional Impeachment events of today........new pieces on the Board. Judiciary Committee will make the next step...not just one individual too.

[robinlynne]

18. But the people with him in january when he changed his mind said it was because of pelosi's threat.

[mmonk]

19. The leadership in my opinion said patriots like Conyers

could get their chairs if they didn't exercise that patriotism.

[robinlynne]

21. That's exactly what I'm saying. Conyers is a great man. He was threatened by Pelosi.

He was for impeachment until exactly 10 months ago.

[lonestarnot]

26. Why would he roll for a priss puss?

[robinlynne]

28. What I read is that she made him agree to that in order to be chairman of the judiciary committee.

otherwise the committee was a no-go. If that's true, he may have given that up in order to do the great work he is doing on the committee. I can't think of any other reason which makes sense.

[lonestarnot]

29. sigh. yeah I knew

I hated her!

[Matariki]

34. The Speaker of the House appoints Congressional Committee Heads.

Unless I'm mistaken. So Seniority isn't really the issue here.

[earth mom]

16. Well that promise was made to be broken now wasn't it?!

Where's the Conyers we used to know and love?

[robinlynne]

23. I'm sure he's in there. We are going to have to pressure him. He knows it is right.

[Mutineer]

20. Sounds about right to me.

He's a showboater and a grandstander and at the end of the day, he's all talk, no action. Call if you like but that decision not to impeach was made ages ago. They aren't listening.

[onenote]

30. Link for claim that Pelosi threatened Conyers with loss of chairmanship?

Any proof? Or just wild, unsubstantiated speculation.

Cause I can tell you, based on conversations with some of Conyers closest aides, that its not true. There was never any thought given to Conyers not getting the Judiciary Chairmanship. And while Pelosi makes those calls, stripping Conyers of his chairmanship would've set off a rebellion the likes of which she wouldn't havent' been able to overcome.

He isn't pursuing it because he knows it won't succeed. He doesn't particularly like that fact, but he lives in, and works in, the real world.

[robinlynne]

31. don't have one. It isn't something I read today.

[onenote]

32. I can guarantee that its a totally baseless claim

I edited my earlier post but we 'crossed in the mail'. I know several of Conyers closest aides very well and I can tell you that there is no basis for the claim that he had to agree not to pursue impeachment or he'd lose his chairmanship. There is no chance that he was going to lose that spot and any attempt to strip him of it would've set off a rebellion (led by the Congressional Black Caucus among others) from which Pelosi could not have recovered.

The reason Conyers isn't pursuing impeachment is that he realizes that its an effort that, at present, can't succeed. He wishes otherwise, but he lives and works in the real world and acts accordingly.

[robinlynne]

33. That is great news. If you know Conyers' closest aides well, please find out what he thinks now

and let us know. If its a matter of practicality, that can easily be fixed by giving the committee enough money and manpower to pursue the investigation without impeding Conyers' other investigations. Conyers has been 100% pro impeachment until this past february, when something changed. Even then, he reportedly said to outsiders, if he were not in the senate he would be working for impeachment.

[onenote]

35. the answer is that he wishes it was otherwise but realizes that a sizable part of the caucus

doesn't want impeachment pursued unless some repubs jump ship and call for an inquiry first. He has a strong sense of history and precedent and, given that even the Clinton impeachment inquiry began with the support of a number of Democrats, I've been told that he is somewhat sympathetic to concerns that have been expressed by some red state members about efforts to move on impeachment if it will be a purely partisan vote.

[robinlynne]

37. So you think he will not investigate then? That doesn't make sense. He wants those investigations as

much as we all do. Doesn't this give him the legal grounds to demand documentation from the administration, which they have been denying him for months and months? Doesn't the fact that it is an impeachment investigation make the presidential priviledge simply become moot?

[onenote]

38. I wouldn't be surprised to see more investigation, but divorced from DK's "impeachment"

resolution. If the investigations create pressure on repubs to jump ship, we might see some more discussion of DK's resolution. Again, the historical precedent is that the full House votes to authorize the Judiciary Committee to conduct an impeachment inquiry. That hasn't happened here and DK's resolution skips over that step and goes straight to impeachment. That's why the first step may be investigations/hearings "unrelated" to DK's resolution, with the possible next step a new resolution calling for the House to vote on setting the wheels in motion for an impeachment inquiry.

At least that's how its been explained to me.

[robinlynne]

39. No. What happened today was that the full house voted to send the impeachement

inquiry to committee. The problem is that the Dem leadership wants to qwell it.

[onenote]

40. I understand. But in recent history, the House Judiciary doesn't start an impeachment

inquiry without being directed to do so by a vote of the full House. Its sort of an esoteric difference. DK's resolution doesn't call for an inquiry, it calls for impeachment. In theory, the House Judiciary could take up DK's resolution, hold hearings etc and then report articles of impeachment back to the floor for a vote. But its more likely that they will take things in smaller steps: first, some additional investigation, followed by someone (maybe Conyers himself?) dropping in a new resolution, this one calling for the House to authorize the Judiciary Committee to conduct a formal impeachment inquiry and draft articles.

Again, that's how its been explained to me.

[rateyes]

10. Yes. But, he wasn't counting on the ball being put directly

in his court by a house vote. He was counting on Pelosi not allowing it. He has no choice now, unless he REALLY wants to put up with a helluva lot of angry Democrats breathing down his neck.

Conyers didn't see this coming. Notice how he ended up at the front of the floor when the motion to table started going down to defeat?

He was surprised as hell.

[xiamiam]

8. well he already investigated and published a book about it...g. bush vs the us constitution..

all he needs to do now is dot the i's...and forget how busy he already is keeping track of these criminals..

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. He got a majority voting for it, not some folks

so it is our turn to do our JOB

[rateyes]

12. I hear you, but it was a majority of the house...

that means the house referred the measure to him.

I hope he makes the Republicans vote not to table backfire on them. If he starts the investigation, they will rue the day they voted not to table. Justice is a dish best served cold.

[lonestarnot]

27. Delicious!

[upi402]

22. It's time n/t

[lonestarnot]

24. Shine the spotlight on the criminal and his darkness!

[Greyhound]

25. LOL!

ya, like he's going to do something, now that he actually can. :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

[Mme. Defarge]

36. Is that a pun?