Okay, I'm done pussyfooting around. I don't care about the repercussions, because the reason I want a Democrat elected, is to restore democracy to our country. I think that GWB has set a dangerous precedent for future administrations by expanding exponentially executive privilege. We can still win while holding this administration accountable. To wit, the email I sent her just now can be viewed below.  

Short diary but Wexler made Ickes look like a tool during his questioning.  According to  MSNBC Ickes stormed out after Wexler responded.

Obama's representatives are framing it as conciliation for party unity, hillary's representatives are framing it as what helps her the most.

If someone finds the youtube of the Wexler/Ickes exchange let me know.

On July 22, 2005, Special Forces Colonel Patrick Lang said before a congressional committee that, as a result of the exposure of Valerie Plame, our ability to know when terrorists would "carry 10-pound bags of explosive in subway stations" would "go right down the drain."  The media never reported this.  Instead it was busy chasing the White House spin that Plame was not a covert agent.  It was crucial to the White House that Plame's job description be fogged up.  Even on the right, there was speculation that this was one scandal from which the Bush administration would not recover.

Playing hardball with critics like Joe Wilson, Plame's husband, was one thing.  Exposing an undercover informant network was another.     Although many details about Plame's career are still classified, we know her job consisted mainly of detecting the movement of weapons of mass destruction.  If she was only a bureaucrat, why would a Special Forces Colonel, Middle East specialist, and professor of Arabic like Lang sit before a committee and say that Plame's unmasking was an "assault" on our ability to prevent terrorist attack?

So how about a replay of that scrimmage?  After all, it only involves our safety from attack, according to Colonel Lang.  The focus in the Plame Affair was always political payback to Wilson and all the Nigerian yellowcake stuff.  So what?  This is Washington.  Payback is everything.   The focus was never how, within hours of her exposure, every hostile intelligence service in the world had run Plame's name through its databases.  That would include Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, which we know is shot through with Al Qaeda sympathizers.

The snap!  Plame betrayed by someone in Cheney's office, maybe on orders from Cheney, as payback to Wilson for exposing a lie.  Fumble: Plame's job turns out to be weapons of mass destruction.  Spread the word that Wilson gave John Kerry a campaign donation, and that Plame had an office at CIA headquarters.  She was a paper pusher!  At all costs make people forget she spent nearly 30 years as the most secret kind of operative, a non-official cover (NOC), which basically means the government can deny your existence if you are killed.

Recovery.  That was very, very close.

The White House spin machine is good at seizing on something which, in logic, is called "irrelevant."  Like a campaign donation to Kerry, and building it into something that has nothing to do with the price of eggs in China.  Why are we talking about John Kerry?  Did Plame have undercover networks, yes or no?

Special Prosecutor Pat Fitzgerald referred to "national security" no less than three times in his first press conference on Plame.  Inexplicably, he settled on the lower charge of violation of the Intelligence Identity Act, rather than the higher charge of treason.  

Colonel Lang spoke of a violation of "trust" which spread like a "shockwave" among the foreigners who had worked with Plame.  When she was exposed, they were exposed too.  The message to those who would help us against our enemies was: the Americans cannot be trusted to protect their informants.  How can you help people like these?  

Bush's pardon of Libby sent the bigger message: partisan politics trumps everything for Americans.  It even trumps their own safety.  The Founders pondered outlawing political parties.  They feared that parties could blind people to the difference between what's good for the party, and what's good for the country.  

The pardon of Libby means old Scooter has no incentive to talk about really happened, to save his own rear end.

Now that powerful Florida congressman Robert Wexler has called for impeachment hearings to begin "immediately" against Cheney, let's hope people start to see the difference between party and country.  And that Cheney's chickens have come home to roost.  By its inaction on impeachment, Congress is rapidly becoming complicit in the crimes of Dick Cheney.

I barely knew who Wexler was a month ago and he's quickly becoming my hero.  His drive to gather 50,000 signatures to throw in Pelosi's and John Conyers' face, as proof Americans want impeachment ON the table, has topped 175,000 sigs so far.  A quarter million is looking do-able.  Rep. Wexler understands he's up against a major media black-out, so he's asking for help to buy ads on impeachment.  The following was received from Wexler by impeachment activists this week.

In other news, how long will the prosecutor in the CIA tapes take to make the Padilla connection, or is his job to bury it?  One of the subjects of the tapes is the guy whose tortured testimony convicted Jose Padilla, whose rights had already been grievously violated by Bush's declaration of him as an "enemy combatant."  The kind of justice planned for dissidents?  (Of course the first allegation will always be related to "terrorism," which, - surprise! - you can't answer because you are incommunicado!)

Give a late Christmas present to yourself: Your Bill of Rights.  Help Wexler.  I'll always love Kucinich for his courage on this, but having senior Judiciary member Wexler up against them is a different problem for the White House entirely.  Letter:

Dear Ralph,

In my last email to you I wrote how your support for our efforts to hold impeachment hearings for Vice President Cheney has helped us get some attention from the mainstream media. My editorial was recently published in the Philadelphia Inquirer...and newspapers from coast to coast have covered our success. 175,000 supporters have now signed up at WexerWantsHearings.com and the number continues to build...Over the past weeks, I have put significant financial resources...behind this effort, including advertising, multimedia, blog ads, and technical support for WexlerWantsHearings.com. Thank you to the hundreds of people who have already generously supported the cause.

Now, with your help - I want to expand this effort.

With your support I want to make a major Internet advertising buy on Google that will guarantee that for the next two weeks, every person that looks up "Dick Cheney" on Google sees an advertisement for our petition. With your help we can own "Cheney" on the web.

In addition, I want to publish blog ads, such as you see to the right, throughout the web to galvanize Americans in support of our cause. (You may have to right mouse click and select "Download Pictures" to see the ad).

It is time to reach beyond those that are regular readers of the political blogs, and expand the number of people mobilized to help push for impeachment hearings. The truth is that the number of Americans who support our efforts is immense and we need to do everything possible to reach out to them and maximize our strength.

I cannot do this without your support, so click here if you'd like to contribute to our work.

When Congress reconvenes on January 15th I will deliver the hundreds of thousands of names we have collected to my colleagues on the Judiciary Committee and I will do everything I can do to convince them to support immediate impeachment hearings. I will also be entering all of the collected names into the Congressional Record and present them to the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

The mainstream media has not done enough to cover this effort but with your help we will force the issue into the national dialogue.

Click here if you'd like to help sponsor this effort.

We must now redouble our efforts to ensure that Vice President Cheney and the Bush Administration are held accountable.

In order to continue funding this effort we need your help. Please consider making a financial contribution to help us expand our advertising advocating impeachment hearings for Vice President Dick Cheney. Your help will go a long way toward stopping the out of control Bush Administration.  

Click here if you are willing to contribute today.

Thanks for your help and keep up the fight!

Congressman Robert Wexler