Bush -- Articles of Impeachment sent to committee

[ratatoskK]

Articles of Impeachment Against Bush Are Sent to Panel (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/12/washington/12brfs-ARTICLESOFIM_BRF.html?ref=us) on the NY Times website says -- and this is the entire article -- The House has voted 251 to 166 to send articles of impeachment against President Bush to the Judiciary Committee, which is not likely to hold hearings before the end of his term. Representative Dennis J. Kucinich, Democrat of Ohio, who ran for president, spent more than four hours on Monday reading his 35 articles of impeachment into the record.
Even if there's little chance of its passing through the committee, etc. before the end of Bush's final term, I would have thought this was kind of a big deal, and deserves more than two sentences of coverage.

Comments?

[jayjay]

Referring it to committee is the parliamentary equivalent of kicking it into a dark corner somewhere. As long as Pelosi and Hoyer have Conyers by the short and curlies, this thing won't see the light of day again. Kucinich introduced articles of impeachment against Cheney the Sith Lord months ago...they got referred to committee. Have YOU heard anything about them since?

There are exactly 3 people on the Judiciary Committee, out of 37, who are pushing for the articles to be taken up by that committee, and Chairman Conyers is not one of them. Which means they will not be taken up.

As fond as I am of the image of Cheney and Bush in the dock of the Senate, it isn't going to happen. Kucinich is channeling Don Quixote and tilting at windmills. I wish it were otherwise.

As to the media coverage, it's a combination of things. First, this is only a big deal if it actually happens. The media know this.

Second, the mainstream media have long abandoned actual journalism.

[Bricker]

See Rep. Kucinich reads articles of impeachment. Is there any point? (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=471238)

That thread includes this quote from CNN:

he House voted 251-166 to send the Ohio Democrat's impeachment resolution to committee, a maneuver that allows the Democratic leadership to freeze the measure indefinitely.

The vote largely followed partisan lines, with 225 Democrats voting on Kucinich's request to send the measure to committee for consideration.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has repeatedly said she would not support a resolution calling for Bush's impeachment, saying such a move was unlikely to succeed and would be divisive.

All 166 votes in favor of opening up a House impeachment debate came from Republicans, apparently eager to bring up the vote immediately and paint Democrats as political creatures in a time of serious issues.