Report from the NW Progressive Convention

America in Solidarity held a convention today in Tacoma. The keynote speaker was Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey. She was a hit, of course. She said that John Conyers agreed to get the Kucinich Cheney impeachment bill through committee as soon as possible.

Next came Congressman Adam Smith. I generally like him but he really irritated me and pissed off a bunch of people at the convention. When asked about why more isn't being done to get us out of Iraq he first tried to complain that we don't give the Democrats enough credit for what they have accomplished -- they raised minimum wages, for Gawd's sake. Then he told a story of how the Republicans were on board to hold Bush's feet to the fire in September but then we progressives started giving all the Democratic Congress persons grief for votes we were disappointed in and the approval rating for Congress dropped to 19% -- thus the Republicans saw there was no political advantage to supporting withdrawal and their support evaporated. So it was all our fault. He said we need to hold the Republican's feet to the fire. Yep. He blamed us. It's our fault for not being so thrilled and grateful that minimum wage increased that we forgot about Iraq and showered them with approval ratings.

Smith also danced around and said impeachment was unlikely -- they were too busy with other work. When I questioned him about the various crimes becoming precedent and inherited powers he said there were other ways to prevent that but didn't enumerate them.

What a disappointment!

Oh! Darcy Burner was there too. She ws on a panel with a lawyer from the ALCU, Sal Munigia, and the co-founder of the Backbone Campaign, Bill Moyer. They spoke about civil rights. Darcy was really smokin'! She said those who give immunity to AT&T and the other phone companies as part of the FISA bill are cowards and traitors. You Go Girl!! She also said what connects us as Americans is not our religion, the color of our skin or hair, or our language -- but instead we are bound together as Americans through our fundamental belief in core values as expressed by our Constitution and it's worth protecting. We've GOT to get her elected.