If Beale Street Could Talk - Part 2

By David Swanson
Created Jan 15 2007 - 9:41am

Impeach Disney and General Electric: Remarks at the National Conference for
Media Reform in Memphis, Tenn., January 13, 2007.

By any serious standard of journalism, impeachment should be in the news
right now. This illustrates the worst problem with our media. It's not how
they cover stories. It's how they do not cover stories.

A Newsweek poll a while back said that 51 percent of Americans want Bush
impeached and 44 percent do not. That's about double the support there was
for impeaching Clinton when it was in the news every single day.

Dozens of cities have passed resolutions for impeachment. State legislatures
have introduced the same. One outgoing congresswoman introduced articles of
impeachment in December. Dozens of scholars have written books advocating
for impeachment. There are DVDs, forums, marches, rallies, protests. A week
ago, we packed a huge ballroom for an impeachment forum, and to make it
easy, it was the ballroom in the National Press Club. The media couldn't
make the elevator trip to be there.

And of course, the evidence of impeachable offenses is clear and
overwhelming, but rarely presented in the media.

The number one reason that Congress members and their staff tell you in
private that they are not yet impeaching is fear of the media. The number
two reason is fear of Nancy Pelosi.

The number one reason that well-meaning citizens tell you they don't want
impeachment consists of a PR strategy. People want to present an image that
does not include what the corporate media says impeachment is. It is a long
journey to move from seeing this as smart and strategic to seeing it as a
self-defeating surrender to the corporate media.

And the independent media isn't where it needs to be either. In part, this
is because it tends to retell corporate stories in a more honest way, rather
than telling stories that have been untold.

It is a relatively short journey to see failure to demand impeachment as a
moral failure. If we go into the next presidency with the next president
free to launch wars on the basis of lies, torture, murder, detain without
charge, spy without warrant, rewrite laws with signing statements, hide the
workings of our government, disobey laws on his or her whim . . . I don't
care what party he or she is from, I don't care if it's Nelson Mandela, you
don't give that power to a human being. And that's what we're doing if we
fail to impeach Bush and Cheney.

Impeachment is too important to stop for consideration of elections, but if
you do, and if you read John Nichol's book, you realize that impeachment is
not politically dangerous. Failure to impeach when the case is clear is
politically dangerous. History shows this, and you can ask John.

Impeachment does not conflict with other agenda items, such as ending the
war or raising wages. Watch the video of Daniel Ellsberg from January 4th.
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/16941 [1] It was only the threat of
impeachment that led Nixon to not veto the bill cutting off funds for the
war. And it was only the peace movement that made impeachment happen.
Progressive movements help each other. We are not in competition.

There are a lot of great spokespeople for impeachment. The Mayor of Salt
Lake City today called for the impeachment of Bush and Cheney. I wouldn't
hold my breath until you see him on Meet the Press. Liz Holtzman and I have
been on a few shows. We were on Hannity and Colmes. But Hannity attacked us
and Colmes basically sided with Hannity.

The media should be talking to all sorts of voices for impeachment and
against it. Rather than demanding that Congress Members swear they won't do
it (an oath, by the way, that's based on a common understanding that the
grounds for impeachment exist but should be ignored) - rather than doing
that, the media should do what Sam Husseini did last night when he asked
Congressman Dennis Kucinich why he has yet to introduce articles of
impeachment. It's not the same question, and it matters which one is asked.
If our media were serious and substantive and covered the evidence and the
issues, then reporters would be unable to avoid asking Why not? rather than
Will you swear you won't?

So, what can we do? Go to www.afterdowningstreet.org [2] and get involved in
urging pollsters to poll on impeachment, writing letters to editors, calling
talk shows, calling producers, and protesting at media outlets.

Create a short video of yourself with your name, Congressional district, and
why you want impeachment. Post it at Youtube. Learn more here:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/impeachvideo [3]

Plan to organize a protest at your local newspaper or television station in
March. Learn more at http://www.fair.org [4]

With enough pressure from us on the media and Congress, plus impeachment
being sent from state legislatures, plus investigations underway in
Congress, and the ongoing and worsening war, we will get to impeachment. But
our window of opportunity to get this up and rolling is the next few months.
This is an urgent demand for media activism. Put impeachment on the table
and the airwaves!
_______
http://www.davidswanson.org [5]

About author David Swanson is a co-founder of After Downing Street, a writer
and activist, and the Washington Director of Democrats.com.

http://www.davidswanson.org [6]

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"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at
stake."
-Thomas Jefferson