[05-14-07, 1 p.m. There’s an update, pulled from the Brattleboro Reformer’s report, an accurate soundbite from Peter’s response, about 2/3 down below the fold — NanuqFC]

The basic messages to Rep. Peter Welch at Saturday’s White River Junction “town meeting” on impeachment (short, non-repetitive version, exclusive of conspiracy theories and gratuitous heckling): Bush and Cheney have committed impeachable offenses beyond the war in Iraq; your duty to us and to your oath of office is to defend and restore the shredded Constitution and get these guys out; your rationales for avoiding impeachment hold no water.

The basic messages from Rep. Welch to the 200-plus souls in attendance (short, non-repetitive version, exclusive of side issues, litanies of outrages, rephrasings of impeachment as “change direction,” and self-serving stories): I agree that B/C have done terrible things to our country; impeachable offenses are whatever 218 Representatives say they are; impeachment is just one tool in the fight for accountability; in my judgment impeachment is the wrong tool because it will delay ending the war; look at all the investigating we’re already doing.

Did we change his mind or even cause him to doubt his own entrenchment behind stopping the war first? I doubt it. And, while I hoped that was possible, that’s not the only reason I was there.

For those who want exhaustive detail, it’s below the fold.

Some of the fringier elements were out at the gathering: the Lyndon Larouche  groupies (believe it or not, touting a book called “Children of Satan II” showing Dick Cheney on the cover); the 9/11 conspiracy buffs; and a couple of young loudmouthed guys I might suspect of being provocateurs with their unrelenting, disruptive, offensive taunts aimed at Welch. (The organizers apparently had no plan for how to deal with this, as it went on for way too long and only intensified after Liza Earle “reminded” us of the “rules” for the meeting: play nice, be respectful, take your turn.)

Denny Morriseau, a guy with a gray pony tail and a business card that identifies him as the progenitor of “Lieutenant Morrisseau’s Rebellion,” provided a full complement of more-and-less edgy impeachment signs outside the high school, along with a persistent level of high-decibel heckling inside from high on the bleacher seats.

In fine folk-protest fashion, the “Raging Grannies” led off the meeting with impeachment-adapted lyrics to the tune of “Michael Row Your Boat Ashore.”

Armed services veterans, many wearing their VFW/Legion soft garrison caps, were in the audience and lined up to speak after organizers Liza Earle and Jimmy Leas spoke, followed by the Congressman’s welcome and opening statement, then by three pro-impeachment “panelists,” including former Army Arabic linguist Adrienne Kinne, a recent immigre to Vermont. If the passions had not been so raw and real, the event might have been dismissable as another piece of great political theatre, another cynical attempt by an elected official to show “concern” and to “listen to constituents,” while doing nothing that matters on the issue at hand.

But the passions were very real, even if the speeches were too long. At least two of us — probably more — were wiping tears from our eyes during the two-hour meeting. Welch was moved enough to promise to read into the Congressional Record a letter from the mother of a Vermont soldier killed in Iraq urging Peter to impeach those responsible for our presence in that brutally occupied country. (And then he launched into two stories to show his sincere opposition to the war and concern for the soldiers.)

Was he moved enough to change his stance? Not by any evidence I saw. He lectured the participants on Congressional arithmetic, citing the recent defeat of a deadline amendment to a second Iraq occupation-funding bill:  it received 171 votes, more than expected (he said), but not enough to pass. Someone near the end of the speaker line reminded him that you don’t need 218 votes to initiate an investigation of the main players: George W. and Richard B. It takes only one Representative to do that.

About 75 minutes into the meeting, Peter was asked if he remembered the words to the oath of office he took in January, and if so, would he recite the first few phrases. “I solemnly swear to uphold the Constitution of the United States,” he answered. “And protect and defend?” asked the questioner at the mike. “And protect and defend,” he agreed. “And do you feel that you are fulfilling the terms of your oath in refusing to use a non-optional provision of the Constitution to protect and defend it?”

Update from the Brattleboro Reformer on Peter’s response:

The meeting erupted in a roar and a standing ovation: this was the question everyone wanted answered [and the answer everyone wanted to hear]. But his attempts to [further] answer it were broken up and sometimes drowned out by the taunting and yelling of some in the crowd, notably Morrisseau in the bleachers and a conspiracy buff and a LaRouche supporter in the front row. The questioner, standing next to Peter Welch, bellowed, “I ASKED A QUESTION AND I WANT AN ANSWER!”, trying to get the crowd to respect her turn, even though they weren’t satisfied with Peter’s answers.

I left soon after that. Peter Welch never changed his tune. I was sad, but not depressed. Peter will do whatever he feels is “appropriate.” But really, I was there because I have to do everything I can to save and restore Constitutional rule as much as possible, and it’s not possible when an administration as corrupt as this one faces no consequences beyond an election. I’ve said it before: I refuse to be a “good German,” while my constitution and country are raped and assaulted from within by those power-hungry, greedy thugs who have violated their own oaths of office. I have to do everything I can, and if I’ve done that, then (at least so far) I can sleep at night.

NanuqFC

In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. — George Orwell