( – promoted by odum)

At the end of the special Vermont State Democratic Party meeting today there was a lot of cheering and applause – relief that the almost 3-hour meeting was finally at an end, relief that we’d gotten through it with no screaming or name-calling, and relief that we had made a decision that maybe nobody absolutely hated. (maybe?)

After being amended twice, the new version of the Rutland Resolution sailed through on a unanimous voice vote. The most heated discussion from the committee members was in response to a proposed amendment to send a request for impeachment proceedings directly to the US House of Representative – sparing the Vermont House from having to wrestle with it, and abandoning the idea of using Section 603 of the Jefferson Manual to start impeachment from a state legislature.

Once that amendment passed on a (paper ballot) vote of 26 to 17, and it became clear that the Rutland Resolution was done, the discussion moved to additional tweaking of the new version. The second amendment passed instructed the state committee to send this resolution to the clerk of the Vermont House and the clerk of the Vermont Senate for “appropriate action.”

I’m personally sorry that we won’t be directly and explicitly asking our state legislators to hold the President accountable for his illegal actions. But I’m also glad that the whole idea of impeachment wasn’t thrown out as one for the nutballs. The room was full of people  – many of whom were not committee members but who are just as much a part of the process – speaking passionately and fervently about “the right thing to do” – people urging courage in the face of Fox News, strength in the face of Republican control, and steadfastness in the belief that our values are worth standing up for.

I hope that this is only one step in the process of bringing George W. Bush to justice.