WASHINGTON – Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich on Tuesday will announce articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney ahead of a series of protests this weekend calling for the impeachment of both Cheney and President Bush.
A spokeswoman for Kucinich, the most liberal member of the 2008 Democratic presidential candidate class, confirmed the congressman's plans but would not discuss why Kucinich was bringing up the impeachment articles now.
According to The Washington Post blog The Sleuth, Kucinich actually crafted the articles of impeachment before the Virginia Tech massacre, but held off introducing them immediately after the mass shooting.
Click here to read The Sleuth.
While Kucinich is not working in coordination with pro-impeachment groups that are planning more than 100 activities nationwide this weekend, he is attending Saturday's California Democratic Convention in San Diego, where hundreds of delegates are expected to introduce an impeachment resolution against the president and vice president, said Jacob Park, national coordinator for the April 28 action.
Kucinich campaign manager David Bright said Kucinich is "doing an impeachment thing as a member of Congress but is going to the convention as a candidate" and while there, will focus on issues relating to the 2008 election. He is not a delegate and has "nothing in the schedule about meeting with supporters" of impeachment articles, Bright said.
Bright noted that Kucinich has plenty to share with the California delegates, who make up 10 percent of the Democratic national convention being held next year in Denver, but impeachment is a moot point for the 2008 campaign.
Park offered three reasons why activists can't wait until the election to be rid of the president and vice president.
"One, they misled the nation into war, an aggressive and illegal war that has obviously been catastrophic," Park said. "They are currently violating the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act" by ordering wiretap warrants without FISA court approval and they are committing torture in violation of the Geneva Conventions.
"Very few people will deny those charges whether they support impeachment or not," Park said.
But two Republicans dismissed impeachment calls as just politics, and said Kucinich hasn't got a case.
"If the political pros can't predict the charges that Kucinich would bring ... then it doesn't sound like it's justified," said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif. "I have no idea what Kucinich would charge Cheney with."
"I think the Democrats in Congress are going to use every legislative means at their disposal to cripple this president," said Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind. "It's not surprising."
Park acknowledged that the decision to bring the impeachment resolution to the floor of the California convention is to raise the stakes, particularly since congressional Democrats, save Kucinich, are otherwise not inclined to bother.
"Bush is such a catastrophe that (Democrats) know he's just dragging the Republicans down, and if they just let Bush and Cheney go ... they are poised for 2008 and that is easier than to just hold them accountable," Park said. "April 28 is really the beginning of what we hope will be a groundswell of support and people coming out and voicing their opinion ... getting this back on the table."
FOX News' Molly Hooper and Sharon Kehnemui Liss contributed to this report.
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