07/05/07 'Impeach Bush! Impeach Cheney!'; Protest Urges Baldwin To Act

'Impeach Bush! Impeach Cheney!'
Protest Urges Baldwin To Act

The Capital Times
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Kristin Czubkowski The Capital Times

As passersby walked to nearby State Street on a warm afternoon, loud voices - both those chanting in unison and those leading the crowd - called out to them during a protest outside the Capitol.

"Lie and spy and deny - oh my!" "Impeach Bush!" "Impeach Cheney!"

Most politicians - including the protest's target, U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin - had left Madison's downtown Wednesday to make their way to Fourth of July parades and festivals as the crowd of more than 100 protesters assembled on the stairs to the Capitol to call for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney. The group called on Baldwin to support current House Resolution 333, introduced by Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, and co-sponsored by nine other representatives to impeach the nation's No. 2 official for "high crimes and misdemeanors."

Some at the protest wore red, white and blue, while others chose to wear colors that indicated which political group they were from - such as purple for the Madison Area Peace Coalition - but all expressed a strong dissatisfaction with the current administration.

"I think people are just really fed up and people are coming to realize the damage being done to our country. What we know about is great, and what we don't know about is going to be astounding to us someday," said Judy Bates, a Madison resident who attended the rally with her husband, Bob.

Many in the crowd said they did not attend the rally specifically because it was scheduled on Independence Day, but some acknowledged the significance of holding a protest on the holiday.

"I think that the true spirit of patriotism is to fight for our own liberties and not just to go along with whatever the government asks of us. Those who say we should just shut up and go along with the war whether it's justified or legal are the ones who are not being patriotic because they are asking us to ignore the Constitution," said David Koene, a Madison resident who attended the rally carrying a bright red, stop-sign-shaped sign reading "Stop the war."

The Impeachment Coalition of Dane County organized the protest, which included the presentation of more than 7,000 citizen petitions demanding impeachment to a representative for Baldwin, D-Madison, and a march to U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl's Madison office.

Also included in the afternoon's event were speeches by Ald. Marsha Rummel and Dane County Board Supervisor Ashok Kumar on matching resolutions at the city and county levels recommending impeachment. Rummel and Kumar are both members of the Impeachment Coalition, and both are sponsors of the current resolutions, which they project will be voted on at August City Council and County Board meetings.

Kumar said there is currently no organized opposition to the resolutions in either level of government, although some have questioned the impact of the resolutions and whether the time of each body is best spent on national issues like impeachment.

"There are people in the public and other realms who say, 'Doesn't the County Board or the City Council have more important things to do?' And I respond, 'Like what?' " Kumar told the crowd. "What do we have more important than to hold people accountable, people who cause death and destruction around the world, hundreds of thousands of people, billions of dollars that should have gone to public services?"

More than 80 other municipal bodies have passed similar resolutions to those facing the city and county, he said.

kczubkowski@madison.com