For those of you participating in "Ask The Speaker," the Nancy Pelosi dialogue taking place at Netroots Nation (if you haven't registered for NN yet, btw, you are really missing out -- register here to be a part of history), you may have noticed that far and away the most popular question for Ms. Pelosi is:
Why is impeachment off the table?
Given that the constitution calls for impeachment if high crimes or misdemeanors have been committed, and the current president has flouted constitutionally mandated checks and balances, why is impeachment off the table? How do you intend to not give him free reign if you remove one of the only constitutionally given ways of limiting a president's abuse of his authority?
Now, we all know that Nancy Pelosi has staff that pays attention to the netroots, and I'm quite sure that that staff has been helping Ms. Pelosi prepare for the Netroots Nation event.
Which is why I found the following development quite heartening:
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said this morning that the House Judiciary Committee may hold hearings on an impeachment resolution offered by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio).
Kucinich is expected to offer a "privileged resolution" this afternoon calling on the House to look at whether President Bush should be removed from office for lying to Congress and the American public when he sought congressional approval back in 2002 for taking military action to invade Iraq and overthrow Saddam Hussein.
Pelosi has said previously that impeachment "was off the table," so her comments this morning were surprising, and clearly signaled a new willingness to entertain the idea of ousting Bush, although no one in the Democratic leadership believes that is likely since the president has only six months left in this term.
Coincidence? I think not. Nancy Pelosi is paying attention to one of her most important constituencies -- the Netroots -- and is responding to its message that she pay attention to this issue.
Netroots Nation has that kind of effect on our leaders. Last year, it was a primary Presidential debate. This year, it's, at the very least, moving our Congressional leaders in the right direction.
Do you want to see more of this magic? There's only one way to do so. Register now for Netroots Nation.