Bush impeachment hearing dimissed by Republicans

Democrats in the House talked about impeaching President Bush Friday at a Judiciary Committee hearing today which was dismissed by Republicans loyal to Bush as "an anger management class."

The star witness, Ohio Democratic Dennis Kucinich, received a noisy ovation filled with cheering, clapping and whistling as he walked into the hearing room. Kucinich, who has introduced articles of impeachment, exhorted the committee to "support and defend the constitution that has been trampled time and again over the last seven years."

"The decision before us is whether Congress will endorse with its silence the methods used to take us into the Iraq war. The decision before us is whether to demand accountability for one of the gravest injustices imaginable. The decision before us is whether Congress will stand up to tell future presidents that America has seen the last of these injustices, not the first," he said.

The hearing, technically, was not about impeachment but about executive power and its constitutional limitations. Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, D-Michigan, ticked-down a list of items that included, in his words, "the politicization of the Department of Justice, the misuse of signing statements, the misuse of authority with regard to detention, interrogation and rendition, possible manipulation of intelligence regarding the Iraq war, improper retaliation against critics of the administration. and excessive secrecy."

While Conyers called the evidence "both credible and substantial," Republicans scoffed.

Texas Rep. Lamar Smith, the senior Republican on the committee, dismissed the hearings as "an anger management class."