Feingold calls for Bush censure Maine Dems adopt resolution to impeach president, Cheney

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AUGUSTA – Citing recurring violations of law by President Bush over the last several years, Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold told delegates attending the Maine Democratic State Convention on Saturday that the chief executive’s domestic and foreign policies warrant a congressional investigation and probable censure.

Feingold, a potential Democratic presidential candidate himself in 2008, said he was unsure whether it was “appropriate” for the country to “actually go through the impeachment of a president.” He was certain, however, that Bush’s actions were exactly what the framers of the U.S. Constitution had in mind when they included high crimes and misdemeanors as impeachable offenses to remove the president, vice president and all civil officers of the United States.

“I know this, I’m not going to stand by and leave the pages of history blank and have it said that Russ Feingold lay down, didn’t do a darn thing when the president of the United States directed an attack on the foundation of our laws and our nations,” Feingold said. “If we do not stand at this time and do as I requested – censure the president of the United States – he will succeed in pushing us away anytime the president gets caught involving abuses of power.”

Maine Democrats said they were fed up with the president’s Patriot Act and anti-terrorist policies, which they say have resulted in widespread domestic spying, the erosion of American freedoms, and the endangerment of Americans at home and abroad. The delegates then adopted a resolution calling for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. The demand was not included in the party’s platform because convention participants deemed such a goal impractical.

The two-day state convention attracted a crowd of more than 1,000 delegates and guests who, in addition to crafting the party’s platform, had the chance to hear campaign speeches from candidates for governor, the Legislature, the U.S. Senate and the state’s two congressional districts.

Although there were several significant floor demonstrations for Maine political candidates, Feingold’s keynote address electrified many of the Democrats who identified with the speaker’s unrelenting opposition to the war in Iraq and desire to safeguard the personal freedoms of all Americans. Urging Democrats to “stand up” for the moral principles of their beliefs, Feingold said there was nothing shameful about assuming the role of loyal opposition against the Republican majority.

“Run for president,” one woman hollered out from the floor.

After his speech, Feingold consented to an exclusive interview with the Bangor Daily News and identified allegations that American troops may have intentionally killed unarmed civilians in Iraq as a potential major setback for the United States that could rival the abuse of inmates at Abu Ghraib prison. The incident in question occurred in the Haditha region of the country where nearly two dozen innocent Iraqis were killed.

“I’m not going to prejudge this case, because it’s terribly wrong for our troops, but we have to face the fact that it’s possible that this did happen,” Feingold said. “If it did happen, there has to be accountability – not only for those involved, but for the higher-ups in government who were in charge.”

As damaging as the allegations of murdering innocent civilians are to American interests around the world, Feingold said, Bush’s reaction to the reports – and his delay in announcing them to the American people – was having a chilling effect on the democratic process here at home.

“The president finally admitted the other day that Abu Ghraib and some of the things he has said has had a very negative impact on America,” Feingold said. “These allegations, whether true or not, are having the same effect. It’s a terrible thing for America to know that this allegation was made in November and that Congress is now just finding out about it and the president apparently knew in March. This is something that needs to come out immediately. Assuming it is not even accurate, it makes people look more guilty than they really are when people hide stuff. But it’s a tendency in this administration: Hide, deny and distort.”

Whacking the Bush administration was a common thread that wound throughout the state convention Saturday, particularly between the party’s two candidates competing to challenge incumbent GOP Sen. Olympia J. Snowe. Jean Hay Bright of Dixmont and Eric Mehnert of Orono, homed in on the president’s policies as key reasons they should be nominated to replace Maine’s senior senator.

Promising to help Democrats “take our country back,” Hay Bright said it was time to ensure the domestic tranquility with a healthy environment, harmonious communities and a Department of Peace.

“No more regime changes, no more pre-emptive strikes – bring our troops home now,” she said as the audience roared its approval. “Stop them from being targets for the snipers and the roadside bombs. But also, get them out of the way, so they won’t be there if Iran decides to call George Bush’s bluff and send its huge army across the border into Iraq, headed right into the Green Zone.”

Mehnert told the crowd that the “gravest injustice” of the Bush administration was its dismantling of its social contract with America. Just as Mainers extend help to one another in times of need as part of an unwritten social contract, Mehnert said government needed to recognize its responsibilities to Mainers.

“This [Bush] administration has violated the social contract by allowing corporations to ship American jobs overseas to places that do not have the same industrial, environmental or human rights standards that we have,” he said. “We understand that it’s a global economy; we understand that we have to compete. But what we ask for is a fair and level playing field. We ask for fair trade – not free trade.”

As Gov. John E. Baldacci seeks his second term in office, his supporters produced the largest floor campaign of the convention with more than 200 volunteers crowding the Augusta Civic Center with signs and chants of “Go, John, go.” The governor responded to his critics, in a light-hearted Don Adams “Get Smart”-themed speech that prefaced the administration’s accomplishments with a “Would you believe?” inquiry.

“Would you believe more people are working than ever before in Maine’s history? Believe it,” Baldacci said.

Adding that the same was true in the areas of new migration into the state, reducing the number of uninsured, land conservation and sound financial strategies, the governor challenged Republicans to face the realities of his administration’s accomplishments.

“The doom-and-gloom Republicans don’t want you to believe it,” Baldacci told Democrats. “If you listen to them, Maine is failing and faltering. This is the same party of delay, do little and do nothing.”

The governor’s little-known primary opponent, Chris Miller of Gray also addressed the delegates, but never once suggested why they should endorse his candidacy over Baldacci’s. Instead, the Web site administrator’s message focused on the environment and the evaporating natural resources upon which Mainers rely.

“Cheap oil – the world is never going to produce more oil than it is right now,” Miller said. “That doesn’t mean we’re going to run out of it anytime soon, but it means every year we will have less and less. That is not a technological problem – that is a political problem. [I’m advocating] relocalization. Relocalization is a process by which communities take back control of their environment, of their businesses, of their resources, of their laws. That’s the political solution.”

About half of Miller’s 40 minutes of allotted convention time was dedicated to a theater presentation featuring an arcane message delivered by living-off-the-land Mainers of the future who were about to be bought out by former President Bush and a cybernetic Dick Cheney. While the actors recited their lines, a large-screen video portrayed a variety of images including cartoons of a cat and mouse and a black-and-white still shot of an owl and a rabbit.

If it was supposed to be high comedy, it was clearly lost on the majority of the conventioneers and barely elicited a snicker.

“I think it’s called deconstructive political satire,” said David Bragdon, a longtime Democratic insider.

“I think he should have called [Maine humorist] Gary Crocker and stuck him up there for 40 minutes,” remarked state Rep. Janet Mills, D-Farmington. “Then Miller might have gotten more votes.”

The party platform that was approved before the convention ended included about three dozen planks, which called for a national single-payer health insurance system and support for the state’s Dirigo universal health program. Another plank supported a woman’s right to reproductive choices.

Delegates rejected a plank calling for a state Department of Peace, after opponents said they weren’t sure what it would do and questioned how the state would afford it.

Delegates strengthened a human rights plank and passed one that opposes Social Security offsets.