Last week, I met Betsy Markey here in Fort Collins. Betsy is running for U.S. Congress in Congressional District 4 (CD4) -- the seat currently held by Marilyn Musgrave. Angie Paccione is again also running for the same seat, so a primary between Angie and Betsy is quite likely.

Many of us supported Angie quite vigorously with both time and money in 2006. While I love Angie, her passion, and agree with her on many of her positions, I've come to the conclusion that in CD4, Betsy has a far better chance of beating Marilyn Musgrave in the general election. Angie didn't do a good job of addressing the bankruptcy issue and frankly in a heavily rural Republican district an unmarried woman from the Bronx is starting at a disadvantage. In 2006, Angie didn't do nearly as well as she needed in Boulder, Weld, or Larimer counties to overcome the heavily Republican vote on the Eastern Plains. I believe that Angie would do well to run in a more diverse and liberal district such as CD1 or CD2.

 On the other hand, Betsy Markey, is a married mother of three. She has worked for Sen. Ken Salazar as his Regional Director for the north central and high plains region of Colorado for the past two years. This position has allowed her to meet folks all over CD4, help them with their day to day problems, and for them to get to know her. Betsy has also started her own companies, worked for the State Dept., and Congress. You can read more about Betsy at her website (http://markeyforcongress.com/drupal/about_betsy).

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We had a little fun with 'Foxy' the fox today... NO, not That Kind of Fun!

We heard that Frontier was doing a Campaign Interview style promo for the 'Foxy' Frontier's Favorite Animal at the Civic Center today across from the City Hall. So we thought this would be great test of our Concept of Instant Vigils.

We flew downtown and did a 'one indian' to their 'circle the wagons' maneuver. The media types applauded my arrival but grumbled later when they had trouble getting a shot without our signs in the background.

Our sign on one side said.

Call Foxy and tell her to
Stop the Iraq War
and impeach Bush

and on the other side

Call Foxy and say
Stop the War and
impeach Bush.

Amazing the amount of eyeballs these signs got.

It was Fun...
you all shoulda been there.

Maybe next time, eh! Join Us.
Impeachment can be fun.

John

WeeklyVigilsToImpeach.Us
Link

ProgressNowAction Member
Link

Our group

Link
1stProtestinTheStreet.org
is having a MeetUp 7 pm TONIGHT at the Hooked On Colfax Coffee House (w/ Free Wifi ) at 3215 East Colfax Ave, Denver. Anyone interested in the possibility of holding Bush and Cheney accountable for their crimes is welcome to join us. We believe that we can put enough public pressure on our US Representatives we might be able to cause a Bill of impeachment. ( Yes..especially the Democrats we elected... the ones who dissed Bush/Cheney so, who now are Congressmen who have the power to Impeach).

We are doing two weekly vigils so far, one on
">Link
Wednesdays at Noon at the State Capital in Denver and on Link
Thursdays at Noon at US Rep. DeGette's Denver Office at East 6th & Grant. The purpose of the Wednesday and Thursday Vigils is to attract the attention of our State Legislature. our two Daily Newspapers, and the public. We hope that someone in the Legislature will carry a bill to ask the US House to begin proceedings on Impeachment (as New Mexico's Democrats are doing).

We hope the newpapers will consider that if Bill Clinton can be brought up on Impeachment for lying about sex... then perhaps the more serious offense of lying to Congress ( and Voters) just before a vote on War Resolution should require the same journalistic attention.

We hope the public will begin to see that this ( lying to Congress) is a more serious matter even than the Iraq War itself (if that is possible). The previous 'do nothing' Republican Congress was not much of a check on Bush's Imperial ambitions and our current Democratic Congress' Leadership would like to ignore impeachment and 'move on 'as they say, and hope it just goes away. What they are trying to ignore is the fact that all of Bush's lies and Signing Statements add up to a huge expansion of Presidential Power. We need to protect our grandchildren from the future Imperial excesses of the next President RunAmuck, regardless of which party they come from.

We need to put the Fear Of Impeachment into all future presidential candidates.

Bush doesn't think the Congress will call his bluff and impeach him, so he will push his supposed 'powers' to the limit. Democratic leaders in the House and Senate are kidding themselves if they think he will back off. And even if he does, shouldn't he be held accountable for lying to Congress about a War resolution in the first place... to prevent this from recurring? And about the 700 plus Signing Statements. Saying he will ignore US Laws, after taking an Oath to Uphold them.

I'll stop now....

See you tonight at Hooked On Colfax,
and Wed. at the Capital,
and Thursday at DeGette's Office

PS... We've already started getting Push Back, from Democrats no less, about Vigiling in front of DeGette's Office. Why her they say... Well.. she is in a 'safe' seat, she now has powerful positions on very important Congressional Committees. She Can support this without endangering her re-election far more than other Democratic US Reps.

As a lifelong Democrat, I've voted for DeGette in every election and carried signs for her and probably will do so in the future. I think she is Super. However, I think she and all the other Democratic Reps will duck Impeachment if we let them. We will Vigil at other Colorado US Representative's offices as soon as we have the volunteers (all of them).
join us.