Rove Launches Smear Campaign Against John Conyers

The Detroit Free press says Rep. John Conyers "openly proclaims that his goal is nothing short of impeaching the president."

Naturally, that makes him a major threat to Karl Rove. And we know how Rove respond to threats - with vicious character assassination campaigns.

As always, Rove is using the "mainstream" media to launch this campaign. He got Conyers' home town paper, the Detroit Free Press to fire the first shot. (The paper was recently bought by Gannett, which installed a new editor David Hunke, who appears to be taking his orders from Rove.)

Conyers rises to take on Bush
Congressman seizes upon Iraq war memos
September 10, 2005
BY RUBY L. BAILEY
FREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF

WASHINGTON -- At age 76, U.S. Rep. John Conyers -- long a hero to civil rights activists -- has grabbed a new torch: darling of the antiwar, anti-Bush far left.

The attack starts with red-baiting. As it happens, 53% of Americans now think the Iraq War was a mistake; 60% disapprove of the way Bush has handled the war. So the antiwar movement is the overwhelming majority.

Conyers, arguably President George W. Bush's harshest congressional critic on Iraq policy, openly proclaims that his goal is nothing short of impeaching the president.

Aha! Now we see why Rove is engineering an attack on Conyers. But is this even true? As Brad Friedman reminds me, Conyers has never called for impeaching Bush. Can Bailey provide a single quote to the contrary? Or is she just inventing "facts" like Jayson Blair, who got fired by the NY Times for it?

That kind of rhetoric is fueled by his embrace of the Downing Street memos -- the eight British intelligence reports that activists from Rochester Hills to London believe are the smoking gun that proves Bush misled Congress about the case for war against Iraq.

It's not just "activists" who think it's the smoking gun - there are now 70 co-sponsors of Barbara Lee's Resolution of Inquiry demanding U.S. documents relating to the Memos, including Republican Jim Leach.

Conyers, who is expected to speak outside the White House at a Sept. 24 antiwar rally, has had his staff feverishly working to complete a comprehensive report about the memos -- something he knows many of his colleagues won't read.

Many Members of Congress don't read anything - including life-and-death bills they actually vote on (remember Fahrenheit 9/11?). Heck, the squatter in the White House doesn't even read the friggin' newspaper, or urgent memos like "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US"). What is the point of that sentence, except to smear Conyers?

"It was only a few people who dared to first join Martin Luther King," he said in an interview last week of his small but growing support in Congress. "The mood is changing. I don't have any intention of stopping now."

In July, Conyers hosted a meeting about the memos at Wayne State University. Many of the 300 people, including Bruce Felt of Rochester Hills, said they came to see Conyers.

"He's my hero," said Felt, 50, who began following Conyers after the congressman investigated voting irregularities in Ohio during the 2004 presidential election. "He's the only one speaking truth."

Conyers is familiar with the political fringe: It's been his comfort zone over four decades in Congress.

Where the hell did this smear come from? Is Conyers on the "fringe" because he held a hearing that 300 people attended? Because a 50-year-old man calls him a truth-teller?

The second most senior member of the House, however, Conyers is a stark contrast to its most senior, Democrat John Dingell, whose district abuts Conyers' district. Dingell has forged bipartisan compromises and demands respect and gets it.

In reality, Conyers and Dingell have voting records that are nearly identical. For example, both voted against the Iraq War.

Republicans regard Conyers as more of a curiosity who has legendary problems with his staff and an awful attendance record, and is the sponsor of odd resolutions -- like National Tap Dance Day. (In 1989, it failed.)

"Some parts of his district don't see the world the way Congressman Conyers does," said Nate Bailey, spokesman for the Michigan Republican Party. "We have real issues to face and he's tracking down some British memo about a conflict that's been going on a couple of years."

Of course, one of the "real issues" the people of Detroit have to face is the fact that nearly 2,000 U.S. soldiers have already died in Iraq for a war based on lies - and the U.S. occupation could continue for 10 years or more. Yet no one has been held accountable for those lies, because Republicans like Nate Bailey control not just the White House, but also Congress and the corporate media.

The article goes on, but includes at least one more outrageous lie:

Last year, his Detroit office lost turkeys intended for holiday delivery to poor people. He said it was a staff error that was corrected.

On January 8, 2005, the Free Press reported the turkeys were never lost:

"It appears to me that they have in fact accounted for all 60 turkeys," said Agostinho Fernandes, executive director of the food bank in Detroit... the turkeys were distributed to the Greater Quinn AME Church, clients of the Family Independence Agency and other deserving recipients, according to information from Conyers.

Here is the letter I wrote to Ruby Bailey and the Public Editor. I hope you'll write a letter of your own.

Dear Ms. Bailey,

In your article:
Conyers rises to take on Bush
http://www.freep.com/news/nw/conyers10e_20050910.htm

You make the outrageous claim that Rep. John Conyers is on the political "fringe."

What evidence do you offer for that outrageous claim?

You acknowledge he was re-elected with 84% of the vote in 2004.

Does that make everyone who voted for him part of the "fringe"?

Or do you consider everyone who opposes Bush to be part of the "fringe"? In case you haven't been following the polls, Bush's approval rating is below 40%, while his disapproval is near 60%.
http://www.pollingreport.com/BushJob.htm

Perhaps you consider everyone who supports impeachment to be part of the "fringe." Again, polls show 42% of Americans think Bush should be impeached for lying about Iraq - which is the significance of the Downing Street Memos that you sneer at.
http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1007

You appear to be part of a Karl Rovian effort to smear a distinguished Democrat.

Clearly Conyers is a major threat to the Bush administration and they are resorting to their usual dirty tricks and smear campaigns to silence Conyers.

You owe your readers an explanation and an apology.