We won a huge victory today! Thanks to your emails and calls, 15 House Judiciary Democrats joined chair John Conyers in urging Attorney General Holder to appoint a Special Counsel on Torture. Their letter says,

The attorney general acknowledged in his confirmation hearings that waterboarding is torture.  Moreover, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the top Bush Administration official in charge of military commissions have also concluded that the United States engaged in torture of detainees.  The Geneva Convention and the Convention Against Torture both require the United States to investigate, and if necessary prosecute, alleged violations.  Justice Department regulations provide for the appointment of a special counsel when a criminal investigation is both warranted and in the public interest, and when an investigation may pose a conflict of interest within the Department.  Since these conditions are present, the signatories below conclude that a special counsel should be appointed.

It was signed by 16 of 23 HJC Democrats (see below).

So will Holder agree? Josh Gerstein says no:

Holder is likely to reject that request – his boss, the president, has indicated he doesn’t see the need for such a prosecutor.  

By Dave Lindorff

The dramatic hearing on presidential crimes and abuses of power
held on Friday by the House Judiciary Committee was both a staged
farce, and at the same time, a powerful demonstration of the power of a
grassroots movement in defense of the Constitution. It was at once both
testimony to the cowardice and self-inflicted impotence of Congress and
of the Democratic Party that technically controls that body, and to the
enormity of the damage that has been wrought to the nation’s democracy
by two aspiring tyrants in the White House.

Bill O'Reilly is viciously attacking Rep. Robert Wexler (FL19) because he just discovered Wexler moved his young family from Florida to the DC area so he could actually practice family values, not betray them while hypocritically lecturing others about them.

Obviously O'Reilly's biggest problem is that he can't read, because Wexler explained his family's move in his book!

I will host a Book Chat at FireDogLake On Sunday at 5 p.m. Here is my introduction.

Rep. Robert Wexler's new book is called "Fire-Breathing Liberal: How I Learned to Survive (and Thrive) in the Contact Sport of Congress."

Even before it was released, it rose to the top of the Amazon political best-seller list on the basis of pre-orders by Wexler's large base of netroots fans who admire his willingness to fight for his - and our - political beliefs.

But Wexler doesn't just preach to the choir. This week, Wexler appeared both on FOX News and on the Colbert Report, where he was famously embarrassed with questions about cocaine and prostitutes.

And Wexler doesn't mince words - he called for impeaching George Bush even on FOX.

My review of Congressman Robert Wexler's book includes plenty of criticism of him. I would add my extremely negative view of the new get-tough-on-the-nonexistent-threat-from-Iran bill that he's cosponsored. But this attack on him is utter nonsense.

Was Wexler late in coming to impeachment? Of course, he was. But not as late as many other Congress members, and not as late as many more who we hope will still come around. We want to welcome them with open arms, not attacks for showing up tardy.

When Scott McClellan testified before the Judiciary Committee on Friday, Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL) only got 5 minutes. But he used it brilliantly as you can see.

Wexler wants to know who told Scooter Libby to leak Plame's identity, and narrows the suspects down to Bush and Cheney. If McClellan believes Bush was innocent, then that leaves Cheney.

Could there be a more impeachable offense than willfully exposing the identity of a covert CIA operative - endangering her life, the lives of her sources, and her entire anti-WMD program - as a way to "get" her husband for telling the truth about Bush's pre-war lies?

You go, Wexler!

By Dave Lindorff

On Monday last week, something important happened in Washington.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich, the Democratic representative from Cleveland, OH,
who early in the primary season won some of the biggest applause lines
in the Democratic presidential candidate debates, introduced 35
articles calling for the impeachment of President George W. Bush for
high crimes and misdemeanors.

You'd be excused if you didn't know this happened. There was almost
no reporting on the event that day or the next, which took several
hours to accomplish, along with several hours Tuesday for to be read
into the Congressional Record. Kucinich's address to the House was
broadcast live on C-Span. But it was not announced in advance or
highlighted on the C-Span website, and there were not many news reports
on the historically significant fact that articles of impeachment had
been filed against the president during subsequent days.

Time (ET)	All Books	Biogra phies	Political Leaders
Tues 7 pm	95,695
Wed 12 am	173
Wed 1 am	98
Wed 8 am	26		2
Wed 9 am	24		1
Wed 10 am	22	3	1
Wed 1 pm	17	2	1
Wed 3 pm	15	2	1

Update 1: We're moving up the Amazon sales rankings towards the top! 

Update 2 Wed 12:34 a.m.: I just got a call from Congressman Wexler enthusiastically thanking all of us for making his book a success!

For too long, Democrats have watched with dismay as paper-wasting polemics by rightwing heroes like Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter have become major best-sellers.

Now it's our turn to support a Democratic hero by pre-ordering Congressman Robert's Wexler's new book Fire-Breathing Liberal - and putting it right at the top of the best-seller lists where it belongs.

Among all the speeches before the DNC Rules & Bylaws Committee struggle, one speaker stood out: Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL). 

Brad Friedman came to a surprising conclusion:

Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL), who argued brilliantly for both Obama and the voters of the state of Florida, should be named Barack Obama's Vice-Presidential running mate.

He has been one of the few members of Congress who has truly fought on behalf of the people, the Constitution and the voters over the past decade of chaos and coup, and as a favorite son of Florida, he could help deliver the Sunshine State for the Democrats this year in a way that only the naming of Florida's Gov. Charlie Crist as Veep on the Republican ticket could potentially counter.

Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL) has written a book, soon to be released, that is as different from most congress members' books as Wexler is from most congress members. He's titled it "Fire-Breathing Liberal: How I Learned to Survive (and Thrive) in the Contact Sport of Congress." Wexler is depicted on the cover with the Capitol in the background and his fists in the air.

Wexler is a fighter and a liberal, and - yes - one CAN be both. But Wexler, I think, is more of a fighter than a liberal. He's unusually willing to speak up and fight for controversial positions. He does so loudly and articulately, and he goes for the jugular. But I don't find in his book any passionate or deep liberal world view. In fact, at times, Wexler expresses viewpoints that I find disturbingly illiberal.