Cojones Awards

Cojones Award #3: Dennis Kucinich

Bob Fertik — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 10:23:11 -0400

It's been a year since we last awarded our highly-coveted Cojones Award. But Rep. Dennis Kucinich has definitely earned one for informing House Democrats that he will soon introduce Articles of Impeachment for Dick Cheney.

Kucinich knows full well that he is defying Speaker Pelosi and the overwhelming majority of House Democrats who are terrified of Cheney, Bush, and especially Karl Rove. But Kucinich is driven by an even greater fear, that Bush-Cheney-Rove will start yet another disastrous war, this time in Iran.

Kucinich is also driven by a profound passion for peace and justice: how can Bush-Cheney-Rove not be held accountable for launching an illegal war of aggression against Iraq on the basis of pre-meditated lies? How can we bury 3,311 victims of those lies without holding accountable those who sent them to their deaths?

These are the among the many reasons why 51% of Americans support impeachment (according to the last Corporate Media poll in October) and 58% of Americans simply want the Bush presidency to be "over."

Kucinich's bold action does not come out of a vacuum. There is a large and dedicated impeachment movement led by Democrats.com, World Can't Wait, Progressive Democrats of America, Code Pink, and an outstanding coalition called Impeach07. This coalition will assemble a large group of prominent Americans at the Capitol next Wednesday to call for impeachment proceedings against Bush and Cheney.

We will, of course, give our heartfelt thanks to Kucinich for his leadership. But it is not enough for one Representative to fight this historic fight. A year ago, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi took impeachment "off the table" because Republicans began using the issue to "scare" voters away from electing a Democratic majority. But the American people weren't "scared" by the impeachment issue - they elected a Democratic majority anyway. It's time for Speaker Pelosi to put impeachment at the center of the House table, right where it belongs.

So we will deliver that message personally to Speaker Pelosi on Wednesday. And then we will repeat that message on April 28 with nation-wide events to spell out I-M-P-E-A-C-H. Please find the event nearest you and join us!

Cojones Award #2: Rep. Nancy Pelosi

Bob Fertik — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 18:01:53 -0400

Rep. Nancy Pelosi unloaded on George W. Bush - and earned a coveted Cojones Award! Here's the video; transcript courtesy of Atrios.

"If you want to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and therefore improve our national security situation, you can't do it if you're a Republican because you are too wedded to the oil companies. We have two oilmen in the white house. The logical follow-up from that is $3 a gallon gasoline. There is no accident. It is a cause and effect. A cause and effect.

How dare the president of the United States make a speech today in April, many, many, many months after the american people have had to undergo the cost of home heating oil. A woman told me she almost fainted when she received her home heating bill over this Winter.

And when so many people making the minimum wage, which hasn't been raised in eight years, which has a very low purchasing power have to go out and buy gasoline at these prices? Where have you been, Mr. president?

The middle class squeeze is on, competition in our country is affected by the price of energy and of oil and all of a sudden you take a trip outside of Washington, see the fact that the public is outraged about this, come home and make a speech, let's see that matched in your budget, let's see that matched in your policy, let's see that matched in and you're separating yourselves yourself from your patron, big oil, cut yourself off from that anvil holding your party down and this country down, instead of coming to Washington and throwing your Republican colleagues under the wheels of the train, which they mightily deserve for being a rubber stamp for your obscene, corrupt policy of ripping off the American people."

You go, Nancy!

Update 1: David Gergen attacked Pelosi on TV last night, which only proves she's right on target!

Cojones Award #1: Rep. Lacy Clay

Bob Fertik — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 07:50:51 -0500

After 28 years of surrendering to the Republican Right, Democrats.com wants elected Democrats to finally show some cojones. So today we are announcing a new award: the Cojones Award for Democrats who show some.

Our first Cojones Award winner is Rep. Lacy Clay (MO-1).

How did he earn our prestigious award? Simply by telling it like it is.

Rep. Clay calls for pulling U.S. troops from Iraq

Rep. William Lacy Clay Jr. called for pulling out American troops from Iraq Monday and blasted President George W. Bush as an "incompetent chickenhawk."

"President Bush took this country to war by choice, not because we had to fight but because he wanted a fight," Clay said, according to a text of the speech he gave Monday at St. Louis Community College at Meramec in Kirkwood.

Noting the billions of dollars spent on the war and the 2,000-plus death toll of U.S. soldiers, Clay, D-St. Louis, said the sacrifice of American lives "is not being shared equally" and asked why Bush's twin daughters had not enlisted.

"I have a question for President Bush," said Clay, who voted against the resolution authorizing Bush to go to war in Iraq. "If you really believe that the war that you started in Iraq is a fight to defeat terrorism and to defend our freedoms, why haven't your girls enlisted?"

Clay said that during World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt's sons enlisted and added: "That is a perfect example of the difference between a truly courageous wartime president and an incompetent chickenhawk who prefers to risk the lives of other American's children."

Clay also said he believed the U.S. had done all it could in Iraq, and "it's time to bring home."

Congratulations Rep. Clay!