Minnesota Monitor - War, Impeachment on the Minds of McCollum's Constituents

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Minnesota Monitor - War, Impeachment on the Minds of McCollum's Constituents

National polling results have shown President George W. Bush's approval rating to be little more than 30 percent. But if a poll had been taken at U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum's neighborhood meeting Wednesday night in her St. Paul district at the Hallie Brown Center, those results would show his approval rating hovering near zero.

The purpose of the meeting was to update the Minnesota Democrat's constituents about Washington, D.C. matters and to hear their concerns. Among the topics raised at the meeting: the Interstate 35W bridge collapse, Alzheimer's research funding, global climate change and farm subsidies for corporations.

While the House has approved $250 million for rebuilding I-35, McCollum said that Congress must still pass a funding bill appropriating that money before it can be spent. She said that an emergency supplemental appropriations bill should be move through Congress this fall.

But the biggest topics of the evening were the war in Iraq and the possibility of impeaching Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. About 75 people attended the meeting.

After McCollum declared that the administration had "mismanaged and made mistakes" in Iraq, she said that the citizens in this country are way ahead of the administration in seeing the realities of the war. When she was asked why the United States doesn't cut its losses and hand over the occupation to United Nations peacekeeping forces, McCollum said the U.N. isn't a "magic wand." Besides, she said, "we're not the most popular people in the U.N. right now."

Asked about the prospect of invading Iran, McCollum said that there really isn't much support for the idea -- "even among Republicans." An invasion of Iran is unlikely, she added, because the U.S. occupation of Iraq has left the military without the capability to invade another country.

There was not one show of support for the Bush administration any of the times that the topics of Congressional oversight, subpoenas of White House staff and records, or impeachment were brought up at the meeting.

When one man referred to Nixon White House legal counsel John Dean's famous declaration that there was "a cancer in the presidency," he carried the analogy over to the current presidency and declared that "the cancer has metastasized," and criticized Congressional Democrats for allowing it.

Now that Democrats control the legislative branch, McCollum pointed out, members are carrying out their oversight function of the White House -- something Republicans hadn't done to any real extent. She said that many subpoenas have been issued for testimony and records, and that "once we get those records, the case [against the administration] will be so clear" that no one will be able to accuse anyone of partisanship.

Democrats are "very serious about having those records," she said, and they "are going to come out swinging when we get back in September."

There was much applause during the course of the evening, and most participants seemed to approve of McCollum's performance in Congress so far. McCollum represents Minnesota's 4th Congressional District. She was elected to Congress in 2000.

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