"U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich's surprise resolution this week to impeach President Bush has irritated some of his fellow Democrats and drawn ridicule from Republicans, but it got support from at least one colleague.

"It is time for Congress to stand up and defend the Constitution against the blatant violations and illegalities of this administration," said Rep. Robert Wexler, a Florida Democrat.

Kucinich read the 35-count resolution on the House floor Monday night, taking nearly five hours. The House clerk gave it a second reading Tuesday night. But lawmakers, including Kucinich, don't expect an up-or-down vote soon.

Instead, Kucinich said he will recommend that it be referred to the House Judiciary Committee for consideration. A measure that Kucinich introduced last year to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney has languished in that committee without a hearing.

Kucinich's resolution accuses President Bush of misleading the nation about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction and of attempting to destroy Medicare, the government health-care program for seniors. It also says Bush botched the nation's response to Hurricane Katrina, undermined efforts to address global warming and violated the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which is designed to prevent the military from becoming a national police force.

"President George W. Bush, by such conduct, is guilty of an impeachable offense warranting removal from office," the resolution says after each charge.

Democratic leaders Steny Hoyer and Nancy Pelosi oppose Kucinich's impeachment efforts.

"Speaker Pelosi will continue to lead legislative efforts to find a new direction in Iraq but believes that impeachment would create a divisive battle, be a distraction from Congress' efforts to chart a new course for America's working families and would ultimately fail," said Pelosi spokesman Nadeam Elshami.

Republicans back sending Kucinich's measure to the Judiciary Committee, said Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Republican Leader John Boehner, who calls Kucinich's effort "an absurd example of Democrats' misplaced priorities."

"This is just another example of the Democratic leadership in the House indulging trivial and silly conspiracy theories from left-wing bloggers, rather than working with Republicans to deal with the real issues facing the American people," Steel said.

But Wexler disagrees and on Tuesday declared support for impeachment. Wexler accused Bush of creating a "massive propaganda campaign to sell the war in Iraq to the American people" and "an unprecedented abuse of executive power."

Wexler is a House Judiciary Committee member who launched a nationwide campaign earlier this year to hold impeachment hearings for Cheney, although he didn't co-sponsor Kucinich's Cheney impeachment measure until Tuesday.

Wexler doesn't think there's enough support on the Judiciary Committee to begin impeachment proceedings but hopes testimony on June 20 by former Bush press secretary Scott McClellan might change members' minds, said his chief of staff, Eric Johnson.

"There weren't enough committed votes to impeach Nixon before the hearings and tapes were discovered," Johnson said. "You need to have the hearings to bring evidence out to make the case."" (Sabrina Eaton, Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 11, 2008)