Rep. Todd Akin (R) of Missouri, a U.S. Senate candidate this year, hosted a town-hall meeting this week, and heard from a constituent who wants to see President Obama impeached. The right-wing congressman seemed quite fond of the idea.
If you can't make out the audio, Akin considered the "tactical" question of what would happen to the articles of impeachment in the Senate, but added, "At a certain point you just say, 'Enough, I don't care enough about the Senate, duty calls us to just get up and just impeach this guy.'" The Missouri Republican added that the president is "a complete menace to our civilization."
And on what grounds, pray tell, would Akin try to impeach Obama? The Senate candidate pointed to "all of the czars" and the notion that the president "completely ignores the train wreck of the economy." He wasn't kidding.
This is obviously ridiculous rhetoric from an unhinged conservative, but I'm fascinated by how often Republicans use the "I" word in public, as if presidential impeachment is some sort of toy.
Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) talked last month about impeaching Obama for no apparent reason; Fox News' Neil Cavuto suggested in January that Obama might be open to impeachment over recess appointments; Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) has raised the prospect of impeaching Obama over DOMA; and Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) talked up the idea of presidential impeachment because "it would tie things up" in Washington for a while, making governing impossible.
What's more, in 2010, both Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) also raised the specter of impeaching Obama.
I don't seriously expect congressional Republicans to pursue this, but the fact that so many GOP lawmakers feel comfortable speaking like this, out loud and in public, is a reminder of just how extreme some elements of the Republican Party have become.
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Seriously?!? How dumbed down have Americans become? Has the fear of the black man in office left the GOP and their sheeple so afraid that they cannot even think logically let alone act as though they have "common sense"? And people think I'm joking when I say it seems like the whole GOP both candidates & "their base" are suffering a collective psychosis, paranoia, schizophrenia break from reality!
How dumbed down have Americans become?
America : Too stupid for democracy.
So easily mislead by lies that Mitt Romney has a chance of getting elected once the Sh*t storm of Pac ads start
they just gleefully dumbed down a little more with today's anti-science, flat-earther-and-proud-of-it legislation in the great state of tennessee.
I wonder who's money they plan on spending to go forward with this impeachment?
They say "Impeach" because Frank Luntz says "Lynch" doesn't poll as well. . .
You're on to them DAY! -Kevo
Nailed it
ZING!
I think you are not far from the truth. Maybe dead on, for a frightening number of people.
OUCH! Scary but probably true.
Impeachment is idiocy from desperate power- hungry tools of big business. While their party continues to self-destruct from obstructionism and their undeclared war on women. they seek to further stifle an administration that has gotten some positive results despite them. Nothing this administration has done or tried to do rises anywhere near the level of GWB's outright lies about Iraq.
Let's clarify: Impeachment itself is a necessary and important safeguard. For instance, there were clear and factual reasons for impeaching George W. Bush -- lying to Congress to make the case for waging war in Iraq, and war crimes in the form of torture.
But the proposed impeachment of Obama on spurious grounds is idiocy from desperate power-hungry corporate tools.
This is nothing new. The radical right (which now controls the POG) has always had a boner for impeachment (I'm old enough to remember the Earl Warren billboards.) The whole thing with Nixon got them even more fascinated with it because they saw the enemy not only playing with their toy but actually using it to effect.
Since Nixon, they've been itching to use it at every opportunity. I'm frankly surprised that they haven't used their complete control of the House to bring a bill of impeachment against Obama yet.
Nixon came close to being impeached because even Republicans realized they would have to vote for some of the articles of impeachment and Nixon did not stand a chance in the Senate with Dems and Republicans who were ready to convict on some articles. Some Republicans claimed the impeachment was partisan, but it was not.
However, today's Republicans think that the Congress and White House are Republicans subsidiaries and that any Dems are usurpers. The Clinton impeachment backfired on the Republicans and now he is even more popular. If the fact that Hyde and Gingrich were having affairs came out during the impeachment process, the whole matter would have imploded and the Republicans would have lost the Congress in the following elections. One of the reasons for the GOP taking Congress was that they were going to "clean out the swamp" and that idea would have blown up in their face if the affairs came out. Henry Hyde who lead the charge said that he regretted the whole impeachment affair.
I would certainly welcome a vote on impeachment in the House. If the Republicans voted articles of impeachment, it would secure their place in history as the party that used impeachment for political purposes which is not what it was designed for. The second implication with such a vote would be the racism factor. Every Republican, as well as the party, involved in the impeachment process would be reviled in history for the next century and longer.
Finally, what are Republicans going to do if Obama wins a second term. More gridlock could lead to more Republican losses in the following Congressional elections. If Republicans lose control of both houses, they will be hard pressed to continue obstructing legislation and appointments. Continued obstruction will drive independent voters to the Dems. With a potential Hillary Clinton presidential run, Republicans could face the possibility that they become a minority party for the next decade. And the more they obstruct, the more likely they will continue to lose elections. That is what the lesson they will learn this November when they sustain large election losses.
I expect is President Obama is re-elected that will be thier first order of business.
Only the House can start the impeachment process and Republican control of that chamber looks highly doubtful. If the Republicans lose control of the House, then the lame duck session is going to be contentious. That could be the last gasp of the Tea Party, but I don't expect the rest of the Republican party to follow them off the cliff.
@Mike - don't bet the farm - they're sliding closer to the edge of that cliff every time they open their mouths....
More eliminationist rhetoric. Just be gone offending whatever. "Impeachment" is a stand-in for whatever socially unacceptable cure they actually have in mind.
It's nice though, because in their dreams it involves a public shaming, which they are always down with, and then results in a triumphant destruction of that which bothers them. And of course, it leaves them in control, which is always the prevailing fantasy.
If Obama gets reelected articles of impeachment will be introduced in the House. The rationale could be almost anything but I imagine that it would take the form of failure to follow the constitutional requirement to "...take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed...".
I'll see you a President and raise you a Supreme Court justice .
Or three.
To @Zora's point - I completely agree. What always gets me is that you see these hateful pronouncements/lies/insane statements made in rooms crowded with people, and not a single person in the audience ever indicates they feel their intelligence has been insulted. It's really sobering to contemplate the many patches all over this country that filled with people who do not want to acknowledge reality.
You're a braver person than I am if you could stand up in a room full of people that talk this way and say something to contrary. It's not that I don't want to acknowledge reality, it's because these people are SCARY. I won't even put an Obama bumpersticker on my car this year. In 2008, a few cars in my neighborhood had their tires slashed the night before the election, presumably to keep them from getting to the polls to vote for Obama (they all had Obama yard signs and/or bumperstickers). Nothing I would say would change the minds of people like this, so I prefer to keep my skin intact, thank you very much.
it's not as risky as you think. the problem is, the people in those bubble events are either agreeing with them or thinking, will they oust me if i am not as crazy as they are? and of course, where would ousting leave these formerly sane honest repubs, as their party gets crazier and crazier.
@Freddie - People around here tend more towards ripping them off or trying to color them out. Living in rural western NC, I've had to be cautious about what I say to otherwise decent (but uninformed) people. But, the other thing I'm finding is there's a lot of closet progressives here too. So, on with the bumper stickers!
Nancy Pelosi, "Impeachment is off the table."
President Obama, "No one is above the law." (Except for when you get elected President and decide not to go after Republicans. Democrats aren't above the law, but Republicans apparently are.)
WHEN are the Democrats going to learn?
sadly, what can be dismissed today as crackpot or crank, is tomorrow's g.o.p. mainstream. by their dogged attachment to a false equivalency between the democrats and the republicans, the msm has helped prove the reverse of xeno's axiom that by going only halfway to one's destination each day, one is destined never to reach it. by making the american public accept that the reasonable has to lie halfway between the republicans and the democrats, each new day brings us closer to the lunatic's delusions.
you're ignoring the game that they're playing. Their goal is to rally a crowd and they know of Obama's unpopularity among their base. Talk to me when impeachment documentation is filed, but the fact that they're playing the game shouldn't be cause for concern. Our side plays similar games as well.
The only difference, Charles...is the RULES of the GAME...They lie, cheat and repeat. We have honest goals in mind for YOU and everyone else in this Country. It amazes me when people like Freddie (stick head in sand to be safe) and you...spread out the discomfort...so you won't have to make a decision. No wonder our Country is in trouble. We need more people like Rachel who are intelligent, educated and care...who actually know about which they speak.! :)
Sorry Charles, that's a false equivalence. Democrats can be accused of not having a spine, not always standing up for the people, even some of them are corporatist - but the GOP has sunken to Dante's levels in HELL. And for all the tricks and games democrats play - so far they haven't jumped down to those levels.
I do.
It would be nothing short of a disappointment if the 'Publicans didn't. They have demonstrated to the fullest that they can bend over and show their @$$es for all the ignorance they collectively possess. They're just mad now because Obama is sophisticated enough to not throw them a bone (like Clinton did).
Fuel the hatred and anger, please. We need more of that in our country.
I have been trying to watch the ABC show "The GCB" on Sunday nights. it seems to aptly portray Texan households in a Christian community, and there is always this underlying dig against Democrats and President Obama in nearly every episode. Granted the show is defined as a "parody" of Texas life, but... it just feels like more disrespect being shoveled out there along with the real life garbage coming out of the right wing hypocrites.
GCB is wonderful. Complex on several levels: hypocrisy, self righteous indignation, too many "ism's" and phobia's to count. Very shiny and amusing. My DVR is locked and loaded for GCB!
But, there is no semen stained dress! He literally "did not have sex with that woman"!
a reminder of just how extreme some elements of the Republican Party have become.
If it was only "some elements" you would hear the "responsible Republicans" criticizing and chastising these nutballs. But you don't. That's because it's not "some elements," it's the whole damn bunch of these fascist traitors.
That's the hitch -- there ARE NO Responsible Republicans, nor are there any REASONABLE Republicans.
Sighs this crap again. First and foremost the DoJ doesn't have to defend any federal law that it decides it doesn't want to defend. There is no constitutional or legal mandate stating that the DoJ has to. And this is not the first time that the DoJ has decided to no longer defend a law. People act like this is some radical new change under PBO when it's been done time and time before. Secondly "czars" is just a nickname given to cabinet appointees or department heads. The reality is there have been no more "czars" under Obama than under Bush than under Clinton than under the other Bush and all the way back. Reagan himself had czars. In fact I am pretty sure Reagan was the one who coined the nickname "czars." But nevermind that. Thirdly- if the dude is saying that he wants to go through an impeachment process SOLELY to slow down government that is your biggest hint at the GOP goal. Democrats have been screaming this for a long time and every time the GOP kept responding no no this is about policy not politics. No, it's not. And I'm sick and tired of people on the right dominating the conversation. Absolutely am fed up w/ it. You can't win an argument intellectually or factually so you either blame someone else or you attempt to slow government down and make it so inefficient that you can then point more blame onto departments that you caused to fail and tout how they should be privatized. That's all the goal is. Privatize government services so that businesses can make a profit and leave everyone else to the wolves.
I'll be in my angry dome.
This is only about power now. The main question in this polarized environment is how to maintain continuity in government funded projects when the Dems are out of power.
What about the idea of funding Non governmental organizations for say 8 years at a block. So you basically have a Planned parenthood providing services, and EPA like agency doing investigations of violations, a Health and Human services NGO providing aid to the poor, and so on. The money given to these agencies would be owned by them during the Dem tenure, so when the GOP is in power, they cannot starve the NGO or interfere with its policies.
.
It's kind of an even further arms length idea than Daschle's idea of a Federal Health Board modeled on the independence of the Federal Reserve. Political control would not be fully relinquished. The sitting governors and amendments to the charters of these NGOs could only be changed by vote of Dem members of Congress.
There is not much the GOP could do about defunding social programs that way.
"The Mouzer
Sighs this crap again. First and foremost the DoJ doesn't have to defend any federal law that it decides it doesn't want to defend. There is no constitutional or legal mandate stating that the DoJ has to. And this is not the first time that the DoJ has decided to no longer defend a law. People act like this is some radical new change under PBO when it's been done time and time before. Secondly "czars" is just a nickname given to cabinet appointees or department heads. The reality is there have been no more "czars" under Obama than under Bush than under Clinton than under the other Bush and all the way back. Reagan himself had czars. In fact I am pretty sure Reagan was the one who coined the nickname "czars." But nevermind that. Thirdly- if the dude is saying that he wants to go through an impeachment process SOLELY to slow down government that is your biggest hint at the GOP goal. Democrats have been screaming this for a long time and every time the GOP kept responding no no this is about policy not politics. No, it's not. And I'm sick and tired of people on the right dominating the conversation. Absolutely am fed up w/ it. You can't win an argument intellectually or factually so you either blame someone else or you attempt to slow government down and make it so inefficient that you can then point more blame onto departments that you caused to fail and tout how they should be privatized. That's all the goal is. Privatize government services so that businesses can make a profit and leave everyone else to the wolves.
I'll be in my angry dome."
Thank you so much I love it when someone gets angry enough to spout the obvious.
After 3 years of Obama's presidency, comments like this still shock me. The bigots have been relentless. I feel anger, sadness, and just plain exhaustion. I'm sure the president must handle this stuff better than I do. Thankfully.
I remember liberals being quite enamored of the idea when Bush was in office...
Except there were and are actual facts that would support a case for legal action against former President Bush et al. They knowingly committed fraud as justification for devoting American resources and citizens to war. In my book, that is murder and treason.
well, that would be because he knowing started a war based on falsehoods, deliberately promoted the falsehoods to get the public buy-in after a tragedy that NO ONE he went to war against had ANYTHING to do with, (unlike his dear saudi oil buddies in the bin laden family). for starters.
“In most communities it is illegal to cry "fire" in a crowded assembly. Should it not be considered serious international misconduct to manufacture a general war scare in an effort to achieve local political aims? ”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower
Only Kucinich and Wexler, really, and maybe Nadler, wanted to do anything. Conyers thought he'd like to have hearings, then thought otherwise. No, it's not an exclusively GOP weapon, but Republican Party hacks like its "wedge quotient" and run it up the flagpole to get the know-nothing base's blood boiling, regardless of whether or not any one of them understands the "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors" clause, for all their vaunted, ridiculous faux constitutionalism.
269 war crimes earned Bush that. http://www.uswarcrimes.com/?page_id=54
Outing a CIA agent might be another!
War crimes seem to qualify.
libfreak, I agree with the other replies to your comment... there were legitimate reasons for thinking about impeaching Bush. One of the Rep. legislators slinging talk about impeachment talks about Obama abusing his right to send troops without approval of Congress... even though the troops engaged in overseas conflict right now were sent by G.W. Bush!
But whether you agree that Bush was involved in impeachable acts or not, the fact remains - The Dems in the house never even proposed articles of impeachment. The idea came up in the media, but it never went anywhere. So any claim that "liberals" were enamored with the idea seems to be full of holes.
In this story, a sitting member of the majority party in the House (the body that initiate impeachment) is publicly stating that he thinks Obama should be impeached... That flies in the face of Akin's oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States.
Excess fear will cause anyone to loose all intelligence and move to rash actions. Its a survival mechanism. The true question is why are these people so afraid? The answer is that the right wing Republicans raise their children to fear everything, God, the devil, the boogy man, black men, Chinese men, everything is going to kill you or wants to destroy your family. When all you know is fear, you don't have rationality to help you. In my opinion, religion is child abuse.
Lava Joe your right. They raised them to believe that if the white race does not retain it's Majority (Because of course their elitist), then they will lose everything. So, with a African American elected into the office as president, they realize they must be losing their Majority. (One solution is to Force White Women to have babies)Believe me they wont force the African American women at all. So, time to get the guns out to again and kill them some blacks). With laws like"Stand Your Ground" They want us liberals to be dumb about whats going on. But I can see the writing on the wall. We are not our skin we are all human beings. I also lived in Hawaii, where white was not a majority, (I'm White) and there is nothing to fear in it! So I am as mad as Hell and I am not going to put up with it!
P.S. This is like "Territorial Imperative" which is what animals do, and I for one am not a animal.
YEAH! IMPEACH! YEAH YEAH! MITT ROMNEY 2012! YEAH! let's get a WHITE GUY in there
I believe it's more of the fact that they are still unconfortable (that's the nice way to say it) with a Black president.
Or a Southern white, apparently.
Exactly; racism and ignorance is hard to disguise.
I am from Missouri and know that some of our state representatives are "inbred", I am sure that he is atleast 1st cousin or maybe an aunt or uncle mix.
How can any Republican talk about respecting other parts of the Federal government when they show so little respect for anything but their own grasp for total power and control. Its time for the Republican party to be swept into the dust bins of history and exist no more.
Hi......I am amazed at the stupidity of these Republicans.......a circus full of clowns but no ring master...and all the clowns who believe their antics...
I'm sure they'll try if Obama wins a second term, just like they did with Clinton. It will give them a good chance to deflect attention somewhere else while they plot some new corporate money scam to fleece the people once again.
Yes, some liberals were enamored with the idea when Bush was in office, but if it had been done, Cheney would have been president, not that he wasn't in charge anyway.
This is why we should have Impeached Cheney first, then Dubya!
One of the biggest mistakes the Dems made when they took control of the House in 2007 was not impeaching Cheney and George W. There were solid legal and political grounds on which to do so.
Republicans believe that impeachment is intended only for Dems, because Dems are too weak to impeach a Republican.