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As if Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl's (R-Ariz.) comments yesterday about President Obama weren't troubling enough, this morning he appeared on Bill Bennett's radio show and used the "i" word.
The host asked about compelling the Obama administration to "cooperate" with state immigration efforts, like those in Arizona. Kyl walked through the options.
"If the president insists on continuing to ignore parts of the law that he doesn't like, and simply not enforce that law, the primary remedy for that is political. And you have it two ways: one is oversight through the Congress to demonstrate what they're doing wrong and there are some potential criminal charges there for dereliction of duty. Although, I haven't looked that up yet. And the other part of it is people need to react through the ballot box to turn out of office those people who are not doing their duty.
"Now if it's bad enough and if shenanigans involved in it, then of course impeachment is always a possibility. But I don't think at this point anybody is talking about that."
Obviously, Kyl didn't push for presidential impeachment, but the fact that a member of the Republican Senate leadership is willing to even use the word when talking about disagreements over immigration policy is a little unsettling.
Worse, this keeps coming up.
As we talked about in April, Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) wants to impeach Obama because of "all of the czars," while Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) talked in March about impeaching Obama for no apparent reason. What's more, 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. Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) even introduced an impeachment resolution, just in case Obama sends troops to Syria.
What's more, in 2010, both Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) also raised the specter of impeaching Obama.
To be sure, no one is seriously pursuing this, but the sooner lawmakers realize that impeachment is not a toy, the better.
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If that is all it takes, then:
Impeach the entire Republican Congress for shenanigans, not following a law they don't like and dereliction of duty!
But that would be impossible to impeach themselves.
SO, you're right Kyl, it is up to voters to vote them out.
And the SCOTUS. Don't forget the SCOTUS.
Chief Justice Roberts is a smug, arrogant so-and-so; Alito is poisonously rigid; Scalia, however smart & witty he can be socially, really belongs in the Mafia; Thomas is totally unqualified for the job. IMHO. There's your Supreme Court, folks. We cannot vote SCOTUS out, but, we can elect a President whose appointments would likely be more seriously considered for competence and character as well as purported intellectual firepower.
If you go to Kyl's web page, it can be accessed by nonArizonans, and then you can leave him a message.
"But I don't think at this point anybody is talking about that.""
-or wasn't, until you opened your pie hole!
But, Steve, to the GOP, the entire US government is a toy.
PWB (Prezidentin While Black) = "high crime or misdemeanor" requiring impeachment dogwhistles pick up in election year. Who could have foreseen it?
Anyone at all familiar with the GOP's bulls#!t, that's who.
Look on the bright side. Impeachment is the last legal option for removing a political enemy who you can't defeat at the ballot box, and as long as the Pukes are flirting with impeachment, they aren't plotting assassination. Not that they won't pop champagne corks if some crazed Teabagger murders Obama. Why do you think that diseased whore Palin spent most of the summer of 2008 exhorting angry lynch mobs to believe that Obama was a terrorist sympathizer?
I'm not a Palin fan either, but using a misogynistic phrase like "diseased whore" to describe her is totally uncalled for and frankly disgusting.
You know what? I don't care. I. Don't. @!$%#ing. Care. That evil bitch has spent the better part of four years persuading ignorant, gullible people that the President of the United States is a communist and a terrorist sympathizer who is actively plotting to murder the elderly. I hope Sarah Palin dies screaming and in absolute terror.
With all due disrespect, Sen. Kyl has got to be one of the dumbest people in Congress.
As with a post earlier today :
One woman, a 49-year-old a customer service representative for an airline, said she'd consider voting for the president, but only if he "could do something huge, like really lower the price of gas."
He simply reflects the collective intelligence of the people who vote for him .
I vote for Kyle , he's just like me.
This country really is becoming anti-intellectual .
Who knew Idiocracy would become a documentary .
Pvt. Joe Bowers: [addressing Congress] There was a time when reading wasn't just for fags. And neither was writing. People wrote books and movies. Movies with stories, that made you care about whose ass it was and why it was farting. And I believe that time can come again!
This country really is becoming anti-intellectual .
In case you haven't noticed, it's been that way a looooooooooong time.
"Consider a Congressman. Then consider an idiot. Ah, but I repeat myself." -- Mark Twain, 1872
"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people." - H.L. Mencken, 1924
@sick-n-effin-tired, I soooo understand your frustration, but this slow boat to stupidville has been a while in the making and it's been a subtle dance. The sheeple have "raised up" and are bleating against their own best economic interests, and the politicians that they continue to put into office are just as ignorant, but they have law degrees in many instances! Let's face it there are a few dems in that same slow boat!
I just don't know what to say to reverse this trend!
Years ago, when Nixon nominated G. Harrold Carswell to the Supreme Court, one of the criticisms against Carswell was that he was mediocre.
Sen. Roman Hruska of Nebraska tried to defend Carswell by saying,
"So what if he is mediocre? There are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren't they? We can't have all Brandeises, Cardozos, and Frankfurters and stuff like that there."
Kyl has worked hard to be the representative of mediocre people by serving as a prime example.
Look at your clueless local news reader whose eyes don't meet at a focal point. See Jon Kyl.
Let's impeach the president, today!
Let's impeach the President for lying
And misleading our country into war
Abusing all the power that we gave him
And shipping all our money out the door
Let's impeach the President for spying
On citizens inside their own homes
Breaking every law in the country
By tapping our computers and telephones
Oops, sorry. That must have Bush that the repuknicans led the battle to impeach.
My thanks to Neil Young.
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=neil+young+let%27s+impeach+the+president+lyrics&view=detail&mid=B50BD69BAAB3DB5821C8B50BD69BAAB3DB5821C8&first=0&qpvt=neil+young+let%27s+impeach+the+president+lyrics
it's obvious that they don't think they can win in a fair fight, hence the restrictive voter registration laws they've been pushing. When they actually lose, then they'll have the impeachment ploy to A) tie up government so even less gets done and B) Try to get Obama out of office on some trumped up charge.
Not necessarily. Even without the Plumbers and other dirty tricks, Nixon was going to totally own McGovern, for instance.
Think of it this way: massive overkill is a Republican value.
"...one is oversight through the Congress to demonstrate what they're doing wrong and there are some potential criminal charges there for dereliction of duty."
Hate to say this (gulp), but I agree with Kyl (sort of) - there have been potential "crimes & wrong-doing" by the GOP!! And they NEED to be voted out of office come NOVEMBER!! HEAR me Arizonians vote these idiots out of office in November!
If they're talking about Impeachment now, it demonstrates that they're not feeling too confident about Romney's chances at the ballot box. So instead of waiting to see if they can defeat Obama the normal way, they need to harbour fantasies about Clintoning the guy. Read: Impeaching him because they just don't like him very much.
That's what I thought, too. Desperate to throw kitchen sink. Repeat Clinton entrapment. Distract from jobs, make sure nobody says they are getting better job/economic numbers. Make sure everyone feels unsure and afraid to extend "uncertainty" and undermine consumer confidence.
This is all so much fictional drama they are selling the people.
They might as well talk about a most improbable impeachment. It's not like they have anything better to do.
"Kyl" yourself, please!
Impeachment is a word we should think about with this ridiculous excuse of a supreme court, starting with Scalia and Thomas because of their attachment to the Koch brothers. They vote along whatever the Kochs want, our democracy is at stake.
All the Republicans, because they have all stuck together even when it came to bringing down the countries credit, showing that the people they are supposed to represent mean little to them, should be kicked out of the office they no longer deserve.
Easyman,
Not this year since it takes a majority in the House and 2/3 majority in the Senate - it's a nice thought though.
I'm simply thankful that the Republicans are only talking about impeachment of the President and have stopped with the "second amendment options" and the "if ballots don't work bullets will" comments.
I've put that hopelessly inept tr0ll henry on ignore immediately, but I would like to point out to one and all his inability to both spell and count. Way to go, henry! In warm climates, even the trolls of the Discworld can make it to two before losing track. This plaster imitation can't even get that far.
Go, Kyl! Please, please, please get the Tea-publicans stirred up like a bunch of hornets to start impeachment.
Show America what you boys are about.
If Kyl's comments are unsettling, what are you going to do when President Romney sends DHS agents to arrest everyone at TRMS for violating NDAA?
"But I don't think at this point anybody is talking about that."
Umm...actually, you, Jon Kyl, are talking about that.
Technically, he's correct as he is a nobody.
Look at how well their last attempt at impeachment worked, compared to the last attempt that Democrats bought into. 'Nough said.
Re. Jones Having an Impeachment Bill in case Obama sends troops into Syria????? He better check with McCain and the rest of his GOP gunslinging Bush wannabe's before he tries to impeach Obama for something the GOP wants him to do. Wait!!! They are trying to bait him with this so he will do it. Sneaky, sneaky. There are sites about his bill that even state their best chance at winning the election is to impeach Obama. Desperate GOP, make me laugh.
SURPRISE! Obama never intended to honor his oath of office to defend the constitution and uphold federal law. All a joke to him after the election. He's just another socialist like y'all and purportedly a pathological liar. He can go back to Kenya in a couple of months...oh wait...no monitors in Kenya.
Hey Rachael, saw your spot on institutional campaign contributions. Yep..we gonna bury the donkey in 1 dollar bills.
Is it me, or is the quality of trolls becoming decidedly worse of late?
Perhaps it's because it's nearing the end of the month and "no posts, no pay"?
Then again, perhaps it's because that's what trolls do - engage keyboard, disengage brain?
Or is that last phrase an erroneous presumption?