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Did Republicans Try To Impeach Obama

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Republican Calls To Impeach President Obama Great News For Democrats

GOP Rep. dares Democrats to try and impeach Trump
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Political enemies of President Obama have pretty much been calling for his impeachment since shortly after he took the oath of office in 2009.

But this month, the volume of impeachment chatter rose a few notches, goosed by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who was so incensed by the influx of Central American children at the Texas border that she compared the border to a battered wife and declared no mas.

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FOR THE RECORD


An earlier version of this post stated that Wisconsin Rep. James Sensenbrenner raised the specter of impeaching President Obama over the botched gun running program known as Fast and Furious. In 2011, Sensenbrenner raised the idea that Obama administration officials could be impeached.

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I suspect that Palin, who has willfully drifted to the fringes of the American political conversation, had a double goal in mind. The first was to kick up some attention by posing as the only conservative courageous enough to call Obama on his law-breaking ways. The second was to capitalize on that attention in order to lure subscribers to her new Internet television channel, which she announced on Sunday.

But like freedom, tweeted my colleague Michael Memoli, it isnt free. Indeed. Subscriptions will run $9.95 a month or $99.95 a year. Will meaningful numbers of Palin fans shell out money to learn about Palins mothers word of the day , Palins meandering kitchen tips or her thoughts on how to foil Vladimir Putin?

Trump’s Rhetoric On Impeachment In 2014 Becomes Relevant Anew

In his unhinged letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi yesterday, Donald Trump told the congressional leader, “You have cheapened the importance of the very ugly word, impeachment!” The president went on to suggest via Twitter this morning that he’s concerned about impeachment being made “trivial.”


He appears to have arrived at these concerns quite recently.

It wasn’t long ago, for example, that Trump wanted Pelosi to impeach George W. Bush for having launched the Iraq war. “He got us into the war with lies!” Trump said in 2008.

His attitude toward impeaching Barack Obama was even more cavalier. “Are you allowed to impeach a president for gross incompetence?” Trump wrote on Twitter in June 2014.

Several months later, after Republicans took complete control over both houses of Congress, Trump appeared on Fox & Friends and was asked what he’d like to see the new GOP majorities do. Trump replied that he wanted Republicans to impeach the Democratic president.

“Do you think Obama seriously wants to be impeached and go through what Bill Clinton did? He would be a mess. He would be thinking about nothing but. It would be a horror show for him. It would be an absolute embarrassment. It would go down on his record permanently.”

It wasn’t altogether clear what it was Obama did that Trump saw as worthy of impeachment; Trump simply seemed to like the idea of trying to rattle Obama on a personal level.


Does this sound like anyone else you know?

Some Republicans Are Already Threatening To Impeach Biden If He Wins In 2020

Senate Republicans are poised to complete their cover-up in Donald Trump’s impeachment trial this week. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, one of the only Republican holdouts, ultimately voted to refuse to hear from more witnesses, claiming against all historical precedent that impeachment had to be bipartisan.

Alexander’s tortured rationale isn’t shared by many other members of his party. In fact, at least one Republican senator is already dangling the threat of impeachment over former vice president Joe Biden, should he earn the Democratic nomination and beat Trump in the general election in November. Speaking to Bloomberg News on Sunday, Iowa senator Joni Ernst said, “I think this door of impeachable whatever has been opened. Joe Biden should be very careful what hes asking for because, you know, we can have a situation where if it should ever be President Biden, that immediately, people, right the day after he would be elected would be saying, ‘Well, were going to impeach him.'” She added that grounds for Biden’s impeachment would be “for being assigned to take on Ukrainian corruption yet turning a blind eye to Burisma because his son was on the board making over a million dollars a year.”

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Because Last Time Went So Well For The Gop

AP Photo/Andrew Harnik


When longtime Obama-foil Rep. Darrell Issa is telling his fellow Republicans to settle down on the impeachment stuff, you know we’ve arrived at a strange place. Calling it something that “happens in third-world countries,” the former head of the House Oversight Committee said this week, “I would ask everyone to calm down and go back to the basics, which is we have an opportunity at the ballot box to determine whether Hillary Clinton has disqualified herself with her actions. Do that first.”

But Issa is probably not going to have a lot of company in advising his fellow Republicans to cool their jets. With the shouts of “Lock her up! Lock her up!” from Trump rallies ringing in their ears, elected Republicans know that their constituents are demanding nothing less than total war against Hillary Clinton, should she be elected. That doesn’t mean just opposing her legislation, derailing her nominees, or refusing to allow her to fill Supreme Court vacancies. It also apparently means preparing to toss her from office even before she gets there.

Granted, the number of Republicans proposing impeachment is small so far but it’s growing, and it’s not just something being suggested by fringe figures. The current list includes Sen. Ron Johnson, Rep. Michael McCaul , and veteran Reps. James Sensenbrenner and Peter King. And, of course, Louie Gohmert, who said so at the urging of Sean Hannity, one of the most popular figures in the conservative media pantheon.

Watergate Revenge: Republicans Yearning To Impeach Obama Over Benghazi ‘cover

Trump slams idea of delaying Senate impeachment trial

A Commentary By Joe Conason

Thursday, May 09, 2013

Less than four months after Barack Obama’s inauguration, the right-wing propaganda machine is already promoting the only imaginable conclusion to a Democratic administration that dares to achieve a second term: impeachment. Once confined to the ranks of the birthers, the fantasy of removing President Obama from office is starting to fester in supposedly saner minds.


Certainly impeachment is on the mind of Mike Huckabee, the Fox News commentator who — as a former governor of Arkansas and political antagonist of Bill Clinton — can be expected to know something about the subject. On Monday, he predicted that the president will be forced from office before the end of his term by the controversy over the Benghazi consulate attack last September. According to Huckabee, while the Watergate scandal was “bad,” Benghazi is worse because four Americans died there, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens.

The proximate cause for impeaching Obama, he suggested, is the “cover-up” of the facts concerning Benghazi. Moreover, he said, if the Democrats “try to protect the president and their party, and do so at the expense of the truth, they will go down.” When “the facts come out,” predicted Huckabee, “something will start” and ultimately the Democrats will lose “the right to govern.”

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To find out more about Joe Conason, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2013 CREATORS.COM


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But It Would Be A Boneheaded Move For Numerous Reasons

When Congress heads off on its upcoming five-week recess, some Republicans, at town halls with constituents, will bring up the “I” word: impeachment. Barack Obama, they’ll say, needs to be removed from office. The reasons, in their view, are many: Benghazi. The IRS. An inability to control the Mexican border, to name but three. The constitutional standard for removal from office in Article II, Section 4 is “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors,” and to the far right, Obama more than qualifies.

Talking tough about impeachment is what constituents in gerrymandered Republican districts want to hear. It’s good red-meat politics. But back here on planet Earth, the reality is this: There’s about as much chance of Obama being removed from office as there is of Nancy Pelosi throwing the winning touchdown in the Super Bowl. It’s just not going to happen. The probability is literally zero.

Here are some numbers: A CNN poll last week said one third of Americans want Obama impeached. Just a liberal media poll, you say? Well, a Fox News survey last week said the same thing. And that one third just happens to coincide more or less with the percentage of Americans who identify themselves as Republicans. Fact is, vast majorities of independent voters and Democrats oppose removing the president from office.

So the Republican dream of Obama being forced from office making Joe Biden the 45th president simply isn’t going to happen.


Obama A Republican Congress And Impeachment

Some Republicans are eager to impeach the President. Some are so eager that they go on the record saying that impeachment would probably pass the House. Representatives Barletta , Farenthold , and Senator Cruz say that the only obstacle is the Democratic Senate, which would not convict the President. The Washington Posts Jonathan Capehart took this a step further and argued Republican control of the Senate could result in President Obamas impeachment.

Regardless of who controls the Senate, the rationale presented by Cruz, Barletta, and Farenthold makes no sense. In no immediate future will Republicans control enough votes two-thirds of the Senate to remove the president from office. In order to reach the 66 vote threshold, Republicans need to win every single Senate election in November. Democrats may lose the Senate majority. However, no one believes Democrats will lose every single Senate race. More reasonable forecasts suggest Republicans will gain 5-6 seats. That is enough for a majority but not close to the amount necessary to remove Obama from office. In sum, there is no situation in which not having the votes is the reason impeachment has not been pursued.

There is a reasonable argument that the Republican Party, with a House majority insulated from electoral pain through a combination of safe districts packed with conservative constituents, would not hesitate to impeach Obama. He has been enemy number one since he stepped into office.

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Executive Actions A Hatred Of America And Of Course Supposedly Being Born Outside The Us

Less than two months after Obama took office, right-wing radio host Michael Savage declared, I think it is time to start talking about impeachment. He was angry about Obamas use of executive actions, and he called the American people a bunch of schmucks for sitting idly as they were watching a dictatorship emerge in front of their eyes. Despite occasional criticism, Savage;has been largely supportive of Trump and;recently accused Nancy Pelosi of being an illegitimate speaker of the House intent on destroying the Constitution by opening a Trump impeachment inquiry.


In October 2009, conservative radio host Tammy Bruce denounced Obama on Fox News because, she said, he seems to have, it seems to me, some malevolence toward this country, which is unabated, and World Net Daily quoted her to argue for impeachment. Around that time, the Impeach Obama movement started gaining momentum in conservative circles, never quite tethered to a specific or verifiable accusation. For instance, Republican strategist Floyd Brown campaigned to impeach Obama on account of; fascism, socialism, Obamaism take your pick? .

The Arab Spring As Well As Us Involvement In Libya And Syria

Ben Rhodes On Republicans’ Hypocrisy About Trump’s Impeachment | The Last Word | MSNBC

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was removed from office in February 2011 during what became known as the Arab Spring. Mubaraks removal triggered a new fight for power as the country went through continued political turmoil. After Mubarak said he would not seek another term in office, Obama — who had till then avoided taking a position on the situation in Egypt — welcomed the announcement.;;

Tammy Bruce used this statement as an opportunity to call for Obamas impeachment, tweeting, If it is found that Obama secretly facilitated or *encouraged* an Islamist takeover of Egypt, an ally, he should be impeached. In another tweet, she wrote, Impeachment? We have a President in up to his elbows in an Islamist takeover of Egypt while he ignores a Fed Judge order to void ObamaCare.

Various foreign policy maneuvers led to impeachment talk, as well. In 2011, after the administration bombed Libya, John Walsh wrote in The American Conservative, The time has come to begin impeachment proceedings against President Barack H. Obama for high crimes and misdemeanors. As the White House mulled a decision over whether to support Syrian rebels in 2013, Glenn Beck and Pat Buchanan sounded the alarm. Buchanan called for then-Speaker John Boehner to reconvene the House to threaten Obama with impeachment should he take action in Syria in response to Syrian President Bashar al-Assads chemical weapons attack on his own people.;

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Meet The Impeachment Crowd: 6 Republicans Who Want Obama Out

From Sarah Palin to Tom Coburn, several Republicans are calling for impeachment.

— intro: Has President Obamas use of the pen and phone to circumvent Congress gotten out of hand?

Some members of the GOP seem to think so.

Even as the embattled president fights criticism over the escalating humanitarian crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border, the release of Arm. Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in return for five prisoners from Guantanamo Bay, and the botched rollout of the Affordable Care Act, a mounting chorus of Republicans are calling for impeachment.

Heres a list of the high-profile Republicans who want to kick the president out of office:

quicklist: 1category: title: Sarah Palin url: text: Who Is She: 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, former governor of Alaska, sometime reality show host.

What She Said: Enough is enough of the years of abuse from this president. His unsecured border crisis is the last straw that makes the battered wife say, No mas. Opening our borders to a flood of illegal immigrants is deliberate. Its time to impeach.

When She Said It: July 8, 2014

media: 21159508caption: related:

quicklist: 2category: title: Tom Tancredo url: text: Who Is He: Former candidate for Colorado governor, 2008 Republican presidential hopeful, former congressman representing Colorados 6th Congressional District.

When He Said It: Valentines Day 2014

media: 24494513caption: related:

When He Said It: June 4, 2014

media: 24494378caption: related:

The Affordable Care Act

In 2013, Senator Ted Cruz responded to the question “Why Donât We Impeach ?” with “Good question… and Iâll tell you the simplest answer: To successfully impeach a president you need the votes in the U.S. Senate.” That year, when asked if Obama had committed impeachable offenses on immigration and health care, Cruz said the implementation of the Affordable Care Act was “lawless”, and said of impeachment, “Thatâs a question for the House ultimately… My responsibility would be to render judgment.”

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Donald Trump Claims Republicans ‘never Even Thought Of Impeaching’ Barack Obama History Tells A Different Story

President Donald Trump claimed that Republicans “never even thought of impeaching” Barack Obama, despite the record showing that many spoke of doing so over multiple issues.

In an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, Trump called on Republicans to get tougher and said that while he thinks Democrats are bad politicians with lousy policies he respects that they stick together. And, Trump said, Democrats are vicious.

“They’re much more vicious. We would never do a thing like this,” Trump told Hannity of the current House impeachment inquiry over the Ukraine affair in which the president is accused of soliciting the help of a foreign government in the 2020 election.

” could’ve impeached Obama for the IRS scandal, they could’ve impeached him for the guns or whatever, where guns went all over the place and people got killed with guns, Fast and Furious. They could’ve impeached him for many different things. They didn’t impeach him. They never even thought of impeaching him.”

In fact, Republicans in Congress did raise the impeachment of Obama multiple times.

In 2010, California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa called the alleged White House job offer to ex-Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak if he dropped out of a Senate primary “a crime, and could be impeachable” for Obama, Fox News reported.

Obama Should Be Impeached But He’s Black So He’s Unfairly Safe

Did Obama Just Make an Assassination Reference?

While several activists are pushing for impeachment, some prominent conservative media figures;say;that while Obama may deserve to be impeached, he’s protected from being removed from office due to the fact that he’s the first black president.

McCarthy touches on concerns that pro-impeachment conservatives will be labeled racists in;Faithless Execution:

Right now, conviction in the Senate is a pipedream, and therefore one cannot reasonably expect the House to file articles of impeachment. The process of impeachment will always be an ordeal, regardless of how necessary it is. Americans may be convincible regarding the need to oust a lawless president, but they will never be happy about it. Nor should they be. Even the president’s most zealous detractors should prefer that he mend his outlaw ways and finish his term than that the country be put through an impeachment process that would be painful in the best of times. And these are;not;the best of times: today,;the pain would be exacerbated by the vulgar propensity of the left and the media to demagogue concern for the nation’s well-being as racism. Consequently, impeachment entails substantial political risk for the protagonists, even if they are clearly right to seek it.

He concluded, It’s just — it’s never going to happen.

*This paragraph has been updated to reflect more calls for impeachment since posting.

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