Impeachment-The Madness Grows
As readers of Green Eagle may remember, I have been confidently predicting since the election of Obama that the Republicans would do whatever they could to impeach him and kick him out of office. This malicious phenomenon seems to be catching people by surprise, even though it should have been obvious that, after Republicans impeached Bill Clinton without cause, in the greatest abuse of Congressional power in our history, and paid no price at all for their criminality, they would soon enough decide that it was their right to destroy any Democratic President, without any grounds except their insistence that it is their right to run the country regardless of the will of the American people.
Well, the pot is well and truly boiling now. Here are some excerpts from a New York Times article today, summing up some of what is going on among people who claim to be legitimate leaders:
Mr. Bentivolio says that he has hired some legal advisers to find grounds for the impeachment, thus admitting that he doesn't have any. But that's okay with him, and with many of his colleagues:
A prominent Senator is calling for impeachment, at the same time admitting that he doesn't have a shred of evidence to support it. And no one in the mainstream media seems to have the guts to point out what a vicious misuse of his office this is.
The only thing standing in the way of impeachment is the votes. Justification for impeachment is irrelevant, if Republicans have the votes. Of course, if Republicans somehow take back the Senate, the Republicans, who denied that Obama got any mandate for anything when he was reelected, will claim that they now have an electoral mandate to remove Obama.
One thing which is perfectly legal- passed by Congress and approved by the Supreme Court, the way the government is supposed to function- and one thing which is a long-disproved Republican lie.
I could go on with more examples of Congressional Republicans attempting to build momentum for this abominable act, but let's move on.
Here are a couple of pertinent comments by others, restating things which I have said for some time. First from Salon:
Just because they can, and because they have given themselves over to the rule of force (by their side only, of course,) where anything they can get away with is justified. And from Crooks and Liars, a two sentence summation of this whole disgusting mess:
There is a good name for a phenomenon like this and the government which it would produce: Fascist dictatorship. Is there anyone who will deny that a government where disagreeing with those who wield power is a high crime, where laws mean nothing to those in control, deserves any other name?
Impeachment was inevitable since the day a Democrat took office, particularly following a spectacularly incompetent Republican Presidency that crashed the economy, committed armed aggression against an innocent country and made torture synonymous with our country. What else could they do but try to make a thoroughly competent and decent (if rather reactionary) Democratic President look just as bad in retrospect? After all, the narrative they are trying to build is that every Democratic President is an anti-American criminal who needs to be flung from office, so we might as well go with the likes of Reagan, Bush and Romney, no matter how much damage they do to us.
The only question, at this point, is "why now?" And here is my answer: Republicans always have a strategy for winning and for losing. Winning, for the Republicans would be to take back the Senate in a year, at which point, they could complete their exercise by removing an American President for no reason except their own hatred and hunger for power. Losing would be having the House revert to Democratic control in 2014, at which point they would lose the ability to carry out their sick plans. Either way, if they are really intent on impeachment, they must act before the 2014 election.
Of course, the impeachment of Clinton was carried out by a lame-duck Republican house after an election in which they had lost control, but before the new legislative session could begin. But trying that twice might just be too much even for the ignorant, complaisant American voters. So here we go. Pay your money and take your seat- the roller coaster is about to take off.
Well, the pot is well and truly boiling now. Here are some excerpts from a New York Times article today, summing up some of what is going on among people who claim to be legitimate leaders:
"WASHINGTON — Representative Kerry Bentivolio, a freshman Republican from Michigan, has a legislative dream....Mr. Bentivolio told constituents, it is to put in motion the impeachment of President Obama. “If I could write that bill and submit it, it would be a dream come true,” he said this month."
Mr. Bentivolio says that he has hired some legal advisers to find grounds for the impeachment, thus admitting that he doesn't have any. But that's okay with him, and with many of his colleagues:
"And last week, Senator Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican who has called himself a friend of the president, told constituents that the nation was “perilously close” to an impeachment situation...According to news reports, Mr. Coburn said at a town-hall-style meeting: “What you have to do is you have to establish the criteria that would qualify for proceedings against the president. And that’s called impeachment.”
A prominent Senator is calling for impeachment, at the same time admitting that he doesn't have a shred of evidence to support it. And no one in the mainstream media seems to have the guts to point out what a vicious misuse of his office this is.
"Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, lamented to one voter who asked about the prospect of impeachment that the Senate, controlled by Democrats, would probably not yield the needed votes for conviction"
The only thing standing in the way of impeachment is the votes. Justification for impeachment is irrelevant, if Republicans have the votes. Of course, if Republicans somehow take back the Senate, the Republicans, who denied that Obama got any mandate for anything when he was reelected, will claim that they now have an electoral mandate to remove Obama.
"The lawmakers have not laid out any specific charges of high crimes and misdemeanors against Mr. Obama, though the health care law and I.R.S. scrutiny of applications by conservative groups for nonprofit status seem to be among the motivating factors."
One thing which is perfectly legal- passed by Congress and approved by the Supreme Court, the way the government is supposed to function- and one thing which is a long-disproved Republican lie.
I could go on with more examples of Congressional Republicans attempting to build momentum for this abominable act, but let's move on.
Here are a couple of pertinent comments by others, restating things which I have said for some time. First from Salon:
"But (a) thing all these answers appear to have in common is actually even more astonishing and irresponsible: None of these politicians seem to feel any need to actually discuss the grounds for impeachment. At best there’s some hand-waving around the minor scandals of the last year, but for the most part it’s just assumed that impeachment is what Republicans normally do to Democratic presidents, just because."
Just because they can, and because they have given themselves over to the rule of force (by their side only, of course,) where anything they can get away with is justified. And from Crooks and Liars, a two sentence summation of this whole disgusting mess:
"We have well and truly crossed the Rubicon into an era where Republicans think that disagreeing with their policies is an impeachable offense. Or maybe they just don't care about laws."
There is a good name for a phenomenon like this and the government which it would produce: Fascist dictatorship. Is there anyone who will deny that a government where disagreeing with those who wield power is a high crime, where laws mean nothing to those in control, deserves any other name?
Impeachment was inevitable since the day a Democrat took office, particularly following a spectacularly incompetent Republican Presidency that crashed the economy, committed armed aggression against an innocent country and made torture synonymous with our country. What else could they do but try to make a thoroughly competent and decent (if rather reactionary) Democratic President look just as bad in retrospect? After all, the narrative they are trying to build is that every Democratic President is an anti-American criminal who needs to be flung from office, so we might as well go with the likes of Reagan, Bush and Romney, no matter how much damage they do to us.
The only question, at this point, is "why now?" And here is my answer: Republicans always have a strategy for winning and for losing. Winning, for the Republicans would be to take back the Senate in a year, at which point, they could complete their exercise by removing an American President for no reason except their own hatred and hunger for power. Losing would be having the House revert to Democratic control in 2014, at which point they would lose the ability to carry out their sick plans. Either way, if they are really intent on impeachment, they must act before the 2014 election.
Of course, the impeachment of Clinton was carried out by a lame-duck Republican house after an election in which they had lost control, but before the new legislative session could begin. But trying that twice might just be too much even for the ignorant, complaisant American voters. So here we go. Pay your money and take your seat- the roller coaster is about to take off.
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