The GOP’s impeachment dilemma will only get worse

[babylonsister]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/07/29/the-gops-impeachment-dilemma-will-only-get-worse/?hpid=z3

The GOP’s impeachment dilemma will only get worse

By Paul Waldman
July 29 at 12:31 PM


Today John Boehner declared that any talk of Republicans impeaching President Obama is a sinister plot originating in the White House, from which so many other sinister plots have come. “It’s all a scam started by Democrats at the White House,” he said. “This whole talk about impeachment is coming from the president’s own staff and coming from Democrats on Capitol Hill. Why? Because they’re trying to rally their own people to give money and show up in this year’s elections.” Which is partially true. Democrats do want to talk about impeachment, and it does help them raise money (though while an actual impeachment would certainly get Democratic voters to the polls in November, it’s much less likely that just talking about it will do so). But that’s only part of the story.

Boehner and other Republican leaders are now trying to walk an impossible tightrope. On one hand, they’re arguing that they have no interest in impeaching the president — they know that it would be a political catastrophe if they did — and any suggestion to the contrary is nothing but Democratic calumny. On the other hand, they’re arguing that Obama is a lawless tyrant who is trampling on the Constitution. If that contradiction has put them in a difficult situation, they have no one to blame but themselves.

snip//

So the idea that Boehner characterizes as a crazy Democratic slander is the majority position among Republican voters. And they didn’t get the idea from nowhere. They got it because the people they trust — Republican politicians and conservative media figures — have been telling them for years, but with particularly ferocity in the last few months, that Barack Obama is a lawless tyrant who is trampling on the Constitution. They’ve been hearing this not just from the Sean Hannitys and Steve Kings of the world, but from every Republican, up to and including the GOP congressional leadership, on a daily basis. Of course those Republican voters think he should be impeached. It’s absurd for people like Boehner to turn around and say, “Whoa now, who’s thinking of impeachment? That’s just Democrats saying that.”

And consider the odd situation in which that leaves the President. As much as he has been under attack from Republicans over executive authority, he has a political incentive to bait Republicans into talking more about impeachment, which would both build pressure for it within the GOP and force them to deny it to the media. The best way for him to do so is to take more unilateral action on issues like immigration. That would incense Republicans, who would then rush to the cameras to decry his lawlessness, which would lead journalists to ask them whether they’re going to impeach him, which would lead them to tie themselves in knots denying it. Obama would get both the policy results he wants and the political benefit of making his opponents look like they’re about to drag the country into a repeat of the farce of 1998.

So yes, the talk of impeachment is in part a plot by the White House. But they’re only exploiting the pressure that exists within the GOP — pressure that John Boehner and the rest of the party leadership helped create. And if think you’ve seen Republicans squirming uncomfortably over the question up until now, just you wait.

[tanyev]

1. It won't be long before Sarah TV is calling for Boehner's scalp.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

2. Ya betcha

[Grassy Knoll]

11. gigity!

[sheshe2]

3. Do that want some cheese with their whine? eom

[freshwest]

4. Knock off the sauce, Cheetos! Sarah isn't in the White House, so it didn't come from there! VIDEO:

Sarah Palin: Not impeaching Barack Obama "affront to God", he "wants to play God"

Uploaded by
PalinGrifter2012

Published on Jul 19, 2014

Sarah Palin said a lot of crazy things in her speech at the "Western Conservative Summit" at Colorado Christian University on July 19, 2014, but this is probably the craziest part. In other parts of the speech, she accused Obama to be a mobster and a murderer.

http://politicalgates.blogspot.com/2014/07/sarah-palin-at-western-conservative.html

'If he's not impeachable, no one is': Sarah Palin pounds Obama on immigration policy and compares him to a 'mob boss' who 'wants to play God'

Tuesday, Jul 29th 2014

* Former VP candidate blasts the president for 'dereliction of duty' in 'amnesty' plan
* 'There's only one remedy for a president who commits high crimes and misdemeanors, and it's impeachment'
* 'Gang-bangers and terrorists' are mixed in with children crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, she said; 'We're offering to take care of them'
* 'We had a revolution in 1776 because we don't do kings,' she shouted, saying Obama has made himself 'a ruler, not a president'
* Palin spoke to the Western Conservative Summit in Denver

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2698614/If-hes-not-impeachable-no-one-Sarah-Palin-pounds-Obama-immigration-policy-compares-mob-boss-wants-play-God.html

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

12. Drunk again

[malaise]

5. I didn't know Lady Blah Blah was a member of the Democratic party

Lady Blah Blah is the former Vice Presidential Candidate for the ReTHUG party.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/sarah-palin-impeach-obama-immigration
<snip>
Sarah Palin is demanding Congress remove President Obama from office over his immigration policy.

“It’s time to impeach; and on behalf of American workers and legal immigrants of all backgrounds, we should vehemently oppose any politician on the left or right who would hesitate in voting for articles of impeachment,” the former Alaska governor wrote in an op-ed Tuesday for Breitbart.
--------------------------------------------------
The I word has been used by ReTHUGs
Lady Blah Blah jumped the gun and now they are terrified that this is going to GOTV for Democrats.

Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah hahahahahahahha

Yet again ReTHUGs have been hoisted by their own petard

[Calista241]

6. The lawsuit won't be decided until well after 2016.

[H2O Man]

7. Recommended.

The world of politics has so few humorous things these days. Thank goodness for the republican confusion about impeachment!

[kentuck]

8. Their internal polls...

...must have told them that this would only rally the Democratic base and could cause the Repubs to lose the coveted Senate and even, some seats in the House?

[Hekate]

9. Pass the butter'n'salt

[MaggieD]

10. I agree

The more crazy and extremist that the GOP and its voters sound the better chances Dems have in the election. I personally don't think 2014 is going to go as well for them as they think. But no matter what happens, Dems are very likely to kick all kinds of ass in 2016. So even if we experience a set back it will only be temporary, in my view.

Let the crazy talk continue!

[Jack Rabbit]

13. There's nothing here that most of us hadn't figured out by last week

[rtracey]

14. The GOP PRoblem

And I used capital letters on problem for a reason...it is PR. The GOP know they will never get enough votes to convict in the Senate. They may get enough in the house to impeach, but not 2/3 in Senate to convict. This will be the PR nightmare for the right. The right are dying to take control of both houses, although the presidents veto power also needs 2/3 majority to override. With all the impeachment talk showing how out of touch the right and their voters are, is a cash windfall for the dems, and the GOP HATES THIS. Boehner is going to do ANYTHING possible to quash this talking point, but idiots like Palin, Cruz, et al. will not allow it to die, and that my friend will be the GOPs downfall.

[nxylas]

15. Does this mean they'll call a halt to their Impeach Hillary efforts?

Or at least wait until she formally announces her fucking candidacy?

[Chemisse]

17. It's never too early to talk impeachment!

It's the Republican wet dream.

[The Wizard]

16. The Drinker of the House

could use a time out.