Impeachment: A bridge too far (Buchanan)

WND ^ | 7/7/2014 | Pat Buchanan

[rjsimmon]

WASHINGTON — Increasingly, across this city, the “I” word is being heard.

Impeachment is being brought up by Republicans outraged over Barack Obama’s usurpations of power and unilateral rewriting of laws. And Obama is taunting John Boehner and the GOP: “So sue me.”

Democrats are talking impeachment to rally a lethargic base to come out and vote this fall to prevent Republicans from taking control of the Senate, and with it the power to convict an impeached president.

Still, Republicans should drop the talk of impeachment.

[RatRipper]

I, for one, do not want to spook the public against voting for Republican/Conservative senators by talking about impeachment. . . walk softly and carry a big stick. That said, obama deserves to be hauled out and shot for treason.

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

IF you read his points...Pat is ABSOLUTELY CORRECT. on all the points he lists.

Unless DIRECT CONNECTIONS can be made to the Pres, none of these accusations stand ground.

UNLESS we have the LIb media that forced Nixon out it won’t work.

And he is right that it would RALLY THE DEM BASE.

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

GET REAL....it won’t happen. He is too protected from all sides, including almost half of our citizens.

nothing connects to HIM, nothing.

[taildragger]

Pat is absolutely right.

He ( Pat ) or someone wrote an Editorial of his predictions and he has been to many's chagrin more accurate than we might care to believe. Can he be wacky as a bed bug at times? Oh yes. Have a handle on long term History / Body Politic / Cause and Effect? Better than most. I concur, it would be a fools errand, make him use only the powers the Constitution allows, and this is "if" we get the Senate, and a leader who is willing to press on the Rule of Law. If they have Standing and disagree, send it to the Supreme's for the 14th, etc, etc time. Maybe they will fast track if it is truly a wrong move by POTUS.

[JT Hatter]

I think Pat’s reasoning is flawed and his opinion is just plain wrong.

Obama would love the House to file an impeachment proceeding before November. He can rally his base that way, maybe save the Senate.

After November, the House should immediately file impeachment proceedings. They should then hold a vote of no confidence, expedite Boeher’s silly lawsuit and defund Obamacare, the DHS, EPA and other agencies that are out of control.

All that still won’t stop Obama from doing maximum damage he can in the time he has left.

But it is Congress’ duty to impeach Obama and they should do it.

[DannyTN]

I think Pat makes some good points. However, even though we don't have as strong a legal case on an individual crime, we do have a large number of things to impeach on. His administration is guilty of the following. And even if you give Obama the benefit of the doubt that he only learned about these things from the newspapers, then you have to admit that Obama is incompetent.

1. Gun running to Mexico.
2. Ignoring calls for protection and for help in Bengazi.
3. Rewriting bankruptcy laws in the GM case, stripping bond holders of their rights.
4. Illegally bombing Libya without Congressional authorization.
5. Unilaterally rewriting the law on the ACA act.
6. Refusing to defend laws that were passed by congress and signed by previous Presidents, such as the Defense of Marriage act.
7. Providing a fraudulent birth certificate to the public.
8. Refusing to enforce immigration laws resulting in an invasion of illegal aliens.
9. Transporting and dumping illegals in various parts of the country.
10. Intimidating the press.
11. Retribution against whistleblowers.
12. Inappropriate gag orders such as those given to workers at the immigrant processing sites.
13. The firing of many military commanders under questionable circumstances and questionable evidence.
14. The support and arming of Al Quaida.

    Here's 100 articles of impeachment" compiled by teaparty.org.

[circlecity]

"He ( Pat ) or someone wrote an Editorial of his predictions and he has been to many's chagrin more accurate than we might care to believe."

I agree. I think Pat is one of the most astute political observers there are and I have never found him "wacky".

[rjsimmon]

IF you read his points...Pat is ABSOLUTELY CORRECT. on all the points he lists.

Not entirely and his cause-effect analysis is juvenile.

On the IRS issue, if all anyone is reyling upon is emails, then piecing those together is not impossible. Difficult, yes, but not impossible.

Same with Benghazi. The DOS is in all actuality the responsible party to this and would not be a salient issue in the AOI.

The ACA is one major downfall for BHO. He has usurped congressional authority with EOs and this is entirely impeachable.

Pat's point about the 3 major bodies being against Nixon that are not against BHO is only superficial. Not all of congress supports BHO and the press is becoming more disillusioned. The bureaucracy is dubious. None of which should enter into the equation.

What is the "winning hand" the GOP allegedly has?

Unfortunately, Pat left out the most damning of points: that of aid and comfort to the enemy. This one is a slam-dunk as his release of 5 terrorists that have announced their intentions to return to their previous occupations is sufficient to even the most casual of observers. Prosecutors would have the proverbial hay-day with that one.

[Vigilanteman]

Summed up very well in posts #9 and #10. It would be nothing but theatrics to gin up a race war which BO desperately wants.

If enough Democrats join the call, it would be a different story. But it will never happen.

[circlecity]

"we do have a large number of things to impeach on."

but we don't have the votes to get the job done and even if we will the Senate we still won't have the super majority need to impeach. It's a fool's errand.

[EricT.]

What point is there in impeaching Obama and leaving Biden, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Debbie Mayonnaisehead-Schultz, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, John Boehner, and the rest of that Ivy League locust swarm eating us out of our fortunes and liberty up in the District of Corruption?

The whole damned nest needs to be knocked down and put to the torch.

[DannyTN]

"but we don't have the votes to get the job done and even if we will the Senate we still won't have the super majority need to impeach. It's a fool's errand."

True, I can see it going one of two ways.

1) It makes him and his subordinates more cautious, because the House starts showing backbone.

2) Or it makes him more reckless, and he reaches for even more power.

[sr4402]

Thank you. Glad Harry is not on the list. Glad to be wrong.

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

Despite the obvious partisans in the Senate, by the time AOI makes its way up the chain, the Senate would presumably have a Republican majority and may very well unseat BHO.

There is no realistic scenario in which the Republicans gain the 67-seat supermajority that impeachment requires.

[cynwoody]

Obama claims he did not learn of the IRS abuse until years after it began, and weeks after his White House staff learned of it.

In the absence of those emails, the claim cannot be refuted.

In the Benghazi scandal, the president’s defense is the same.

He had no idea what was going on. And cluelessness appears here to be a credible defense. Two weeks after the Benghazi atrocity, Obama was at the U.N. still parroting the Susan Rice line about an anti-Muslim video having been the cause of it all.

Pat seems to think impeachment is some sort criminal matter requiring specific violations of specific laws proven beyond a reasonable doubt. It's not. It's a political act, and high crimes and misdemeanors are whatever a majority of the House and two thirds of the Senate say they are.

Obama's abuse of power is ample reason to remove him.

There is no constitutional case against removing Obama. There is only the argument from political strategy: Don't start it if you lack the votes to finish it.

[sten]

impeachment?

impeachment was on the table when we were just talking about guns to drug dealers that killed hundreds in an attempt to undermine the second Amendment.

impeachment was on the table when our ambassador was killed as 0bama deliberately left two seals to fend for themselves against hundreds, until they were killed after seven hours.

the tune started to change about three months ago when the Citizens Commissison on Benghazi concluded 0bama and crew has switched sides in the war on terror.

these days, I’m hearing the word ‘treason’ more often especially after he released enemy commanders... and now that its come out that 0bama orchestrated this invasion... people have had enough

[Toespi]

Oh yeah, something would come of it all right! Cities would begin rioting and burning all over this country. After the first deaths, the blame would fall squarely on the Republicans. “Because of this high tech lynching and the republican’s visceral hatred for this first black president, people have died.” He was never given a chance due to racism. Oh no, we are much better off letting the clown make a fool of himself for the next few years.

[Enlightened1]

To me the issue here is NOT what is the best move.....

The issue is the Republican leadership. I don’t see how the can address this issue or any other serious issue with the current Republican leadership? To me the Republican Leadership come across as completely out of touch with their conservative base at best Compromised collaborators that are there to keep their conservative base in check at worse.

The Tea party wing of the Republican Party have to take over the leadership or.... form a new third party. It seems to me that we have been trying the former since 2010, and getting no where fast. So the situation continues to decline.

Now if the latter happened, then I have a feeling that many conservative Republicans would jump ship over time. Yes there would be some initial set back. However, over time a real opposition party would be back in place

Right now the way it is the Democrats are running circles all over the Republicans. The current flood of immigrants is probably going to turn Texas blue which will keep Democrats I in the White House for the foreseeable future.

Something has to change now or say a slow good bye (less than 20 years) to the Republican Party.

[jmaroneps37]

I agree. The process itself would only serve to rally the halfwits in Obama’s base and nothing else. But on the other hand if the Republican wing of Uniparty just lets impeachment in the court of public opinion happen it can get much better results without visible fingerprints.

[alstewartfan]

You are more afraid of the walking gaffe Biden than the walking menace MAObama? Biden could not get away with 1/100 of the BS. This demon needs to go NOW! Bob