"Impeachment" Should be Off the Table

Rep. Steve Stockman, paragon
of virtue. Image from ThinkProgress.

Godwin's Law states, "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1." As such, it is usually common practice that if a person uses Hitler as an analogy, their argument fails, immediately. The response, "Godwin's Law" is all that is needed to end the discussion. I propose the same be true with the impeachment of the president except as a last resort, for obvious and clear violation of law.

Why? Because it's getting ridiculous. Ever since President Obama was sworn in, Right Wing World has been buzzing about impeachment with varying degrees of passion. It's been an impeachment in search of a reason, in their eyes. They'd literally go after him for anything they thought would stick. And we know this, because we have evidence. Recent evidence. Impeachment has only been tried twice (Nixon escaped by resigning), and one of those times was brought over a lie about a blowjob.* In a question no pertinent in a case that was ultimately dismissed.

There he is, pointing that finger.

If I didn't know how much the right hated Bill Clinton at the time, I'd have sworn that his impeachment was a deliberate dodge, in order to make the next Republican president bullet-proof. I mean, after all the loud protests about the ridiculous impeachment of Clinton, how could Democrats really go and do the same thing, right? And though it may not have really been that kind of genius behind the impeachment, that's what we got.

Yes, during Bush's second term, when the Democrats took over, and their base was ravenous for some sort of repercussions for what they saw as war crimes (and so many other things), impeachment was off the table. Even later, after President Obama was elected, we were all told that we were looking forward and not back. To my knowledge, the only Bush Era toadie to pay any kind of price (and it was light) was Scooter Libby.

So Bush/Cheney (Rice/Rumsfeld/et. al) got off clean and clear. Whether you despised the lot of them or were in their corner, there is no doubt that there were things in there that were stronger reason for hearings (at least) than a freakin' lie about a bj. And yet--even though the lot of them got a "get out of jail free" card--you can find righties, be they bloggers or actual elected officials who float the impeachment balloon.

Stop it. Just stop it. Before Bill Clinton, you have to go back to Andrew Johnson in 1868 for pete's sake.  Impeachment is a serious charge, and it should be reserved for the very last resort, when there is no other remedy, for a serious, serious reason. It's not for revenge. It's not to get rid of a guy you don't like and didn't vote for. It may be asking a bit too much, but could we just grow up already, with the political back-and-forth? It's embarrassing.

[Excerpt]

Rep. Stockman threatens Obama impeachment over guns

Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas) is threatening to file articles of impeachment against President Barack Obama if he moves to change gun regulations through executive order.

“I will seek to thwart this action by any means necessary, including but not limited to eliminating funding for implementation, defunding the White House, and even filing articles of impeachment,” Stockman said. . .

Read more at: Politico


*By the way, one thing that can still--oddly--get a staunch conservative riled up is to make light of the impeachment of Bill Clinton. I still maintain it was a stupid reason to impeach a president. Yes, Clinton himself was stupid to put himself in that position, and was also stupid to lie. But it was an irrelevant lie, in an ultimately irrelevant case. As political lies go, it was utterly and completely meaningless.
"But, he LIED to Congress! He LIED to the American people!" As have--likely--every single president before him. As certainly Bush did. Over much, much, much more serious matters. Congress lies to Congress. Nearly every politician who has ever gone on Meet the Press or Face the Nation has lied to us about something. They may call it "spin," but spin is spun with lies. So, save your indignation over that particular lie, alright? It doesn't rise to "high crimes and misdemeanors," it just doesn't. If the identical lie was told in the identical case, and Bill Clinton was just an Arkansas lawyer, the chance he'd have been brought up on perjury charges over it are virtually nil. Again, stop it.