I'm thinking Obama may need to gird himself for impeachment.

[pnwmom]

The only way out of the debt ceiling ransom demands might be to ignore them, order the government to continue paying all its debts (thereby preventing a default), and wait to be impeached.

Then wait for the Senate to not convict him.

[struggle4progress]

1. A US default would have serious economic consequences and would infuriate conservative business

The House follows this path at its peril

[pnwmom]

13. It would indeed. Which is why I'm thinking Obama might have to ignore the debt ceiling law

and continue to pay the nation's debts -- thereby preventing default. Even if he expected Congress to respond by impeaching him.

By law and the Constitution, he's required to pay the nation's debts. But this conflicts with the debt ceiling law. So he might have to decide to ignore the debt ceiling law, as the least bad option.

[RC]

28. When there is a conflict between the law and the Constitution, the Constitution wins.

Or at least it used to be that way. Not so much with us lowly 99%ers anymore.

[hrmjustin]

2. I hope they do not pull an impeachment stunt.

[PoliticAverse]

3. Since the Senate won't be voting for impeachment, why does Obama have to do anything? n/t

[leftynyc]

4. The House votes for impeachment

The Senate then holds the "trial".

[PoliticAverse]

5. Yes I know. But the Senate won't vote to convict him. So again, why would Obama have to do anything

(except repeat why he did what he did)?

[leftynyc]

8. That didn't stop the pubs

from impeaching Clinton. Do you really think this current crop of pubs is more or less crazy than they were?

[PoliticAverse]

10. Republicans had a majority (55) in the Senate for Clinton's impeachment. Even if the House impeaches

Obama for ignoring the debt limit there seems no likelyhood enough Democrats in the Senate would vote to
convict thus other than pointing out how stupid it was what would Obama have to do and how would this benefit
Repubicans even if they did it?

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

17. They don't care. They want to distract Obama so he can't get anything done.

They want to distract this country. They know they can't get Obama thrown out of office, just like they know they can't repeal Obamacare. They're showboating for their base. They're fundraising, getting their base riled up for elections. It's what they do the best.

Why can't we Democrats unite behind our party and its leader and do the same thing?

[factsarenotfair]

33. Bingo.

[leftynyc]

35. A majority is not near enough

67 votes are required and there was absolutely no way Clinton was going to be thrown out of office. No way. They still did it. These guys are even crazier.

[markpkessinger]

6. Although I wouldn't put it past the House to try it . . .

. . . I think there is zero chance the Senate would convict. What's more, I think it would turn out to be a disastrous move for Republicans.

[zappaman]

7. No. n/t

[Swede Atlanta]

9. Shutting down the government is not as bad as defaulting on our debt....

Shutting down the government does have a huge impact on our economy. It disrupts the nation for several months even if the shutdown is only for a few days.

But that pales compared to the affect that a default on our national debt would have. The entire domestic economy would be thrown into turmoil with world markets and economies sent scuttling. With a default the credit worthiness of the U.S. government would be downgraded. The degree of the downgrade would depend on the length of time it took the U.S. to remediate the situation.

But a downgrade would mean the U.S. would have to pay higher interest on any new debt, if we could get buyers for that debt.

That in turn would mean higher consumer interest rates. That could plunge the housing market back into negative territory, kill the gains made in the automotive sector and send chills down the spines of consumers.

And that is just the tip of the iceberg......

This is just not a place we want to go.....

[pnwmom]

11. I agree. I'm not advocating default. I'm tending to think, however,

that Obama might need to ignore the debt ceiling law that could prevent him from paying the nation's bills and thereby drive us into default.

[Scurrilous]

12. I'm girding myself for the hilarity of watching the GOP royally @#$% things up. n/t

[Stuart G]

32. They already have @#%& things up... don't ya think?

[Gothmog]

14. It is only a matter of time before the House GOP pulls this stunt

The House Republicans have no self control and I am expecting that these idiots will vote to impeach President Obama at some point

[johnd83]

15. There is still the trillion dollar coin option

It is a little odd but technically legal.

[pnwmom]

18. The question is whether the markets would react badly to something

they might regard as a trick.

And last time we had a huge drop in the stock market just on the credit downgrading that occurred because of the fear of a default.

[johnd83]

24. At this point the markets are so disconnected from reality anyway I don't know if it means much

[derby378]

16. George W. Bush didn't get impeached - neither will Obama

A historian could probably argue that every President since Washington has probably committed at least one impeachable offense during their term (except for William Henry Harrison), but Bush 43 richly deserved impeachment for his crimes - and never got it.

So I'm thinking Obama is going to be just fine.

[Bandit]

21. What was Clinton's impeachable offense?

He did not commit perjury. He evaded and mislead but did not
EVER commit Perjury.

[Cali_Democrat]

23. The GOP views every Democratic President as illegitimate

And they've been getting crazier in the last 15 to 20 years.

They impeached Clinton for a blowjob and you can sure they will eventually impeach Obama.

Hell, you even had GOPers calling for impeachment if Obama dropped bombs on Syria.

Meanwhile....Bush lies about WMD in Iraq in order to launch an illegal invasion which costs the country more than $2 trillion and thousands of American lives...no impeachment.

[derby378]

26. QED (n/t)

[DavidDvorkin]

19. If the GOP controls both houses of Congress after the next election

and if they pass impeachment through the House and then vote in the Senate to convict Obama and thus remove him from office (highly unlikely), they would then face an incumbent Democratic president, Joe Biden, in 2016.

I don't think they want to do that.

[pnwmom]

20. Controlling the Senate wouldn't be enough anyway. They'd need a supermajority to convict. n/t

[Cali_Democrat]

25. The GOP is not a rational party. n/t

[Zen Democrat]

22. Face it, the govt. shut-down and impeachment made Bill Clinton an icon.

His support went UP when faced with these Republican debacles. They have learned nothing.

[winter is coming]

27. In the long run, that will harm the GOP far more than it will Obama.

Although the MSM blathering will be painful.

[madrchsod]

29. he will not be impeached

ACA will determine the election in 2014

[wandy]

30. Impeachment, for whatever reason should be expected..........

It is part of the republican 'Clinton game plan'. Lacking, for the moment, the ability to fully serve the GOP owners, obstruction is all republicans can do.
Impeachment, for whatever reason, serves that end nicely.
That the Senate would not convict is of little importance.
Consider the recent antics of Ted Cruz. It served no purposes other than to cloud the issue and stir up the rabid base.
Other than the usual fair of fear and hate, that is all republicans have to offer.

[azurnoir]

31. If the government shuts down the GOP owns that

we all know that and the upside of them getting so much press time lately is so will everyone else

[pnwmom]

34. I'm not worried about a shutdown but I am worried about a default.

Last time we came close to defaulting on our debts, a credit agency lowered our rating and started another recession. An actual default would be much worse.