Thom Hartmann: Norquist, ''Impeach Obama'' for crimes against the 1%

[thomhartmann]

According to Article 2 - Section 4 of the United States Constitution, "The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors." Did you understand that? A President can be impeached if he is convicted of treason - bribery - or other high crimes and misdemeanors. Any other attempt to remove the President from office absent of these crimes would not be an impeachment...instead it would be a coup d'etat. Enter multi-millionaire Republican lobbyist Grover Norquist stage right - the guy famous for corraling nearly every single Republican in Congress together to sign his pledge against raising taxes.

At the end of last week in an interview with the right-wing National Journal - Grover Norquist called for the impeachment of President Obama. Not for treason - or bribery - or high crimes and misdemeanors - not for any real impeachable offense - but only because the President might raise taxes on millionaires and billionaires back to where they were during the Clinton administration - to 39%. As Norquist said, "Obama can sit there and let all the tax [cuts] lapse, and then the Republicans will have enough votes in the Senate in 2014 to impeach." Again - Grover Norquist is calling for the impeachment of the President of the United States jsut for making millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share in taxes - making millionaires and billionaires pay just 39% in taxes instead of 35% in taxes.

So one of two things is going on here. Either Norquist - and the oligarchs he works for - are comparing raising taxes by a mere 4% to treason against America. Or - Norquist - and the oligarchs he works for - are telegraphing their plans to stage a corporate coup against President Obama as soon as they get enough votes in the Senate to kick him out of office. I'm not sure which is more frightening - but if it is indeed the latter - and Norquist is calling for a coup - it wouldn't be the first time in our nation's history - when such an attempt was made against the White House by the super rich. Stay tuned for the story of General Smedley Butler...

The Big Picture with Thom Hartmann on RT TV & FSTV "live" 9pm and 11pm check www.thomhartmann.com/tv for local listings

[Richardo]

1. He needs 67 votes in the Senate to convict.

Dream on, douchebag.