Joe Conason: For Republicans, impeachment isn't a joke

[babylonsister]

For Republicans, impeachment isn't a joke
When Darrell Issa compares the Sestak affair with Watergate, he is expressing a persistent Republican strain
By Joe Conason


As the point man for Republican attacks on the Obama presidency, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., is a laughable character. His billing of the deflated Sestak affair as "Obama's Watergate," replete with insinuations of "witness tampering," sounds like partisan hysteria. So do the whispers and cries of "impeachment" from the wingnut gallery to whom Issa is playing.

But at a moment like this, it is worth remembering that Republican scheming to impeach Bill Clinton began long before Monica Lewinsky appeared on the public stage -- and those grandiose notions seemed easy enough to laugh off at the time, too.

Theories about impeachable offenses committed by Clinton began to appear in right-wing forums as early as 1994, when such "scandals" as Whitewater, the FBI files screw-up and the White House Travel Office imbroglio were still new. To most observers those theories still sounded like a joke over the ensuing years, right up through the fall of 1997, when Bob Tyrrell, then the editor of the American Spectator, convened a dinner of conservatives at a Capitol Hill restaurant to plot the impeachment of Clinton.

The point is that no matter how heavy-handed and disreputable Issa may seem, he represents an attitude that has never changed in his party, which was not chastened by its electoral losses after the Clinton impeachment. Listening to right-wing propaganda against Obama over the past year or so, such as the "birther" meme, it is clear that there is a certain kind of Republican that still thinks any Democratic president lacks legitimacy by definition, and that those Republicans will entertain any scheme to eject a Democrat from the Oval Office.

more...

http://www.salon.com/news/joe_sestak/index.html?story=/opinion/conason/2010/05/28/impeach

[oldtime dfl_er]

1. For those with short memories

this kind of reminder is really important. This wing of the Republican party has always been about getting even, getting revenge, destroying the opponent. There needn't be any infraction, let alone any impeachable offense. Any decision by the President, political or personal, can be twisted to give the appearance -- to the rabid fringe -- of wrongdoing. To a certain extent there's nothing that can be done about it, but this is also a HUGE reason why we can't lose control of the House. Impeachment begins in the House. Let's not forget that.

[Dr Morbius]

3. We can't tolerate losing control of any body of Congress to scum like the current GOP.

Not the House, not the Senate, and not the White House. We need to keep Republicans out of power until they GET IT. For the sake of the nation, y'understand!

[Cha]

2. Of course..that's their MO..they have nothing to offer

so they have to get rid of the competition.

[HughMoran]

4. Can win the argument, cheat

It's difficult for me not to think of Republicans as 3rd grade bullies. They just can't act like grownups.

[Maccagirl]

5. It's up to the American electorate to stop this garbage

once and for all. I still get the feeling that the average person DOES NOT understand how this affects them. They only see Obama or Clinton in the crosshairs and think "Oh well, it's part of the deal." No folks, we have lost invaluable time on crisis thanks to the crap the GOP and their enablers pull off. Does anyone who is paying attention not believe that 9/11, Oklahoma City, the death and detruction in Iraq and Afghanistan, Katrina and now the oil catastophe are not related to the fact that people are not paying attention.

Mr. Conason, I feel for you. You're howling at the wind.

[jenmito]

6. In this economy and with all the unemployment and other probblems, attempt at

impeachment will lead to the death of the Repub. party's hopes of gaining the majority for years to come.

[Stevepol]

7. There is no better example than ACORN, Issa's great achievement.

Even though since the de-funding of ACORN, O'Keefe's video has been shown to have been phony by about 4 objective investigations, ACORN is now gone as a viable organization to aid the poor and powerless (and of course register voters). And Issa can take credit for that. He immediately jumped on the rigged videos and the Congress in its infinite ignorance followed his orders.

[Go2Peace]

8. Of course it isn't, truth doesn't matter when everything is viewed in partisan terms

[theothersnippywshrub]

9. Impeachment - It's what republicans do. n/t

[WeDidIt]

10. May 8, 2010

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x290693

[Monk06]

11. The Rs established the new standard, high crimes and misdemeanors = blowjob by white girl ......

Ain't gonna happen with this president. That's why the Rs
are going crazy with frustration.

[dflprincess]

12. On the bright side, if they try impeachment

maybe Obama will finally figure out his bipartisan crap isn't working.

[Ned Bro]

13. Impeachment isn't

but they (the GOP) are!

[hulka38]

14. This story will be popping up regularly in the coming months

to pressure disenfranchised progressives to get out to the booths in November. Nothing wrong with that but that's what it is.

[jonnyblitz]

15. how soon the wingnuts forget the backlash caused by the Clinton

impeachment fiasco. what a bunch of dim bulbs.