In response to a Kay Steiger inforgraphic over at TPM, which asks:
Republicans are talking a big game about impeaching the president...Could they actually pull it off?And concludes that, no, they couldn't, because the Senate.
But of course 218 Republicans in the House certainly could impeach Barack Obama.
(As long as I'm at it...no, technically, it doesn't have to go through the Judiciary Committee, either.)
Why does anyone care? Because it surely is worth noting that Republicans can, if they want, impeach the president. Hell, they can do it once a day, and have a special session on Sundays to do it twice. And they can force the Senate to dispose of it, which would certainly tie up the Senate floor for quite some time, even if the whole thing is a joke.
And, as with shutdown and a default, I'm pretty confident that John Boehner wants no part of it, having learned that lesson very well when Tom P. Baxter was Speaker. And yet, as with shutdown and default, there sure is plenty of demand for it within the conservative marketplace (see this key point from Paul Waldman), and therefore, as Joaquin Andujar always said, youneverknow.
Always love an Arlen Specter reference. Why on earth did he cited Scots Law again?
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting thought experiment. There are all the times that the House voted to get rid of Obamacare, in so many different ways.... what would happen if they did the same thing with impeachment?
ReplyDeleteMonday, we vote to impeach the President, Tuesday, the Senate votes it down. Next week, we vote to impeach the President, the Senate votes it down. Ad nauseum.
Would it have negative consequences for the Republican party?
Would it have negative consequences for Republican House Members? Or might it become a badge proving your seriousness as a conservative?
How would it impact the Republican supporters who have legislation that they would like to see enacted?
How would it affect the armed services, whose officers are typically Republican and are sworn to follow the President's orders?
How would it affect those who don't normally vote?
When an idea is too extreme even for Mike Lee (who says of Obama "we're stuck with him" http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/56773697-90/lee-stewart-com-constitutional.html.csp ) I just don't see it getting 218 House votes.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't it take two thirds to impeach?
ReplyDeleteNo, only to convict in the Senate The Republicans could never have gotten a two-thirds majority in the House for impeaching Clinton in 1998: the two articles of impeachment it adopted were by 228-206 and 221-212.
DeleteHmmm. I've been wrong about that for a long time. Thanks.
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