Pierce: Impeachment Is the Republicans' Latest Boogeyman for the 2018 Elections

[mcar]

Impeachment Is the Republicans' Latest Boogeyman for the 2018 Elections

I can’t name a single Democratic candidate who is running specifically on this issue.

BY CHARLES P. PIERCE
APR 9, 2018

Hey, all you Democratic congressional candidates who are running on a platform that, if elected, you will impeach the president*? Stop doing that immediately.

Hello? Hello?...

Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear. In 1994, when the Gingrich revolution brought the Republicans the control of the House of Representatives for the first time in decades, the talk of impeaching Bill Clinton for something began almost immediately. (People who were on Capitol Hill at the time remember vividly aides to the Republican leadership arguing that impeachment was coming simply because they had the votes.) Republicans didn’t care what chaos they brought about as long as it was sufficient to keep a Democratic president from governing.

Conservatives spoke quite plainly about their belief that impeachment always was meant to be “a political tool”—Ann Coulter even wrote a book on that subject—just one that had grown rusty from disuse. (Thomas Jefferson called it a scarecrow.) The impeachment of Bill Clinton, undertaken by the House Republicans full in the knowledge that it had no chance whatsoever in the Senate—was the ultimate political act in a series of political acts that began during the 1992 campaign, or even earlier, if Joe Conason and Gene Lyons are to be believed, and they are. And history has shown that, except for a blip in the 1998 midterms, the Republicans have paid no serious political price for what they did at all.

So, when you hear Republican strategists talking about how the Democratic candidates are slavering at the chance to impeach this president*, know that these low moans are strategic in their purpose, disingenuous in their history, and almost utterly dishonest about the state of play in the 2018 midterm elections. Republicans create phantoms like this all the time to frighten their base voters. Usually, though, these phantoms are black folks and foreigners, gay people and women. Now they’re trying to make scary monsters out of Amy McGrath and Randy Bryce. Boogedy-boogedy!

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a19718882/impeaechment-republicans-2018-election/

[bearsfootball516]

1. I also haven't heard of anyone running on an Impeach Trump rallying point.

It's almost the opposite. Most of the Democratic wins in special elections over the last 6 months have been because candidates are keeping politics local, talking about local issues and not bringing Trump into it.

[mcar]

5. They are talking about issues that affect their constituents

This latest boogeyman is a weak attempt by Rs.

[Turbineguy]

2. Oh, no Mister Bill,

not that!

So.... if I vote for a Democrat, trump might be impeached?

I hope the GOP spreads that message far and wide.

[UTUSN]

3. Well, they have worn out worn out the bogeyman Hillary to a pulp & if they cite Obamacare

they will be mocked out of the room for their not having done what they said all these years. So this is what's left.

[mcar]

6. Yeah, their boogeywoman Pelosi didn't work so well either

Funny how they don't seem to want to talk about their legislative record...oh, wait!

[YessirAtsaFact]

4. Given Trumps disapproval numbers, how does this help the GOP?

Most people think he’s doing a lousy job.

A large number already favor impeachment.