Is The Ultimate Goal Of The GOP Not Just A Repeat of 1994, But The Impeachment Of President Obama?

[TomCADem]

It is now pretty well accepted that the Republicans are going to vote no on practically anything coming out of Congress in order to try to set the stage for 1994 style recapture of Congress. However, do you really think they will stop there? Can they stop there?

Afterall, after mobilizing the corporate media, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and myriad crazies with wild eyed claims that President Obama is a Nazi, Socialist, Nazi Citizen, and purveyor of death panels, and brain washer of children, can the Republicans simply stop at capturing a majority of Congress? Of course they can't, nor do they want to.

Worse, a liberal corporate astroturf effort is going on, that is striving to alienate President Obama from the liberal, Democratic base by arguing that President Obama is not liberal enough while the corporate media and conservative media portrays President Obama as too radical! Yes, he can't be both, but does that stop Fox News or other purveyors of propaganda?

The question is whether liberals have learned from the Bill Clinton experience, or are we going to allow ourselves to once again be manipulated by the continue media repetition that President Obama is "struggling" even as we get closer to comprehensive health care reform than ever before? Hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent to influence popular opinion against President Obama from both sides of the political spectrum, and will we stand by silently as the right wing once again plots to over turn the results of the election?

Again, with the extreme rhetoric being spread by folks like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh, the suggestion of impeachment will seem reasonable by comparison in order to set the stage for yet another effort by the Republican party to over throw the will of the electorate.

The question is what will you do when the Republicans turn the page on their 1994 playbook?

[NewJeffCT]

1. I think they'll start preliminary impeachment investigations

within the first days of a new Congress, if they can capture the House. Then, we'll have 2011 and 2012 dominated by Obama's potential impeachment and the cable news debating the issue 24/7.

[Ian David]

2. They don't want to Impeach him. They want to fucking KILL him. n/t

[Cha]

4. They think that's the only way to

get rid of him permanently.

What a force of stupid evil has taken over the party of Lincoln. It's no longer the republican party.

It's the scaredlittlewanker gobblegook faction.

[windbreeze]

27. I agree

from what I have read here, there and around....that's exactly what some are up too...and don't kid yourself for one minute...they fully intend to claim they haven't got a clue what caused it...IF it happens...didn't we have an email posted right here on DU giving instructions for how to act after the fact??? To mourn in public and celebrate in private...so that no one knows who is on what side of the fence....and I don't think that's the work of ONE singular nut case..I believe it's the result of a whole bunch of nutcases working together to achieve their ends...they want him out of office, by any means...it's just that simple..seems to me, Nov. of 1963 proved the extent some will go to to achieve their ends...We best pay attention, so history doesn't repeat itself...wb

[Andy823]

3. What I think is

The republican party will implode before they get a chance to impeach president Obama! Everyday they get crazier and crazier with their ranting and raving. If Beck doesn't have a melt down in the next couple of years I will be surprised. I think the sane people in the republican party, I do think there still are some, will get fed up with Limbaugh and his mouth before the next presidential election. There needs to be someone in the republican party who has the guts to stand up and tell Rush to just "SHUT UP" and then stand behind his comments instead of backing down like so many in the party have already done. I think Rush will try and out due Beck and end up cutting his own throat in the process! Sure the two of them will keep their "rabid" idiotic followers, but those people won't amount to much by 2012!

Now saying all that, if the president decides to stand up, fight, and put the republican in their place I don't think they will be able to get control of congress, but tim will tell!

[TomCADem]

8. The problem I see is that all this craziness generates its own momentum

Yes, it motivates the right wing's most extreme (and crazy) base. However, lets say they capture Congress like its 1994. Can the GOP stop there? Or, do they have to continue to feed their base who by then has accepted Fox News' efforts to portray President Obama as the second coming of Hitler?

This is the danger of such rhetoric. It is not based on any specific policy. Rather, they are just simply trying to portray President Obama as evil incarnate. If it was based on policy, the right wing could fight such a policy, but since the GOP is pushing blind hate, they will necessarily go through a Clinton Impeachment, Part Deaux.

[baldguy]

5. Yes.

1- He's black
2- He's a Democrat

What more reason do they need?

[Laelth]

6. What will I do?

I will blame Obama and the Democratic Party for being corporate whores and alienating their base.

If the Republicans actually can produce a repeat of 1994, which I seriously doubt.

:dem:

-Laelth

[TomCADem]

7. So, You Will Sit Back, As Yet Another Election Is Overturn?

President Obama has been fighting for health care reform, as he campaigned he would do, passed a stimulus that is preventing the U.S. from slinding into a Depression, and you will just cross your arms and do nothing because you bought into the notion that President Obama is too conservative while the right wing and corporate media portrays him as too radical. Hey, it worked for Bill Clinton, why not buy into the incoherent media narratives that President Obama is both a corporate tool and a radical leftist? I am sure that President Obama will get a lot done while he is fending off an impeachment effort while you sit their smugly pointing fingers.

[Laelth]

10. I didn't say that I would "sit back" at all.

I said that in the unlikely event that the Republicans produce a repeat of 1994, I will blame Obama and the centrists in the Democratic Party for it. They are seriously alienating their base by caving to corporate interests.

:dem:

-Laelth

[TomCADem]

13. So you think impeachment by the GOP is deserved?

After all, if you are blaming President Obama for his impeachment, then that necessarily suggests that it is his fault that he is being impeached by the Republicans.

Of course, I do ask you, lets say President Obama acted in a more "liberal" fashion. Are you suggesting that Republicans would be less inclined to impeach him, because I would think that the exact opposite would be the case. After all, the mere fact that President Obama has supported a public option is enough to set people off, and have the right wing equating him with Chairman Mao.

So, if President Obama was more liberal, the right wing would hate him less? I don't get it.

Also, the right wing and corporate interests are already pretty motivated and are spending hundreds of millions of dollars trying to thwart President Obama's efforts to reform health care. Wouldn't they be even more motivated if President Obama was even more liberal?

To me, it is convenient and cowardly, for liberals not to be invested in the success of our country and this Presidency. You might as well pull a Rush Limbaugh and hope that President Obama fails so that you can preserve the argument that your ideologically pure liberal ideas are not trammeled by the potential success of an Obama presidency.

[Laelth]

17. Republicans do what Republicans do. There's no changing that.

And there's no use blaming them for it. That would be like blaming the sky for being blue. It couldn't help it.

No, if Obama blows health care so badly that he alienates his base, if Congress waters down EFCA so badly that the Democrats alienate labor, if Obama continues to make these deals and compromises that sell his base down the river, and if in 2010 Democrats lose enough seats in the House that Obama can be impeached ...

If all of that happens, I will blame Obama and the centrists. You can't expect to win if you regularly betray your base. We voted for change, not oligarchy with a smiley face. In the words of Ted Kennedy, "The last thing this country needs is two Republican Parties."

:dem:

-Laelth

[TomCADem]

19. Absolutely Disagree. Yet, Many Like You, Give The GOP A Free Pass

The right wing certainly does not share your sentiments of writing off Democrats. Heck, they go to townhalls, and regularly harass Democrats, rather than writing them off. Yet, you advocate giving the GOP a free pass, and simply blaming those folks who are closest to you in idealogy. Now, if you are going to argue that there is no difference between President Obama and President Bush, then I might as well be arguing with a table.

Now, you mention the word "compromise." Would President Obama even need to compromise if he was not trying and fighting for a change? In other words, it seems that because President Obama has set the goals high, comprehensive health care reform, if he falls a bit short of that goal, but does manage to outlaw post-claim rescission, for example, you will disown because he tried and fell short.

Also, has President Obama fallen short, or have we fallen short? In allowing Fox News and corporate interests to hijack the debate, isn't any failure of the Obama presidency a reflection of our ability as liberals to effectuate change.

If you claim you are not responsible, and are going to point fingers, rather than taking ownership in our nation's well being, then I have to ask, "why be a Democrat."

Also, if you really do believe that you can't trust the government, that President Obama is incompetent or a sell out, why do you want a public option or single payer run by this very same government that you appear to hold in contempt?

I can understand paranoid right wingers who say they want the corrupt government to keep their hands off their health care, but you appear to be saying that you want "corporate whores" to run health care through single payer or a robust public option.

It just strikes me as internally inconsistent. Please guide me through that thought process.

I am serious on this point. I have read many purportedly liberal posts accusing the Obama administration, Democrats and the federal government of being corrupt or in your words, being "corporate whores," but then demanding single payer run by said government. These types of paranoid posts always have me scratching my head.

[Laelth]

20. I hear your concerns, and I understand your frustration.

I do not believe you have heard me, nor do I believe you even tried to do so.

I certainly prefer for the executive branch of the Federal Government to be run by Democrats. And I do trust the government, the executive branch, at least. The Post Office runs very well. The U.S. military is the best in the world. The FAA is excellent. The IRS is very efficient. Medicare and Medicaid are superbly administered. I have no problem with the executive branch and all the services it provides. The executive branch works better under Democrats than it does under Republicans because Democrats actually want to make the government work and Republicans want to shrink, destroy, and mismanage it.

But I am talking about the legislative branch and the President's role in creating new legislation. On that front, he gives every indication that he intends to sell his base down the river. Many Democrats in Congress have also signaled their willingness to serve corporate interests over the interests of the people. I want single payer, and I want the executive branch of the Federal Government to run it. I do not trust the legislative branch to give us a good "health insurance reform" law, and if the President backs a bad law, he will be complicit in his own downfall for selling out his base to corporate interests.

There is no contradiction in this logic. Please give me the respect of trying to hear what I (and other liberals) have to say.

:dem:

-Laelth

[Name removed]

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[Laelth]

12. Welcome to DU.

Personally, I am not worried about the Republicans. I think there's very little chance that we will lose Congress in 2010. The political climate is really very different now than it was in 1994. In 1994, the Republican Party's approval ratings were not in the toilet. The ghost of Ronald Reagan was much more powerful then. Whereas Clinton followed Bush I, Obama follows one of the least popular politicians in American history, Bush II. Clinton was elected with less than 50% of the popular vote. Obama was elected with well over 50% of the popular vote. The religious right had not completely taken over the Republican Party then. Now, Republican politicians are generally insane, reflecting their rabid base.

I think Obama blew his first chance at health care reform by pushing for a weak plan. I think he should table the idea, for now, and push for single payer in 2011. The current system is unsustainable, and everyone knows it. Change will come. Let's not settle for a bailout of the insurance industry. Let's insist on the eradication of it.

I expect the Democratic Party will pick up 3 seats in the Senate and between 3-6 seats in the House UNLESS Congress passes a disastrous "insurance reform" bill. At this point, I would rather do nothing than to pass any of the bills under consideration in Congress.

:dem:

-Laelth

[Name removed]

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[TomCADem]

16. How has President Obama relied on the race card?

Also, are you suggesting that President Obama is simply blaming Bush, because I do believe that there is a speech tommorrow on health care reform. Do you support that?

[Jennicut]

9. The Rethugs will have to win 40 House Seats to start impeachment proceedings.

I bet they win more from 12 to 20 seats. Obama's approval rating is about 10 points higher then Bill Clinton's was at this point.
They could take back the Senate but still, overcoming a 40 seat deficit just does not seem likely at this point but you never know.

[KingFlorez]

14. That would be their goal

And I would also think that the President and Vice President would be in very serious danger from these violent radicals who might try to harm them in order to make the Republican Speaker of the House the President. I doubt that they will make any significant gains, though, they still are unpopular.

[alcibiades_mystery]

18. Obama is far more disciplined than Clinton

He's not the type of guy that will hand them a reason to impeach.

[HamdenRice]

21. Yeah, but they're slow on the draw compared to some DUers who called for impeachment day 1

I think I read the first DU call for Obama's impeachment the day after inauguration.

So tell me, how are the right wingers any worse than the Obama-haters of the "left"?

[PVnRT]

22. Their goal is a one-party fascist state

They're merely pouring on the rhetoric now to give themselves an excuse for repression later.

[sofa king]

23. That was the ultimate goal of 1994, too.

By now it should be obvious to all of you that the Clinton impeachment was a naked power grab attempt, one which got them close enough to steal the White House in 2000.

Prior to the impeachment for lying about a blow job, the Republican Congress considered drawing up impeachment charges for the Clinton Administration's failure to publish a public National Security Strategy as required by the Goldwater-Nichols Act. It is required to be published annually.

You may recall that the Bush Administration managed to produce exactly one NSS, hot off of Paul Wolfowitz's PNAC files, in 2002, and never again deigned to explain themselves while starting two wars, one under false pretenses. For which Bush was not impeached.

[Tippy]

24. To answer your question....

"The question is what will you do when the Republicans turn the page on their 1994 playbook?"

Rip out the page and use it to wipe up Repugh s_ _t.....Lord knows there is enough around...

[blm]

25. Gee, what would have happened if Clinton had pursued BCCI matters instead of protecting Bush1?

* Elected Republicans would be looking to separate from Bushes and their powerful cronies being revealed as traitors - there would be cries of "I never knew' from GOP lawmakers.

* No strong opposition to Clinton's healthcare overhaul from a GOP minority still smarting and embarassed over their support for Bush policies that enabled financiers of global terror networks.

* No turnover of Congress in 94.

* No Bush would be elected to anything in the 90s, and especially not able to run for WH.

* No 9-11 event, as global terror networks would've been revealed by the mid90s to be funded by powerful financial interests operating thru BCCI.



Obama should have learned that if you don't let American public KNOW details about previous administration's illegal operations, it does nothing but protects the secrecy and privilege of the Bushes and their powerful cronies, and ends up working AGAINST your ability to push your own domestic agenda.

[treestar]

26. They won't have a Monica to hang it on

That'll make it harder.

But they are doing a good job with those progressives, aren't they? The far right supports anything remotely right wing. But the far left deserts at the first opportunity. That's why the conservatives get so much of what they want.

[Juche]

28. The first remotely questionable thing will lead to impeachment charges

If they can find a reason to impeach, they will. Authoritarian conservatives do not respect the concept of democracy, and if they cannot win a fair election they will use violence or legal wrangling to get their way.

So I expect more wingnuts with guns, more death threats, and impeachment charges based on something stupid (probably something irrelevant to his job as president like using air force one improperly, not deducting things from his income taxes properly or something) to happen within the next 3 years.

Saddest part is I honestly think the American people might be dumb enough to vote the GOP back into power. As long as they don't have a majority in the congress, all they can do is talk.