I have a friend with two dogs. Okay, he’ll tell you he has one dog and his wife has the other, but she’s been working so much lately, he’s the one who walks them. He walks them both at the same time, and it’s really funny to watch at times, because the little one walks as if it’s the biggest, baddest dog on the block, and the big one’s a big sissy. Basically, the big dog could eat the big dog in one healthy bite, but neither dog realizes it.
The whole scene reminds me of the current state of the major political parties at the moment. You have the Republican Party as the little dog who thinks he’s king of the world, and the Democratic Party as the big dog, who seems to have no clue he’s actually in charge.
At some point, Democrats will figure out they’re in charge again, and they’ll come out of their shell. We’re already starting to see it. And if we work our asses off and target the biggest pussy Democrats next election, and elect a significant number of progressives, we’ll put the fear of Gawd in them and they’ll straighten up and fly right. But Republicans are in the crapper, and everyone but them seems to know it. They’re the little dog that struts and yelps and nips at your heels, and makes you laugh in the process.
I get a lot of right wing propaganda in my e-mail every day, but one I received this morning made me laugh out loud. And since I was sitting in a library at the time, laughing out loud made me feel bad. The title of the e-mail was, simply, “Impeach Barack Obama.” It was the only time in the entire e-mail in which they didn’t use his middle name; I guess they didn’t want to scare off moderates.
The people these e-mails are directed to must be clinically insane. The only reason I’m convinced they have a pulse is their ability to type, although there are some really great programs out there that allow you to speak into your computer and type, so perhaps…
The case made is ludicrous, of course. The fact that he hasn’t been smacked upside the head by Michelle’s biggest frying pan would indicate that he hasn’t been blown by an intern yet. So what are their reasons for wanting impeachment? Put simply, they're out to make money, and they know right wingers are the biggest suckers out there.
They start by quoting Tammy Bruce;
"...
ultimately, it comes down to... the fact that he seems to have, it seems to me,
some malevolence toward this country, which is unabated."
Malevolence? For Chrissakes, people, say what you will about Obama, but the man hasn’t a malevolent bone in his body. I mean, I refer to Fox News as “lying sacks of shit” on a daily basis; he just won’t talk to them unless it’s part of a news story. If anything, he’s too nice. I’m still waiting for him to crack some skulls with regard to the public option. Malevolent? I know Tammy Bruce knows what the word means, because she’s only slightly less malevolent toward most Americans than Michael Savage, so you know she says it and has to run to the bathroom to laugh her ass off. She can't believe her own shtick.
Oh, but here are the first “reasons for impeachment;”
*Are you
terrified at Barack Hussein Obama's campaign to change our country into a
third-world nation?
*Are you
willing to sit back and watch Obama bulldoze our great nation?
*Are you
willing to let him construct a totalitarian regime... fascism, socialism,
Obamaism... take your pick?
I don’t know what planet they’re living on, but on this planet, it was the previous president that apparently wanted to turn us into a third-world nation with his economic policies. I mean, the current recession was actually the second one in less than eight years, and the third major market downturn. Our debt is the largest in the history of the world, and there is suddenly doubt on the part of our creditors as to whether we’ll be able to pay it back. That sounds more like a banana republic than I’m comfortable with; how about you? And it wasn't President Obama who presided over the destruction of a major American city, and the destruction of a major American center of commerce, and then shrugged at both. He had eight years to rebuild the World Trade Center, and three years to start the rebuilding of New Orleans, and he did neither. Brad Pitt built more homes in New Orleans than the Bush government.
And you want to talk “totalitarian regime”? How about a government that tortures prisoners, kills habeas corpus, attempts to assert its intention and ability to spy on you, as well as its right to hold anyone it wants to, for as long as it wants without due process or benefit of counsel? And ask anyone who ever appeared on one of those “watch lists” they developed to keep people from flying, simply because you have a name similar to someone else who did something bad. (If you’re one of the tens of thousands of people named “Robert Johnson” and you’ve tried to fly since 2002, you know what I’m talking about.) The Patriot Act wasn't passed by Obama. Seems to me, if they want to impeach someone who’s a totalitarian, they missed by a mile.
At the very least, fire a shot across the bow... a shot that will be heard around the world... and send Barack Hussein Obama a clear and unmistakable message that he does not have carte blanche to ruin the United States of America.
You have to love the bravado, don’t you? This is what I mean when I compare them with the little dog. And you have to admire the built-in assumption of supreme gullibility on the part of their followers. If only you give them some money, they’ll get a message out to the whole world that a bunch of cranks want to impeach a President of the United States who has done nothing wrong. You have to appreciate the simple-mindedness of such an appeal, don’t you? If there was ever any doubt that these people are clueless, it’s contained in an appeal for impeachment at a time when their party is sinking like a rock, electorally speaking, and their figurehead is a clown who only holds his job because he’s the same color (roughly) as the President.
They have 40 seats in the Senate. They have a minority in the House. They can’t possibly think such a thing would go beyond the laughing our asses off stage, right? But even if they got their miracle, and they managed to impeach and convict Barack Obama. Who’s next? Joe Biden, who would then pick someone like Joe Biden as his Vice President. Next in line would be Nancy Pelosi. After her would come Robert Byrd, but he’s kind of sick, so it would more likely go to Hillary Clinton. For Chrissakes, folks; there are only two Republicans in the line of succession; the first would be Robert Gates (6th in line), assuming Biden would keep him on if they impeached Obama, which I doubt, and Ray LaHood, who’s 14th in the line of succession.
But goshdarn it; they think they can do it. In fact, they echo some familiar sentiments in asserting so:
Can we actually
impeach Barack Hussein Obama? Should we impeach Barack Hussein Obama?
To borrow a phrase from the "anointed-one," ... "yes
we can."
But before going on, we really need to address the
often misunderstood subject of what exactly constitutes an impeachable offense,
in order to illustrate that Barack Hussein Obama's actions are grave enough to
warrant impeachment.
Former President Gerald Ford, while serving in the
House of Representatives, said an impeachable offense was, "whatever a majority of the House of Representatives
considers it to be at a given moment in history."
Article I, Section 4 of the Constitution reads: "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."
The key phrase here is "high
crimes and misdemeanors," a concept in English Common Law that
was well-known to our Founding Fathers but is grossly misunderstood in this day
and age.
"High crimes and
misdemeanors" essentially means bad behavior.
Here's a passage from C-Span.org which
succinctly and beautifully summarizes the historical significance surrounding
the inclusion of the term "high crimes and
misdemeanors" in the Constitution:
"'High crimes and misdemeanors' entered the
text of the Constitution due to George Mason and James Madison. Mason had
argued that the reasons given for impeachment - treason and bribery - were not
enough. He worried that other 'great and dangerous offenses' might not be
covered... so Mason then proposed 'high crimes and misdemeanors,' a phrase
well-known in English common law. In 18th century language, a 'misdemeanor'
meant 'mis-demeanor,' or bad behavior."
In other words, "high
crimes and misdemeanors" does not refer to a criminal act (as
some would lead you to believe... at least our Founding Fathers did not believe
so) and the Founders fully intended to allow for the removal of the
President for actions which were... well... simply put... egregious... grossly
incompetence... grossly negligence... outright distasteful... or, in the case
of Barack Hussein Obama, actions which clearly show "malevolence
toward this country, which is unabated."
Can you see them tap-dancing as you read that? “High crimes” is separate from “misdemeanors,” first of all. High crimes refers to any crime against the state. Misdemeanors was added to cover anyone who shows incompetence, or whose behavior ether makes him incompetent to do the job, or makes it impossible to trust him. A lot of people disagree with some of the things Obama has done; people on the left are often as disappointed as people on the right at times; but if nothing George W. Bush did rose to the level of “bad behavior,” then obviously, President Obama won’t be impeached.
That said, anything can constitute an “impeachable offense,” if the opposition has the political power to pass articles of impeachment.
And there’s the rub, wingnuts. You need to fix your party before you can even think of wielding enough power to impeach the president. How delusional do you have to be to think you’re going to get enough votes in the House to pass articles of impeachment, when there are 79 more Democrats than Republicans. And if you couldn’t convict Bill Clinton when you had a majority in the Senate, how are you going to do so with 40 seats and dropping?
Still, it’s fun to read this crap, and imagine the hickabilly it appeals to. Bet you can count the teeth on one finger.
But aren’t you wondering who sent this out? I mean, we know why; it’s sent out to raise a boatload of money from irrational morons who absolutely hate the fact that a black man is sitting in the Oval Office. Well, check this out, and I bet something will click:
A personal
introduction is in order. My name is Floyd Brown.
Most people know me as the man behind the infamous
Willie Horton ad that sunk the presidential aspirations of Governor Michael
Dukakis, or for the pivotal work in support of the confirmation of Justice
Clarence Thomas.
I was also among the first to sound the alarm on the
Clinton Whitewater scandal as well as the mysterious circumstances surrounding
the apparent "suicide" of
White House Counsel Vince Foster during the early Clinton years.
Yes, folks, it’s the scumbag who walks around bragging about putting together the most racist political ad in the history of American politics; a man whose entire political career is all about smearing people. This is what they’re about, folks. They have nothing positive to offer voters; they stoke and feed on hatred and racism.
And they’re going down. Yet, they’re the only ones who don’t seem to notice.
