GOP's 10 Dumbest Reasons To Impeach

No modern American president, not even Bill Clinton (who was nearly impeached), has had to bear the burden of such hatred as the right-wing has shown for President Obama. I'm convinced it is because a large element of the Republican Party (the teabaggers) have not shed their racist views, and just can't accept the fact that an African-American was honestly elected to be the president of this country. And the Republican Party leaders have fed into that racist hatred, in the hope that it will get them back into power.

And one of the ways they have fed that hatred is to declare that they want to impeach the president. They know full well that President Obama has done nothing that would justify his impeachment and removal from office. If he had, the impeachment proceedings would have been started a long time ago. But they also know their teabagger base is not very bright, and they'll swallow all the impeachment talk because they hate the president.

So a lot of congressional Republicans (and Republicans that would like to go to Congress) have expelled a lot of hot air about how they will impeach President Obama. And the reasons they have given for wanting to impeach him range from absurd to really ridiculous. Think Progress has compiled a list of the 10 silliest Republican reasons for impeachment, and I found it very humorous. I thought you might also, so here they are:

1. To get Obama’s birth certificate. Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI) suggested that Congress use the threat of impeachment to force Obama to show his birth certificate. [10/13/10]


2. “Giving away” seven Arctic islands. Wes Riddle, a Texas congressional candidate, is peddling a bizarre conspiracy theory that Obama gave away seven Arctic islands to Russia. Despite the fact that the treaty ceding these islands was ratified by the Senate in 1991, Riddle said he will push to impeach Obama over the matter. [6/22/12]


3. Obama’s new immigration policy for undocumented students.Allen Quist, a former state representative running in Minnesota’s 1st congressional district, said that he would lead the impeachment charge against Obama for the president’s new immigration policy that would prevent one million undocumented students from being deported. [6/26/12]


4. “Refusing to secure the borders.” Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) told radio host Lou Dobbs that Obama is refusing to secure the border and it “comes awfully close to a violation of [his] oath of office.” [7/19/10]


5. Failing to extended the Bush tax cuts. Grover Norquist, author of the anti-tax pledge that nearly every Republican in Congress has signed, told National Journal that if Obama allows the Bush tax cuts to expire, “Republicans will have enough votes in the Senate in 2014 to impeach.” [1/29/12]


6. Not defending DOMA in court. Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) said he “absolutely” supports impeaching Obama after the administration announced it would not defend a portion of the Defense of Marriage Act in court. [3/2/11]


7. To stop Obama from passing new laws. Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) told a Tea Party group that he would push for impeachment just to block Obama’s legislative agenda. “It needs to happen, and I agree with you it would tie things up,” Burgess said. “No question about that.” [8/9/11]


8. “Shenanigans” in Obama’s immigration policies. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), second-in-command among Senate Republicans, told radio host Bill Bennett that, because of Obama’s immigration policies, “impeachment is always a possibility” if there are “shenanigans involved.” [6/26/12]


9. If Obama used the 14th Amendment to declare the debt ceiling unconstitutional. During the debt ceiling showdown, Rep. Tim Scott (R-SC) and other Republicans have floated the possibility of impeaching Obama if he declared the debt ceiling unconstitutional rather than allow the country to default. [7/7/11]


10. If the government defaults. When Republicans forced the debt ceiling crisis, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) announced on Twitter that if Congress doesn’t increase the debt ceiling and the federal government is forced to default, “Obama would be impeached.” [7/25/11]