If Palin saw herself as the tip of the Republican spear on impeachment… there's not much spear behind the tip. First of all, a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows that most Americans just wish she'd go away and shut up already. Most Democrats, most independents and almost half the Republicans are sick and tired of her crazy, empty-headed extremist hectoring. Overall 54% of Americans just do not want to hear anything from her anymore-- even worse than the 45% of Americans who hope to never hear anything more about Cheney before his funeral announcement.And it isn't just normal Americans who cringe when they hear Palin whining and squeaking about impeaching President Obama. Yesterday, writing for The Hill, Peter Schroeder reported that hard-right Republicans in the House want to shut down the impeachment talk.
They argue an impeachment trial would be a doomed effort, in a Democratic Senate, that could hurt Republicans in the midterm elections.Their efforts are providing cover and support to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and other party leaders who have sought to contain the chatter for impeachment.Boehner, who on Wednesday said he disagreed with calls for Obama’s impeachment, has said the House will vote this month on legislation to bring a lawsuit against Obama over his use of executive actions.“Harry Reid’s [D-Nev.] going to block anything we do in that regard,” said Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.), a dyed-in-the-wool conservative who in February said he would vote to impeach Obama.“We’d like to do more, the problem is the avenues are just not available,” said Rep. John Fleming (R-La.). “Even if impeachment was to pass in the House, it wouldn’t remove the president from office.“It’s one of those things that if you can’t see an end solution, why even get into that debate?” Fleming said.Talk of impeaching Obama has been stirred up by several conservative voices outside Congress. Sarah Palin, the GOP’s vice presidential candidate in 2008, on Tuesday said Obama should be impeached because of the immigration crisis at the border. She lambasted Boehner’s proposal to sue Obama, arguing Republicans who backed the plan lacked the “cajones” for impeachment.RedState.com’s Erick Erickson similarly wrote that the lawsuit was “political theater” and called for Boehner to “man up” and take tougher action against the president.The Drudge Report also stirred impeachment sentiment with a poll inviting Website visitors to vote on whether Obama should be impeached. Predictably, sentiment at the conservative site showed more than 70 percent backed impeachment.Other voices in the Republican Party have pushed back at calls for impeachment, including conservative commentator Pat Buchanan.Within the House, many conservative Republicans say they have a strong case for Obama’s impeachment. Their reason for not pursuing it is that it would be a futile effort that could blow up in their faces.…Republicans seeking to tamp down the talk are reminding their colleagues of the House vote on former President Clinton’s impeachment, which backfired badly on Republicans.Republicans ended up losing seats in the 1998 midterm election, something that rarely happens in such a political cycle for the party that does not control the White House, as the attempted impeachment made headlines and Democrats talked of GOP overreach.Democrats believe the new round of impeachment talk is good for their party, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee cited Palin’s comments in a fundraising email sent Tuesday, calling her comments and the lawsuit “ugly attacks on President Obama’s legitimacy.”Boehner signaled his wariness of the talk with his comments on Wednesday, in which he twice said he disagreed with calls for impeachment.Separately, Iowa GOP Senate candidate Joni Ernst disavowed comments she’d made in January that seemed to back impeachment.“To be clear, I have not seen any evidence that the president should be impeached,” Ernst said in a statement released Tuesday.
Last time the Republicans ran their little impeachment circus, public opinion turned sharply against them. The stunk turned out to be career suicide for several of Clinton's impeachment managers. The right-wing lunatic from my own area, Jim Rogan, was defeated by a weak and unattractive Democrat, Adam Schiff, in 2000. That same year Bill McCollum (R-FL) ran for the Senate and lost (and then tried again 4 years later and didn't get beyond the primary). George Gekas (R-PA) was defeated by Tim Holden in 2002. In 2004, Bob Barr (R-GA) was defeated by John Linder in a primary-- although he's running again now and very likely to be defeated on July 22 by Republican Barry Loudermilk. Ed Bryant (R-TN) made two runs for the Senate and was defeated both times in primaries. It took Ohio a while, but they finally replaced Steve Chabot with a Democrat in 2008. Unfortunately, it was a timid and uninspiring Democrat and Chabot made a comeback in 2010. Asa Hutchinson (R-AR) ran for governor of Arkansas and was defeated, although he's hoping enough voters have forgotten his disgraceful behavior to get him through this coming November when he faces off against an especially horrible Blue Dog, Mike Ross. Chris Cannon (R-UT) was kicked out by fellow Republicans for not being extreme enough! He was replaced by fringe nut Jason Chaffetz. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and Steve Buyer (R-IN) are in deep red districts and are still in the House. Lindsey Graham won a Senate seat and Henry Hyde is blowing Satan in Hell.
