Andrew Sullivan:
Are they aiming for impeachment?
They did the last Democratic president; and they feel even more strongly that this one is illegitimate, despite his thumping majority in the last election. Here's the scenario. The House GOP pushes for completely unserious Boehner plan (including a balanced budget amendment) that they know will be vetoed; they then filibuster the Reid plan in the Senate, forcing Obama to invoke a 14th Amendment executive prerogative, which they will then turn around and impeach him for.
Far-fetched? I hope so. But every time you think you have reached the end of Republican extremism, they manage to move further out of the solar system. But it will take a huge effort by the propaganda machine on the right to make Obama's decision not to default his fault, rather than the GOP's. At this point, if the Reid plan cannot make it through the Senate on time or through the House at all, I'm beginning to believe that Obama should invoke this controversial power, given the extreme danger the stalemate is creating for both the US and the global economy, and challenge the courts to reverse it.
I suspect it would be popular among Independents. And allow Obama to regain the initiative over events dictated by a single faction in one party in one chamber whose fanaticism is only matched by their irresponsibility.
Oh yeah, I think they're certainly aiming for impeachment. Need further evidence? Consider this. Yesterday, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Ca) launched an investigation in to President Obama's new fuel economy standards. Really.
Also, even though Sullivan calls it fanaticism by a "single faction in one party in one chamber", I don't agree with that at all. Rather, I see it as being the entirety of the currently governing modern Republican Party, and we should not let them off the proverbial hook by attributing it solely to the Tea Party buffoons.
So no, Republicans were behaving irresponsibly before they joined with the newly elected Tea Party freshmen in 2010. Unless Sullivan wants to tell us that the refusal of Republicans in both chambers to do anything but obstruct over the past two and a half years is "responsible government".
There should be strong negative consequences for these childish, irresponsible, stupid people.
