This is actually from former CNN reporter Howard Kurtz, of whom I am not exactly a fan, but he is now at Fox and he certainly does
not hold back one bit:
There is simply no downside for Sarah Palin in calling for Barack Obama’s impeachment.
She grabs a nice bit of media attention. She rallies her conservative base. She gets to talk about it on Fox. And since she holds no elective office, she doesn’t have to worry about whether her rhetorical broadside has the slightest chance of succeeding.
In fact, the chances that the House will impeach a second straight Democratic president are extremely remote. But so what? Palin gets the issue and positions herself on the leading edge of anti-Obamaism.
In other words Sarah Palin is a nobody, with few prospects, and virtually nothing of any value to lose, so there is no chance that her hateful rhetoric will cost her any future elections or opportunities since she really does not have many options anyway.
Kurtz then goes on to explain to Palin why this impeachment thing is a non-starter.
But while various GOP congressmen have openly mused about impeachment, the House leadership hasn’t given any indication that such proceedings would be seriously considered. With the Republicans appearing to be in a strong position in the 2014 midterms, why introduce an explosive new element that would divide the country and enable critics to turn the spotlight on their motivation?
The impeachment of Bill Clinton didn’t work out so well from the GOP point of view, as the country turned against the effort and the Democrats actually picked up House seats in the 1998 midterms.
I’m sure a chunk of the country would love to see Obama run out of office. But being a bad president isn’t grounds for impeachment. The Constitution requires evidence of “high crimes and misdemeanors”—say, like authorizing burglaries and orchestrating a coverup, as Richard Nixon did.
Kurtz then goes on to list all of the ways that this impeachment groundswell could sabotage the Republican party and potentially hand Democrats ammunition for both 2014 and 2016.
I was thinking about this the other day and to be honest if this thing builds any steam it really can do nothing but help the President, whose opponents will appear to be vindictive nutjobs, and the Democrats, who can use this in their campaigns to illustrate just how completely dedicated the Republicans are to obstructionism and the destruction of a President that was elected to office twice by huge margins.
One has to ask once again, is Sarah Palin really this stupid? Or is somebody paying her to sabotage the Republican party from within?
Update: Peter Wehner of the Wall Street Journal
has some choice words as well:
Impeachment is such an obviously bad idea that one could plausibly assume this is a desperate shout-out to garner attention, an effort to win praise from the few remaining Palinites in America. (It tells you something when the controversial culture warrior Pat Buchanan is a temperate, restrained voice compared with Ms. Palin.)
On the other hand, Ms. Palin does seem to represent a certain mind-set. What matters to her is not mastering issues or even being conversant on them; it’s politics as theatrics, as a show, as a way to prove one’s purity. The conservatism of prudence and of realism, of moderate temperament and judicious judgments, seems alien to her. She wants to fight, even (and maybe especially) if it means losing. And notice the threat, too. She’s calling for Americans to “vehemently oppose any politician on the left or right who would hesitate in voting for articles of impeachment.” So voting for President Obama’s impeachment isn’t enough; those who even hesitate to do so deserve scorn. Impeachment of the president has now risen to a self-evident truth. For Ms. Palin, advocating a suicide run isn’t enough; she wants to punish those who don’t join her in self-immolation.
Look she is finally getting the attention that she craves so much.
