GOP pushes impeachment hype

The Republican Party has apparently signed on to the desperation tactic of claiming Democrats will impeach President Bush if they take back the House in 2006.

This tactic, which I first documented in a column from Paul Weyrich, has gained increasing attention in recent weeks as President Bush's approval ratings decline into the 30s.

Today, Ken Mehlman, the GOP chairman, sent an email to supporters (PDF) claiming the "Democrats' plan for 2006" is to "[t]ake the House and Senate, and impeach the President":

The word is out. Their position is clear. Last week, Sen. Russ Feingold floated a reckless plan to censure the President, and some Democrat leaders have ecstatically jumped on Feingold's bandwagon.

And, if they gain even more power in November, they won't stop there.

Feingold says that censure actually represents "moderation" and calls the terrorist surveillance program an impeachable offense. Dick Durbin, the number two Democrat in the Senate, fails to rule out impeachment if Democrats retake Congress. Iowa Democrat Tom Harkin is talking "high crimes and misdemeanors." And 31 House Democrats are calling for a committee to look into impeachment. Their leader? John Conyers, who would become House Judiciary Committee chairman under Democrat control.

The Democrats' plan for 2006? Take the House and Senate, and impeach the President.

As I've written before, it seems unlikely that Democrats would actually impeach Bush in the last two years of his presidency knowing that the Senate will not remove him from office. But that doesn't stop Mehlman from claiming it as fact based on some highly circumstantial evidence.

Mehlman later suggests that Democrats don't want to aggressively fight the war on terror:

Democrat leaders' talk of censure and impeachment isn't about the law or the President doing anything wrong. It's about the fact that Democrat leaders don't want America to fight the War on Terror with every tool in our arsenal. Your immediate action will send these reckless Democrats a message and help preserve our Republican majorities.

...The world is watching. Using every tool at our disposal to fight terrorists should not be a partisan issue. Democrats should to be focused on winning the War on Terror, not undermining it with political axe-grinding of the ugliest kind.

When I criticize Republicans for suggesting dissent aids terrorists, their apologists frequently reply that Republicans are saying that Democratic opposition has the effect of aiding terrorists, not claiming that Democrats want to aid terrorists.

Note in this case, however, that Mehlman is explicitly suggesting Democrats don't want to fight the war on terror. He writes that "Democrat leaders don't want America to fight the War on Terror with every tool in our arsenal," and he later adds that "Democrats should to be focused on winning the War on Terror, not undermining it with political axe-grinding of the ugliest kind."

Apparently, desperate times call for desperate spin.

Comments

[Noumenon]

Kevin Drum knows impeachment is not what the Republicans are really worried about. Congrats on getting a link from him btw.

[Scaramouche]

Is it just me, or does anyone else think that the GOP is actually helping the Dems when it argues that a Democratic majority would impeach a guy with a 33% job rating?

I mean, aren't there a lot of independents out there who would get excited about something like that?

Seems to me if the GOP wants to play the impeachment card, we oughta let 'em. They will simply turn an off year election into a referendum on the most unpopular President since Richard Nxon.

Bring it on!