While Republican extremists wave Confederate flags and clamor for President Obama’s impeachment, it is the behavior of House Speaker John Boehner that I see as impeachable.
Boehner has acted in the most scurrilous manner during the ongoing government gridlock. And I believe his subversive activities rise to the level of “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
The media blame intransigent Tea Party representatives for closing down the government, inflicting misery on thousands of guiltless government workers and their families, and for the standoff that is putting America’s “full faith and credit” at risk in the world. But Boehner could have averted the crisis and instead chose to prolong it.
Coward that he is, he has conspired to serve the ends of the Tea Party insurgents. His most dastardly act may well be the trick he used to keep Democrats and moderate Republicans from voting to keep the government open. He changed the rule that – in the event of a deadlock between the House and Senate – permitted any member of the House to bring a motion before the other elected representatives. Under the chhanged rule, only Majority Leader Eric Cantor “or his designee” can introduce a vote to end the shutdown.
The sneaky rule change was made late on the night of September 30, with the federal government just hours away from shutting down, and it was unnoticed at the time.
Now, Democrats and moderate Republicans who want to end the shutdown are finding out they’ve been gagged.
This is the kind of behavior that Republican radicals have become infamous for. Clearly in the minority in America, they have resorted to rule rigging, filibuster abuse, gerrymandering and every other low-down, dirty trick to seize power in defiance of the majority’s wishes.
Impeaching Boehner would send a cautionary message to the tricksters.
It would also be a fitting final chapter to Boehner’s political career. The man who is now second in line to the presidency of the United States (following the Vice President) has a checkered history. Back in 1992, for example, he was implicated in the House Banking Scandal, in which representatives were allowed to overdraw their checking accounts without being penalized.
Then in June 1995, he was seen distributing campaign contributions from tobacco industry lobbyists on the House floor as the representatives were deciding how to vote on tobacco subsidies.
Throughout his long career, the Ohio congressman has been closely associated with lobbyists and is one of Wall Street’s most loyal allies. As Speaker of the Republican controlled House, he has consistently blocked President Obama’s initiatives to revive the economy and create jobs.
Now, in an abject attempt to keep his job, he is allying himself with a subversive band of extremist rebels who are willing to sacrifice the welfare of their country and subject millions of fellow-Americans to abject misery. And he is using the most underhanded tactics to do it.
The way I see it, such cowardice and betrayal are ample grounds for impeachment.
Photo shows Michael Ashmore of Hooks, Tex. waving a Confederate flag in front of the White House during a recent Tea Party protest.
Click here to impeach Boehner.
Click here for more on the surreptitious rule change.
Click here for more on the Tea Party protest.
