Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) is really not as dumb as he acts, which makes the things he says and does even more egregious because he knows better. He pulled a fast one on Republicans last night at a Montgomery County GOP dinner, telling them that they can’t impeach Obama unless they get the Senate under Republican control.
An audience member asked Cruz, “Why don’t we impeach him [Obama]?” reported the National Review based on their audio of the event.
“It’s a good question,” Cruz responded, “and I’ll tell you the simplest answer: To successfully impeach a president you need the votes in the U.S. Senate.”
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Cruz then slyly noted that the Democrats control the Senate. Saying they need votes in the Senate to impeach Obama is a super clever way of getting out the vote, even if it is a lie. In order to impeach Obama, Republicans would need the House of Representatives, which they already have.
The House of Representatives has the sole power of impeaching. The Senate has the sole power to convict. To impeach, you need the votes in the House.
Let that sink in as the conservatives twitch.
Why haven’t Republicans done it? Because they know there is no reasonable basis upon which to impeach Obama other than what passes for reason on the right — but being President while black is not going to fly for the rest of the country. We impeach for treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.
Republican Presidential candidates tried to garner support by telling their base they would repeal ObamaCare on their first day in office, even though as President they could not just undo the law. Meh. Constitution — not worth the paper it’s written on.
Now they’re going to use impeaching Obama to try to get out the vote for the Senate, even though Cruz later admitted to the National Journal that he would not pursue impeaching Obama even if they had the House and the Senate, because they couldn’t win that fight.
I told you he wasn’t stupid.
If Republicans are dumb enough to fall for yet another big lie that is easily fact checked, they deserve Ted Cruz, even if he doesn’t follow through on his birtheresque promise to revoke his Canadian citizenship. Yes, all parties use anger at the other side to get out the vote and get donations flowing; for example, Democrats have raised quite a tidy sum off of Sarah Palin’s insane screeches.
But Ted Cruz is a sitting U.S. Senator who just lied about impeaching a President who has done nothing to get him impeached.
Luckily for Ted, mangling the Constitution is just sort of what Republicans do these days, so getting it wrong is no biggie. I mean, gosh, he’s only in the Senate, why should he know what they actually do?
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