On Friday’s broadcast of The Rush Limbaugh Show, host Rush Limbaugh pushed back against Democratic strategist James Carville’s assertion that Limbaugh had called for President Obama’s impeachment. During an interview with Ted O’Baxter on Thursday, Carville said that Limbaugh had expressed his support for impeaching Obama on his program earlier that day. Limbaugh claimed that he did no such thing and further asserted that he has never called for the impeachment of President Obama.
Below are his comments from Friday’s program, courtesy of his website’s transcript:
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Carville was on O’Baxter show saying I came out for impeachment, and the e-mailer said, “Gee, I missed that,” because I didn’t say it. I never have called for the impeachment of Obama. All I’ve said is that I think it’s a mistake to take the option off the table, to take the ammo out of your arsenal. But I’ve never said, “Pull the trigger on it.”
On Thursday’s program, Limbaugh said that he was upset with some Republicans for insisting that impeachment should be off the table. Rush feels that the door should be open and the threat of impeachment should be hanging over the President’s head.
He’s just goading them, folks. He’s just goading these Republicans to give him what he wants, and what he wants is to be impeached and the Republicans are shouting from the rooftops that they’re not going to impeach him. I think they’ve gone so far overboard, they’ve gone way beyond what’s necessary. I really hate this. Two things: This business of shouting: “We’re not going to impeach the president!” Look, don’t take it off the table.
In any negotiation, you don’t throw away your options. All you’re doing is signaling to the president that you’re not going to do anything to stop him and you’re signaling to the people that whatever he’s doing, “Hey, folks, he’s not breaking the law. He’s not being lawless. He’s not out there being extra constitutional. If he were, we would do something about it. But we’re not going to do anything about it.” What’s the message that they’re sending?
Now, perhaps Limbaugh is stating that he isn’t actively pleading for the House Republicans to start impeachment proceedings on POTUS this minute. However, the message is pretty clear that Limbaugh feels that President Obama should be impeached and that he is breaking the law. Regardless, Limbaugh is claiming that this statement does not indicate he is calling for impeachment. For argument’s sake, let’s go ahead and take his word in this instance.
Of course, Limbaugh also said on Friday that he has NEVER called for Obama’s impeachment. Even if we give him a break on the comments he made Thursday, Limbaugh is blatantly lying when he says he has never demanded that the President be removed from office by Congress. On multiple occasions, the conservative radio host has said that President Obama needs to be impeached. Not only has he voiced his favor for impeachment, he’s implored Congress to take action.
On June 24th of this year, while discussing an exchange between IRS Commissioner John Koskinen and Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) during a hearing, Limbaugh made the following comments:
“Have you noticed all the waivers to Obamacare? We’re breaking the law every day, and there nothing you can do about it! (Raspberry!)” That’s Koskinen. That’s exactly what he’s saying; that’s exactly who he is. “The law doesn’t matter to us! Can’t you look around, Gowdy? Can’t you see? We’re breaking the law every day, getting away with it every day. I don’t have to know what the law is ’cause there isn’t any law!
“We are the Obama administration, and I demand that you stop this. You can’t stop us; there’s nothing you can do to stop us.” It is clear that there’s no respect for this committee, no respect for the law, no respect whatsoever. This is a statist mentality. This is utter defiance. I mean, this guy needs to be impeached. We impeached Nixon for less than this kind of stuff! Nixon only dreamed about doing what this guy’s done!
Nixon only dreamed about doing what Lois Lerner has done. Nixon only dreamed of using the IRS to damage his political opponents. He never did it, but they wanted to convict him of a thought crime nevertheless. Well, these people have done it, and now they’re being called on it, and they’re asked to explain it.
During his broadcast on May 20th, 2013, Limbaugh claimed that Obama won’t be impeached because he is the first black president. However, he also said he’d be all for it and that if impeachment ever did occur he’d happily say he was wrong for predicting that it wouldn’t happen.
Folks, let me tell you something. I’m just gonna launch here. I’ll do this with as much restraint as possible. But, in my humble thinking, the people of this country, if it came to this, are simply not going to tolerate the first black president being removed from office.
…
For me, the message is liberalism, big government, out of control. And I’m perfectly comfortable using Obama, but in terms of focusing efforts to try to have Obama impeached or held personally responsible for these scandals is a bunch of wasted effort. That is a dream that’s only going to remain a dream. That just isn’t gonna happen.
And by the way, I would love to be wrong about this, and if I am wrong, I’ll be the first person, “You know what, I missed it. I shoulda seen it coming.” If it ever does I’ll be the first to tell you I blew it. But I don’t think that’s gonna happen, and I don’t think that it’s productive to go after Obama. Even if we’re able to impeach Obama, nothing’s gonna change.
Prior to that, while discussing the sequestration on his February 27th, 2013 broadcast, Limbaugh said that Obama had committed an “impeachable offense.”
The New York Times reported that there were reports of releases in more than a dozen other locations all over the country. Can you imagine any other president doing this in a fit of pique? “Okay, I’ll show you.” You know, folks, I’m gonna tell you something. In what used to be considered, if we can remember this far back, normal, sane times, this is an impeachable offense. This is in direct violation of the oath of office. Defend and protect the Constitution of the United States and the people. We’re opening the doors of prisons before the sequester has even happened, before there have even been any budget cuts. This is so childish, except the consequences are real for people that live nearby these detention centers. This is on-the-ground, hard, cold reality.
I guess Limbaugh lives in a world where search engines and archives don’t exist and people can pretend they didn’t say or do certain things. The fact is that El Rushbo has been clamoring for an Obama impeachment pretty much since Obama was first elected in 2008. Unfortunately for Republicans, their impeachment frenzy has backfired and is currently helping Democrats ahead of this year’s midterm elections. Limbaugh and the rest of the conservative pundits and politicians who were energizing the far-right base about possible impeachment are now trying to get that genie back in the bottle. It is too late.
Justin Baragona is the Managing Editor at Politicus Sports as well as Senior Editor at PoliticusUSA. He was a political writer for 411Mania.com before joining PoliticusUSA. Politically, Justin considers himself a liberal but also a realist and pragmatist. Currently, Justin lives in St. Louis, MO and is married. Besides writing, he also runs his own business after spending a number of years in the corporate world. You can follow Justin on Twitter either with his personal handle (@justinbaragona) or the Sports site’s (@PoliticusSports).
