More Republicans are talking about impeaching President Obama, this time for his role in the ongoing Syria crisis.
Late last week Sen. John McCain, who generally supports certain action in Syria, told Phoenix’s KFYI radio that “boots on the ground” in the country could lead to impeachment for the president.
Before criticizing the president for asking Congress for authorization, McCain told radio host Mike Broomhead that “no one wants American boots on the ground.”
“Nor will there be American boots on the ground because there would be an impeachment of the president if they did that,” he added.
McCain is not the first to discuss impeachment in the context of Syria, with the discussion from some lawmakers going as far back as March of last year.
McCain’s hypothetical impeachment talk seems unlikely to come to fruition, but a small and growing chorus of other Republicans continue to talk about impeachment in more general terms.
“I look at the president, I think he’s violated the Constitution,” Republican Rep. Bill Flores of Texas said in a YouTube video first shared by Buzzfeed. “I think he’s violated the law. I think he’s abused his power but at the end of the day you have to say if the House decides to impeach him, if the House had an impeachment vote it would probably impeach the president.”
Flores added that he is supportive of the idea of impeachment, but sees it as politically unpalatable.
“What’s gonna happen next,” he said. “It goes to the Senate and that’s step one. Step two is, the Senate’s got to have 67 votes. You’ve got 46 Republicans and 54 Democrats and independents. I’m not sure all the Republicans would vote for it and I know it’s gonna be hard to get another 21 Democrats to vote for it.”
“If you try and fail, are you willing to put Nancy Pelosi back in the speakership? I’m not,” Flores added.
Those comments bear striking resemblance to statements from Rep. Kerry Bentivolio, who said impeachment would be a “dream come true,” but said House Republicans would be a “laughing stock” if they tried and failed to secure impeachment.
Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma has said that he believes Obama is “getting perilously close” to impeachment as well.
So far Louisana Gov. Bobby Jindal has been the only Republican to openly call on those in his party to stop talking about impeachment, telling David Gregory on Meet the Press that he “reject[s] that kind of talk.”
“I don’t think we should be doing that to President Obama,” he continued. “The reality is, one of the great things about this country is we do have a peaceful transfer of power. I disagree with this president’s policy. And stop talking about impeachment. Let’s go out there and let’s have a legitimate debate. Let’s fight his policies.”
Morgan Whitaker