Mark, I’m not sure that your characterization of everyone here, or even 90% of everyone, is accurate. You initially made a comment about President Nixon being impeached for far less than things you believe that President Obama has done. Both sides of that statement are incorrect.

As you’ve acknowledged, Richard Nixon was not impeached, because he resigned in disgrace to avoid that situation. But you haven’t acknowledged that Richard Nixon was facing serious charges, not just of his complicity with the activities of the intelligence establishment and their intersection with CREEP but also his direct involvement in the cover-up of the activities around the Watergate break-in. Were he not facing serious charges, he would not have resigned. By your logic, one would think he shouldn’t have resigned, since you believe his actions weren’t that serious. History records that his actions really were that serious.

You’re correct to note that no President is “squeaky clean”. But there’s a difference between that generalization and a statement where you say that President Obama’s actions were far more serious than what happened in the Nixon Administration. That statement seriously undermines your argument that you are somehow “middle of the road” about this.

And we should note that the actions of the George W. Bush Administration were challenged for their legality multiple times – in far more serious matters than anything the right wing has attempted to smear the Obama Administration with over the past six years. To only recount two situations, there’s the Wilson/Plame matter, and there’s the illegal conduct of AG Alberto Gonzales and his outrageous firings – which led to Gonzales being forced to resign in disgrace.

We should note that multiple members of the Reagan Administration were prosecuted for criminal conduct – not because of policy differences but for pursuing their policies via criminal means. Just look up the documents rescued by the National Security Archive and you may find some very interesting material on this matter.

As for Bill Clinton, he committed perjury while being questioned in a “gotcha” situation. I agree he should have told the truth. But there’s a pretty big difference between that scenario and the serious criminal behavior seen in the Nixon, Reagan and Bush White Houses. It’s long been a right wing approach to find false equivalences between various Presidents, but it’s unfortunately never found much purchase for those of us keeping track of the actual history.

and I see we played the race card too. wow. Race card and name calling immediately. Has your life ever not been miserable? It makes me sad.

Here’s what I do know…90% of you will start slinging insults or name calling the minute someone disagrees with whatever position you have at that time. You need to grow up. Obviously your extreme left was rewarded Tuesday night. Would it kill you to look at things from an unbiased point of view? At this point I think it might. If you think Obama is squeaky clean you have your head in the sand. He isn’t… Nor was Bush, nor Clinton. They all did bad things and good things. So here we are…let the childish insults and name calling begin. By the way…I am middle of the road in my views. I am not “far right or left”. I, like most, am just sick of the whining, childish behavior and lack of understanding of anyone else’s viewpoint but your own

Joseph West – Thanks for your comment. When I saw Mark Spengel’s initial comment, I immediately noticed that, in right wing tradition, it was fact free.

Mark, do you actually understand what Nixon DID do to warrant the investigations? If so, you’d understand that Obama isn’t even in Nixon’s class of criminal behavior. Then again, you’re obviously a right-wing troll who believes whatever shite FoxNoise spews so your level of “understanding” is Death Valley-level.

Incidentally, I’d be very interested to read a SINGLE real charge that you (or the right-wing) could actually use as grounds for impeachment. The trouble is, dude, that “President while Black” is NOT an impeachable offense. And that is pretty much the ONLY charge you wingnuts have that could stand up for more than even half a second of scrutiny.

OK. He resigned to be spared the embarrassment. You seem intelligent enough to understand the spirit of my comment…

Mark Spengel, Nixon was never impeached. Nice try, though!

Nixon was impeached for FAR less than BO has done

On the whole impeachment matter, while the House needs only a “simple majority,” Cruz needs to remember that the Senate—in order to actually impeach a President—needs a 2/3 majority. That means (to the math-impaired Cruz) a MINIMUM of 67 votes. Even with the GOP’s takeover of the Senate, they’re WAAAAAAAY short of that number. But, let’s have the US Senate waste the next two years on something that will NEVER happen. (As others have pointed out, Obama’s not actually done anything remotely “impeachable” but with the incoming House, we will certainly see even more of the “lunatics running the asylum” in play. For a group that loves to pull the “Constitution” card for every last little thing, they certainly have no problem ignoring the Constitution when it doesn’t actually back up their positions.)

Of course, I’m hoping the Dems finally get a spine and pull the old GOP filibuster tactic to kill any (and preferably, every) GOP-led motion. Not that that’s actually going to happen.

From Ellen’s post:

“So…..which Committee Chair do you think Cruz will get?”

Hmmmmmmmmm, perhaps chairman of the anti-communists committee? Remember: this is the SAME Ted McCarthy Cruz who once called Harvard University “a hotbed for Communists”.

“It is incumbent on us to deliver with a bold, positive, optimistic agenda focused on jobs and economic growth and opportunity focused on defending our Constitutional rights.”

So IOW they’ll have a totally different agenda than they do now.

So... which Committee Chair do you think Cruz will get?

This is an obvious indication of what the GOP will likely do, now that they have majorities in both houses. Of course, they’ll first spend the lame duck period gloating that they’ve demoted Harry Reid to Minority Leader, and they’ll repeatedly demand that President Obama not dare to appoint anyone to anything.

Come January, I expect Congress to completely blockade any appointments and any proposals coming from the Obama Administration. Any judicial positions not filled yet? Tough. They’ll all be blue-slipped or ignored. Any cabinet vacancies? Tough. Any Supreme Court justices wish to retire? Tough. This will be a concerted effort, designed to make sure that President Obama cannot appoint a single further person.

I also expect the GOP in the Senate to vote in lockstep to repeal the ACA immediately, as well as to take the most draconian GOP positions as regards taxes, wages and things like ANWAR, oil drilling, fracking, etc. They know that these bills will never actually get signed, but they’ll hope that if they throw enough of them at President Obama, they can pressure him into signing a few so that he can appear reasonable. The only way any of that will be stopped is if enough Dems can actually find the backbone to stand up and say “Oh no, you don’t!”.

I also expect people like Ted Cruz to demand exactly the kinds of witch hunts he’s promulgating here. Plenty of “investigative hearings” into anything and everything the GOP would like to use as campaign fodder for 2016, including a revisitation of Benghazi, the IRS matter, Solyndra, and even Fast & Furious will all be thrown on the table. The GOP hope here is twofold – one, that they can embarrass President Obama and his cabinet onto the defensive for his remaining two years, and two, that they can trump up enough faux outrage over one of these ideas to justify impeachment hearings.

And we should not be surprised when the GOP rushes to impeachment proceedings – this is something they’ve been salivating about doing, all the way back to 2009. It doesn’t matter that they don’t have any real legal basis to do so. It doesn’t matter that this could be electoral poison to many of their candidates. They just want to try to nail this guy. Because they really do hate him that much.

The one positive that can come from this mess is that this kind of behavior by the GOP will not go over that well when it comes to the 2016 situation. I don’t know that the GOP has done anything to try to assuage their inability to reach voters outside their limited base. And we should be clear that the majority of the people who voted in this midterm, as usual, were disgruntled GOP voters who wanted a final shot at an outgoing Dem President they despise. When it comes to a Presidential election, we’ll have a different idea happening – first, the GOP will need to find a candidate they can even agree on supporting. Next, they’ll have to find a way to appeal beyond their own hardcore base, without the right wing accusing their candidate of being a RINO, etc. If 2012 is any guide, they’ll go into the next election cycle full of bravado, thinking they’ve got it locked up. If that’s the case, we’ll just have to see how Hillary Clinton or whoever the Dem candidate finally winds up being can handle the pressure. My instincts say that the GOP glee here will be short-lived. But we’ll have to live through at least a year of gloating by the Limbaughs and the Hannitys before that becomes clear.

One other note, as the media is repeatedly talking up President Obama’s “unpopularity”. The reality is that President Obama’s popularity ratings are certainly down, but not in the dumpster by any means. He’s nowhere near the truly horrifying numbers that were seen by George W. Bush when the economy predictably collapsed on his watch (something most of us saw coming and which Bush clearly was hoping would happen at the beginning of the NEXT president’s term. It’s more than clear that Bush was hoping he’d be remembered as a Calvin Coolidge or a Ronald Reagan rather than as a Herbert Hoover…) Nor is he in the precarious criminal situation that nearly saw President Reagan pursued for what happened with Iran/Contra. The clear mood of the voters is disgust with the inability of the government to operate. The problem is that each side is invested in blaming the other for the gridlock. Sadly and predictably, more GOP supporters showed up at the polls yesterday, and those voters obviously blame the Dems for the situation more than they blame their own guys.

The future GOPiggie Senate will resemble the current GOPiggie House. Teabagging wingnuts running around investigating that black guy in their White House. Turtleman Mitch will be a token figurehead much like his golfing buddy Orange Boner.

The best thing this Congress could do, in my opinion, is spend all the time and money they desire on hearing after hearing, up to and including impeachment. There are no impeachable offenses and two years of watching these wingnuts do nothing but incense their frenzied base might just be enough to get out the 2016 vote to throw as many out as possible, with little real harm to the country.

“According to ABC News, after the economy, the biggest issues on voters’ minds were Ebola, gay marriage and marijuana legalization.”

Also: Gun Control, Gender Equality, ending the racial and religious divisions, Education reform, Bringing outsourced jobs back to the states, ending corporate personhood, ending (or at least putting stricter regulations on) fracking, alternative energy, handling Isis before they become a more noted domestic threat…

Oh, I’m sorry- I forgot. Ted was talking about what certain people want, the other 99% can go suck it dry.

If you like the GOP House, you're going to love the GOP Senate.