A friend of DougJ dampens the impeachment speculation:
But weren’t the wheels already starting at the Clinton White House by this time? Clinton entered office with a Flowers and Whitewater (they were both campaign issues IIRC) and then the WH Travel Office issue broke in the first or second year of his term.
Obama has nothing right now, other than maybe the little bit of land, and that was clearly not a real issue. He hasn’t lied about it, either. Plus, he seems to be really committed to his wife and family, and his wider family is both small and seem pretty sane.
Republicans need at least a 20 vote majority to impeach, plus the right kind of zealots on the Judiciary Committee. Not every Republican on the Judiciary committee is willing to wipe his/her ass with the Constitution just for political benefit.
And there’s no special prosecutor law anymore. Starr did all the legwork for the Clinton impeachment.
When I suggest that there will be an impeachment, I don't believe that the president will be removed from office. Such a thing is rare and remote. The "impeachment" in this case has always been about endless investigations leading to an attempted impeachment vote in the House. There's always a shot the Republicans would be successful, but that's not the point. The point is to hobble the president -- to politically cripple him. To destroy his legacy. Not necessarily to outright impeach and convict him. Though I'm almost positive they'd try.
And while there isn't a Ken Starr in the mix, they don't need one. We're talking about a Republican Party that's lost whatever mind it had, with wild-eyed screaming about "death panels" and "czars?" It's the party of absurdity and lies. And they're guided by two circus clowns -- one of whom is an escaped mental patient who has a chalkboard to illustrate how the president is attempting what amounts to treason against the United States. The Republicans, who refuse to repudiate either Limbaugh or Beck, will latch onto anything they can to decapitate the White House. The droid unit Mike Pence leading the charge in the House.
I mean, they're currently a distant minority party. And look what they've been able to do. The way they're treated by the press is as if they were already the majority party in Congress. Imagine what it'll be like if they actually achieve such a thing.