Monday, Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst made a statement that has rankled some. He said that he believes that President Barack Obama should be impeached.
The media and some faux libertarian types have, predictably, pounced. That’s just what some biased folks in the media do.
ICYMI @DavidHDewhurst said last night Obama should be impeached per Benghazi as noted by @cd_hooks at a tea party event.
— Gardner Selby (@gardnerselby) October 15, 2013
I wasn’t surprised by Dewhurst’s statement, as he hinted that Obama deserved impeachment when I interviewed him back in August. Dewhurst, a former CIA officer, understands the failure of Benghazi better than any media commentator. As someone who was deployed overseas and understands the dangers that our defenders face in hostile place like Libya, his opinion deserves more weight than the opinions of those who never served and whose knee jerks every time a Republican says something interesting.
This is what he said to me in that August interview.
“The lack of protecting those four Americans in the consulate in Benghazi…that is a sin. We know, we’ve seen reported, that there was live video streaming into the Situation Room at the White House. That means there were platforms, aerial platforms, that could’ve been used. … Where do you draw the line? Being PC — politically correct — and you don’t want to offend the leadership in Libya? So you let four Americans be killed and, be mutilated? Outrageous!”
Dewhurst called the failure in Benghazi both “evil” and a “sin.”
Is he wrong about that? Was he wrong to suggest that the Obama administration’s excuse for not sending air support — that it couldn’t get overflight permission from a government that the Obama administration had helped install — doesn’t hold up?
Dewhurst wrapped up his Benghazi comments saying that everyone involved who left those Americans to die deserves to go to jail.
Again, is he wrong about that? Four Americans died. The Obama administration still refuses even to explain what the president was doing that night. It responded to the terrorist attack by lying about its origins and jailing a film maker, suggesting more broadly that we all ought to watch what we say or we’re liable to spark terrorist attacks.
Why haven’t the media taken anyone in the Obama administration to task for using Benghazi to assault the First Amendment? Why haven’t they taken Obama to task for declaring, before the United Nations, that “The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam“? Does any American president have any business saying such a ridiculous thing?
Dewhurst also objected at length to the Obama administration’s shameful handling of the Fort Hood massacre here in Texas. The Obama administration casts that terrorist attack as “workplace violence,” obviously so it could claim that there had been no terrorist attacks on American soil during Obama’s watch. Politics drove a clearly dishonest policy. Had the Boston bombing not been so obviously a terrorist attack, it’s reasonable to wonder if the Obama administration would have chosen to lie about that one as it still lies about Fort Hood.
Is Dewhurst wrong to call the Obama administration out for its disgraceful Fort Hood dishonesty? Is he wrong to note that the “workplace violence” designation deprives the attack’s survivors of their due benefits?
Dewhurst also believes that Obamacare is an impeachable offense, and the Supreme Court got the decision upholding Obamacare wrong.
We are now seeing the fruits of the Democrats’ maniacal drive to pass that law over the objections of the American people, and without reading the bill. Obama’s own handling of Obamacare’s rollout calls into question his competence and his ability to judge the competence of the officials he empowers to carry out his policies. Just today, Obama offered that he will keep Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in office despite the abysmal rollout of Obamacare’s Internet portal, Healthcare.gov. Does Sebelius deserve to keep her job? Does Obama deserve to keep his?
The media and faux libertarian bloggers can pounce all they want. That doesn’t make Dewhurst wrong.
Dewhurst’s campaign is out with this statement today, from spokesman Travis Considine: “Lt. Governor Dewhurst gets asked about foreign policy issues while traveling across Texas given his background as a former CIA agent. He feels very strongly about the tragedy in Benghazi and has said that Congress should consider impeaching the President over the tragedy. David Dewhurst also believes that President Obama should be held accountable for Washington’s failure to secure the border and the gross overreach of the federal government under Obamacare.”
Four Americans died in Benghazi and Obama blamed a movie while the families of the victims have gotten nothing from his government but the runaround. Obamacare is proving to be every bit the economic disaster that many of us predicted it would be.
Don’t misunderstand me here. The Republicans aren’t going to run on impeaching Obama if they re-take the Senate. Dewhurst was asked his opinion and he gave it. As lieutenant governor of Texas, he would have no say in any impeachment proceedings, in the unlikely event that they occur. He knows that. In Texas, as media here well know, Dewhurst’s opinion is far from an extreme opinion. Obama’s policies are not popular here, and this pro-liberty state bristles at several of Obama’s most conspicuous misdeeds — Benghazi, Fast and Furious, his war on coal and Obamacare are among them. All of them include serial dishonesty on Obama’s part, broken promises, and serious to devastating consequences for the nation. Barack Obama simply is not a man of his word, and he has demonstrated that he has no honor.
Our elected officials could use a dose of the discipline that fear of removal from office brings them. The recalls in Colorado have already tempered some officials’ desire to curb our Second Amendment rights — rights guaranteed by law that has been settled for centuries, but some Democrats and their media allies want unsettled and scuttled. If Barack Obama faced the prospect of discipline from Congress — he doesn’t now, as the Democrats control the Senate — he would be more apt to negotiate and compromise rather than grandstand and punish veterans by closing our national memorials.
Is Dewhurst wrong to want some sanity restored to Washington?
And another thing: Back in 2011, Texans were crying out for better border security. President Obama’s response? He came here and mocked us.
Do you think Texans have forgotten that?
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