Impeach Biden over something he supposedly did before he was POTUS?

[LymphocyteLover]

The thing that I haven't heard anyone mention about this incredibly dumb and dishonest impeachment inquiry by the GOP against Biden, is that they are trying to impeach him over SOMETHING HE (supposedly) DID BEFORE HE WAS PRESIDENT!

Since when are crimes committed before you are president become impeachable and rise to the level of an offense where you need to be removed from office? Shouldn't this all be something that was litigated by the 2020 election?

Surely Democrats could have found a lot of crimes that Rump committed before he was president (see the Mueller Report) if they wanted to impeach him so badly-- but they didn't. Instead they waited until he clearly committed an impeachable crime-- an abuse of power. What the GOP is doing is nuts and terrible on so many levels.

[2naSalit]

1. It came up in the...

Sh*tshow yesterday and I heard it said on the news last night. I think that there are just so many points to be made that we just can't catch them all in one presentation.

[LymphocyteLover]

9. Thanks-- it's all so nuts right now

[imanamerican63]

2. Yep! I robbed the cradle before I was born?

It makes no sense too me!

[Joinfortmill]

3. They're fascists & doing the bidding of their Hitler wannabe, Trump. This is where we are. VOTE!

[FBaggins]

4. Certainly

Now - whether or not this should qualify is another question. But impeachment isn’t about prosecution for crimes committed. It’s the only way to remove a president from office and this has a very high bar in the form of a 2/3 senate vote.

The standard for what qualifies a president as needing to be removed is whatever 2/3 of the senate says it is at the time.

[onenote]

5. Nothing limits impeachment to actions taken while in office.

To accept that there is such a limit would be to say that it would have been impossible to impeach Spiro Agnew if he hadn't agreed to resign.

That doesn't mean that Biden, while in or out of office, committed anything approaching an offense warranting impeachment.

[LymphocyteLover]

10. But there's no precedent for this... also Agnew was taking payoffs while he was VP from what I

understand

[wnylib]

14. Yes, he was. So he is not an example for this situation.

[onenote]

16. so, if Agnew had only accepted bribes while governor

you would believe he couldn't be impeached.
That's a frightening thought and one that I doubt many would subscribe to here if Trump, heaven forbid, was re-elected and then convicted of financial crimes that were committed before he was president.

[wnylib]

17. I did not say that, did I?

[onenote]

18. so is your position that impeachment is or isn't proper for crimes committed before taking office?

Just not clear where you stand on the question.

And to make my position clear, I don't think Biden committed any crimes and certainly couldn't have traded his official position for cash when he wasn't in office.

[LymphocyteLover]

20. I would say that impeachment for a crime prior to taking office cannot be completely ruled out but

it had better be something huge and something not known before the election and where major new extremely compelling evidence has come to light.

While I'm sure some Republicans would argue that is the case here, nothing they are accusing Joe Biden of was unknown before the election or where compelling new evidence has come up.

As far as major crimes, I suppose they are accusing Biden of taking bribes (indirectly via Hunter) from Ukraine to protect Hunter, to firing Viktor Shokin. But that case is just absurd on its face, since firing Shokin was US policy, but of course they still try to pretend like it's a huge deal.

The stuff with China and other countries is all super vague. I have seen no concrete allegation.

[Zeitghost]

13. This is the correct answer

While I have yet to see any evidence for Biden doing anything improper, it's not unreasonable to impeach any politician for something that comes to light after they take office.

[orthoclad]

6. We keep making the mistake

that anything the Right does makes legal sense, or is subject to reasoning, justice, or fairness.

Frinstance, it's not "projection", it's Goebbels' advice to accuse your enemy of what you are planning. Not hypocritical: deliberate. "Projection" is a psychological defense mechanism. They are not defensive, they are offensive.

All about power, baby.

[LymphocyteLover]

12. Interesting-- hadn't heard that. Is there a simple phrase for that then, besides projection?

[wnylib]

15. Yes. Coup tactics.

[LymphocyteLover]

19. Oy... scary

[orthoclad]

21. I like that

Perhaps we could also use "goebbels" as a verb, such as "they're goebbeling again", instead of "they're projecting again".

[Omnipresent]

7. Speaker McCarthy and his small majority..

Of lunatics, are an extremely sad and very desperate bunch.

[NowISeetheLight]

8. TP or Egg a House?

Maybe Joe TPd or egged a house as a teenager. IMPEACH!!!!

[LymphocyteLover]

11. LOL! Meanwhile tRump almost destroyed our democracy...

goddamn this insane and treasonous Republican party