U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, harangued House Republicans in a floor speech Wednesday for introducing a bill to sue President Obama, calling it to be little more than a “veiled attempt at impeachment” and asserting that Democrats had never attempted to impeach Obama’s predecessor.
There are only two problems with that statement: Democratic House members did introduce a bill to impeach former President George W. Bush, and Lee was one of the bill’s co-sponsors.
“I ask my colleagues to oppose this resolution for it is in fact a veiled attempt at impeachment and it undermines the law that allows a president to do his job,” she said Wednesday, before turning her attention to Bust.
“A historical fact: President Bush pushed this nation into a war that had little to do with apprehending terrorists,” she claimed. “We did not seek an impeachment of President Bush, because as an executive, he had his authority. President Obama has the authority.”
However, in 2008 Democratic House members proposed H.Rres.1258, a resolution “Impeaching George W. Bush, President of the United States, of high crimes and misdemeanors.”
The bill was introduced by then-Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, and co-sponsored, by 11 of his fellow-Democrats, including Lee.
Notwithstanding Lee’s rhetoric Wednesday, the measure, authorizing House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, to proceed with the suit against the president passed 225-201.
Watch Lee’s Wednesday floor speech.
http://youtu.be/LAuFRQpGzL8
