Paul Ryan: Obama's Exec Amnesty Not 'High Crimes'

Breitbart's Big Government ^ | July 30, 2014 | Tony Lee

[2ndDivisionVet]

At a Christian Science Monitor breakfast Wednesday, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) said President Barack Obama's lawless executive actions are not high crimes and misdemeanors worthy of impeachment.

"I see this as sort of a ridiculous gambit by the president and his political team to try and change the narrative, raise money, and turn out their base for an upcoming election that they feel is not going to go their way," Ryan said, according to the Wall Street Journal. "[Obama's executive actions do] not rise to the high crime and misdemeanor level."

However, as Andrew McCarthy, the former federal prosecutor and author of Faithless Execution: Building the Political Case for Obama’s Impeachment, wrote in National Review, many politicians and pundits do not know what "high crimes and misdemeanors" actually are when it comes to impeachment.

"Contrary to some less than informed opinion, 'high crimes and misdemeanors' – the legal standard for impeachment – refers not to indictable criminal offenses but to profound breaches of the public trust by high-ranking officials," McCarthy wrote. "Once the standard is understood, it becomes easy to see that the president and his underlings have committed numerous, readily provable impeachable offenses. "

"Yet, even if a president commits a hundred high crimes and misdemeanors, impeachment is a non-starter unless the public is convinced that the president should be removed from power," he continued. "The real question is political: Are his lawlessness and unfitness so thoroughgoing that we can no longer trust him with the awesome power of the chief executive?"

Conservative scholar and talk radio host Mark Levin, who was the Chief of Staff to Ronald Reagan's Attorney General Ed Meese, also said that "a high crime and misdemeanor doesn't mean [Obama] goes out and robs a bank or knocks off a 7-Eleven...."

[zeestephen]

Thanks - I remember it well.

I agree that the Republican Left wing played a powerful role in the destruction of Gingrich.

However, once again, Gingrich, a political historian, was completely unprepared for the attacks that came from within his own Party.

The GOP Left has been attacking Conservatives since Teddy Roosevelt was president 115 years ago, but Gingrich never saw it coming, and he actually expected the GOP Left to defend him against the Democrats.

But, in the end, Gingrich also betrayed the Conservatives who put their faith in his leadership.

Since 2000, Gingrich has repeatedly attacked Conservatives on immigration, environmental issues, and basic governance issues.

Speaking personally, I will never forgive him for that, and I will never trust him again as a leader.

[cva66snipe]

Agreed about Newts character and actions. The takeover I linked to has put the GOP in the hands of GOP-E ever since. Conservatives agenda was tossed aside and Boehner took over.

[Theodore R.]

We don’t have an Independent Senate candidate in TX; all I can do is skip the first contest on the ballot; that means’ I can’t shade a master oval.

[Graewoulf]

RINO Rryan is trying to take over for Speaker “Blank Check” Boehner.

RINO Ryan might even ask “Romneycare” Romney to give him political advice!

[Thermalseeker]

Yeah, the laimstream media buried the fact that Medicare Part D was $33 billion over budget 30 days after it passed. It’s easy to maintain that golden boy image when the media only does their job when it suits their agenda.