Top 5 Times Right-Wingers Have Called For Obama’s Impeachment

In what has clearly become a Tea Party pastime, Sarah Palin has once again called out President Obama on an "impeachable offense." Today's cause de jour is the president's failure to compromise with Republicans over the debt ceiling. Her threat might be a cause for concern if it didn't happen so often. Republicans have apparently never heard the story of the boy who cried wolf. Presented for your amusement, here the top five times right-wingers have called for Obama's impeachment. 

1. Darrell Issa Says Offering Joe Sestak a Job is Impeachable

In May 2010, Republican Rep. Darrell Issa (Calif.) argued that offering Representative Joe Sestak (D-Penn.) a job to in the White House is an impeachable offense. Unfortunately for Rep. Issa, not only did the allegations never gain any traction with the media, but a few months later Issa was forced to rescind his statement. In October 2010 Issa said that there was "not a chance" that House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform would impeach Obama. "Look, disagreeing with the president — the president using his authority, maybe even misusing it — that's not what impeachment's for," Issa said. "Do we have disagreements? Yes. Do we want to see that the president strictly adheres to process? Yes."  

2. Tom Coburn Says Obama Not Doing His Job is Impeachable

Unfortunately, not all of Issa's republican colleagues learned from his mistake. Republican Senator Tom Coburn (Okla.) had apparently missed the incident entirely, because in 2013 he made some wildly nondescript allegations against the president. According to Coburn, Obama was failing to carry out his duties as president. "I think there's some intended violation of the law in this administration but I also think there's a ton of incompetence." Coburn added, "I don't have the legal background to know if that rises to 'high crimes and misdemeanors,' but I think you're getting perilously close." Those befuddling allegations followed the claim that customs enforcement agents where being advised to ignore background checks for immigrants.

3. Herman Cain Says Gay Marriage and Obamacare is Impeachable

During the 2011 Republican presidential primary, candidate Herman Cain also contributed to growing pile of impeachment threats. Cain argues that the president must be impeached for "trying to pass a health care mandate which is unconstitutional," and for "ordering the Department of Justice to not enforce the Defense of Marriage Act." Though these were quite popular claims in 2011, the Supreme Court has voided both potential causes by upholding the individual mandate and striking down DOMA. But it should never be forgotten that people who want to impeach Obama agree with Herman Cain.

4. James Inhofe Says Benghazi is Impeachable

Following the Benghazi scandal, a chorus of republicans called for the impeachment of the president. However, Republican Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.) didn't just demand impeachment. "Of all the great cover-ups in history — the Pentagon papers, Iran-Contra, Watergate, all the rest of them," Senator Inhofe proclaimed, "this ... is going to go down as most egregious cover-up in American history." While the historical consequences of Benghazi have yet to be felt, the prophesized impeachment has not materialized.

5. Blake Farenthold Says Obama's Birth Certificate is Impeachable

But the number one most impressive call for Obama's impeachment was made by Congressman Blake Farenthold (R-Texas) in August 2013. In front of a town hall meeting, the congressman called for the impeachment of the president due to issues with Obama's birth certificate. Despite the fact that the White House had released President Obama's birth certificate from the state of Hawaii in 2011, Congressman Farenthold continued to argue the importance of the "whole birth certificate issue."