While the international community is heralding President Obama for his leadership, right-wing activists here in America are clamoring to impeach him. Republican operative Floyd Brown, “one of the nation’s dirtiest political strategists” and the architect of the racially-charged Willie Horton ad against Michael Dukakis, has launched a campaign to impeach Obama. Brown, who registered his impeachment website in August, worked closely with congressional Republicans to push a similar crusade against Clinton, starting in 1994. During the 2008 campaign, Floyd ran commercials claiming Obama is Muslim.
Rather than cite any specific crime, Brown is demanding Obama’s removal for pursuing progressive agenda items like health and clean energy reform. His website blares: “Are you willing to let [Obama] construct a totalitarian regime… fascism, socialism, Obamaism… take your pick?”
Brown, a proud “birther,” explained to radio host Alan Colmes yesterday that he is also outraged because he doesn’t believe Obama was born in America:
COLMES: During the campaign, you were putting out stuff suggesting Obama is Muslim, wasn’t born here, stuff like that. […]
BROWN: I’m still disputing his birth certificate.
Colmes asked Brown why he had not raised his voice during the Bush presidency, when, for example, Bush went to war in Iraq without a war powers act. Brown failed to dispute that charge, instead mumbling that although he did not want to impeach Bush, “a lot were”:
COLMES: Should Bush have been impeached for going to war without the consent of Congress, without a war powers act being obeyed?
BROWN: You know what, I’m not going to defend Bush because Alan you know as well as I do I didn’t like Bush.
COLMES: Alright, but you weren’t trying to impeach him were you?
BROWN: Uh no, but many were. I wasn’t, but a lot were.
Brown concluded that Obama is “dangerous because he’s not truthful.” Listen here:
Right-wing activists have been demanding the removal of President Obama for months now. In March, tea party rallies featured professionally-produced signs that said, “Obama Bin Lyin’ IMPEACH NOW.” Last week, a Newsmax column argued that a military coup could “resolve” the “radical left…Obama problem.” And right-wing websites, Fox News’ Glenn Beck, and various conservative talk show hosts have floated the idea of armed revolution against President Obama. Some have suggested using violence as a means of “Pulling our government down, pulling our President out, and putting him back where he should be.”
Claiming Brown’s movement is “mushrooming amongst conservative activists,” conservative news site World Net Daily is promoting the impeachment campaign and producing “IMPEACH OBAMA!” bumper stickers. World Net Daily is supported by the national Republican Party through purchases of e-mail address lists.
Brown is a prominent player in Republican circles. The Washington Post reported that Brown helped throw a fundraiser for RNC Chairman Michael Steele when Steele was running for U.S Senate in Maryland. As the former executive director of the Young Americans Foundation, Brown hosted dozens of Republican lawmakers and connected them with conservative youth activists to help them run for office and wage right-wing rallies on college campuses from 2001 to 2006.