Texas Rep. Blake Farenthold's offhand comment, to an irritated birther at a town hall meeting in his district a couple of weeks ago, was easy to dismiss as base-mollifying silliness. He said he thought House Republicans "would probably get the votes" to impeach the president, "but it would go to the Senate and he wouldn't be convicted."
Having been around for the near-impeachment of Nixon and the Clinton farce, I assumed even in the toxic environment of the House, politicians would realize that articles of impeachment are a solemn step reserved for "treason, bribery, high crimes and misdemeanors."
The Framers introduced the remedy for outrageous public executive wrongdoing, assuming that lesser transgressions would be left to public opinion and the process of politics.
But then two more lawmakers embarrassed themselves before the 90 percent in pandering to the 10.
Here came freshman Rep. Kerry Bentivolio from Michigan, who wants nothing more than to plunge the country into the political morass of a bogus impeachment: "If I could write that (impeachment) bill and submit it, it would be a dream come true," he said.
And Oklahoma's Tom Coburn, a respected conservative senator, weighed in with his jaw-dropping assessment that the nation is "perilously close" to an impeachment.
Now, in the news-free days of August, some in the media are calling it "an expanding movement" to impeach the president.
The truly amazing common thread to the three lawmakers' pronouncements is not what they said, but what they did not say.
What for?
Where's the beef?
Or, if you want to descend to the political depths impeachment-fevered Republicans plumbed the last time, where's the blue dress?
How can there be talk of impeachment when no one — including those flapping their jaws — can identify what the president has done to deserve it?
Not even the craziest of the Benghazi ranters can tie that tragedy to a crime by the president.
IRS? Please.
Obamacare? Don't even start.
If managing to squeeze a watered-down health care solution through Congress is a crime, what was Medicare?
Yes, it was called "socialized medicine," by some of the same people who later staked their political careers on defending it, but nobody thought to impeach LBJ over Medicare.
NSA? While the intelligence agency — not Obama — has demonstrably violated the law, so have intelligence agencies probably in every administration since Eisenhower's.
So let's get down to the real crimes — the things that are motivating this home-state exercise in placating the ignorant.
What has Obama done?
Well, he was elected. Twice.
What does the whack-job fringe of the right-wing base really want to impeach him for?
BPWB.
Being president while black.
And don't forget his middle name is "Hussein" and his father is from Africa.
Those who pander to the impeachment yappers are not just tossing red meat to the beast, playing to their loopy constituents. They are doing the country, the Constitution — and the Republican Party — a real disservice.
David McCumber is Washington bureau chief for Hearst Newspapers. His email address is david.mccumber@hearstdc.com.