The national profile of U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess rose this week after his comment at a Tea Party meeting regarding possible efforts to impeach President Barack Obama, though his remarks after the event are drawing more questions.
Burgess, R-Lewisville, spoke at an NE Tarrant Tea Party event Monday evening in Keller. An attendee drew applause when he asked Burgess' opinion about Congress attempting to impeach Obama to prevent him from getting anything else done. Burgess was receptive to the idea: "It needs to happen."
Within hours, the news drew attention from national media outlets and scorn from liberal pundits.
On his show on Current TV, Keith Olbermann named Burgess his "Worst Person" on Tuesday. And on MSNBC, Chris Matthews dismissed Burgess' remarks: "This is a new kind of flippancy where we throw out, not even to impeach on grounds like high crimes and misdemeanors, but as a way to tie things up. [It's] another sort of filibuster technique."
On Tuesday, Burgess made conflicting remarks to North Texas newspapers seeking further comment.
Speaking to a Star-Telegram editorial writer, Burgess maintained that he supported the idea of using the impeachment process against Obama to "tie things up."
But Burgess told a Dallas Morning News reporter that day that he will not advocate for impeaching Obama. The article quoted Burgess as describing his remarks at the Tea Party event as "trying to honestly answer [the attendee's] question."
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