A Republican congressman known as a pit bull in Washington said Thursday that he doesn't support the idea of impeachment proceedings against President Obama because winning that fight would elevate the vice president to the Oval Office.

'Have you met Joe Biden?' South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy asked during a Fox News Channel interview.

Impeachment talk has swirled around Washington since the president announced that an executive order overhauling America's immigration system is imminent.

But some in the GOP see Biden as Obama's hedge against removal from office, since much of his public exposure has come in conjunction with a series of embarrassing gaffes.

SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO

'Have you met Joe Biden?' – South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy created a memorable one-liner on Thursday by explaining why Republicans can't impeach President Barack Obama

Just Joe being Joe: Vice President Biden has a reputation as a one-man gaffe machine, making some Republicans see him as 'Obama's insurance policy' against impeachment

A senior aide to a House Republican told MailOnline on Friday that 'Avoiding the "I" word' is a case of 'better the devil you know than the devil you don't.'

'Only in this case, we're pretty sure we know both devils. And Biden – he's two floppy shoes short of a complete clown outfit. Let's be honest: He's Obama's insurance policy.'

Impeachment is a process that begins in the House of Representatives with a list of charges that must fit what the U.S. Constitution calls 'high crimes and misdemeanors' – with 'high' referring to the level of the president's office, not the seriousness of the offenses.

A supermajority of two-thirds of U.S. senators are required to convict America's chief executive after a trial.

President Bill Clinton survived an impeachment after Senate Democrats remained unanimous in acquitting him. Richard Nixon resigned his office as a groundswell of support formed in Congress for impeachment proceedings following the Watergate scandal.

Obama appears safe, even with Republicans holding 54 or 55 of the upper chamber's 100 seats next year.

And besides, there's the Biden factor.

In a speech this year, this vice president told a gathering of African leaders that Africa was a country, not a continent.

It brought back memories of a 2008 photo-op outside Biden's home where he told journalists that he had just returned from 'a successful dump,' which turned out to be a trip to a nearby landfill.

In 2010 he had a diplomatic face-palm moment by consoling Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen on the loss of his mother – who was very much alive.

In 2012 he made the sign of the cross while on stage to address a group of more than 1,600 Jewish rabbis.

Reporters guffawed later that year when he tried to capture the spirit of President Theodore Roosevelt's famous 'Speak softly' philosophy, by noting that 'the president has a big stick. I promise you.'

During a campaign speech during his first vice presidential run, he criticized then-GOP candidate Sen. John McCain for what he called a 'last-minute economic plan' that did 'nothing to tackle the number-one job facing the middle class.'

'It happens to be, as Barack says, a three-letter word: jobs. J-O-B-S, jobs.'

Gowdy, a former criminal prosecutor, chairs the special House committee looking into the 2012 terror attacks in Benghazi, Libya. He is also chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security

He hinted Thursday on Fox News that because Biden would be a global laughingstock, the idea of trying to kick Obama out of office is far out on Capitol Hill's fringes.

'Nobody's discussing impeachment except pundits and commentators,' he said.

'First of all, impeachment is a punishment. It's not a remedy. Second of all, the only people who want us to talk about impeachment are the president's allies.'

Watch the latest video at <a href="http://video.foxnews.com">video.foxnews.com</a>

Fox host Bill O'Reilly had asked whether Obama's threatened immigration executive order would be reason enough for the GOP to try to remove him from office

Biden, seen Friday at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, DC, has made no secret of his leaning toward a 2016 presidential run

Fox host Bill O'Reilly had challenged him, citing an analysis by former New Jersey Superior Court Judge Andrew Napolitano, who is now a Fox News analyst.

An Obama-initiated move to give legal status to millions of illegal immigrants, O'Reilly said, paraphrasing Napolitano, 'is an impeachable situation because it does go against Congress making the laws, because the president is making a new law.'

'And the new law says that if you have children who are American citizens even though you yourself are an illegal undocumented person, you can stay in this country. That supersedes the old law. Napolitano claims it’s unconstitutional and impeachable.'

With that bait dangling, a few Republicans have broached the subject, including Texas Rep. Joe Barton.

'Impeachment is indicting in the House and that’s a possibility,' Barton said Monday on Newsmax TV. 'But you still have to convict in the Senate and that takes a two-thirds vote.

'But impeachment would be a consideration. Yes sir.'

Gowdy, however, said he can resist the same bait.