I have refused to doubt Pelosi or question her motives. I thought they brought Impeachment at exactly the right time…in order to drag it out for a year. I think this is a huge mistake to give up the ball and give it to the Rs. Impeachment was the only play we had, and it was doing wonders. It was steamrolling much of the obstruction. It was getting R and R appointees to testify. It was accelerating document production and judges decisions. It was getting direct testimony on TV to the widest audience since the whole Chump admin/MSM marriage began. Not spin, not echo chamber, and nobody could claim it was being filtered or produced by a slanted NYT or WaPo. Now we are going to basically PUNT the ball to the Rs and lose all that momentum and those advantages.
I have no idea what Schiff is talking about, LETTING Chump do it again. I would think active House or Impeachment inquiries into his election stealing would be a great deterrent. Having the Senate bury Impeachment and give the Rs a clean 2020 run and the public almost a year to forget about it would be worse.
I will reserve my final judgement because I think Pelosi and Schiff and House Ds have done wonders. Watching these hearings and listening to Rs whine, you would think Ds hold all the reins of Power…the Rs are blubbering so hard about The Majority. They own an uncontrolled criminal Presidency, The Senate, are stacking the judiciary, and own the SCOTUS…but Impeachment has them running scared. Pelosi et al have done wonders.
So I am hoping she has some real tricks up her sleeve. A fake punt, an onside kick, and unlimited Hail Mary’s. Going so fast and so small on Impeachment goes against all my instincts. We were OWNING them. Have them on the run. Pulling their hair out. Blubbering and whining. We were moving the ball and eating the clock and wearing them out…but looks now like we are punting on 3rd down cause we are scared of winning. I will gladly admit if I turn out to be wrong. I will be the guy at the end of the movie, slow-clapping and shaking my head and saying “You’re OK Nancy!”
Is there anyone here that thinks tRump may be removed from office before the election? Asked by the Rethugs to step down? He is going to be the albatross (pardon to albatross’s) around the Rethug’s necks if he’s allowed to remain.
Trump is the messenger. His tweets will increasingly take on a doth protest too much quality. That shtick has got to be wearing thin, even on his base. Anyone still saying “Yeah, man, the Deep State, man” is just too far gone to be persuaded, let alone tie their own shoelaces.
But the other thing we’ve learned during the age of Trump is that truly, no personal behaviors are disqualifying if you like the right people, and hate the right people.
For my part, Adam Schiff is playing that role rather well. The voices you seek aren’t necessarily the ones running for president, and some are yet to appear.
his base will transfer seamlessly to tom cotton, as cotton will continue, and escalate his cruelty. only cotton is efficient, disciplined and smart. i hope to hell this does not come to pass.
I have to wonder if public impeachment hearings by the House Armed Services Committee into the NATIONAL SECURITY damage from Trump withholding military aid from an ally actually under attack by Russia, to criminally extort dirt-manufacturing against a political rival, might not go a long way toward bringing along moderates in otherwise red districts.
I generally agree with this, although I also understand Schiff’s reasoning for not dawdling.
I did think we were finally taking a page from the Republicans’ book on modern media strategy – a very successful strategy, sadly – and use endless investigations, a la Benghazi, to tar and smear and dig up dirt for months and months. It would force the Republicans to play increasingly desperate defense, and like past Republican witch hunts, it would almost definitely find something to hang an election smear campaign around (Emails! Stained dresses!).
So we’re in one of those situations where I think Democrats are doing the right thing (although not fully, considering there’s so many more crimes and abuses Trump should be impeached over), but I’m not yet convinced it’s the most politically advantageous thing.
Not so unknown: Schiff addressed this at this morning’s announcement.
@rgoodlaw: Solid point by Schiff: Wait for courts doesn’t work here. If wait for Supreme Court to force White House to have Bolton-Mulvaney etc come testify, witnesses would then go to Congress and invoke executive privilege not to answer Qs. Restarting litigation.Clock would run out.
Against Trump, I’d consider Mr. Peepers and Our MIss Brooks (in either order) as a strong Democratic ticket, but then, I’m biased. But they’d have the Teachers’ Unions locked in.
Possibly. Although I’m not at all convinced that so-called “moderates” are paying much attention to any of this yet, nor care a whole lot about what’s happening in Ukraine. Especially those that live in otherwise red districts.
Agree, but it’s more than just the top of the ticket. The entire Republican establishment has been rotting from the inside since the reign of the dirty tricksters during the Nixon era. There has always been cheating and graft in politics, of course, but there had generally been a moderating influence in both parties, weeding out extremists and curbing the most egregious crimes.
Those guardrails are gone. Due to lots of contributing factors, lying, cheating, and ratfucking has become SOP for the Republican party. They have completely abandoned any pretense at democracy and are full speed ahead toward authoritarianism and fascism. They can’t change course now. I don’t know how this ends.
(After voting in every election since 1981)
The Republicans will mine past, present and future bad actors as is necessary.
These characters persist always, until they die, or end up like Roger Stone.
They have been building their platform, buoyed by their supporters, for decades.
And this is the current manifestation of the party.
If it survives it will be because of the 43% of American voters who support it.
So far, this has been a couple of days longer than was spent on the Clinton impeachment.
The two articles are pretty much all-encompassing, and should not be confused with “going small.”
The whole megillah has to be simple enough to be understood by the vast American public—the real audience for all of this.
