A while back someone here was screaming at Chuck Schumer to do something about… whatever the daily travesty was. “Like what?” was a response.“Hold a press conference to start! Call them out! They’re not doing a damn thing.”
I found and linked to a number of news articles (small, buried) that showed Chuck had already held TWO press conferences on the matter, and Pelosi had another one. They were, of course, barely covered in the press.
I think a lot of frustration about Dems is due to the fact that the things they actually do are not covered or downplayed by the conservative-leaning media. As it ever was… CNN would point a camera at an empty Trump podium before a rally, and maybe give 30 secs to the massive rally that Hillary held the same day (and then talk about her ‘likability’).
Dems are fighting for oxygen, and it’s not always their fault.
Start with invoking the powers conferred to congress in Article I section 2 in order to begin investigations into impeachable offenses.
Then appoint a select committee to carry out those investigations – and tell the GOP their members are only observers and advisors, and are not permitted to interfere in the investigations. And when they raise a fuss, tell them that the target of an investigation doesn’t get his lawyers to root around in the prosecutions evidence prior to an indictment being issued.
And if the parties were reversed and the GOP went full bore towards impeachment (as they should), Chuck Todd would just say that the dems had it coming. Insane double standards.
I’m not screaming “do something!” I’m saying that a contempt charge, putting someone in jail for flouting a subpoena, etc., would go a very long way. And I would agree with everything you say. But a lot of people who aren’t as aware of politics feel very despairing and do not see those small articles.
how about yesterday? Because Mueller gave the Dems all the ammunition they need to begin an impeachment investigation, and every day they delay makes it more obvious that the decision is not based on the evidence, but on politics.
I can do without the chicken rhetoric, which makes it easier for the GOP to label the hearing a “stunt.”
The right messaging would be a raft of subpoenas and contempt charges, which would underline that this is an amoral, lawless administration, and that Barr is not an avuncular gentleman, but a mob lawyer who tried to bury the Mueller Referral.
I’ve read that contempt charges don’t actually have many teeth if the DOJ won’t pursue them. Don’t quote me on that exactly because it’s technical and I don’t know the ins and outs; all I read was that it’s complicated and you may not be able to do that and make it stick the way a judge can. They held Eric Holder in contempt and he just shrugged and nothing came of it. If that’s the probable outcome it just makes you look impotent.
And it sounds like that is in process. Of course never quick enough for us, I understand. I suspect they are being very methodical with an eye towards future court battles. “Your honor, we acted in good faith the entire time as the record shows.”
But this is not an ordinary presidency, and issuing subpoenas and contempt citations is meaningless when the Dems have no mechanism to enforce them.
And while Dems do have “inherent powers”, the question is whether Dems want to break that particular firebox in pursuit of “run of the mill oversight investigations”. IMHO, its really not a precedent we want to set, because one we do it, the GOP will abuse that power the next time a Democratic president has a legitimate reason to defy Congress.
In other words, launch an impeachment investigation, THEN use the extraordinary “inherent powers”.
"You Know Who Else Mueller Couldn’t Exonerate? The Mainstream Media
Robert Mueller detailed very specific ways that GRU exploited the stenography tendencies of our mainstream media and how well it worked. "
