I wouldn’t necessarily say that; but they need to start pointing out that Amash’s assessment, of the report and of Barr’s dishonesty about it, mirrors that of everyone who’s actually read the full report in good faith, which most people, including most in Congress, haven’t done. And they need to start on Monday doing what they’ve needed to be doing since the report was released: hold hearings with whomever they can get and do whatever else they can think of to publicize the report’s contents in a way that most people will see. (I don’t think reading the report on C-SPAN was silly, just ineffectual; maybe a series of brief videos with Tom Hanks, John Legend and Steve Kerr reading the highlights, who knows, but something.) And fercrissake, start sounding like this is a crisis.
Wow. Schiff might as well tell Trump that he can do WHATEVER he wants, however illegal it is – as long as there are 34 GOP senators unwilling to convict him.
The question he was asked was about beginning an impeachment inquiry.
Schiff’s ignores the question about starting an inquiry, and shift right into “kiss Pelosi’s ass” mode by referencing the current absent of support in the Senate by the GOP.
Here is the Q and A
Q: …Does this meet the Democratic standard now to consider, and move forward, with an impeachment inquiry?
A: Well what I think the speaker has referred to, and I have as well, is can an impeachment even be potentially successful in the Senate? We see no signs of that yet. I respect what Justin Amash is doing and said. …
He then goes on to say that Trump’s obstruction seems to be moving “more members” toward impeachment — complaining about “obstruction of congress” and saying that might force impeachment – completely disregarding that there is ZERO evidence to suggest that the GOP Senators would support impeachment on THAT basis.
In other words, Schiff’s position is "We don’t care that you tried to cover up the Russia attack on us. That’s not worth opening an impeachment inquiry. But mess with MY PERSONAL POWER, and you’re in trouble…
This is why Trump is winning the messaging wars – Dems care more about their own perogatives than about the Russia attack.
Impeachment by the House would not be a waste of time. It might be the best thing they can do even knowing the McConnell chamber won’t vote to convict.
When a bill of impeached is passed, the House becomes in effect a grand jury which will entitle them to see all the documents and evidence they’ve been struggling for these last few months to get their hands on.
Nevertheless this snippet doesn’t do justice to what Schiff said on impeachment.
“Well, I think that what the speaker has referred to, and I have as well, is, can an impeachment even be potentially successful in the Senate?” Schiff said. "We see no signs of that yet. And you know, I respect what Justin Amash is doing and has said. He showed more courage than any other Republican in the House or Senate. But what may be pushing us in the direction of impeachment in any event has less to do with Justin Amash and more to do with the fact that the administration is engaging in a maximum obstructionism campaign against Congress."
I agree that what Schiff is saying is a huge messaging mistake.
But the mistake, imho, is how Schiff says the Mueller report is not sufficient — but that Schiff will bring down the hammer if Trump ignores Democratic subpoenas. That position is custom tailored for Trump.
There are already tons of prominent republicans – including all those former federal prosecutors appointed by GOP presidents – who say Trump is a criminal. That is more than enough to claim “bipartisan support” — especially if you describe GOP congresscritters as “cowardly professional politicians”.
I think key to this point is that while the GOP Senate is overwhelmingly likely to protect Trump (and McConnell’s likely to set the terms for a trial that won’t be on the level), how the public will react to that is entirely dependent on how informed they are about the actual actions of Trump, his campaign and his administration, and about the utter dishonesty of Barr and the “no collusion! no obstruction!” line. And that means the Dems need to get the fuck moving on hearings.
It’ll still be a court fight to get anything. Will be interesting to see where Roberts falls on this and just how long it takes to move through the courts.
Or read the transcript. This snippet doesn’t do justice to what Schiff said esp this part.
“Well, I think that what the speaker has referred to, and I have as well, is, can an impeachment even be potentially successful in the Senate?” Schiff said. "We see no signs of that yet. And you know, I respect what Justin Amash is doing and has said. He showed more courage than any other Republican in the House or Senate. But what may be pushing us in the direction of impeachment in any event has less to do with Justin Amash and more to do with the fact that the administration is engaging in a maximum obstructionism campaign against Congress."
@paul_lukasiak READ!
Apparently, he uses the same plastic surgeon that Jane Fonda (81) uses and not the one that Republican serial sexual harassing casino owner Steve Wynn (77) uses:
Bipartisanship only works in the news business when a one Democrat crosses over to support some Republican shit. Not the other way around. I mean, I thought everyone understood that.
Themz the rules, folks. I didn’t write 'em.
I can only roll my eyes at that shit.
You’re not advocating doing nothing, are you? Dems have never faced an obstructionist administration, not even Nixon’s, on the scale of this one. The Constitution is being tested right in front of our eyes, and all we have is the rule of law.
Not at all. I’m 10000000000% on board with starting impeachment hearings post-haste. All of this continued obstruction of absolutely everything makes it imperative.
And continuing to wait only wastes time that will be needed in the court battles to get hands on the stuff, if Roberts decides that he’ll let it happen.
endless screaming
Ok, look. Every Democrat, as part of their pre-inauguration orientation, needs to go through some training in communications and messaging. Because clearly even a lot of them who have been there for decades, even in the leadership, don’t understand the very basics about it.
Why the fuck would you say this??? Talk around the question, say you welcome his support and point out that even Republicans are beginning to acknowledge publicly what’s going on. Point out that Republicans regularly use Joe Manchin’s vote to claim that things are “bipartisan”. Don’t ever give such a direct answer when a reporter asks you what you’re going to do like this. Even when the context bears out the bigger point, don’t give ready-made out-of-context quotes. Gaahhhh.
Best strategy is death by a thousand cuts, tie him up in all his well deserved investigations. Why should the Democrats do the work that the Republicans should be doing not to mention making Donnie a martyr in the whole affair?
I’ve seen corpses who look better than Wynn does.
He looks like someone took a belt sander to his face.
You’ve become, IMHO, a fatalist vis a vis Roberts. I won’t.
Surely you’re not suggesting that Schiff threw Amash into on-coming traffic?!
Believe it or not, she still has over 50% approval. It boggles the mind, but there it is.
Jane has a good one. I wonder if she uses the same one Barbra Streisand uses - Streisand’s is really good too.
I’ll only argue with your use of the word “become”. I’ve been that way for his entire tenure, and was surprised exactly one time, and one time only.
Been that way or become, it’s a difference without a distinction.