My recent status as a (self-)confirmed retiree gives me time to engage in more time-consuming pursuits; it even frees one from the need for accounting for that time consumed. For example, we have availed ourselves of the opportunity to catch up on a number of second-tier pro tennis championships we missed the first time around, now being shown on the Tennis Channel to fill time during this brief respite from their season before the next one begins. My wife is now quite expert on all the up-and-coming pros from both major tours, in case you need her opinions about them.
With that in mind, I suggest that it is a high-quality use of my time today to observe the House debate on impeachment, looking outside from time to time, while walking the dog, getting the mail, preparing a manufacturing tool for transport to my niece, and (of course) preparing this post.
I find the debate to be an unusually high-quality one, though it does show the usual level of absence of public interest evidenced in the public gallery. Both sides prepared their speeches well and are coordinating them well. After trying everything else they could throw out to defeat the charges* in the preliminary rounds, the Republicans have now finally settled on a clear theme for today: this is just a partisan circus. The minority party leadership has successfully unified its caucus on the strategy, which is a good one for its political objective, but it permits no dissent. Its great virtue is that it tends to make its own case.
It is totally tangential to the question of the substance of the charges, which is the sole and exclusive responsibility of the House for the case, and it would have no effect in dissuading Democratic representatives. The Democratic side anticipated that argument and has provided its members with a green light to present the full array of factual charges. Coming from obviously diverse backgrounds and constituent-driven concerns, they could present, in the manner that suited each, all of their arrows toward the corrupt and treasonous behavior of our Conman-der-in-Chief and beyond, to the mysterious 'hand of the new God' guiding his actions--to show that the motivations for the articles are not pure political partisanship. Chairman Nadler has had brief rebuttals on hand for every possible Republican red herring.
I imagine a future Shakespeare reviewing this transcript, as a crucial courtroom-type scene for their dramatic tragedy, "America", in its segment on this decade--there should be no doubt that analysis of the decade ending next year will be critical to that future time's historical assessment of the critical arguments of our time, a la' Mark Anthony in Juilius Caesar. I have a couple of suggested notes below for the dramatist. +
i anticipate the closing argument from Speaker Pelosi, meticulously set up for the beginning of prime-time in the East. She should simply assert that these were the two articles about which there were no doubts whatsoever with regard to both rising to the level of impeachment, nor of the President's guilt. The best the Republicans should be able to muster--though I am unsure they will--would be the defector, Rep. Van Drew.
I applaud defectors--such as Justin Amash (MI)--who have the strength to walk away. It will be unfortunate for the Republi-Cons, though, if Van Drew turns out to be, as I suspect, a clown.
Many from both sides today have sad it is a sad day; I hope I have made the case for the opposite. I am sure they are sad to be constrained, as they are, to their individual destines, many of them ugly.
Drawing Some Conclusion and Suggestion
If Pelosi does not put to bed the question of whether the level of offense reaches that required for actual removal of the President, then there is still something important to establish in the Senate, though I do not think there should truly be much doubt about it.
The content of the Senate trial I addressed previously.
Excerpt from an online chat I had earlier this morning ("calbengoshi")
c: "Prosecutors are free to present more evidence and testimony at trial." Me: Except, probably not in this case. Defense has the votes in the jury to acquit, so it will "rest" the moment it knows its number is satisfied. We are seeing what a weak check the Constitutionally-prescribed impeachment/conviction is upon today's Executive powers, and that should be one of the enduring lessons. The follow-up to this episode should be a serious review of the powers of Congressional oversight, during which, for example, it would be extremely appropriate to bring in--under subpoena, as he requested--John Bolton.
(One Republican member mentioned in passing the idea of a recall petition, as part of a group of ideas the Founders did not see fit to include. I forgot his name, because he went on to totally "impeach" his own credibility.)
5:45 pm Eastern Standard Time, Dec. 18, 2019
(prior to final edits and additional links)
Additional Notes
*Refuted arguments include:
- No quid pro quo
- Bribery (Ukrainian abuse of power) not completed
- Why the hurry?
- It's just because Democrats hate Trump--this was a more insidious attack than most, because true
- To overturn ("attempted coup") the 2016 election: this was the weakest, first because it simply makes Pence the President (as Nadler noted), and secondly because their argument in favor of "the will of the people" is so weak
6:12pm - Forgot the absurd "The abuse of Power was the Democratic (Socialist) party and Nancy Pelosi, who should be the one impeached!" I have to comment on the comical approach of Republican floor leader Collins who chose to put some of his party's ugliest members in a 30-second-each clown show in the end.
557 p.m. - Rep. Hines (CT) pointed out something I forgot: the key emotion today is anger! I add his to the noteworthy names below (D).
+(One can be certain the victors will be able to guide its telling, if that means anything.)
Just check the Congressional Record of the day (which must remain in print, even after the Internet version disappears in the ether, though it may be hard to find).
Noteworthy Intercessions:
R- Weber (TX) - wild but potent; Steube (FL) - for his clothes, nice cerulean vest and matching handkerchief; Womack (AK) - put it succinctly in the historical-dramatic tradition
D - Rep. Gallego (AZ); John Lewis (best Presentation skills); Sean Caster (one of most significant gains from 2018, where I formerly had residence); Rep. Engel, Maloney--both of them (NY).
I - Justin Amash!
Laughable: Gohmert, Rick Allen (GA), many others
#1 Founder - Benjamin Franklin "a republic, if we can keep it"
#2 Maya Angelou, cited by Maxine Waters: "When someone show you who they are, the first time, believe them!" (check quote). It goes to her defense of being for impeachment early.
# OT: See this portrait of a defector in another critical area--our emerging electrocracy. It's a mixed review of the admirable Roger McNamee
Thanks to Billy Corgan for the phrase I adopted for title of this post.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmUZ6nCFNoU
Posts
