This Tawdry Impeachment Spectacle Must Run Its Course

Alexander Hamilton in Federalist 65 warned of the routinization of presidential impeachment. The danger, partly, is that impeachment could become a regular delaying and tainting tactic by the party out of the White House if it has the majority in the House of Representatives (as has been the case in 36 of the last 52 years in which three of the country’s four impeachment crises occurred, plus the Iran-Contra approach during Ronald Reagan’s administration). This is certainly not what the principal authors of the Constitution favored, and there is no reason to believe that it is what the public wishes.

Conrad Black  . . . "Under the circumstances, then, it is better to go ahead with a trial. If the Senate majority’s wish is for witnesses, the president can invoke executive privilege in some cases, but the confection of the false whistleblowing and its apparent guidance by Schiff and his staff should also be exposed.
"Since the legal case is nonsense and the outcome foreordained, it is only a public relations battle now. The farther the administration is seen to enable an airing of the facts, the better and more electorally valuable will be the result. The Democrats created this trap for themselves; they should be allowed to take the consequences when that trap snaps closed on them.
"It is unlikely the president will fail to gain some political ground. This is the Democrats’ nuclear option—the ultimate weapon—and it has been bandied about as a threat against Trump even before he won the presidency, as we learned from that pillar of disinterested jurisprudential sophistication, Rep. Al Green (D-Texas).
"For Trump-haters, there is nothing he is not guilty of; for his supporters, the entire subject is egregious and defamatory piffle. The opposition to impeachment has drifted gradually toward the president’s side, so the wall-to-wall Democratic bias of almost all the national media has failed to hold back the tide of perception that these charges are legal and constitutional nonsense.
"For any reader who has been in a submarine or outer space or Antarctica for the last six months, the charges are abuse of office and contempt of Congress. The first is not a ground for impeachment unless specified as treason, bribery, or another high crime or equivalent misdemeanor—and none such is alleged. As to the second charge, the only thing the president is actually guilty of is contempt of Schiff, Nadler, and Pelosi for running a rigged partisan mudslinging operation where the president received none of the protections accorded to defendants by the Bill of Rights; failure to be contemptuous of it would itself be contemptible.
"The president was only asking for the facts about the Bidens’ conduct in Ukraine, not for an indictment of the Bidens. Any application of pressure is denied by the Ukrainian president, and in any case, the allegedly withheld assistance to Ukraine was delivered and the investigation requested did not occur. If they weren’t so obnoxiously sanctimonious, Nadler and Schiff would be eligible for theatrical awards for deadpan comedy in presenting such bunk as grave adjudication." . . .

"A republic, if you can keep it"

Chris Wallace: Commemorative impeachment pens 'not a good look' for Nancy Pelosi

. . . “ 'I actually think she hurt herself,” Kilmeade said. “And that show yesterday looked so phony, that solemn march while handing out commemorative pens.”

“I completely agree with that point,” Wallace said in response."

I believe the appropriate word would be "gloating"

BBC commented on the use of so many pens by Pelosi
Perhaps the Queen will forgive us and take us back.

Shameless CNN; yet no reporters there have resigned for conscience reasons

Did CNN finally push its biases too far for the American people? 
 . . . "One Democrat institution that's trying hard to turn up the volume is CNN, as it demonstrated during Tuesday's debate.  The most noted example of CNN's bias occurred when moderator Abby Phillip asked Bernie a loaded question that assumed facts not in evidence:

CNN reported yesterday — and Senator Sanders, Senator Warren confirmed in a statement — that, in 2018, you told her you did not believe that a woman could win the election. Why did you say that? (Emphasis added.)

"Bernie firmly denied saying any such thing and explained why it was risible to believe he did.  After he ended by reaffirming his denial in response to Phillip's final request for clarification, Phillip, without missing a beat, turned to Warren and asked, "Senator Warren, what did you think when Senator Sanders told you a woman could not win the election?" . . .

Gutfeld on the worst debate ever

Rolling Stone: CNN’s Debate Performance Was Villainous and Shameful . . . "This time, the whole network tossed the mud. Over a 24-hour period before, during, and after the debate, CNN bid farewell to what remained of its reputation as a nonpolitical actor via a remarkable stretch of factually dubious reporting, bent commentary, and heavy-handed messaging." . . .

. . . "Lee treated the story as fact, using constructions such as, “Sanders responded that he did not think a woman could win,” and “the revelation that Sanders expressed skepticism that Warren could win.”

. . . "If the network doesn’t see trouble in this, it’s delusional. Voters on both sides of the aisle have changed since the Bernard Shaw days. They pay more attention to media manipulations, and it doesn’t get much more manipulative than punching above the facts to advance transparent political narratives, which is a new and accepted habit in the commercial news landscape.
. . . "We’ll find out in Iowa and New Hampshire what Democratic Party voters believe about that Warren-Sanders meeting, but that grimy story pales in comparison to the bigger picture: Episodes like this are why people hate the media."

Well, not everyone. A young niece had a California school textbook showing CNN was one of the few news sources that was neither left nor right. We posted on it many times including this: CNN: Remember when they called it "the most trusted name in news"?

Democrats: The Silliness of Those Who Govern This Nation

. . . [Pelosi] has no class, no grace. She is a blight on her district, the House of Representatives and our country. Her inscribed pens certainly belie her pretense that the moment was "prayerful" and "historic." It is all a cheap, contemptible exercise in futility. Her legacy will be forever tainted by her mendacious participation in the worst political scandal in American history.

Rich Terrell

Pelosi: Pretense, posturing, perfidy, and pens  "Has there ever been a more disingenuous person in politics than Nancy Pelosi?  Of course, there have been many phony, hypocritical politicians over the course of American history, but few who have quite risen to the appalling behavior of Speaker Pelosi (or Adam Schiff).  Even as she visibly declines mentally - she can barely utter a coherent sentence - her party continues to pretend she is not only relevant but that she is lucid, a master strategist.
. . . "Nancy Pelosi's record will be justly eviscerated by future historians for her leadership role in the hoax.  Adam Schiff will be remembered by historians for his blatant abrogation of nearly all constitutional dictates that the founders laid out regarding impeachment and for his pathological lies and his maniacal crusade to unseat a duly elected President.  He is his district's cross to bear.

"The final nail in the coffin of Pelosi's reputation to date is her using a platter full of pens imprinted with her signature with which she signed the two stupid articles of impeachment. "

CNN and MSNBC: Video Montage: Craziest Media Commentary During Delivery of Articles of Impeachment  " ‘It’s beyond formality; there is something almost religious to it’ "

Democrats show their hand as Senate impeachment proceedings begin  . . . "Again, the one thing we know with certainty is that the point of this impeachment is not to remove a president who engaged in treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors in a way that shocked the nation’s conscience. It is, instead, to remove an unusually successful president without the risk of an election; to hamper his ability to function while in office; and to throw a lifeline to Joe Biden’s flailing candidacy." From CNN:

McConnell On Pelosi’s ‘Commemorative Pens’: ‘Nothing Says Seriousness And Sobriety Like Handing Out Souvenirs’  She will be loved in Hollywood.

Fake history is a lot like fake news -- left-leaning propaganda devoid of truth and substance.  . . . "The falsely proclaimed historical importance of the Articles of Impeachment against Donald Trump is fake history and no phony pomp and circumstance can change that. What is real are Donald Trump’s accomplishments in making America great again." 

Pelosi Pulls A Schiff, Deliberately Misquotes Trump-Zelensky Call on House Floor

Dems’ impeachment trial strategy: endless circus worse than Kavanaugh hearings

Democrats’ impeachment trial demands are plain ridiculous  . . . "Even now, the documents raise questions that would be natural to answer in an impeachment inquiry — if the inquiry hadn’t already ended." . . .

CNN’s bias is now beyond laughable. Updated X 2

What’s most infuriating about CNN isn’t that hosts like Don Lemon and Chris Cuomo or ­reporters like Raju, Jim Acosta and Jim Sciutto have an agenda — it’s that they pretend they don’t.  David Harsanyi

CNN’s bias is now beyond laughable  "As Sen. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) walked through the hallways of the Senate Thursday, CNN senior congressional correspondent Manu Raju asked her if the Senate should consider “new evidence as part of the impeachment trial.” McSally shot back: “Manu, you’re a liberal hack. I’m not talking to you.”

“ 'You’re not going to comment about this?” a dazed Raju asked. “You’re a liberal hack, buddy,” McSally replied as she walked away. Predictably, conservatives cheered, while mainstream media decried McSally’s move as unbecoming.
"Whatever your take, the interaction reflects three years of mounting frustration with an overtly partisan media, exemplified by CNN, which has dropped any pretense of fairness and become an organ of the Democratic Party.
"The problem isn’t that Raju asked the question — that’s his job, after all. It’s that virtually all questions posed by political reporters these days are framed to support the narratives and assumptions of one political party, the Democrats.
"CNN’s Jake Tapper, remarking on the incident, called Raju’s query reasonable, because it was “the question of the day.” Indeed, that’s the problem. Democrats are always dictating the “question of the day.' ” . . .

You only need to juxtapose the McSally brouhaha with Nancy ­Pelosi’s news conference this week to see how liberal journalistic malpractice works. Without any evidence, the House speaker accused Team Trump of sedition and criminality and claimed — again — that the 2016 presidential election had been stolen by Russians, knowing full well no one would really challenge her.

. . .
UPDATE: Sen. Martha McSally turns her meltdown at a reporter into fundraising stunt

"Hours after Arizona Republican Sen. Martha McSally berated a CNN reporter on live TV, her campaign was already attempting to raise money off of the exchange.

"For $35, McSally supporters can now buy tee shirts emblazoned with her comment.

"McSally, who lost her 2018 Senate race to Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, but was later appointed to fill the late Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) vacant seat by Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, was asked by CNN's Manu Raju on Thursday if the Senate should consider new evidence in Donald Trump's impeachment trial.

" 'You're a liberal hack," she responded. "I’m not talking to you. You’re a liberal hack.' " . . .

McSally went on Fox News on Thursday night to brag about her comments to Raju. "[Reporters] run around trying to chase Republicans and ask trapping questions," she said. "I'm a fighter pilot, I call it like it is."

Update #2:  Pelosi Releases Limited-Edition Replica Of Dentures Worn During Trump Impeachment  . . . "The dentures have Pelosi's signature emblazoned in gold across the gums. Only 300 sets were made, so you'll need to jump on this opportunity to get this coveted souvenir from Trump's somber impeachment ceremony.

"The bidding starts at $1,000.00 per pair, with all proceeds going to help Dems campaign on impeachment. Excited Democrats began bidding on the dentures, driving the price up into the tens of thousands of dollars immediately. ""This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get a historic relic from this somber, very serious impeachment trial," Pelosi said in a speech". . . 

What is The Babylon Bee?

Solemnly, prayerfully, Pelosi and her Democrats begin impeachment proceedings.

Count Pelosi's fellow Californians in this group.

Ian Macfarlane

 Video: McConnell On Pelosi’s ‘Commemorative Pens’: ‘Nothing Says Seriousness And Sobriety Like Handing Out Souvenirs’

Video: Video Montage: Craziest Media Commentary During Delivery of Articles of Impeachment

Ben Garrison: Pelosi's Poison Pens:  "As we watched Nancy Pelosi sign the articles of impeachment, we were overcome with disgust. What was supposed to be a sad and somber affair (her words), was unnecessarily made into a pompous and grandiose spectacle. Each letter of her name was signed individually with a separate golden pen. Clearly she was enjoying herself as she attempted to aggrandize the ‘historic’ manufactured spectacle."
"As I watched her, I got the impression of a black widow spider holding many of those pens at once. This cartoon immediately sprung to mind, and since I was making her into an arachnid, I decided to make Schiff as a cockroach and Nadler into a slug-like creature. Why not? After all, they are disgusting traitors who are carrying out a coup against a lawfully elected president.
Pelosi is drunk with power.
"She repeatedly talked about the founding fathers and Constitution, but her words ring as hollow as her empty vodka bottle. She’s about power and money and that’s all. Her shame has now been passed onto the Senate for trial. Trump should be exonerated, and quickly."

Conrad Black: Democrats Must Live with Consequences of Their Foolish Impeachment Farce  "The NeverTrump campaign has sputtered to a ludicrous and pitiful end with this year. Having dragged its media lackeys and the dwindling curiosity of the country through an absurd burlesque of a “solemn, sad,” impeachment process—without alleging any actual illegalities—the NeverTrump campaign has rushed through in a procedural Star Chamber because of the “urgency” of . . . Full article.

Was Pelosi Sitting On Impeachment Articles Due to Commemorative Pens Being on Back Order?  Other issues pointed out in this article include:
Putting America First is the last thing that Pelosi and her deranged Democrat mob want
Dem donkeys lining up for the Kangaroo Court
Turning the House into street theatre activism

Nancy Pelosi's Impeachment Pens Look Like Bullets

Obnoxious liberal and TV talk show favorite Rapinoe determined to make Olympics about politics

Look at ME!

Richard Jack Rail  "Megan Rapinoe's roaring again.  The International Olympic Committee published new rules that prohibit "political, religious or racial propaganda" "at medal ceremonies and Olympic venues," and Rapinoe says she "will not be silenced."  She later added that she will kneel anyway, which would force the IOC to enforce its rules or back down.

"Not one for fine distinctions, Megan understands the world only in relation to herself and, as usual, completely misses the point.  The IOC said nothing about silence.  They said she couldn't use the Olympic stage to push politics.  You can noisily talk about anything else — your girlfriend, the state of soccer, the game you just played, your house, your car, your dog.  Just don't use the Olympics to push politics.  That would include kneeling.

"If you get to do it, then everybody gets to do it, and in short order, WWIII would erupt.

"But that's okay, Megan — keep running your face.  It would give many of us satisfaction to see this woman barred from play at Tokyo in 2020 because of her obnoxiousness.  She's trying to bend the world to her will and we don't like it.  We don't like her scowling mug, her snotty comments, her arrogance, or her presumption.  Those of us who follow soccer may like to watch her play, but we turn the channel when the interviews begin.

"It remains for the IOC to show that it has the scrote to keep Megan off the field.  She will doubtless be joined by some of her teammates on the U.S. women's soccer team.  That may be when Megs notices that America really doesn't care much about her crusade.  Not only Americans — nobody else much cares, either.  Women's soccer just isn't popular the way men's soccer is.  That's nobody's fault.  Not Megan's, not mine, not the IOC's.  That's just how it is.

"Megan, you get paid right well to do something you love to do.  Many of us don't have that privilege.  If you don't like your job, do something else.

Impeachment commentary:"Impeachment Is Not the Issue, It's the 2020 Election"

American Thinker is a site you can link to for thoughtful commentary on politics

Impeachment Is Not the Issue, It's the 2020 Election

Sally Zelikovsky: For Pelosi's Impeachment Democrats, It's All about the Disruption
. . . "With the Democrats, we have a case of a predictable paternalistic party that controls the media, the educational system, and the culture.  We must identify all of their vulnerabilities, which can overlap with their strengths, anticipate their moves, and devise a strategy to defeat them before they even know what hit them. Kind of like what the Democrats have been doing to us for decades." . . .

Some of us had suggested that the Democrats would exert untold pressure on weaklings in the GOP – Romney, Collins, Murkowski, Portman, Gardner, etc.—to persuade them to vote with Democrats and against the Republican majority for a “fair” trial and any number of procedural votes that only required a 51-vote majority. 

There are Republican RINOs who would side with these people: 

Bill Livingstone: Impeachment Is Not the Issue, It's the 2020 Election  . . . "What do the Democrats offer voters in response?  High taxes, open borders, gun confiscation, abolishing ICE, uprooting the electoral college, restricting free speech, a Green New Deal, free health care for illegal aliens, scrubbing bail for crimes, and more – all loony left issues that scare the bejesus out of middle America.  Making matters worse, the leading Democrat presidential candidates are a bust, uninspiring talking heads who can barely muster a respectable crowd in far-left districts.
"So how do Democrats hope to win in November?  By making Trump the issue.  By demonizing the president to such an extent that voters will turn against him despite his successes." . . .

Andrea Widburg: The Democrats' weird response to sending the impeachment articles 
to the Senate

As you watch the House Democrats' revelry, don't forget that these same House Democrats refused to give a vote of support to the ordinary Iranians facing down their violent, despotic, theocratic government.

Tony Branco

The Democrat candidates and the Trump Economy

Rich Terrell, genius

The Democrat candidates live in Never-Neverland  . . . "Sanders, who seems to be in the lead, is the very worst of the bunch.  He is a communist who honeymooned in the USSR and, if elected, would govern as one.  That there are any Americans who support this man is an indictment of our public and private education.  Communism and socialism have been blights on every population that has suffered under those ideologies.  That Sanders has any supporters at all is proof that for two generations, American young people have been miseducated.  It is obscene, a crime against our youth.  They are being taught that the Constitution not only is "flawed," but needs to be rejected.  This is treason by faux education.

"All of the Democrat candidates ignored the phenomenal success of the American economy under Trump, the historically low unemployment among all groups, the seven million people no longer on food stamps.  They ignored Trump's decision to take out Soleimani when that was all they could talk about for the last week, how horrible that was." . . .

NFL Legend Franco Harris Says He Would Have "Beat The HELL Out Of Traitors Like Kaepernick"

Breaking First   . . . “When he puts on that suit, when he steps out on that field, now it’s more than just him. It’s his teammates, it’s the NFL, and it’s the fans.”
"Harris went on to say that the team must come first, and coaches and teammates in his day would have slammed Kaepernick over his protest.
"Harris continued to say Kaepernick is free to voice his personal position, but he could’ve done so on different platform and without dragging the football league into it. As they continued to discuss, Mediaite columnist John Ziegler asked about how Harris’ coaches and teammates would’ve confronted Kaepernick over his protest.
“ 'We had two of the meanest guys in football, who I think would’ve dealt with it that way, and that would’ve been Joe Greene and Jack Lambert,” Harris said."

 Recall Franco Harris and the Immaculate Reception of 1972!

Andrew Klavan: Booker Suspends Campaign To Spend More Time With His Gladiator Movies

Satirist Andrew Klavan   "It’s time to say a fond farewell to Corey Booker, who has suspended his presidential campaign in order to spend more time with his gladiator movies.
"Senator Booker got the word that he was not going to be president after the word passed through the mind of every single citizen of the United States, made a transit through first Western and then Eastern Europe, moved across the Dardanelles into Asia, then down to Australia , from which it spread throughout the Middle East to the continent of Africa, then made its way across the Atlantic to South then Central America, finally coming up through Mexico and on to Iowa where it was received by Corey Booker, who was completely shocked to hear the news.
"Political analysts say that Booker’s campaign may have failed because the public was confused about his persona. For instance, as a dynamic young black man, Booker hoped to remind voters of Barack Obama, but the voters were never sure whether he was Obama the charming and eloquent politician, or Obama the jerk who killed the economy and screwed up the Middle East.
"Booker hoped to present himself as heroic by declaring that he was Spartacus, but voters just assumed he enjoyed running around bare-chested while wearing a short leather skirt. And Booker thought he could win attention by repeatedly declaring that he was the man for this moral moment, but it turned out that just made him sound like an annoying pain in the ass.
"Finally, Booker thought that he could run on his record as mayor of Newark, New Jersey, where he improved education with charter schools, but that turns out to violate the Democrat platform created by teachers unions, so voters felt they would prefer to vote for an 80-year-old Communist who at least makes them laugh.
"On the positive side, Booker has always made a point of living with his constituents in inner-city, low-income neighborhoods, so at least he won’t have to do crap like that anymore."

Duchess Meghan Wants To Move To ‘Progressive’ California But She Doesn’t Want Her Company To Pay California Taxes

When considering a California celebrity spouse, think of Harry and Meghan; Hollywood screwed up the American culture, the family, rational discourse, roles of the husband and wife, et.al. Now the British culture and traditions are being Californicated, um...royally. TD

Daily Wire  "The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Harry and Meghan, are reportedly looking to move to the United States, at least eventually, after President Donald Trump leaves office. But while they may be eyeing the leftist paradise of Los Angeles, California, the pair’s commitment to social justice apparently ends at their pocketbook.
"Just before the pair announced that they planned to separate from the British royal family and earn their own keep — at least partly — Duchess Meghan revived her California-based lifestyle company, Frim Fram Inc., and moved it out of the state of California, re-registering it in Delaware, where the tax code is far more business-friendly, per the Telegraph.
"Frim Fram, Inc. applied to be a Delaware corporation on New Year’s Eve, sliding in just under the wire so that the newly revived company could avoid paying taxes to the state of California for any income the business might earn in 2020, now that the royal pair are in talks to separate from their current source of income, Prince Charles."
. . . 
"The pair also, it seems, wants to pursue a more overt political agenda, something members of the royal family are prohibited from doing. Duchess Meghan, at least, has broken that protocol several times, even after announcing her engagement to Prince Harry. The pair ran into trouble over the summer after Prince Harry suggested people should have two children or fewer to avoid over-taxing the Earth’s resources just before he, his wife, and his young son boarded a series of carbon-spewing private flights to spend quality time in exclusive locations with celebrity hosts.
"Eventually the pair plan to move to the United States — at least according to reports that surfaced over the weekend, indicating that Harry and Meghan want to end up in Los Angeles, California, eventually. The pair, who are said to be talking to George and Amal Clooney and Oprah Winfrey about their plans, won’t make their home in the United States, though, until after Trump leaves office. Duchess Meghan has been an open critic of Trump."

Impeachment: Do Republicans Have More Fun?

                                                    Fast Company explains impeachment

Ann Coulter  "Impeachments aren’t what they used to be. Today, young people are supposed to be excited that the president withheld taxpayer money from Ukraine –- a half-billion-dollar foreign aid package that ticks off most Americans under any circumstances, going to a country notable for not being our country, and for a purpose other than the wall.

"Now, Bill Clinton –- that was an impeachment!
"First, there was the corpus delicti of the case -- a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky, earning her “presidential kneepads” by sexually servicing the president.
"The telephonic evidence wasn’t about “Burisma Holdings Limited” or a Ukrainian prosecutor whose name no one can remember. It was tapes of Monica blathering on and on about servicing the president, including such fascinating items as:
-- Clinton couldn’t remember Monica’s name after their first two sexual encounters;" . . .
. . . 
Idiots keep announcing on TV that all impeachments are “political,” which they understand to mean “partisan.” No –- that’s not what it means.
"As Alexander Hamilton explained in Federalist 65, impeachable offenses are “political” in the sense that they are attacks on the body politic -- “injuries done immediately to the society itself.”
"It doesn’t get much more injurious to a “nation of laws, not men” than to have the president of the United States perjuring himself over and over and over again in a citizen’s Supreme Court-approved lawsuit against him.
"You see, kids? That was an impeachment!"