Charles Schumer’s 1999 letter about impeachment comes back to bite him

NY Post

"On Feb. 11, 1999 — one day before President Bill Clinton was acquitted in his impeachment trial before the Senate — Sen. Charles Schumer penned a passionate letter, outlining why the process had taken an unfair toll on the nation. He noted that the president believed he had not crossed a line, and praised the large threshold needed to get a conviction in the Senate. He also cheered the American people for opposing impeachment. A Gallup poll in December 1998 found that 35 percent of Americans were pro-impeachment, with 73 percent of Republicans and only 12 percent of Democrats in favor. Meanwhile, a Quinnipiac poll this month found that 51 percent of Americans approve of President Donald Trump’s impeachment, with 46 percent disapproving, but the partisan divide is even starker with just 7 percent of Republicans and a whopping 91 percent of Democrats in favor. Though the individual details are different, many of the same points crafted by Schumer more than 20 years ago echo Republican arguments against the impeachment of President Trump. Here is Sen. Schumer’s original letter in full, with some of the more prescient sections bolded by The Post . . .

Statement for the Record of Senator Charles E. Schumer The Trial of the President February 11, 1999Mr. President, this is a day of solemnity and awe. I rise humbled that we are participating in a process that was mapped out more than 200 years ago by the Founding Fathers and that the words we say today will be looked upon by historians and future Congresses for guidance. That is quite a responsibility.I began this process in the House where it degenerated quickly into bitter acrimony. I would like to say to Majority Leader [Trent] Lott and Minority Leader [Tom] Daschle, and to my new colleagues who have wrestled with this case, that I deeply appreciate your fairness and patience and the way this has been handled with such dignity in the Senate.Growing up, our country and its government seemed like a mighty oak — strong, rooted, permanent, and grand.It has shaken me that we stand at the brink of removing a President — not because of a popular groundswell to remove him and not because of the magnitude of the wrongs he’s committed — but because conditions in late 20th century America has made it possible for a small group of people who hate Bill Clinton and hate his policies to very cleverly and very doggedly exploit the institutions of freedom that we hold dear and almost succeed in undoing him.Most troubling to me are the conditions that allowed this to happen, than the small group who precipitated them. . . .

Schumer argues for a no vote on the first article of impeachment in 1999.

The Democrats’ Sham Investigation

American Greatness  "As expected, Democrats last week insisted that a Senate impeachment trial without witnesses should be considered a sham trial. Those statements, whether from the lips of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), or Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), are part of the Democrats’ strategy to extend their investigation in hopes of finding a nugget of incriminating evidence against President Trump.
"Rather than passively accepting that, Republicans should highlight the sham investigation that Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and  Nadler conducted for House Democrats. The point should be to underscore the Democrats’ intellectual inconsistency. This video highlights the fact that Nadler refused to allow a hearing where Republicans could call witnesses:

"The Judiciary Committee, traditionally the “impeachment committee,” didn’t call any fact witnesses. The first hearing consisted of three partisan Democrat activists and liberal law professor Jonathan Turley, who has criticized the current impeachment effort. The other Judiciary Committee hearing consisted of the majority and minority counsels answering questions about the Schiff report. Schiff wasn’t required by Nadler to testify about his own report.

"A simple question screams out for attention. Where are the witnesses? We’re now told that a Senate trial must include witnesses. We are told now that it’s a sham trial if we don’t have witnesses. Pelosi even said that the Senate would be engaged in “a cover-up” if witnesses aren’t called." . . .

Can we all comprehend the sheer disrespect shown us by these obvious statements Democrats make? As with the "Russian collusion" fallacy, Democrats have only to make any ridiculous allegation that, even when proven a lie, becomes repeatable and used over and over by Democrats.
The hope of "keeping this Republic" fades with this Democrat Party. TD

So appropriate for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day

http://www.terrellaftermath.com/

Overnight Open Thread: American Hero, Ship’s Cook Third Class Doris Miller
ABC News  . . . "The USS Miller, a frigate, was also named in honor of Miller. Miller also received a Purple Heart Medal, the American Defense Service Medal, Fleet Clasp, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal. Miller died in action in 1943 after a torpedo hit the ship he was aboard in the Gilbert Islands.
" 'Doris Miller stood for everything that is good about our nation, and his story deserves to be remembered and repeated wherever our people continue the watch today," Modly said in a statement." . . .

Progressive Petards; When the Left has to live according to its own rules, it will rue the loss of the civilization it destroyed.

These are strange times, in which progressives grow near quiet when courageous Iranians hit the streets to protest a murderous government, but express remorse over the killing of one of the most murderous of all Iranian autocrats.

Victor Davis Hanson  "Since at least 2016, CNN has mostly ceased being a news agency, but that hasn’t stopped it from being an active participant in #TheResistance. The network is so caught up in the fervor of this movement that many of its guests and regular hosts have been fired, reprimanded, or apologized for threats to the president or general obscene references (e.g., Reza Aslan, the late Anthony Bourdain, Kathy Griffin).

"Many of its marquee reporters have resigned, were fired, or reassigned for fake-news bias (e.g., Thomas Frank, Eric Lichtblau, and Lex Haris), or came under fire for false reporting (Jim Sciutto, Marshall Cohen, and Carl Bernstein) or have had to offer retractions and/or apologies (Gloria Borger, Eric Lichtblau, Jake Tapper, and Brian Rokus.)
"Its anchors have apologized for obscenity (Anderson Cooper) or simply making up false statements (Chris Cuomo), while analysts have been caught in a number of contradictions about their own role in on-going scandals (James Clapper).
"The common denominator has been the new journalistic ethos that aborting the Trump presidency justifies any means necessary to achieve such noble ends. Throughout CNN’s descent into parody, progressives still smiled at the usefulness of CNN for the larger project of delegitimizing the Trump presidency. Few understood the Thucydidean concept that once nihilists destroy norms and protocols of ethical behavior for perceived short-term advantage, they usually rue the loss when they themselves become victims of their own biased zealotry and are in dire need of the civilizational help they recently ruined.
"So it was last week, when CNN moderator Abby Phillip warped the recent Democratic presidential primary debate by not asking, so much as accusing, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) about a claim that he said a woman such as Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) could not be elected president—in the fashion of a “When did you stop beating your wife?” question: “Senator Sanders, CNN reported yesterday, and Senator Warren confirmed in a statement, that in 2018 you told her that you did not believe that a woman could win the election. Why did you say that?”

"Leftists were outraged at the CNN host’s flagrant bias— . . .

Conservatives Love McSally’s Brutal Media Diss

At the War Colleges (she went to the Air Force one, I went to the Army one) they teach you less about war than about how to behave so you don’t scare the civilians you have to work with at that level. Treating the members of the mainstream media like exactly what they are, with all the contempt they have earned – especially CNN – is not on the syllabus.

Townhall  "I had pretty much written off Martha McSally as a loser, a sure loss of the crucial Arizona Senate seat she got handed after flubbing a campaign to win the state’s other one, but it looks like I was wonderfully wrong. Somewhere along the line, McSally got woke, calling a liberal hack from CNN a “liberal hack” and inspiring a million Dem-loving media tears. It was glorious, and overdue. McSally laid out that simpering microphone jockey and showed that maybe she can take the fight to her gun-stealing, socialist-tolerating astronaut opponent and keep our seat." . . .
. . . "McSally is a literal hero, in military terms – an example to be emulated. But as a Republican senator, she just wasn’t getting it done. And she needed to hear that. She needed to unleash the Thunderbolt II pilot that was in there somewhere, buried under layers of consultant goo, just waiting for a chance to send a volley of figurative depleted uranium rounds at some Democrat lackey with a mic and a ‘tude."
. . . "What she can’t do is doubt herself. What she can’t do is listen to the whiny sissies of the media sobbing uncontrollably because the mean senator said a mean thing to one of the media mean girls. " . . .

Will police enforce Virginia’s anti-masking law at Monday’s rally?

 Steve Grammatico  "Monday’s pro Second Amendment rally in Richmond will surely attract left provocateurs bent on inciting violence.  And why not?  They know that Governor Northam and compliant media will blame any physical confrontations on gun rights advocates, making them the villains and obscuring their message. 

"Ostensibly to keep public order but more likely to foment trouble (as detailed in James G. Robertson’s article here), Northam took the constitutionally suspect step of banning lawful carry in an area around the Capitol’s grounds.  As of this writing, the order stands.

"On the subject of keeping the peace, there’s something else the Governor and local authorities could do but haven’t, as far as I know: declare they will rigorously enforce the following section of Virginia’s code on masking:

§ 18.2-422. Prohibition of wearing of masks in certain places; exception

It shall be unlawful for any person over 16 years of age to, with the intent to conceal his identity, wear any hood or other device whereby a substantial portion of the face is hidden or covered so as to conceal the identity of the wearer, to be or appear in any public place, or upon any private property in this Commonwealth without first having obtained from the owner or tenant thereof consent to do so in writing. [Exceptions include holiday masks, protective masks used by tradespeople, medical personnel, etc.]  The violation of any provisions of this section is a Class 6 felony.

"The risk of violence would be greatly reduced if Northam or police authorities cited the statute and declared that wearing a mask in or around the demonstration would be grounds for arrest.  That would eliminate the cloak of anonymity used by the left’s shock troops to avoid responsibility for their actions.

"So, why isn’t this message being proclaimed?  Have police been told to ignore the law and stand down on masks?  If so, why?  Inquiring minds want to know." 

1865: Richmond's capitol building during the War Between The States.

Virtue Signaling and the Indoctrination of the Left

"You might notice that Democrats are often dismissive of facts.  This is because they gauge the validity of different facts based on how well those facts fit their political positions, rather than gauging their political positions based on how well those positions square with the facts.  Once someone accepts a position as virtuous, and ties their sense of self-virtue to holding the right positions, they become immune to facts, and will find convenient ways to blow off any facts they don’t like."

Global Liberty Media

"Have you ever looked at a belief, and wondered how it is that someone can believe that thing, whatever it may be?  Have you ever wondered how it is that people can be so easily indoctrinated?

"Indoctrination is actually very easy to accomplish, and the purpose of this post is to expose exactly how indoctrination works.

"People think that the trick to indoctrination is to control the narrative, but it is not.  The trick is to control what is perceived as ‘true’.  Narratives follow.

"Controlling the perception of ‘truth’ starts with virtue-signaling.  The left constantly portrays their positions as virtuous, and other positions as lacking virtue.  Once someone buys into the notion that a position is, or is not, virtuous, then being a ‘good person’ comes from agreeing with the right positions, making it impossible to separate one’s self-identity from the political positions one holds.  Once someone’s sense of virtue becomes tied to their political positions, they will defend those political positions as if their lives depended on it, as not doing so would, to them, make them lack virtue.  Conversely, anyone who opposes their political positions becomes, by definition, evil." . . .

Hat tip to Doane Barile at Facebook Town Hall

CNN Is The Home of Liberal Hacks

Canada Free Press

"U.S. Senator Martha McSally (R-AZ) created a firestorm of controversy this week when she called CNN reporter Manu Raju “a liberal hack.” Raju was trying to interview McSally about the upcoming impeachment trial, but the Arizona Senator told him that “I’m not talking to you.”

"McSally is a former fighter pilot who certainly knows how to hit targets. In this regard, her comments hit the media target perfectly and were especially appropriate.

"CNN is a tool of the Democratic National Committee

"Raju and his CNN colleagues are all “liberal hacks.” Other than an occasional token conservative analyst or guest, the entire CNN roster of producers and on-air talent, including all the network’s hosts, is composed of steadfast liberals, progressives and socialists. In fact, one of their major personalities is Van Jones, a self-proclaimed communist.

"Other Republican officeholders should follow McSally’s lead and refuse to appear on CNN. As tweeted by U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), CNN media personalities are not real “journalists.” He noted that they “relentlessly attack every Republican” and “always, always push the prevailing Dem narrative of the moment.” Clearly, Republicans, especially pro-Trump conservatives, will never get fair coverage for CNN is a tool of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). 

"As evidence, this week, CNN hosted a Democratic presidential debate that heavily publicized a dispute between U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT). The network’s anchors and reporters spent several days trying to help Warren by trumpeting her allegations that Sanders supposedly told her in a 2018 private conversation that a woman cannot get elected President.

"Even though Sanders denies making that statement and said many years ago that a woman should be elected President, CNN’s on-air personalities have been clearly taking the side of Warren. It seems the DNC leadership is once again trying to destroy the candidacy of Sanders, so, like loyal party members, CNN is doing their dirty work. The DNC fears that as a proud socialist Sanders is too far to the ideological left for millions of mainstream American voters and is unelectable in the 2020 general election." . . .

Minnesota Teacher of the Year kneels for National Anthem

Does Minnesota have something in its water?

Eric Utter  . . . "If she is strictly concerned with injustice in the United States, perhaps she could kneel for Ben Shapiro, Dennis Prager, Michelle Malkin, Andy Ngo, or any of a myriad of other conservatives who have been routinely prevented from speaking on college campuses and who have been subjected to the most vile and unwarranted slurs and threats.  Or she could kneel for Sarah Sanders, Tomi Lahren, and others who have been forced to leave restaurants and other public places due to the aggressive intolerance of "progressive" thugs.  Or she could kneel for Mark Steyn, who was sued by Michael Mann, the Penn State climatologist and creator of the breathtakingly bogus "hockey stick graph," for mocking Mann's preposterously ridiculous chart, a suit that has been ongoing for the better part of a decade.

"Or, for that matter, she could kneel for me.  I'm continuously exposed to leftist lunacy, transgender tripe, historical heresy, and anti-Christian crusading via the mainstream media and the government-academia complex.  And I was once the victim of slow and discourteous service at my local DMV.

"Ms. Holstine, the next time you're tempted to take a knee to stand up for someone who's been mistreated, I hope it's in front of a cross.  The only thing you've taught us is that (your) ignorance isn't bliss."

Watch for her to appear on Stephen Colbert, perhaps with soccer player Megan Rapinoe.

This Week's Mad Rush by Democrats to Impeachment in 9 Cartoons

The Federalist Papers  "This week’s edition of the impeachment game has been quite the circus.
"Democrats basically railroaded two extremely weak Articles of Impeachment through the House Judiciary Committee on a strictly partly line vote and made fools of themselves.
"Next week the full House will vote with Democrats most likely to vote for impeachment without a single Republican vote.
"Here is this week in the Democrat’s mad rush to impeachment summed up by 9 hilarious and savage cartoons:"
One such here:

One which was a joy to publish:  Somber Impeachment Ceremony Concludes With The Impeachment Dancers

Comedian Argus Hamilton took note:
Nancy Pelosi vowed to soon release the Articles of Impeachment so Trump may answer to the Senate for what he did. Precedent may guide his fate. Congress established twenty-one years ago that humiliating Hillary Clinton IS an impeachable offense, but it’s not enough grounds for removal

Pete Buttigieg issued a statement Thursday blaming Trump for Iran’s accidental shoot-down of an Iran airliner. I wondered which candidate would say this first. If President Trump were to adopt a stray dog, the Democrats would accuse him of introducing rabies into the general population

Nancy Pelosi griped Tuesday that Trump didn’t brief Congress before the US attack on Iran’s terrorist general. He’d just learned a new trick. Trump was going to send his attack plans over to Pelosi but he decided to hold them up until Congress lets him know how they’re going to handle them

How McConnell Outplayed Pelosi

The Republican leader unified his caucus by relying on precedent

Matthew Continetti  "Mitch McConnell was clear when he addressed the Senate December 18: Any impeachment trial of President Trump would follow the precedent established by the trial of President Clinton 20 years ago.
"Clinton's trial was divided into pieces. The Senate agreed unanimously to begin with a briefing, opening arguments, questions from senators, and a vote to dismiss. Whether to hear witnesses or introduce additional evidence were questions decided later. "That was the unanimous bipartisan precedent from 1999," McConnell said. "Put first things first, lay the bipartisan groundwork, and leave mid-trial questions to the middle of the trial."
"The arrangement satisfied Chuck Schumer back when he was a recently elected junior senator from New York. Funny how times change. Now Senate minority leader, and looking to damage Republicans in a presidential election year, Schumer demanded that McConnell call witnesses and ask for additional documents at the outset of the proceedings. Pelosi followed his cues. After the House impeached Trump on December 18, she said she wouldn't transmit the articles of impeachment until McConnell gave in to Schumer's demands.
"McConnell refused. He continued to point to the (relative) bipartisanship of the Clinton era. "The Senate said, 100 to nothing, that was good enough for President Clinton," he said on January 6. "So it ought to be good enough for President Trump. Fair is fair." The following day, McConnell ridiculed the idea that Pelosi had "leverage" over the Senate: "Apparently this is their proposition: If the Senate does not agree to break with our own unanimous bipartisan precedent from 1999, and agree to let Speaker Pelosi hand-design a different procedure for this Senate trial, then they might never dump this mess in our lap." Fine with him. The Senate has plenty of other things to do." . . .

Nancy Pelosi’s Delusions of Grandeur; Madam Speaker is a greater threat to democracy than the man she impeached.

The American Spectator; Madam Speaker is a greater threat to democracy than the man she impeached.

"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has repeatedly portrayed President Trump as an existential threat to the republic. As she put it when announcing the House impeachment inquiry, “The actions taken to date by the president have seriously violated the Constitution.” She later justified her mad rush to hold an impeachment vote in December by claiming it was necessary “to defend democracy.” In reality, by presiding over the hyper-partisan passage of two inscrutable articles of impeachment and holding them hostage until the Senate allows her to dictate how it will conduct the president’s trial, Pelosi has revealed that she is the genuine menace to our unique system of government.

"The speaker of the House has no authority to impose conditions on the Senate in return for transmitting articles of impeachment to that body. The Constitution unambiguously invests the upper chamber with the sole power to conduct presidential impeachment trials, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has made it abundantly clear that he has no intention of acceding to Speaker Pelosi’s unconstitutional demands: “There will be no haggling with the House over Senate procedure. We will not cede our authority to try this impeachment. The House’s turn is over. The Senate has made its decision.” Yet Madam Speaker continues to issue high-handed ultimatums:

The President & Sen. McConnell have run out of excuses. They must allow witnesses to testify, and produce the documents Trump has blocked, so Americans can see the facts for themselves. The Senate cannot be complicit in the President’s cover-up.

'By presuming to dictate what the president and Senate Majority Leader “must” do, Pelosi is deliberately undermining the checks and balances built into the system by the Framers." . . .