Most TV viewers breathed a sigh of relief last Friday morning when the impeachment inquiry finally came to an end. At that time, on a party line vote, the House Judiciary Committee passed two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump. Prior to the vote, most Americans had to suffer through several months of having their regular cable news being devoted from dawn to dusk to the hearings.
It might be well to go to the very beginning of this imbroglio which began on the occasion of a much disputed phone call between the U.S. president and Ukrainian President Volodimyr Zelenskiy. That call, which was listened in to by a number of people, quickly created a phony whistleblower, who is still a mystery man or woman to the rest of the world except Congressman Adam Schiff and his staff to whom the whistleblower first went.
On advice from the Schiff staff, the whistleblower retained a lawyer and then submitted their complaint to an inspector general who brought the matter forward as credible. Actually, the so called whistleblower did not qualify on the basis of firsthand knowledge, but rather on hearsay and items he or she read in the press. Nonetheless, the complaint was added to the inquiry which had already begun under House Judiciary Chairman Congressman Jerry Nadler, but was snatched from his committee by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who then gave it to Schiff’s Intelligence Committee.
Calling Congressman Schiff a qualified chairman of intelligence is a bit of an oxymoron. It is so, because Schiff started the inquiry by reading his own version of the famous phone call. Once he had entered that falsehood into the record, he laid the groundwork for the future conduct of his inquisitions. After Schiff’s work of fiction, Speaker Pelosi called for the impeachment of the president.
Immediately the next day President Trump released the actual transcript of the call, which in no way resembled Schiff’s version. It might be well to remember, as the Democrats always bring up, that Trump’s only achievement was that he was merely a reality TV star. What the Dem’s and the rest of the American public quickly found out was that the Adam Schiff reality TV show paled in comparison to Trump’s previous appearances on the tube.
During the time that Schiff was in charge of the inquiry it turned out to be a one sided affair. By violating the standard rules of procedure and prohibiting equal time for his Republican colleagues to question witnesses as well as call witnesses of their own. Apparently, neither Pelosi nor Nadler are unaware of TV clips of the two of them during the Clinton impeachment decrying the proceedings as lowering the bar on future impeachments that could be called on other presidents. Unfortunately, those predictions have come true in 2019.
Many years ago in debate class, I learned that when you raised your voice you have already lost the argument. During the recent proceedings, the inquisitors on the Democrat side of the committee frequently raised their voices, particularly on the distaff side. The committee hearings were so riveting, that Chairman Nadler was caught on camera napping during the proceedings.
During this entire procedure, the Dems seemed to have been coached or instructed on what message to put forward and it included, “We can chew gum and walk at the same time”. Also, “No one is above the law, especially the president of the United States”. Those two quotes take us back to the time when the two famous words that were never in the phone call were created. Those two words were “demand” and “dirt”. President Trump used the word “favor” and never uttered the word “dirt”. The favor he asked was for the Ukrainian president to check on what role previous Ukrainian administrations had played relative to the 2016 U.S. Presidential elections.
As of this week, the full House was to vote on forwarding articles of impeachment to the Senate. At the present time there seems to be controversy among some senators and the White House regarding how long the Senate trial will last. Senator Lindsey Graham has said that it will be speedy, but President Trump has indicated that he prefers a more lengthy trial in which he can call witnesses that will tend to exonerate him. Whatever course the Senate pursues, it is pretty much agreed that we are watching a show that we already know what the finale will be.
Cornel N says
Deja Vu! “Fatigue” is too nice to describe it. The Democratic party will be hurt for this none-sense im’bitch’ment big time, in the next elections. They’ve lost touch with the reasonable American and it will bite their rear.
NVCondor says
Using our tax dollars, as leverage over another country, to interfere in our elections is hardly nonsense. That’s a crime.
A president that refuses a lawful subpoena, withholding material witnesses and documents, is obstructing Congress’ constitutional responsibility of oversight of the Executive branch. By doing so, he is betraying his oath of office and turning our government into a monarchy or dictatorship.
As American citizens, we should demand that they act to protect our Democratic Republic. Anything less is consent to a pathway that would destroy our country.
No president is above the law. Fatigue? Get over it.