UPDATED: Impeachment Theater #1
I give in. As long as I can keep these brief--because everyone and their brother is commenting about Schiff's absurd Impeachment Theater--I'll provide updates if the news seems noteworthy.
First off, when Jeffrey Toobin, liberal legal gadfly, thinks the Dems have a problem, I think you can take that to the bank:
Adam Schiff has lost CNN:
CNN’s Toobin: neither witness “had direct contact with the president…that’s a problem” pic.twitter.com/4mpgk6fDhS
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) November 13, 2019
It sounds like Bill Taylor, the former ambassador, put everyone to sleep right off the bat by delivering a 41 MINUTE opening statement. The idea behind it, as far as could be discerned, seemed to be that Trump is disrespecting the career foreign service by not doing their bidding--so ... he needs to be impeached?
But more interesting is that Mitch McConnell repeated today that if the House sends the Senate articles of impeachment there will be a big ass long trial. Of course McConnell saying this doesn't commit him to a thing, but you may recall that a full scale trial was one of the two approaches that Hugh Hewitt favored: What's The Principled Way For The Senate To Handle An "Impeachment" .
McConnell has in the past said that in the case of an impeachment there would be a trial. At that time I suggested this might be be a warning shot across the Dem bow. You might think a Senate trial would be all about Trump, but I'm not sure you should bet on that. We might well find an inordinate amount of time--weeks, in fact--devoted to a defense centered around the Bidens, father and son, and the need to investigate their corrupt dealings. The Bidens might well be called to testify, and then we might be treated to the spectacle of a presidential aspirant and his son both taking the Fifth. If the Dems really prefer Biden as a candidate to Warren, Sanders, or Alfred E. Neumann--or, God help us, Hillary!--they might want to reconsider impeachment altogether. And that may be the message McConnell is sending.
We've seen the Dem case, and it's pathetic. But impeachment could well turn into a sword that cuts both ways, and most decidedly more in one direction than the other.
To finish up, here's what seems to me a very well informed interview--Jack Posobiec talking to former CIA officer Brad Johnson:
They can't hide Ciaramella from the Senate. They'll track him down in the wilds of Dupont Circle and put him up before the country.
UPDATE: WaPo seems to agree with me on McConnell's strategery (from FR):
Republicans discuss a longer Senate impeachment trial to scramble Democratic primaries
Washington Post ^ | Nov 13, 2019 | By Robert Costa, Michael Scherer and Seung Min Kim
Some Republican senators and their advisers are privately discussing whether to pressure GOP leaders to stage a lengthy impeachment trial beginning in January to scramble the Democratic presidential race — potentially keeping six contenders in Washington until the eve of the Iowa caucuses or longer.
Those conversations about the timing and framework for a trial remain fluid and closely held, according to more than a dozen participants in the discussions. But the deliberations come as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) faces pressure from conservative activists to swat back at Democrats as public impeachment hearings began this week in the House...
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...