Saturday, February 1, 2020

Shampeachment is Dead! Long Live Shampeachment!

My, what a busy day the Senate had! But first, a historical note from Matt Margolis at PJ, BUSTED: Joe Biden Argued Against Witnesses in 1999 Impeachment Trial Memo. Hypocrisy in politics; why I never!

After Lamar Alexander bailed on witness (covered in yesterday's post).  Matt Margolis at PJ,  Schumer Falsely Claims There Have Been 'No Witnesses, No Documents' During Impeachment



Here are my "thoughts" on witnesses. If you vote for witnesses, you are saying the prosecution's case was insufficient for you to decide one way or the other, and thus, the case was not proven to a reasonable doubt. If you vote against witnesses, you are saying you've seen enough evidence to either acquit or convict. Yeah, that's gonna work.

Sundance at CTH, Susan Collins and Mitt Romney Will Vote “Yes” on Witnesses, Lamar Alexander “No”, Lisa Murkowski Wants to Sleep on It…  Stacy McCain was still worried Collins Announces ‘Yes,’ Alexander ‘No’ on Calling Impeachment Witnesses: TIE? Then,  Sen Murkowski also announced her opposition to the call for new witness, putting the final nail in that coffin. Ace Murkowski a "No" on Witnesses, Citing Politicization of Process
Sundance, Senator Lisa Murkowski Announces She Will Vote “No” on Witnesses…, and AllahPundit weeps Endgame: Murkowski Will Vote Against Calling Witnesses
Totally predictable after Lamar Alexander’s vote last night. What would Murkowski have gained by forcing a 50/50 deadlock that would have left John Roberts and McConnell scratching their heads about how to resolve it? By voting this way, she earns a favor from Trump and Cocaine Mitch and gives Trump fans back in Alaska a reason to forgive her the next time she votes no in a Kavanaugh-magnitude situation.
Althouse, who reads the NYT so you don't have to, wrote "Murkowski says she’ll vote no on witnesses, likely dealing fatal blow."
That sentence is a headline at the NYT.

Interesting to learn how Murkowski will vote, but it's a pro-Trump vote, so it's not "fatal" as far as the target of this proceeding is concerned.

If we're using this metaphor of death, we need to know whose death is under discussion. It's a fatal blow to the enterprise of killing the Trump presidency. At least. Maybe it's a fatal blow to the Democratic Party... or — to be less dramatic — to the 2020 ambitions of the Democratic Party.
Then in mid vote, Voting on the witnesses motion... "... happening now. ADDED: It’s 49/51. Trump wins." Totally predictable. Herr Professor at LI, Senate Vote On Additional Witnesses: Rejected 51 (NO), 49 (YES). Tyler O'Neil at PJ Media, Game Over: Senate Votes Against Witnesses and Documents.  WaPoo whines that the Senate set to acquit Trump next week after bid for witnesses is defeated and The day that sealed things for Trump’s impeachment.  Sundance, Senators Vote to Avoid Further Witness Testimony – Now Privately Debating Next Steps…., AllahPundit moans, It’s Official: Vote To Call Witnesses At Trump’s Impeachment Trial Fails, 49/51; Update: Final Vote Wednesday?

WaPoo, Senate set to acquit Trump next week after bid for witnesses in impeachment trial is defeated. Instapundit, DON’T MESS WITH COCAINE MITCH.
UPDATE (from Steve): Don’t forget that Trump will deliver his State of the Union address on Tuesday, in front of a crowd half-consisting of fully humiliated Democrats. Presumably, that’ll be one night before Cocaine Mitch has his chamber vote to acquit, but it’s SOTU so all the Democrats present will have to feign civility.

Savage, indeed.
I'll bet they can't. But there's another possibility, from Paula Bolyard at PJ.  Is Schumer Trying to Take Sanders Out by Agreeing to Hold Acquittal Vote AFTER the Iowa Caucuses?. Hmmmm.

AllahPundit hopes Is Romney Going To Vote To Remove Trump? but fears not.
Trumpers are going to read that headline and respond, “YES, AND HE ALWAYS WAS,” but I don’t think that’s true. There’s too much for him to lose and too little to gain by casting a vote to remove that’s functionally meaningless to make this an easy call for him. He has almost five full years left in the Senate and may well spend all five having to deal with an embittered Trump administration that won’t do him a single favor if he votes the wrong way here. He’ll piss off thousands upon thousands of Republican constituents back home, some of whom love Trump and others of whom think this is a moment to circle the partisan wagons irrespective of their feelings about the president. He’ll be shredded in right-wing media for the rest of his life, accused not just of disloyalty but of petty jealousy and grudge-holding towards a guy who succeeded where Romney himself failed in 2012. He’ll alienate his Republican colleagues in the Senate, to the extent that he hasn’t already.

All he’d “gain” is gift-wrapping a talking point for Democrats that the vote to remove was bipartisan. He’d be the only Republican in either chamber who was willing to side with Pelosi, Schumer, and Schiff on the Ukraine matter.
AllahPundit pisses and moans, Rubio: This Ukraine Thing May Have Been Impeachable But It Wasn’t Removable "As I said once before, he’s a broken man. The Trump era has broken him." Then I guess it's a good thing we didn't elect him. We need a stronger President.

A moment of levity: Ace,  Leeeeeeeroy Naaaadlerrr "Jerry Nadler Speed-Waddles to Steal Adam Schiff's Closing Spotlight" and Althouse, "Jerry. Jerry. Jerry."
And the expected meltdown from Democrats is well underway.
Wapoo, ‘A permanent asterisk’: Acquittal at hand, Democrats sow doubt about Trump trial "Top Democratic leaders are arguing that a trial without witnesses should not allow Trump to claim vindication." Mediaite, ‘A Shameful Episode in Our History’: Carl Bernstein Scorches Senate for ‘Cover-up’ After Alexander’s Likely Trial-Ending No Vote. Cocaine Mitch grins. News Busters, Meacham Meltdown on NBC: ‘Monarch’ ‘King’ Trump Now ‘Above the Law’. And who's Meacham? and MSNBC Pundit: If Acquitted, Trump Will ‘Shut Down Voting’ in California! He says that like that's a bad thing! Althouse, Impeachment coverage looks like a quirky number in a show choreographed by Bob Fosse, "They need to do that. They need to have their hysteria fit. Do I need to watch?" and I'm sorry. I have rig fatigue.
There are things I'm not reading this morning. And I mean this phrase "not reading" to denote an active process. I should write it as one word: notreading.

For the list of things I'm notreading this morning: "The Senate impeachment trial was rigged!" (by Dana Milbank in WaPo).

Yeah, it was rigged. Everything is rigged. The election was rigged. Trump isn't really President. The impeachment trial was rigged. The acquittal won't count as an acquittal. If Trump wins reelection, it will be because it was rigged. It's all rigged. The Constitution itself is rigged. What's with that 2/3 vote requirement? Rigged. Electoral college? Rigged! Life itself is rigged!...
Insty, with a long list of examples,  TRUMP’S SUPERPOWER REALLY IS GETTING HIS OPPONENTS TO REVEAL THEIR INNER DUMBASSERY . . .

Paul Bedard at WaEx, Rand Paul: Election 'chaos' is goal of Democrats, 'they hate the president so much'. Doing Putin's job better than Putin ever did. Sundance, Devin Nunes: “The Schiff Staff Won’t Quit” – An Impeachment Acquittal “Won’t End This” – “This Really is a Hoax”…..



Somewhere in their high rise offices, the Lawfare crowd is constructing another excuse to impeach, and colluding with Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler as how to go about it.
Da Mail, US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch retires from the State Department after she was removed from her post in 2019 and was a key witness in Trump's impeachment trial. Good riddance.

Alan Dershowitz quits Donald Trump's impeachment trial after saying the president CANNOT be removed for a quid pro quo to aid his re-election then claims the defense 'begged him to stay' Too late, he still won't get invited to the best parties anymore.

Still some unfinished business with the whistleblower, Roger L. Simon at ET, Misuse of Whistleblower Law Created Impeachment Farce, Insty, RAND PAUL SCHOOLS A DEMOCRATIC OPERATIVE WITH A BYLINE:
Sundance pens another long one, Hindsight Folks, Hindsight – Compare the Vindman, Ciaramella, Misko, McCord and Atkinson Network To Pelosi’s Rule Changes… Frankly, I didn't have the patience to follow it. But maybe you will. The Devine Miss Kate at Town Hall, CNN Anchor: Republicans Actually Have a Point About the Whistleblower.
Linked by EBL in Savi Labensart, Lynda Kay Parker, Joan Baez: February, Kirk Douglas, RIP, Sophie Skelton, Elizabeth Lail, Congratulations Kansas City Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes, and Andy Reid 🏈 , Jimmy Garoppolo Girlfriend Mystery, Patrick Mahomes's Girlfriend Brittany Matthews and Groundhog Day.
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