Cont: House Impeachment Inquiry - part 3

Squeegee Beckenheim said:
I do have to grudgingly give Trump one thing, though - "Shifty Shiff" is a good nickname. Trips off the tongue. I wonder if he came up with it himself?
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The part of Trump's brain used to come up with petty insults is rather over-developed at the expense of his other brain sections.
 
dmaker said:
Being under Trump's thumb removes the spine from GOP congress members. But here is a golden opportunity to get out from under. But they won't. Why not? Don't they want to be free of him?
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Trump's base would not like it, but what can they do? Vote democrat?
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I think the risk isn't that they would vote democrat, but many of them would simply decide not to vote at all.

i.e. "I liked Trump and you got rid of him. I'm sitting out the next election because you are a traitor".

Such is the power of a 'cult'.

Or alternatively "I liked Trump and his replacement is boring. I'm not excited enough to go vote".

Granted, some of his base would continue to vote for whomever the republican candidate was, but in a very tight election race, even a few thousand voters deciding to sit out could make the difference between winning and losing. And that applies to both the republican candidate (probably Pence in a post-Trump situation) and any congress critters.
 
plague311 said:
The Democrats would get Bolton (according to rumor). Do you think Bolton has something that would be more damaging to Trump than whatever the GOP can distort Biden into saying to be used against the Dems?

I have no doubts that the GOP and the conservative media will find a way to spin Biden saying, "Good Morning" into a threat against God fearing, blue collar men and women. That's standard. What I don't doubt is that Bolton has something up his sleeve that he is dying to say. I want to know what it is.
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I think Bolton is rubbing his hands together in glee because of all the publicity he's getting for his upcoming book.
 
JoeMorgue said:
I think since the outcome of this is already obvious giving Republicans more rope in the hope that this is the time they'll finally trip up and hang themselves is insane.

Long story short I have a lot more faith in the Republican's ability to pull some dirt on Biden out of whatever thin air they can they I do in the Democrat's ability to get Bolton on the stand and play out the "Did you order the Code Red?" scene in a few good men.
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They already have. First you prime the pump then attack.

And notice they aren't using it to trash Biden just yet. It suggests Trump isn't that worried about running against Biden because Biden is an open book of gaffs the GOP can use against him. There's a reason they aren't in an all-out campaign against Biden yet.
 
dmaker said:
I have to say that I'm a bit puzzled by the lock step obedience to Trump during this impeachment. To date the argument has been fear of Trump rebuttal to any disloyalty and how it could hurt any GOP candidate in a primary, etc. OK, fine. Being under Trump's thumb removes the spine from GOP congress members. But here is a golden opportunity to get out from under. But they won't. Why not? Don't they want to be free of him? Just vote to remove him and you're free. If removed from office he would be a feckless windbag with no ability to harm anyone.

Trump's base would not like it, but what can they do? Vote democrat? Not likely. Why not do the right thing and get out form under at the same time? Could it be that it's more about the judges, and a rubber stamp for conservative policies than it is about fear of reprisal?
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One Republican (Senator?) who declined to be named remarked to the effect, "nobody wants to be the gazelle who strays from the herd." Go after the king, you best not miss. Look at Justin Amash. He's a small government guy who has lost backing from interest groups that give him top marks. Persona non grata.

Getting rid of Trump will also hurt the Republican brand. "But what about long-term damage?" Just close ranks and reinvent yourself down the road. The 2020 election is a big deal because it will also determine how many seats the parties can gerrymander in their favor.
 
carlitos said:
An intriguing theory I heard on Michael Smerconish's show - If Republicans "trade" witnesses, like allowing Bolton in trade for allowing Hunter Biden, it could be a net win for Democrats, because Hunter Biden could be a great witness.
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Its only a 'win' in the same way as paying the ransom on a kidnapping is a 'win' for the victim.

There is no reason for Hunter biden to be called. He was not privy to Trump's phone call, nor was he involved in the cover up. Furthermore, there is no actual evidence that he did anything wrong at all. There is no legal or moral argument for Biden to be called at all.

Even if Biden turns out to be a 'good' witness, and doesn't somehow make the democrats look bad, he should not be within a 100 miles of the impeachment proceedings.

Of course if I were him and he did get called, I would take any question that was asked and turn it back on the republicans and the GOP. Answer all the questions with irrelevant statements.

Republican: "Do you think you were qualified to work for Burisma"
Biden: "I am more qualified than Kushner is to work for the white house... after all, my dad didn't go to jail"

Republican: "Why were you paid a lot?"
Biden: "I got paid a lot because I wasn't a hypocrite like Ken Starr"

Republican: "Did you commit criminal acts?"
Biden: "Why am I being questioned about criminality by the republicans, a group that includes 'gym' Jordan, who ignored crime that happened when he worked for Ohio state?"
 
Between Schiff For Brains, Nadless, Mad Max, and Piglosi, the left has the crazy vote locked down in November for sure. The DNC better start working overtime again to prevent Comrade Bernie from getting the nomination, because he's a candidate the clueless, brainwashed, and crazies will prefer. Trump will tell the truth about Comrade Bernie and will sweep about 45 states, scooping up the non-clueless swing voters with a gigantic common sense backhoe.
 
carlitos said:
I just thought it was interesting, the guy did go to Yale Law or whatever.

But right on cue, he's on Page Six of the NY Post today, something about having to go back to the court owing an ex-stripper child support.
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Oh dear, no way do the Democrats want Hunter Biden on the stand. He's a piece of work.

Hunter Biden named as father of 'Baby Doe' in paternity suit by Arkansas woman
Roberts and Hunter Biden’s relationship happened while Biden dated Hallie Biden, the widow of his brother Beau, ...

During divorce proceedings, Hunter Biden's first wife alleged that he spent money "extravagantly on his own interests (including drugs, alcohol, prostitutes, strip clubs and gifts for women with whom he has sexual relations), while leaving the family with no funds to pay legitimate bills."

He was listed as a customer of the adultery site Ashley Madison when it was hacked in 2015.

Hunter Biden has repeatedly been linked to drugs over the years. ...

Last month, it was revealed that a police report said Hunter returned a rental car in Arizona that contained a cocaine pipe ... In addition to "a small white and brown pipe approximately 3-4 inches long,” an officer also found “a small ziplock bag with a white powdery substance inside all sitting on the passenger seat." Officials determined that the pipe was used to smoke cocaine.
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Cain said:
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Getting rid of Trump will also hurt the Republican brand. "But what about long-term damage?" Just close ranks and reinvent yourself down the road. The 2020 election is a big deal because it will also determine how many seats the parties can gerrymander in their favor.
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They have no alternative candidate that has a chance in hell of winning POTUS in 2020. Trump is their lesser of two evils.
 
BrooklynBaby said:
Between Schiff For Brains, Nadless, Mad Max, and Piglosi, the left has the crazy vote locked down in November for sure. The DNC better start working overtime again to prevent Comrade Bernie from getting the nomination, because he's a candidate the clueless, brainwashed, and crazies will prefer. Trump will tell the truth about Comrade Bernie and will sweep about 45 states, scooping up the non-clueless swing voters with a gigantic common sense backhoe.
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This is just empty rhetoric and pointless name-calling.
 
Comrade Bernie! Coming from a supporter of Putin's puppet, Trump, that's adorable.
 
I sure can do without Nadler speeches on cover-ups and defense lawyers calling him a liar or whatever. There were a couple of significant changes made and that counts for something. House managers should focus on presenting the case because they have a good one.
 
Local news broke in again for regular programing, telling people they could go to the station's web page to keep watching. :rolleyes:
 
Segnosaur said:
There is no reason for Hunter biden to be called. He was not privy to Trump's phone call, nor was he involved in the cover up. Furthermore, there is no actual evidence that he did anything wrong at all. There is no legal or moral argument for Biden to be called at all.

Even if Biden turns out to be a 'good' witness, and doesn't somehow make the democrats look bad, he should not be within a 100 miles of the impeachment proceedings.
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I think this is why it would be considered a win for the Dems, especially if the Republicans aren't allowed to scream at the witness like in the House proceedings. If they have to keep the questions within the scope of the impeachment inquiry, how much information can Biden provide?

GOP: Did you break any laws or were you involved with any corruption with regards to Burisma or in the Ukraine at all?
Biden: No, I was not. I worked on their board.

GOP: What did you do while you were on the board?
Biden: I provided guidance for investments on a global level due to my experience as a lobbyist, and knowledge of global trade.

What else can he provide? On the flip, Bolton has a ton of information that he's willing to spill. Why? As SG said, he's got a book to sell and Trump has **** on him more than once. Trump will amplify his degradation of Bolton several hundred times if he agrees to testify.
 
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Minoosh said:
I sure can do without Nadler speeches on cover-ups and defense lawyers calling him a liar or whatever. There were a couple of significant changes made and that counts for something. House managers should focus on presenting the case because they have a good one.
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I'm pretty sure that's the next phase. This part is, I think, kind of a grandstanding moment. The next steps are going to be the "presenting the case" section of the impeachment. This is just to get rules in place and constantly berating the GOP's cover-up tactics can work to the Dems advantage during this part.
 
JoeMorgue said:
We will get some token resistant from some Republicans, most probably never on any thing that actually matters, never in a way that's actually going to effect the final outcome.
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I think we can call this the Kavanaugh Maneuver.

Remember, during the confirmation of Kavanaugh, a lot of Republicans claimed Ford was an "attractive" witness, and in the end Flake pushed for a last-minute investigation into her allegations. What they got was a whitewash (an investigation that wasn't allowed to actually interview many people that would have had relevant information.)

I think the same thing is happening here... a few select Republicans will engage in some empty rhetoric (i.e. "must be fair!" "Keeping a open mind"), they may even push to allow some minor rule changes, but in the end it is just to provide a whitewash.
 
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