Remember the gimmicky “sit-in” conducted by House Democrats in the summer of 2016, when they were trying to bring attention to the fact that Republicans wouldn’t bring gun-control legislation to the floor? The New York Times editorial board at the time called it an honest “protest” by “frustrated” Democrats, even though they broke House rules in the process.
When House Republicans did a similar, but much cooler, thing this week — they barged into a closed hearing on Wednesday to highlight the secretive impeachment process the Democrats are running — well, that, according to the New York Times, was merely a “circus” and a “publicity stunt.”
Huh. It’s almost like the New York Times has two different standards or something like that.
Well, of course it was a publicity stunt. That’s not a bad thing. It deserves to be publicized that Democrats are conducting a ridiculous impeachment “proceeding” behind closed doors.
It’s not a mystery, though, why they would want to keep their hearings low key. There has yet to be a major public hearing that has worked out well for them in their never-ending pursuit of undoing the 2016 election.
James Comey lied to Congress. Michael Cohen embarrassed himself. And do we even need to mention the cringe-inducing performance of their now-former hero Robert Mueller?
Every one of them was a disaster.
Better that Democrats hold a bunch of hush-hush hearings, leak the things they know the media will want to hear, — such as the written opening testimony of former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor — and decide later on who will play best on camera for yet more hearings in public.
The New York Times on Wednesday defended the closed process by Democrats with laughable logic. “There are, in fact, plenty of good reasons Democrats are operating behind closed doors for now,” the paper said. “The House’s impeachment inquiry is not a trial. It is more akin to a grand jury proceeding, where information is gathered and considered for the purposes of handing up an indictment. “
No one said it was a trial. But the House is referred to as “the People’s House” for a reason. We’re all supposed to be invited to know what’s going on there. It would be one thing if we could count on private hearings with no leaks, but we can’t, as proven this week with the leak of Taylor’s opening testimony.
Democrats can run their goofy show however they want. They have the power in the House right now. But Republicans are right to draw attention to the absurd level of secrecy and staging that Democrats are devoting to it.
