# The Republican Party needs to Pay Attention **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 3, 2017, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-party-needs-to-pay-attention/803442 "2017-12-03T12:37:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-party-needs-to-pay-attention/803442/21 "2017-12-12T18:43:36Z")
No, I think they’re just waiting for Mueller. They’d have a hard time making it stick politically for anything short of actual serious crimes. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-party-needs-to-pay-attention/803442/22 "2017-12-12T18:46:53Z")
> [@joemama24\_98](#): > > I’m convinced the Democrats are trying to play some sort of long game here and hope that the Republicans will eventually have to start impeachment proceedings on their own. It’s quite amazing to me that they are not pushing harder unless it’s deliberate. Some tried. [Last week’s articles of impeachment got 58 votes](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/12/06/house-democratic-leaders-oppose-texas-lawmakers-trump-impeachment-effort/), and were opposed by Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-party-needs-to-pay-attention/803442/23 "2017-12-12T20:18:50Z")
> [@joemama24\_98](#): > > I’m convinced the Democrats are trying to play some sort of long game here and hope that the Republicans will eventually have to start impeachment proceedings on their own. It’s quite amazing to me that they are not pushing harder unless it’s deliberate. There aren’t enough Democratic votes to impeach the President right now. Trying and failing isn’t helpful. It’s a boy-who-cried-wolf problem. Also, the longer Mueller is allowed to go on quietly beavering in the background, the stronger his case will be. If impeachment votes were happening weekly, the Republicans would have a lot more incentive to shut Mueller down. I actually suspect that quite a few Republicans are quietly hoping that he turns up something ironclad. As long as the Pubs can avoid having to take a stand, I suspect there might be just enough of them who are happy to give Mueller some space. There’s no shortcut here. We’re only going to have one real shot at this. We need to make it stick. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-party-needs-to-pay-attention/803442/24 "2017-12-12T21:52:15Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > There aren’t enough Democratic votes to impeach the President right now. Trying and failing isn’t helpful. It’s a boy-who-cried-wolf problem. How’d that work out for Republicans when they impotently voted to repeal Obamacare 50 times? Oh yeah, they won control of all branches of the federal government and most state governments. I’m not so sure “trying and failing isn’t helpful”. Nobody lost power by underestimating the intelligence of the American public. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-party-needs-to-pay-attention/803442/25 "2017-12-12T21:57:49Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > … Nobody lost power by underestimating the intelligence of the American public. I think it’s actually a pretty common refrain around here that the Dems lost power by underestimating the intelligence of the American public. I don’t really agree, but I’m pretty much a SDMB outlier. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-party-needs-to-pay-attention/803442.md?page=1)