SingleMalt, thanks for that info (about ten posts up). It does make sense to hash out all the foot-dragging legalities possible before starting impeachment proceedings.
So I read it, I guess he doesn’t like the pace that Democrats are moving at on hearings, but like, what does he want them to do differently? They can pass bills (or impeachments) that will die in the Senate, and they can hold hearings where administration officials will show up (or not) to lie and stonewall, and then what? That’s a mighty fine basis for lawsuits and that’s about it.
Without the Senate, Democrats can continue to issue sternly worded rebukes and wait for 2020. Right? Or am I missing some obvious sword that they’re wielding that they’ve been choosing not to use?
Problem is, that’s like waiting for Steven King to write his last novel.
It’s more like she’s waiting for public opinion to become solidly in support of impeachment, including the Republicans to conclude they have to cut him loose, or it will backfire.
Or wating for Godot to show up.
Real leaders don’t follow public opinion, they shape it.
I appreciate the link to the article, but I guess I don’t see how Democrats have failed to stand up to Trump when they’ve tried to hold him accountable when they don’t hold all the cards. House Democrats are just that: House Democrats. They’re not the entire House. They’re not the Senate. They’re not judges. They’re not representative of America as a whole.
Quotes from the linked article:
Why does the author assume that Democrats aren’t impeaching the president or aren’t censuring the president simply out of fear of alienating whites? Maybe the author doesn’t really understand how this started, and why Trump thrust himself into the debate.
It started over disagreement about whether to pass a Senate version of a border funding bill, or wait until the congress comes back from its July 4 recess. Without the funding, the suffering of the migrants would likely be even worse, and it’s something Republicans have no shame in exploiting. It sucks that Democrats in the House are in that position, but that’s a reminder of the importance of winning elections, not just in 2018, not just in 2020, but every damn won from here on out. Winning back the House was a good start, but they don’t have the kind of power they want right now, which means they need more of it, which means they really shouldn’t be picking fights with centrists and pragmatists who want House democrats to be viewed as a party that can actually govern.
I would agree with you that centrists and moderates shouldn’t be lily-livered cowards, either. But I’m just not seeing that - not when they have already overwhelmingly voted as a party to condemn the comments against Omar and others.
Where in God’s name does the author think the Democrats are trying to “appease” Trump. This is just a bunch of fake progressive propaganda that’s been colored as news.
No disagreement there, but again, they’ve been defending her. They just wish that progressives like AOC wouldn’t tweet out that Pelosi is deliberately trying to silence women of color when that vicious statement had absolutely no basis in fact.
In fact, it was that comment that undoubtedly caught Donald Trump’s attention. It was at that moment that Trump realized that Cortez had signaled that there was, from her point of view – not Pelosi’s, but the Squad’s – that there was a growing rift between the two elements of the party that he could exploit. I won’t say that Pelosi is entirely blameless, either. She didn’t have to do that interview with the Times, and I’m guessing she regrets that now. But I still put more of the blame on the progressives who go full-on chair-throwing Bernie Bro mad when they don’t get their way.
I don’t disagree, but that doesn’t relieve all members of the democratic party of the awesome responsibility they have to be part of a team, and a coalition. They can’t just think about their constituencies only. I would agree that it goes both ways. Center-line Dems need to recognize the moments when they need to be statesmen and step up, but I think they did that yesterday and I have no doubt they’ll do it again. It’s the progressives who need to think more strategically.
I am sure that if Pelosi thought she could get the votes in the Senate to remove, she’d push thru Impeachment. She can’t, and even The Atlantic knows that.
Pelosi has also very likely had studies done that show that Impeachment in the House, without Conviction in the Senate will do nothing but increase public support for trump, making his re-election a certainty.
I feel that calls for a worthless Impeachment are done by people who either support trump or dont understand the process.
Oh, so you understand the process better than Jerry Nadler, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Julián Castro, Ted Lieu, and many others? Or are they Trump supporters? 
No, but I think **Pelosi **knows the process better than all of them combined. However, several of them know full well impeachment is a bad idea, they just want the publicity for screaming for it.
Bernie Sanders has never understood politics, he is a demagogue. Kamala has never had to run opposed in a election, really. The closest thing was running against another dem for the dem nom for Senate.
Cite? I disagree with your reading of their minds.
FWIW I agree with his reading of their minds.
Those people are campaigning for president, they don’t have to actually put their money where their mouths are on this.
Pelosi is probably one of the most shrewd and skilled politicians in the country, who has a better understanding of the Congress than possibly any of those people you listed. And she’s actually got responsibilities beyond making headlines and getting attention on cable news.
Here’s a list of House members who support opening an impeachment inquiry (last updated June 26, 2019):
Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC)
Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-CA)
Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH)
Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA)
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR)
Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR)
Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA)
Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-NC)
Rep. Tony Cardenas (D-CA)
Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL)
Rep. Joaquín Castro (D-TX)
Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) (House Judiciary Committee member)
Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY)
Rep. Lacy Clay (D-MO)
Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), (House Judiciary Committee member)
Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL)
Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA) (House Judiciary Committee member)
Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO)
Rep. Val Demings (D-FL) (House Judiciary Committee member)
Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA)
Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX)
Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA)
Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX) (House Judiciary Committee member)
Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY)
Rep. Dwight Evans (D-PA)
Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH)
Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ)
Rep. Jesús García (D-IL)
Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA) (vice chair, House Judiciary Committee)
Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA)
Rep. Al Green (D-TX)
Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) (chair, Natural Resources Committee)
Rep. Brian Higgins (D-NY)
Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT)
Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA)
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) (House Judiciary Committee member)
Rep. Robin Kelly (D-IL)
Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-MA)
Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI) (chief deputy whip of House Democratic Caucus)
Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ)
Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-MI)
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA)
Rep. Andy Levin (D-MI)
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) (House Judiciary Committee member)
Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-CA)
Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ)
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)
Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN)
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) (chair, House Rules Committee)
Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI)
Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA)
Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D-FL) (House Judiciary Committee member)
Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-CA)
Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO) (House Judiciary Committee member)
Rep. Donald Norcross (D-NJ)
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN)
Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ)
Rep. Scott Peters (D-CA)
Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME)
Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI)
Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA)
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA)
Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL)
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) (House Judiciary Committee member)
Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-NY)
Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-LA) (House Judiciary Committee member)
Rep. Harley Rouda (D-CA)
Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL)
Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH)
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)
Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA)
Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA)
Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA)
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA)
Rep. Greg Stanton (D-AZ) (House Judiciary Committee member)
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) (chair, House Homeland Security Committee)
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI)
Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY)
Rep. Norma Torres (D-CA)
Rep. Juan Vargas (D-CA)
Rep. Filemon Vela (D-TX)
Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) (chair, House Committee on Small Business)
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) (chair, House Financial Services Committee)
Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ)
Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT)
Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) (chair, House Budget Committee)
Rep. Justin Amash (I-MI)
Were you aware that laws are passed by the House, Senate, and the President?
The so-called squad has accomplished nothing.
The House and Senate don’t pass laws, they pass a bill.
The President doesn’t pass laws, he signs a bill that has passed the House and senate into law.
Here’s a list of the House Democrats that voted to support impeachment yesterday, but aren’t on the list I posted above:
Karen Bass (Calif.)
Anthony Brown (Md.)
André Carson (Ind.)
Katherine Clark (Mass.)
Debbie Dingell (Mich.)
Eliot Engel (N.Y.)
Sylvia Garcia (Texas)
Sheila Jackson Lee (Texas)
Hank Johnson (Ga.)
Mike Levin (Calif.)
Nita Lowey (N.Y.)
Doris Matsui (Calif.)
Jerry McNerney (Calif.)
Grace Meng (N.Y.)
Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.)
Frank Pallone Jr. (N.J.)
Donald Payne Jr. (N.J.)
Lucille Roybal-Allard (Calif.)
Mary Gay Scanlon (Pa.)
David Scott (Ga.)
Mike Thompson (Calif.)
Dina Titus (Nev.)
Lori Trahan (Mass.)
Frederica Wilson (Fla.)
Uh, yeah? I was responding to your list of presidential candidates.
My greater point still stands. Those people don’t have the same job as pelosi. Or the same political savvy.
I actually trust Pelosi’s ability to effectively run the House more than yours, or anyone on that list.
Presidents don’t pass laws.
The conclusion I’m drawing is that we’re supposed to sit there and pretend: everything is fine, everything is good, insane shit isn’t happening, the POTUS is just being his ole rascally self, nothing to see here nothing to see here.
But what happens when Trump ups the ante? And you know he will. Instead of likening racial minorities to foreigners in a tweet, let’s imagine Trump egging on violence against black and brown Dems? What if someone tries to kill The Squad because of Trump’s hateful rhetoric? What if they are successful? What then?
I can see it now.
“Oh no, this is Trump playing 16-D chess against the Dems again. Time to self-flagellate as we think of new and exciting ways to blame ourselves for this mess instead of Trump.”
“If we give him what he wants, everyone will think we’re Commie pinkos! We need to lay low if we want to win in 2020.”
Black people will be on the chopping block and no one white will have the fortitude to fight back. That’s the end game.