The Clock and the Calendar

The ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, Republican Congressman Doug Collins of Georgia, has it exactly right: the Democrats, in their haste to get impeachment of the President voted on, are consumed by the clock and the calendar – getting it all done before Christmas. Yes, the clock and the calendar are critical, but the Democrats have control of both – and they don’t have to be in a hurry.

Consider the impeachment hearings themselves. The Democrats couldn’t begin to buy the airtime they are getting for free to lay out their case against the President. These hearings are news, and the media outlets are essentially compelled to cover them. Wouldn’t it be a better idea to have this drag on into the election year? The Republicans want to have a “minority hearing day”? So let them have one! They want Adam Schiff as a witness? I think he should do it, he can handle himself. If there are certain reasonable procedural complaints that can be satisfied, the Democrats should do so, and deprive the GOP of the ammunition.

You’d think the Republicans would want the Dems to rush to a vote on impeachment, so that the Senate can bat the ball away early and allow the President to claim innocence and have clear sailing in 2020.

John Dean, the White House counsel for Richard Nixon, favors the long game for the Democrats. He wants the impeachment inquiry to include things like the Stormy Daniels payoff. I wouldn’t go that far, but I think the emoluments clause in the Constitution is fair game.

Yes, the Democrats do have to face the reality that getting the public on board for an early removal of the President is a really hard sell. But the drip-drip-drip of negative information could eventually affect the voters moods next year, even in Republican districts, where senators may have to decide between their jobs and their legacies as they take their stands on impeachment.

So it’s not just one group of eyes that will be on the clock and the calendar.