What the hell? I thought the message last night was no celebrating, or else.
The glare Pelosi gave her caucus when some Dems started to clap after she announced the first article of impeachment passed pic.twitter.com/8vONZlEyZ3
— Peter Stevenson (@PeterStevenson) December 19, 2019
It was the most solemnly prayerful, prayerfully solemn impeachment in American history. Somber. Reflective. Melancholy. Solemn.
Prayerful.
Twelve hours later, Pelosi sounds like she’s ready to break into song.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: "Seems like people have a spring in their step because the President was held accountable for his reckless behavior. … I have a spring in my step because of the moral courage of our caucus" pic.twitter.com/Xy0ru76uFJ
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) December 19, 2019
This makes two longstanding Democratic impeachment talking points that have gone up in smoke now that the big vote’s been taken. The other, of course, is the idea that time is of the essence in getting this over with, even if that means declining to call key witnesses like Mick Mulvaney. Now it turns out that Dems have all the time in the world.
In fairness, most House Dems did follow her instructions and refrain from popping any champagne last night (at least on camera). I predicted yesterday afternoon, though, that an exuberantly radical dope like Rashida Tlaib simply wouldn’t be able to help herself. If she lacked the basic good sense not to promise to “impeach the motherf***er” on her first day in Congress, surely she’d lack the good sense not to hand the GOP turnout fuel by doing a touchdown dance after the vote.
My prediction missed by *that* much. She spiked the ball shortly before the vote, not after.
Does anyone find this video remotely OK? If so, you are sick in the head. pic.twitter.com/PLhyk7DClm
— LivePDDave 🇺🇸 🚨 🥊 (@LivePDDave1) December 19, 2019
Big smiles on her social-media pages after the vote, though. I’m going to give myself half-credit.
It wasn’t just House Democrats who enjoyed a “Merry Impeachmas.” Washington Post reporter Rachel Bade posted (and then later deleted) this tweet, which her editors called “ill-considered.” To put it mildly:
Feels … celebratory, although whether Bade was celebrating Trump’s impeachment or the fact that the news team had just wrapped their biggest story of the year with Christmas approaching was a matter of some debate even among righties on political Twitter this morning. Her use of the term “Impeachmas” grates more than anything else: Not one person coast to coast who’s even a little bit favorably disposed to the president used that term yesterday. Maybe Bade was just being flip in repeating an expression she’d seen ad nauseam on social media in the run-up to the vote, but yes — ill-considered.
To put it mildly.
There was a bit of news at this morning’s Pelosi presser between the musical numbers:
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said she’s waiting for the Senate to outline its process for the impeachment trial before names House managers.
“The next thing for us will be when we see the process that is set forth in the Senate. Then we’ll know the number of managers that we may have to go forward and who we would choose,” she said at her weekly news conference.
So she’s not holding the articles of impeachment in protest of the Senate’s sham trial, she’s merely holding them temporarily until McConnell sets the ground rules? What if McConnell says, “The Senate won’t do a thing on impeachment until the House completes the process by naming its managers”? There’s no reason for him to show any of his cards until the House is done with its end of all this. Your move, Nancy.
