And a third time

If this is what the whistles have been blown about, I'm afraid I don't quite see the smoking gun. There's an ambiguous phrase, but in context it doesn't seem to have a nefarious meaning.

I admit that I was dubious about this from the get-go. I've been listening to "impeach"/"25th amendment"/etc for several years now, with varying claims but the same goal. The accusers have called wolf so often that I can no longer assume good intentions and different values--they have lied too much.

I'm old enough to remember the Clinton's impeachment. "Lying under oath and obstruction of justice." Yes, he was plainly guilty of both. The former doesn't quite seem to fit the "high crimes" and the latter was done through means that seem quite common in DC--means that are legal and unethical and bipartisan. Yes, I read the Starr report, and drew my own conclusions.

(Clinton was, in his prime, a superb politician--and I mean that in the worst possible way. His wife, not so much, as was obvious years ago when she bungled the medical care reform effort. She doesn't seem to have learned much since.)

The shoe's on the other foot, and once again, the impeachment is driven by politics and not by any finding of serious crimes. That was true for Andrew Johnson's, too. It seems to be a habit of ours--and like smoking in bed, it may catch up to us someday.

The Trump years have been full of panic and outrage. I suppose that's a handy weapon to have, and maybe it's use is a policy decision not related to its target: "Scream till their ears bleed!"(*) Sometimes I think I detect a more personal motive, though. Trump has made fun of them, and gotten away with it, and they cannot endure to be mocked. AVI noticed that some traditional forms of humor are being squelched too, with very similar fervor.

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(*) We changed the way we judge a person's character some while back, and now consider the person greater if their passions are greater--not their control of passions. Obviously if they can't control their passions, it is because their passions are too great. So if I exhibit fantastic outrage, it is because my sensitivity and character are much greater than those of you dull and lazy sorts.