RUTHFULLY YOURS

The past few years have disabused us of any notion that the American Congress is a solemn place, filled with statesmanlike, or at least decent, people working for the betterment of America and Americans. To those few who still clung to that outdated idea, the House Democrats’ behavior when sending the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate shows that Congress is no longer a serious institution.

People of a certain age remember a time when drunkenness was played for laughs. In the family-friendly show Bewitched, a running gag had a chronically drunk man invariably see Samantha practice magic — and, of course, no one believed him. Foster Brooks’ imitation of a drunk was also a perennial favorite in the 1960s and early 1970s:

Lately, it’s easy to suspect that the Democrat party has its own version of Foster Brooks. Don’t pay too much attention to what Nancy Pelosi is saying in this short video; just focus on her delivery:

This is not a well woman, and that’s true whether what bedevils her is a biological ailment or something else.

And then there was her word soup:

This is a very important day for us and as you know I reference temporal markers that our Founders and our poets and others have used over time to place us in time, to emphasize the importance of time, because everything is about time, how we use it, how we mik-, how we mark it and today is an important day because today is the day that we name the managers, we go to the floor to pass the resolution to transmit the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate and later in the day, when we have our engrossment, that we march those Articles of Impeachment to the United States Senate. As I’ve said, it’s always been, Our Founders when they started “When in the course of human events it becomes necessary” when, Abraham Lincoln “four score and seven years ago,” Thomas Paine, now are the times, “These are the times that try men’s souls, the times have found us.” Again and again, even our poets, Longfellow, remember, “Listen, my children and you will hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, on the 18^th of April of ’75, hardly a man is now alive that remembers that famous day and year.” It’s always about marking history using time. On December 18^th, the House of Representatives impeached the president of the United States, an impeachment that will last forever.

While Pelosi may have remembered her Longfellow, she couldn’t remember what happened in the phone call around which she and her party built the impeachment. During her speech on Wednesday, she repeatedly said “Do me a favor,” implying those were President Trump’s words.

Except that’s not what Trump said. Instead, the transcript shows that Trump spoke on America’s behalf to President Zelenksyy, for he said, “I would like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it.”

Matt Margolis notes that Pelosi’s was no meaningless mistake:

And make no mistake about it, that word-swapping makes a huge difference. Trump was not asking Zelensky for a personal favor, as Pelosi was trying to suggest with her fabricated quote. He was asking for Ukraine’s assistance with a corruption investigation being conducted by the United States.

Meanwhile, despite Pelosi’s frequent references in other parts of her speech to solemnity, many Democrats could hardly contain their glee. As Pelosi handed out commemorative pens marking the occasion of the House’s sending impeachment articles against President Trump to the Senate, many, including Pelosi herself, were seen beaming with delight.

The whole ceremony, from Pelosi’s wobbly delivery, to her word soup, to some Democrats’ open joy, was an unseemly affair. The Democrats’ conduct highlighted that the impeachment is not about Trump taking actions so egregious they shock the conscience. Instead, it is simply another chapter in the Democrats’ ongoing efforts to overturn the will of the voters in 2016.

As you watch the House Democrats’ revelry, don’t forget that these same House Democrats refused to give a vote of support to the ordinary Iranians facing down their violent, despotic, theocratic government.