LA Times: Lost Day for Democrats
When the leftist Los Angeles Times admits the Soviet Show Trial isn’t going well for the Democrats, you know it ain’t:
Day 1 of the public House impeachment hearings on President Trump is in the books, and nothing that happened will move public opinion in a meaningful way. The folks who have wanted to impeach Trump since he won the presidency still do, and the folks who don’t still don’t.
In other words, it’s a lost day for Democrats.
The burden of proof is on Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank) to do more than secure impeachment, which is all but certain. Their job is to conduct these hearings in a way that moves public opinion to the point that the Senate will convict the president. That means giving Republican senators something that changes their impression of Trump’s conduct of Ukraine foreign policy. What’s alleged may make many members of the GOP uncomfortable, but it doesn’t come remotely close to requiring that the president be removed from office.
The opening-day witnesses — diplomatic officials Bill Taylor and George Kent — testified professionally and with honor, but they failed to deliver a made-for-TV gotcha. Rather, they simply reiterated that they had no firsthand knowledge of the president’s interactions and had not had conversations with the president directly.
“What I can do here for you today is tell you what I heard from people,” Taylor said at one point to the Democratic counsel, which is not exactly compelling evidence if you are trying to convince the American people that what happened is worthy of taking down a presidency. In Taylor’s defense, he said he did not appear as a witness for either side of this debate, but obviously Democrats were hoping people would view him as a witness helpful to their impeachment ambitions.
One of the best defenses Trump has against the allegations at issue is that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has stated publicly that he did not personally feel pressured during his July 25 phone call with Trump. Under questioning by Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas), Taylor said he “had no reason to doubt” what Zelensky said.
Ratcliffe also scored points by asking both witnesses if they had come before the committee to report any offenses stemming from the Trump-Zelensky call that warranted impeachment. Neither would say yes, which for Democrats was a deflating moment.
Taylor did offer one significant element to the drama, related to Trump’s Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, who is slated to testify next week. Taylor claimed that a member of his staff overheard Sondland having a phone conversation with the president (at a public restaurant, no less!) regarding Trump’s desire for an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
“Hearsay Can Be Better Much Better Evidence than Direct”
Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) defended Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs George Kent and Ambassador William Taylor for not having firsthand accounts on President Trump’s phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“I guess to close, primer on hearsay, I think the American public needs to be reminded that countless people have been convicted on hearsay because the courts have routinely allowed and created, needed exceptions to hearsay,” Quigley said on Wednesday.
“Hearsay can be much better evidence than direct, as we have learned in painful instances and it’s certainly valid in this instance,” he added.
Congressman, we’re not “laffing” with you; we’re laffing” at you.
Hat tip: Los Angeles Times and townhall.com
Actually, no cucumber could be that dumb. Our apologies to cucumbers everywhere.
Congressman Quigley’s district. And Democrats complain about gerrymandering.
![](http://www.parentalrights.org/vertical/Sites/%7BC49108C5-0630-467E-9B9B-B1FA31A72320%7D/uploads/%7B3EA8D754-D841-4FF4-882C-32895D89991D%7D.PNG")
[1]
The Trump train roars on unimpeded as the Democrat clown car sits stalled on the track.
Ain’t gonna be pretty.
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Nineteen minutes after Donald J. Trump was sworn in as America’s 45th President, The Washington Post published this headline on its website: “The campaign to impeach President Trump has begun.”
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Interesting that the top link in your post (hearings) to their (alleged) “hard news” spins it 180 degree the other way.
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And the direct evidence keeps piling up against the Bidens … too bad it isn’t nearly as good as hearsay.
[5]
Duh
https://nypost.com/2019/11/12/10-reasons-why-this-impeachment-inquiry-is-really-a-coup/
[6]
The reason you DO NOT volunteer for genetic testing — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePAWqDAT6aI
[7]
While the clown car hearings proceed, Trump is making the courts in his own image. 2 approved by the Senate just this month, 7 more pending. All appellate. 2 approved, 50 pending. all fed district court. He has about 40 specialty court judges approved or pending.
Biggest error Obama made. He thought HRC would be filling those positions, not Trump. Heh.
[8]
The clown car hearings are to the Dims detriment on two levels other than stupidity.
1/ While all this is going on other business is ground to a halt. So in many cases the Dims are not even advancing their own agenda.
2/ Even if they were successful in removing Trump, it hampers them. All the Dim campaign staffers are working on the assumption that Trump is their opponent. They would have to seriously retool all their efforts if it is not Trump. Pence if he would step in, is a tougher nut than Trump. There will be less animus against Pence having not been worked over by the press, etc.
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Impeachment hearings go to the dogs — https://100percentfedup.com/therapy-dogs-brought-in-for-stressed-out-staffers-of-impeachment-circus-lawmakers/ — I am calling all dogs that go there to lift a leg for liberty!
[10]
Heard of the record payments to Biden right? Now you can see them for yourself — https://creativedestructionmedia.com/investigations/2019/11/12/here-are-the-payments-to-hunter-biden-leaked-from-ukraine/
[11]
My broker is on notice, if Warren gets the nod, I am out of the market.
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7, yes those judicial appts alone set the leftist agenda back a decade or two
[13]
Boise mayoral candidate wants to stop the California invasion:
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-11-10/go-back-to-california-wave-of-newcomers-fuels-backlash-in-boise?utm_source=pocket-newtab
[14]
Two trivia points to identify the movie this still photo came from.
Caption: “Every time a Democrat says ‘impeach’ a new Trump voter is created!”
[15]
Oh. Here’s the link
https://mobile.twitter.com/STUinSD/status/1194779779641331713
[16]
Docs from Ukraine are leaked. Biden and Kerry implicated.
Can Repubs find a way to insert this into the impeachment hearings?
https://donsurber.blogspot.com/2019/11/impeachment-backfires-on-biden.html
[17]
easy…’It’s a Wonderful Life’ 🙂
[18]
Jim, the Repubs have to wait for the Senate “trial”. Since the Dems KNOW things like that will be brought up I think they will NOT let it get that far.
[19]
JR, if you’re ever down here be sure to check out this movie theatre near Stanford.
They play exclusively classic films from decades ago. There’s a live organ between shows and popcorn prices are from that Classic Era too.
Check out Dec 24 on the current schedule. These movies are great on a big screen
https://stanfordtheatre.org/calendars/1939.html
[20]
Yesterday Devin Nunes and Jim Jordan were the stars of the show. Let’s hope it stays that way.
[21]
.
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Ratcliffe made good points too!
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[24]
18,
My guess is that the recommendations from the three committees on impeachment will make it to the Rules committee and die and ugly death there. The full House will never see a vote and there will be not Senate trial. If all the Schiff hearings go as they did yesterday Pelosi will be begging for early referral then kill it all as quickly as possible.
What was provided in the Surber posting above is but a foretaste of the IG report and Durham’s grand jury that will be impaneled. If the individuals in the Surber posting are in Durham’s cross hairs; it could be the event that turns the tables.
[25]
[26]
The French plan to reconquer France? — https://gatesofvienna.net/2019/11/operation-roncesvalles/#more-49268 — Would be a lot cleaner if they let the French Mafia do it. Just sayin’.
[27]
Mad, Mad I say — https://www.zerohedge.com/political/disney-puts-outdated-cultural-depictions-trigger-warning-old-movies — Trigger warnings on classic disney movies. Next thing you know they will be calling Walter a mysonist.
[28]
If you have been following the Fed Repo mess….
” if the world’s top banks don’t trust each other, should you trust the banks?”
[29]
I hope you guys in CA are ok — https://blog.independent.org/2019/11/06/gov-newsom-appoints-energy-czar-ana-matosantos-to-completely-transform-pge/ — The solution looks dire. A feminist is going to solve your PG&E problem. Might want to think about upgrading the generator.
[30]
drdog, 29, I can only shake my head.
[31]
Not sure what to make of this.
A commenter at JustOneMinute blog posted this, no link given.
“Sean Davis
@seanmdav
At the Federalist Society annual gala tonight, Rod Rosenstein refused to stand when Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the keynote speaker, was introduced. Recall that Rosenstein allegedly offered to wear a wire against Trump and refused to testify under oath about it.
Kavanaugh received a standing ovation from the Federalist Society crowd, making Rod Rosenstein’s decision to remain seated throughout all the more conspicuous.”
[32]
31,
Bigger question. Why would the Federalist society even invite that swamp thing to their event? Rosenstein represents everything that the Federalist society stands against.
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32 – Makes you wonder doesn’t it.