Two columns on how over-eagerness to impeach is really, really, really dumb. [Links to each full column is embedded in each headline.]
On Clinton impeachment, Brett Kavanaugh was wiser than Newt Gingrich (Sept. 7):
Twenty-five years ago this week, now Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh had one of his finest moments of wisdom. Alas, his wisdom wasn’t heeded, and American politics has suffered ever since.
In retrospect, the sea-change in politics from mere nastiness to flat-out toxicity was catalyzed by the Lewinsky scandal that almost took down Bill Clinton’s presidency. The fulcrum point in the scandal came Sept. 9 of that year (25 years ago this Saturday), when Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr, for whom Kavanaugh worked, delivered his report on the subject to the House Judiciary Committee.
It already was outrageously tawdry for a president to take advantage of an intern, then lie about it under oath and use government resources to cover it up. It further was inexcusable for his Democratic compatriots to turn the scandal on its head by acting as if its sexual aspect somehow was an excuse and actual defense for perjury and obstruction of justice. (“It’s only sex!”) But the political bloodlust against Clinton by then-Speaker Newt Gingrich made matters worse, as when in the spring of 1998 he said, “I will never again, as long as I am Speaker, make a speech without commenting on this topic.”…
How can House GOP be so stupid, again? (Sept. 12): One of the worst mistakes political movements can make, at least in a constitutional republic, is the error of overkill. In that light, it would be monumentally stupid for House Republicans to rush into an impeachment inquiry regarding President Joe Biden. … House Republicans (and some Senate Republicans) already are doing a good job, in their legitimate oversight capacity, of exposing the Biden family’s ethical problems. They need no impeachment inquiry to keep doing so. ….
