Don's Tuesday Column (DP: a week late--got put in draft file)

              THE WAY I SEE IT   by Don Polson   Red Bluff Daily News   10/08/2019

       Impeach’t circus brings in clowns

This Democrat-led circus brings no high-wire, lion-taming, death defying feats of skillful bravery, but rather a tent full of shell games, ring-toss hustles, rigged ball throwing, clown cars, and three-card Monty for the suckers. The oversized stuffed bears and cheap trinkets have a way of drawing in the gullible, only to evade getting won without “investing” pockets full of cash. That’s not unlike the nearby casino tent soaking the rubes at blackjack tables, roulette wheels and aptly-named “one-arm bandits.”

With a few variables and slight changes in personnel, strategies and fallacious talking points, America was treated to this performing troupe during the 2000 disputed election, Bush v. Gore, the hysterical refusal to accept the election of Donald Trump, the Kavanaugh hearings, and the 2-year media/Democrat Trump/Russia hoax, deflated when the Mueller report blew up the “collusion delusion.”

Consider a few names as “hucksters” or “clowns”: Giving a truly Oscar- (or Raspberry-) worthy performance as the supreme illusionist—a Wizard of Oz level of deception—would be Rep. Adam Schiff, the Democrat head of the Intelligence (oxymoron alert) Committee. What credibility is left given his endless insistence on having the goods, “the hard evidence,” of Trump/Russia collusion to steal the election.

Apparently wanting to avoid another embarrassing “reveal,” Schiff surreptitiously arranged to consult with, or rather coordinate and direct, the so-called “whistleblower”—if not personally then with assistance and guidance from committee staff lawyers. Apparently thinking no one would be the wiser, Schiff’s denials were exposed, according to the Washington Post’s fact-checker Glenn Kessler, as “four Pinocchio” pants-on-fire lies. Not even that perfidy soured the media on him.

Here’s a push-back on the “10,000 lies of Trump” meme that appears regularly. I’ve given up trying to sort out what the media and partisan Democrats (a redundancy, I know) lump together as lies: exaggerations, differing interpretations of the same facts, misstatements whether intentional or not, and some genuine whoppers. I can say without hesitation that the same level of scrutiny was never, in 8 years, applied to Barack Obama. I never heard him talk without turning him off after the second or third lie.

I’ll put it this way: Given the frequency of lies I heard from Obama, roughly about one per sentence, and his nearly endless pontificating and filibustering, it’s safe for me to round off his lies in the tens of thousands over his 8 years. We Trump supporters take him “seriously, not literally” while the media/Democrat activists take Trump “literally, not seriously.” Not a lie: The best economy in our lifetimes.

Next, consider the so-called “whistleblower” whom I asserted would be one among numerous EDOs, or Embedded Democrat Operatives. “BREAKING: The whistleblower is a registered Democrat & CIA analyst who was detailed before the 2016 election to the Obama White House, where he worked on the NSC’s Ukraine desk & met w/anti-Trump Ukrainian officials before being sent packing by the Trump NSC & becoming disgruntled.” 

That was followed by: “BREAKING: The Democrat whistleblower who complained about Trump digging up dirt in Ukraine was himself helping dig up dirt in Ukraine against Trump (and Manafort) while working in the Obama White House during 2016 campaign.” (Paul Sperry)

Before Mr. Sperry tweeted those revelations, Fred Fleitz, a veteran of the CIA, the DIA, the Dept of State and the House Intelligence Committee staff, the National Security Council and the White House, wrote (of the whistleblower document): “From my experience, such an extremely polished whistleblowing complaint is unheard of. This document looks as if this leaker had outside help, possibly from congressional members or staff.

“Moreover, it looks like more than a coincidence that this complaint surfaced and was directed to the House Intelligence Committee just after (Schiff) complained in August, accusing President Trump of abusing aid to Ukraine to hurt Joe Biden…Also very concerning to me is how the complaint indicates intelligence officers and possibly other federal employees are violating the rules” on presidential calls to foreigners.

It is also highly suspicious that the rules on the whistleblower form were changed recently to allow the use of second or third hand information; just days before, the use of such reporting was disallowed.

Let’s not ignore the facts that 1) Treaties exist to specifically authorize, even require, coordination between the U.S. and Ukraine, and between the U.S. and China. It is expected that law enforcement agencies in both countries in which criminals operate are mutually benefited by such cooperation.

2) Diplomat to Ukraine Kurt Volker’s full testimony supports the truth of Trump’s version of his phone call to Ukraine’s President Zelensky. No “quid,” no “pro,” no “quo,” period.

3) The U.S. Constitution authorizes the House of Representatives to initiate impeachment, not one member or even the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. There’s no other meaning than that it requires a vote by the whole House to even have an “impeachment inquiry.” There is no legal authority, it’s a stunt. I see Ms. Pelosi as the “clown-of-the-House,” wrangler of other clowns.

I’m disappointed to have to include Sen. Mitt Romney, who seems to fancy himself in John McCain’s role as a thorn in the side of an otherwise popular (among his party) Republican president. Conservative talk host Buck Sexton speaks for me: “I wish Mitt Romney ever got as mad at the Democrats—who called him a dog abusing, cancer-inducing, greedy misogynist so they could crush him in 2012—as he is at the current Commander in Chief and leader of the Republican Party who is fighting those same libs.”

Look up: “Testimony From Ukraine Envoy Kurt Volker Directly Contradicts Democrats’ Impeachment Narrative,” by Sean Davis; “Sorry, Dems: It’s OK to ask for foreign help in a criminal justice investigation,” by Marc Thiessen; “If the house won’t vote, impeachment inquiry is just a Democrat stunt,” by Andrew C. McCarthy.