Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner, the gerrymandered, septuagenarian multimillionaire whose district (the Fifth) stretches all the way down to Whitewater, must think (or hope) people are ignorant. One can conclude as much because Sensenbrenner contends the reason he’s not attending impeachment hearings is because those hearings are not open to the public. Honest to goodness, Sensenbrenner must think (wrongly) that his constituents are clueless or slow-witted.
The reason that hearings like this are now closed is to limit, as much as possible, prospective witnesses from changing their testimony based on the testimony of prior witnesses.
Sensenbrenner must think that a feeble and inapplicable claim of transparency (during an investigation) will confuse his constituents into thinking he’s acting on principle.
No, and no again.
This does raise a question, however: what’s Sensenbrenner doing with his time while he’s not attending Congressional hearings?
Whitewater does know – from a press release – that not long ago then-Community Development Authority Chairman Kachel met with Sensenbrenner to thank him for a part of the Trump tax bill. (“Kachel met with Congressman James Sensenbrenner of Menomonee Falls over the weekend to thank him for co-sponsoring the legislation…”) Sensenbrenner votes overwhelmingly with Trump.
Now that Sensenbrenner’s skipping work, perhaps he and Kachel (still chairman of a business special-interest group enjoying an IRS tax exemption) will have time to catch up.
The possibilities are as limitless as their imaginations —
These guys seemed like they had something to offer back in the day. It’s a joke now. However, staff will grovel to them. It used to mean something that they always got their way. These days staff looks pathetic when they suck up. It’s emperor has no clothes stuff.
Could not stop laughing! I find it interesting too.
It seems like Trump has forced some conservatives and libertarians to take stands against his complete takeover of the Republicans. You may never have been a GOPer but some of the toughest critics of Trump are people who were in some ways close to the GOP. As a progressive I do not share your free market ideology but admire your relentless critique of Trump. Those people who call themselves Never Trumpers can be among Trump’s biggest critics. At first I wondered if you would hedge your anti-Trump bets in Whitewater but that definitely hasn’t happened. I really respect that steadfastness even if we disagree on some other topics. (You have often linked to Jennifer Rubin and she’s fantastic!)
On a local note you have won new fans who are totally sick of the southern style cronyism that has long infested Whitewater (e.g., city hall/CDA). If you battle that from a free market perspective then good for you. The other comment is right that it’s a joke. Thanks for taking a principled stand (even if we approach it from different principles).
Thank you both for your comments. So it was Michael Anton, writing in 2016 as Publis Decius Mus, who declared that 2016 was the ‘Flight 93’ election (a supposed existential fight for conservatives). No: Clinton was no threat to liberal democracy. See from FW The Existential (Imagined and Real).
It is now, under Trump, that this republic faces an existential political threat. The bigoted autocracy that Trump represents is no more tolerable to a civilized people than the smaller but significant cronyism that degraded this society so terribly that someone like Trump might achieve power. Those of us who are truly Never Trump, like the many more who are of other views in opposition to Trump, now see this.
Seeing and believe this way is neither honor nor distinction – it is merely the recognition that we live in perilous times requiring of us whatever small part we are able to play.
(Agreed about Jennifer Rubin: I cannot overstate how much I admire her work.)