This hearing was interesting in several ways. Of course, as copped to by several Republicans, including the majority leader, it was designed to slay the Hildebeest. With that clearly put out front, the pressure was on Gowdy to prove his esteemed colleagues wrong. It seemed to me that didn’t get accomplished.
What did get accomplished was a nationally-televised pre-presidential stress test for Hillary. She should offer to pay for the hearings as a gesture of good-will to the Republicans. She got to demonstrate that she would not melt into a quivering puddle when subjected to 11 hours of grueling attacks. We may well look back at this hearing as the day she cinched the presidency.
Imagine for a moment how many seconds Trump would have lasted under the same pressure.
Elijah Cummings is a formidable dude. His call out of Gowdy to release the entire set of interview transcripts, rather than cherry-picked fragments, and Gowdy refusing to do, so was epic. That one moment destroyed any remaining credibility that the committee had.
The R-Team is very much a victim of self-delusion. They clearly underestimated Hillary. She has been thru 20+ years of similar witch-hunts and has way more experience dealing with them than any of the witch-hunters, despite their hairy-chested prosecutor resumes. They went up against a flinty-eyed pro and got defenestrated. I can’t wait for Trump to go toe-to-toe with Hillary.
I watched or listened to all 11 hours. From the chairman’s opening statement, it was evident where this was going. Except for Fox and conservative talkers: she prevailed. Hillary: You, Go, Girl!
🙂
Thanks for your replies – I very much agree. Didn’t get to see the whole eleven-hours (hard to imagine watching let alone sitting through so much – well done to those who did), but what I saw certainly confirms that (1) Sec. Clinton will not melt under pressure, (2) that she, in fact, did better than almost anyone would in those circumstances, and (3) that she’s done herself a world of good by demonstrating as much.
It’s true that some of the questioning (esp. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan.) was absurd (there’s a man who desperately needs – although it’s probably too late – a class in critical reasoning). Still, she held her own against all of it, absurd, weak, or merely ordinary.
On Rep. Cummings – he was the right person to express the outrage that he did; Clinton was sensible to say calm, almost reserved. The combination of the two, righteous anger and steady resolve, was a powerful cocktail.
This national GOP seriously underestimates the task of cobbling a majority with what it will have, against what Sec. Clinton will bring, next fall.
Perhaps we also saw Elijah audition for Vice-President yesterday. Elijah and the Hildebeest would not be a pair that you would pick a bar-fight with down at Mitchell’s Bar. What a dream-team!
Elijah rising up in downright biblical righteous anger is awesome to behold. You almost expect lightning bolts to shoot from his finger-tips when he blasts off on a rant.
It would also set off an orgy of misogynist-racist fury on the right. Imagine not only a woman, but also a downright uppity black guy, on the same ticket :>}
It sure would be fun to see Elijah tear into Trump. Who couldn’t watch that?
I’m up for any contest with good, substantive clashes between clearly defined positions. Cummings does speak from a rich, deep tradition of political and religious rhetoric. That tradition predates this country, but is very much a part of our experience, too – powerful and cathartic.
Karl
9 years ago
Total waste of money. Eleven hours of nothing productive.
Dr. X
9 years ago
This was a total bust.
Hyped for years but demolished in one day.
Ayn Rand
9 years ago
Hillary Clinton would never be my choice for president, but…she completely managed those guys from the clown car. A lot of them lack real national exposure that showed by comparison. Their districts must be able to do better than congressmen who look like loser barflies.
This hearing was interesting in several ways. Of course, as copped to by several Republicans, including the majority leader, it was designed to slay the Hildebeest. With that clearly put out front, the pressure was on Gowdy to prove his esteemed colleagues wrong. It seemed to me that didn’t get accomplished.
What did get accomplished was a nationally-televised pre-presidential stress test for Hillary. She should offer to pay for the hearings as a gesture of good-will to the Republicans. She got to demonstrate that she would not melt into a quivering puddle when subjected to 11 hours of grueling attacks. We may well look back at this hearing as the day she cinched the presidency.
Imagine for a moment how many seconds Trump would have lasted under the same pressure.
Elijah Cummings is a formidable dude. His call out of Gowdy to release the entire set of interview transcripts, rather than cherry-picked fragments, and Gowdy refusing to do, so was epic. That one moment destroyed any remaining credibility that the committee had.
The R-Team is very much a victim of self-delusion. They clearly underestimated Hillary. She has been thru 20+ years of similar witch-hunts and has way more experience dealing with them than any of the witch-hunters, despite their hairy-chested prosecutor resumes. They went up against a flinty-eyed pro and got defenestrated. I can’t wait for Trump to go toe-to-toe with Hillary.
I watched or listened to all 11 hours. From the chairman’s opening statement, it was evident where this was going. Except for Fox and conservative talkers: she prevailed. Hillary: You, Go, Girl!
🙂
Thanks for your replies – I very much agree. Didn’t get to see the whole eleven-hours (hard to imagine watching let alone sitting through so much – well done to those who did), but what I saw certainly confirms that (1) Sec. Clinton will not melt under pressure, (2) that she, in fact, did better than almost anyone would in those circumstances, and (3) that she’s done herself a world of good by demonstrating as much.
It’s true that some of the questioning (esp. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan.) was absurd (there’s a man who desperately needs – although it’s probably too late – a class in critical reasoning). Still, she held her own against all of it, absurd, weak, or merely ordinary.
On Rep. Cummings – he was the right person to express the outrage that he did; Clinton was sensible to say calm, almost reserved. The combination of the two, righteous anger and steady resolve, was a powerful cocktail.
This national GOP seriously underestimates the task of cobbling a majority with what it will have, against what Sec. Clinton will bring, next fall.
Perhaps we also saw Elijah audition for Vice-President yesterday. Elijah and the Hildebeest would not be a pair that you would pick a bar-fight with down at Mitchell’s Bar. What a dream-team!
Elijah rising up in downright biblical righteous anger is awesome to behold. You almost expect lightning bolts to shoot from his finger-tips when he blasts off on a rant.
It would also set off an orgy of misogynist-racist fury on the right. Imagine not only a woman, but also a downright uppity black guy, on the same ticket :>}
It sure would be fun to see Elijah tear into Trump. Who couldn’t watch that?
I’m up for any contest with good, substantive clashes between clearly defined positions. Cummings does speak from a rich, deep tradition of political and religious rhetoric. That tradition predates this country, but is very much a part of our experience, too – powerful and cathartic.
Total waste of money. Eleven hours of nothing productive.
This was a total bust.
Hyped for years but demolished in one day.
Hillary Clinton would never be my choice for president, but…she completely managed those guys from the clown car. A lot of them lack real national exposure that showed by comparison. Their districts must be able to do better than congressmen who look like loser barflies.