I don't know about you, but I sure was wondering about stuff today. In no particular order, here's some of it.
There were lots of speeches today, right? I heard one count, if memory serves, 87 Democrats and 14 Republicans spoke in the House Chamber, some passionately, others less so. Some recounted our history, from the days of the Founding Fathers, and Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan, to the days Robert DeNiro, Madonna, and Kathy Griffin. Just how rich is our history, I wonder?
Buried in all of the repetition, the angst, the name calling, and the rest? We are two sides, one calling for unity (without mentioning how to achieve it, other than "not impeaching the president who only did what the other guys did"), and the side other calling for accountability - and uniting behind that. Not that I expected a lot of agreement between the Rs and Ds, but I wonder if the Rs think that going along with them is what unity means?
The most repeated words belonged to Rep. Liz Cheney. She's the 3rd-highest ranking Republican, leader of the Republican Caucus, and (at least before yesterday) thought to maybe be the R's first female Speaker. And then, she spoke, gave that statement, and heard her words echoing around the House Chamber, her name on the lips of the Democrats much more than on the lips of her own party, and now, there are calls for removing her from her leadership position. I wonder if anyone's surprised at that? Or at who's leading the charge?
Ten Republicans broke ranks, joining the Dems in voting to impeach the president. That's 10 more than voted to impeach him the last time, but less than the up to 20 that some Dems had hoped for. They had varied reasons for not breaking ranks, the Rs did, including reports that some were fearful for their own lives, or for their families, given the threats they had already received.
Members on both sides of the aisle voted by proxy, including Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw. That's notable, because he's been a very vocal opponent of proxy voting, saying things like this:
America is looking to its representatives to act like LEADERS with courage, not spineless sheep in hiding. We ask our grocers to work, our truckers to drive, and our nurses to risk their lives. Congress can show up to VOTE.
Sadly, Crenshaw himself was "unable to physically attend proceedings in the House Chamber due to the ongoing public health emergency." I wonder, is he referring to the "spineless sheep in hiding emergency," or something else?
Speaking of spineless Republicans, what on earth is going on with them and their refusing to obey the new security procedures, I wonder? Why all of the complaints about having to go through metal detectors? Having their bags searched? Isn't that what all of us have to go through, to get in to see them? I keep thinking about that call for unity from probably at least 35 of the 41 Republican speakers today, and shake my head. For Pete's sake, they can't even get over their bad selves to go through a security screening?
Here's a video of Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, a Delaware Democrat, offering masks to her colleagues when they were in lockdown during the insurrection last week. And, of course, the Republicans refuse the masks, with one saying he's going to give Blunt Rochester a hug. I wonder, are you as sick of these folks, including Georgia's Qanon devotee Marjorie Taylor Greene, as I am? She's one of the mask refusers, and also one who complained that it was Nancy Pelosi's fault that people were getting COVID because Pelosi made them come back to the House, where masks are required, where Taylor Green and the others refuse to wear masks... Got it? Although today, she did wear one, with 'censorship' written across it. Sigh.
She'll be more famous, I'm sure, when she introduces Articles of Impeachment against Joe Biden on January 21st.
Finally, back to impeachment. I was not a fan of doing it again, for a few reasons, one of which is that, even under bad circumstances, the president got the thing he craves more than anything: the undivided attention of the universe. I hope the days for that continuing are short, although like many others, I wonder if we'll ever be done with him. Here's hoping.
What's on your wondering mind?
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts!