Democrats' decision to televise Trump impeachment hearings could prove politically perilous

[turbinetree]

Politics
November 1, 2019 / 4:18 PM / Updated 13 hours ago

James Oliphant, Chris Kahn 6 Min Read

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats in the U.S. Congress took a major step toward impeaching President Donald Trump this week when they agreed on the rules for publicly televised hearings after weeks of testimony behind closed doors. But it is also a step onto more politically perilous terrain for a party seeking to persuade Americans that their cause to remove Republican Trump, who they accuse of abusing his power, is just.

Leaders of the Democratic-run U.S. House of Representatives believe that putting the main witnesses on TV will convince independent voters and other doubters that Trump was wrong in asking the Ukrainian government to dig up dirt on a political rival, Democrat Joe Biden, who hopes to be the candidate to oust Trump in the 2020 election.

While Republicans and the president face great political risk in the hearings, so do Democrats. They must present themselves as sober and trustworthy investigators, former congressional aides and analysts said.

“The allegations – and what the president has admitted to – are serious enough. They don’t need embellishment. They just need explanation,” said Mieke Eoyang, a former aide to the House Intelligence Committee who works for the Democratic think tank Third Way.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-impeachment-televised-analy/democrats-decision-to-televise-trump-impeachment-hearings-could-prove-politically-perilous-idUSKBN1XB50K

First and foremost the democrats will have "staff lawyers" asking the questions, on the other side of the aisle with that clown show, who knows what they will do..................... but, I fully believe that Adam Shiff will not let the hearings turn into another republican show like that character Lewandowski did.........................contempt will be on the table..........................and other law enforcement tools.................................

[StarfishSaver]

1. Oh, please

This entire process is politically perilous.

And no matter WHAT the Democrats do, the media armchair quarterbacks will find fault with it.

[TheBlackAdder]

13. +1,394,228 Man, that was a load of crap, wasn't it? So, Democrats should turn a blind eye? 😂

[BannonsLiver]

2. "Both sides" nonsense.

Many narratives will be created by the media during impeachment. This one is a fail.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. Oh, please. Of course it's "perilous." The whole process is perilous

and nobody knows what will happen. There still could be surprises (e.g., Alexander Butterfield's testimony in the Watergate hearings). But the talking heads gotta talk, and the pundits gotta opine, and somebody's gotta stick it to the Democrats.

[pwb]

4. Reuters leans puke.

.

[gulliver]

5. It needs to be prime time and it better have more than just witnesses and seated talking heads.

Here's where I'm hoping Schiff uses his writer's skills. He's a showrunner now. This thing needs to be the Breaking Bad of legitimate exercises of Constitutional authority.

[gab13by13]

6. Why don't Republicans,

have to present themselves as sober and trustworthy investigators?

[SMC22307]

10. Because one of the persons quoted is from thirdway.org.

LOL Nice slant, Oliphant and Kahn! What a f'in joke.

[spanone]

7. It's perilous for the one being impeached.

[SMC22307]

8. LOL... Third Way poo-pooing impeachment! Classic.

I would like to suggest one thing, though: sic Barry H. Berke, Esq. on Republicans again. His takedown of Corey Lewandowski was brilliant.

[yardwork]

9. Imagine how this would be reported if a Democrat were being impeached.

The media is very right wing in its slant. And even those journalists who think of themselves as progressive think this is all a big game.

[treestar]

11. Oh please, more concern

everything the Democrats do is under scrutiny even where they have the advantage.

[cry baby]

12. Someone's always telling Dems to be scared.

I never heard that the repubs needed to be careful of over-reaching on anything. Yet, over the years, I’ve heard that phrase every time Dems go bold.

[GoCubsGo]

14. Yup. They're doubling down on the fear-mongering.

That NRCC stunt with the boxes the other day, the threats of civil war and violence coming from various RWNJs, the media's "This could hurt the Dems" nonsense... Nothing but fear-mongering from the very people who are running scared--and should be. It's a last-ditch effort to keep all of their corruption from being brought out into the open. The GOP is nothing but a criminal racket, and the country is finally going to see that, which scares them shitless.

Glad to see that the Democrats have finally stopped falling for this shit.

[cry baby]

16. We can only hope we've stopped being overly cautious. Media

like this article and even some Dems are urging those who want to bring these criminals to justice to pump the brakes.

I don’t think that the story is written yet.

[SWBTATTReg]

15. I think it's a great idea to broadcast the rump crap live. After all, we see him in full living ...

color every f**king day, don't we? I'm kind of tired of listening to his BS, his nonsense, etc. and being that he's a disgusting human being, and is a crook. So, I feel that we're all entitled to watch the kind of TV we all want to watch...aren't we entitled to it, after the last four years or so of his BS?

I want to watch every iota of it, and I want to hear any so called justification as to why any representatives/senators won't vote YES on his impeachment and removal from office, because of their 'fake' excuses or 'made up' excuses.

I want to see their votes, I want to see their faces when particularly disgusting things are revealed in testimony. I want to see how they respond to this garbage of a so called man destroy what is good and right in this Country, because of the numerous illegal act(s) and/or money laundering schemes, such as trying to falsely accuse the Bidens of some nefarious schemes overseas, pushed by rump and rump alone.

I want to see idiot's face when he's called to justice finally and removed from office. I want to see him squeal like a pig when he's perp-walked to jail.