Richard Painter on Al Franken: We need more facts but much of this fits an old GOP playbook

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49. Oh Dear God that was crushing.

To take impeachment off the table before any such "table" was anywhere in sight, or in mind, even. That was STUPID. Our way seems to be carrot and leave-the-stick-over-there-somewhere-out-of-sight-and-certainly-WAY-out-of-reach.

If the bad guys think (or in our case, KNOW) they'll face no consequences, then what's ever to stop them from continuing to do it?

Your other point is excellent, too. I remember seeing some quickie interview with some republi-CON woman in Congress or some such. And she made the point that "WE FIGHT." I remember thinking - "yeah, there you go again. (Yawn.) ALWAYS fighting. You've always gotta be fighting." But maybe that's the key here. Maybe all those out there in voter land think we have no spine because we always cave, we never resort to fighting. Fighting in our case is last-resort stuff. The opposition? It's first-last-only. They come out of the gate with guns and rockets blazing. We come out of the gate with open arms and empty hands, assuming the other side will "meet us halfway." Well, NOT THIS BUNCH!!! I wonder how long it'll take our side to recognize that. Seems like they STILL don't get it.

Haven't we already given them AMPLE time to "meet us halfway" and otherwise be reasonable? And where's it gotten us? NOWHERE. Except for the "well, we got close!" Getting "close" doesn't make it. You don't get to run the joint, determine the priorities, set the agenda, and force compliance to it - UNLESS YOU WIN. I don't care how "close" the race may have been. If it wasn't a win, it was a whole lotta NOTHING.

If the game is played dirty, and the only way to win is dirty, then if we don't play the game that way, we will never win much, ever again.