“A fanatic is someone who can't change his mind and won't change the subject” — Winston Churchill (Note: he may not have said it. But it is an admirable definition nonetheless.)
Setting the scene.
James Comer (R-KY) is Chairman of the House Oversight Committee. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) is the ranking Democratic member. On Wednesday, the Committee held a hearing under the rubric “Defending America from the Chinese Communist Party’s Political Warfare, Part I.”
It took no time for the hearing to descend into farce.
Raskin continually pressed Comer to reveal what crime President Biden had committed that would warrant impeachment. He even offered to help Comer start the impeachment hearings if Comer would lay out the reason for them.
Comer did not take up Raskin's offer of assistance. Nor did he tell America the impeachable offense. But he promised to do so “real soon” and “very soon.”
If there was ever a time when a C-SPAN viewer felt they were watching a sober-minded investigation into the facts of a matter under the steady hand of a grown-up Chair, this was not that time. Comer is a zealot. And his hearings go as well as you would expect when the man at the helm is a moron.
A conversation between a zealot and a man trying to find the truth (video is at the bottom)
Raskin started by pointing out that the claim Joe and Hunter received $5,000,000 in a bribery scheme — the claim that started the impeachment silliness — had the weight and import of a fart in a hurricane. Comer disagreed. And for proof, he offered up the testimony of the one witness who had said something Gomer liked — Tony Bobulinski.
Bobulinski, a former business associate of some Biden family members, has been peddling the story that Joe received foreign money for four years. The GOP has found no one to corroborate his claim. But Comer does not care.
Raskin: “Chairman Jason Smith [R-MO, House Ways and Means Committee] for example, said this was a smoking gun. And it was the definitive proof that Biden took bribes. It has obviously been dropped. Yet it was the genesis of our investigation.
Comer: “That's just simply not true. But go ahead, please.”
Raskin: “No. I'll yield to the chairman, if you need some more time.”
Comer: “No. No. Go.”
Comer: “Are you saying the bank statements of Russian disinformation? That the Bidens took $9,000?
Raskin: “I agree you've been talking about the bank statements for more than a year. But they don't show anything. Other than there was no crime.”
Comer: “So it's OK for, as Tony Bobulinski said, China to bribe Joe Biden’s family with $9 million.”
Raskin: “But that's the lie that has been discredited. I mean, where is your impeachment investigation? If Joe Biden took a $9 million bribe from China, why aren't you impeaching him for that?
Comer: "Who says we're not?”
[Note. I do not know of Comer meant $9K or $9M. Maybe he does not either]
Raskin said that impeachment was fine with him. Why not start there and then?
Raskin: "I can invite Mr. Moskowitz to come back in. Do you want to move for impeachment today? Because I thought that was your main agenda item. You said it was the paramount priority of the committee.
Comer demurred by saying this hearing was about China — before he started talking about a Democratic obsession with Russia and Trump. Adding that Raskin needed mental help.
Comer: “No. This is a hearing on China. And y'all have an obsession with Russia and Trump. It's disturbing. You need therapy. You need therapy, Mr. Raskin.”
Raskin rejoined he was not the one who needed help. And that the GOP is second to none with Trump obsession. And it was Comer’s boss that benefitted from foreign bribery.
Raskin: “No, no. You need therapy. You're the one who's involved with a deranged politician. Not me. OK? I divorced myself from Donald Trump a long time ago. You're the one that needs to disentangle from that situation. And I will tell you this. If you believe it would have been illegal for Joe Biden to take $5 million from Ukraine, it certainly would have been. What do you think about Donald Trump taking more than $5 million from the Chinese government while he was president?
Comer then defended Trump by suggesting he was a legitimate businessman, whereas the Bidens were not.
Comer: "We know that Donald Trump had a legitimate business he talked about in the campaign.
Raskin: "He sold the White House.”
Comer: "Give me a break. What business were the Bidens in? What business did Joe Biden's family own. What business with? Did they own hotels? Did they have a social media company? Did they have golf courses? Did they have casinos? Did they have office buildings? What business … did they have an Internet company?”
Comer does not grasp that Trump’s social media company — which I assume is also what he means by their internet company — did not exist while Trump was taking foreign bribes. Also, does Comer know that Trump's casinos went bankrupt? If he wanted to pad the ex-president’s portfolio, he should have included all his other business failures — a 'university', steak, vodka, water, mortgages, ties, airline, and others.
Republicans have complained about the cost of investigating Trump’s real crimes. Raskin threw it back in their face by pointing out the cost of investigating Biden’s fake crimes.
Raskin: " Mr. Chairman, we have spent 10s of millions of dollars in pursuing Joe Biden, and you have not identified a single crime.
Comer said that Raskin was misstating the cost of his crusade. He boasted they had spent only sofa change — without offering any proof. Raskin replied that the minimal expense of the political exercise was matched by its minimal results.
Comer: "That is a lie. You are lying. That is a lie. We have not spent $10 million.
Raskin: “How much have you spent?"
Comer: "We haven’t spent hardly anything.”
Raskin: "It's been for free? All right. In any event, you know what, we get what we paid for because you’ve got nothing. You've got nothing on Joe Biden
Comer returned to his demand to know what business the Bidens were in — which led to some argy-bargy and Comer explaining what his family did for a living.
Comer (stabbing his finger in the air]: "No, no, no. Answer this question. What business were they in?
Unidentified voice: "Can I answer that?
Raskin tries to speak. Comer will not let him.
Comer: “What did the Biden do? Lots of people there's lots of people identify Joe Biden
Raskin: “I don't know what you're talking about.”
Comer: “What business were they in?”
Raskin: “What business is the Comers in? Your talking about lots of people. There's lots of people in the family.”
Comer: “I am a farmer. I have land. I lease land.”
Raskin then dismissed Comer’s demand to know what business the Bidens were in as pure smoke. Impeachment needs a justification that has nothing to do with business backgrounds.
Raskin: “Your impeachment investigation must identify a high crime or misdemeanor.”
Comer was not to be deflected. Obstinacy is the armor of the unintelligent.
Comer: “What do the Bidens do? What do they do for a living?”
Raskin then pointed out that Biden’s career is an open book. And that much of his income came from writing one. And he indulged in a dig at the Trump Foundation’s illegal mission failure.
Raskin: “I'll tell you what Joe Biden did. He was a Senator of the United States. Then he wrote a book. And he said he made the most money he had ever made in his life, millions of dollars on his book. And he gave $1 million away in charity.”
The single-minded Comer could not let go. And Raskin finally had to tell Gomer he was the one that needed help.
Comer: (chopping the desk) “That's what his family did? That's what Hunter. That's why Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Romania, China, Russia. That's why they pay the Biden family money.
Unknown voice: “None of those governments paid anyone any money.”
Raskin: “Somebody needs therapy here. But it's nobody on our side of the aisle.”
The two then got into a spat about time allocation, with Comer resorting to a toddler-style furniture banging.
Comer: “All right. All right. OK. Enough. (taps his gavel) Back to the China hearing.”
Raskin: “You've had your chance. I would like my time restored.”
Comer: “No. Your time was expired.”
Raskin: “No. You interrupted me. I want my time restored.”
Comer (banging the gavel): “You had your time. You went above. And I let Miss. Norton go a minute. You know what. Sit down. Everyone come back. This is about China. We asked simple question. Miss. Presley you are out of order. Sit down.”
An anonymous voice of sanity suggested a cooling-off period. Comer was having none of that. He was not about to let his irrelevant point go without a fight. And he churlishly mispronounced Raskin’s name — because that is what mental toddlers do. (See the GOP use of ‘Democrat’ vs, ‘Democratic’ for the adjectival form.)
Unknown voice. “Mr. Chairman. Mr Chairman. Mr Chairman. Mr Chairman. Can I amake a motion that we break for five minutes?”
Comer: “We're gonna keep going. Let the record show that Mr. Raskins could not answer the question, what did the Bidens do to receive the money?
Raskin corrected the unpleasant man. He asked for the restoration of his stolen time. And he again pointed out that the GOP has yet to identify an impeachable offense (they’ve had a year).
Raskin: “Let me start with this. My name is Raskin. We have sat next to each other for more than a year. You don’t have to add the ‘S’. For two, I would like my time restored. Number 3, you have not identified a single crime. What is the crime that you want to impeach Joe Biden for, and keep this nonsense going? Why? What is the crime? Tell America right now, what is the crime?
At which point, Comer channeled his inner Trump and promised that the delivery date was ADN (any day now).
Comer: “You’re about to find out real soon. You’re about to find out very soon.”
Let us play a game
The NYT has a quiz where you put different events in chronological order. Let us play a version. From first to last rank when these will happen:
- A Trump infrastructure bill
- A Trump better, bigger, cheaper healthcare plan
- Comer finding an impeachable offense
- Hell freezing over
Everyone not a MAGA will get the earliest event correct.