Todd Purdam/Atlantic:
This Is Not Where Nancy Pelosi Wanted to Be
But she’s probably okay with that.
“Our democracy is what is at stake,” the House speaker said yesterday, as she ordered House committee chairs to begin drafting articles of impeachment—her words measured, her tone somber, her reluctance palpable in the high-minded language of the nation’s Founders in which she couched her case. “The president leaves us no choice but to act. Because he is trying to corrupt, once again, the election for his own benefit.”
In those last, sly sentences, Pelosi not only invoked the gravest constitutional remedy for presidential misconduct at her command, but also not-so-subtly suggested that if Trump had skated by for welcoming Russian interference in the 2016 election, she could not stand idle in the face of his effort to seek Ukrainian interference in 2020. In less fraught circumstances, a phrase like The president leaves us no choice might be a mere political talking point. In this case, it seems that, by Pelosi’s lights, it’s the cold truth.
Upshot:
What Is Voters’ Highest Priority? There’s a Way to Find Out
Peeling away preferences, a study shows impeachment is at the top of the list for Republicans, and is the second choice for Democrats.
In reality, there are few things facing the nation that anyone, regardless of party, believes are a higher priority right now.
Most people would give up their preferred outcomes on health care, the environment or taxes if it meant getting what they want on impeachment. It is an important issue for almost everyone.
Huh. I though no one cared and everyone was bored. That’s what the GOP says, anyway.
NY Times:
Pelosi’s Leap on Impeachment: From No Go to No Choice
Nine months ago, the speaker said President Trump was “just not worth it.” Then she saw an explosive headline.
People close to the speaker say that she has said privately what she often says publicly: She has never been eager to impeach the president. She worried that vulnerable moderates would lose their seats, that it would tear the country apart. And it was a distraction from the poll-tested agenda Democrats had campaigned on: lowering the cost of prescription drugs, raising the minimum wage, fighting corruption and gun violence.
“She came to where we are today with real reluctance — that was genuine,” said Representative Rosa DeLauro, Democrat of Connecticut and a close Pelosi ally. “It was fear of the division of the country and fear of re-litigating the last election.”
How Ms. Pelosi got to “where we are today” is in part the story of her sense of timing, her methodical approach to decision making and her ability to read the sensibilities and political needs of her fractious and often unruly caucus. As Washington’s most powerful Democrat, she is the only lawmaker in the Capitol who can, and routinely does, go toe to toe with the president.
Yahoo:
Can young black voters save Mayor Pete?
Nearly a month after the Allen University cookout, Oliver Davis Jr., the longest-serving black leader on South Bend’s Common Council, endorsed Joe Biden rather than the mayor. He is not exactly an unbiased party, however: Davis is currently running for mayor of South Bend, a position only held thus far by whites.
In an interview with Politico, Davis said that Buttigieg’s difficulties with the black community are far from a new phenomenon. “For us, this has been a consistent issue that has not gone away,” Davis said.
The presumed subtext of the endorsement could be read as a major blow to Buttigieg: How can a presidential candidate get national black support if he can’t even get a boost back home?
Geoffrey Skelley/FiveThirtyEight:
There Are Now 18 House Republicans Retiring. What Does This Mean For 2020?
When things look bad, people have a tendency to head for the exits. The same is often true of Congress. Back in early August, nine Republican House members had said they would not seek reelection in 2020 and would instead retire. That number has now grown to 16 “pure” GOP retirements (in other words, excluding those who left to seek another office.)
This isn’t that far off from the 23 Republicans who voluntarily hung up their House spurs in the 2018 cycle — even though there are comparatively fewer potential GOP retirees this time around, as the party lost 40 seats in the midterms. It’s not always easy to nail down why someone has decided to leave public office, and there could be a number of factors at play, including dissatisfaction with President Trump, reelection worries or loss of institutional clout. But given that many of these recent retirees have been members of the House for at least two decades and would have been safe bets for reelection, their retirements could be taken as a sign that many Republicans aren’t confident in their party’s ability to win a majority in 2020. By contrast, only six Democrats have said they won’t seek reelection in 2020.1
To retake the House2 in 2020, Republicans need to pick up 19 seats, but swings that large are atypical for an incumbent president’s party.
Politico:
How to Fix Impeachment
Nine experts on what’s gone so wrong with the Trump proceedings—and what America should do about it.
“Congress needs to pass legislation setting forth Department of Justice standards for investigating and prosecuting a president.”Kim Wehle is a CBS News legal analyst and a former assistant U.S. attorney and associate independent counsel for the Whitewater investigation.
The problem with the impeachment process is not with the Constitution itself—it’s with the apparent unwillingness of Republican members of Congress to vote their conscience and independently and objectively assess established facts.
Politico:
Who supports Trump’s conviction?
Here’s POLITICO’s analysis of how senators would vote if the House impeached the president.
POLITICO studied all 100 senators’ positions. Most Democrats have been supportive of the House-led impeachment investigation, but many have been mum on Trump’s conviction. Republicans are largely behind Trump, though anyone considering defection is unlikely to say so until much closer to voting to avoid getting attacked by the president and his allies.
Cas Mudde/Prospect:
The real threat to liberal democracy isn’t the right. It’s the ideological vacuum at its own heart
It is the hollowed-out condition of the “mainstream” parties which allows the shrill, noisy and wealthy to dominate. In 2020, we should repoliticise politics
What I hope all mainstream political traditions will do is to rediscover the strengths of liberal democracy, and also think more carefully about the best balance between majority rule and minority rights. We have to learn to defend liberal democracy by explaining why it is the best political system we have at this time. Crucial to this debate is reclaiming the term “minority.” It should not apply exclusively to “ethnic” or “religious” groups. People need to understand that anyone can be—or become—a minority in time, and that only liberal democracy will always protect your fundamental rights—irrespective of whether you are part of the majority or a minority.
Similarly, we need to think anew about where the limits of the liberal democratic system truly lie. Criticism of policies and the way things are run is integral to it. But some positions attack the root of the system, and so cannot be accommodated within it. For instance, while the closing of borders to Muslim immigrants might be morally abhorrent, and practically impossible, it does not in itself undermine the liberal democratic system. Taking away rights from citizens because they happen to be Muslim, or from some other religion, does. Likewise, weakening the independence of the media or judiciary, attacks the foundation of liberal democracy and should be non-negotiable for any party—of any persuasion, in any circumstances—if it is to be a valid part of that system.