Endless Stunt Investigations is All the House GOP Will Do, Because It's All They Can Agree Upon

Having finally secured his chair as House Speaker, Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has given his caucus marching orders -- and those orders are "do nothing but launch petty performative investigations of the Biden administration".

Kevin McCarthy has told House Republicans to treat every committee like the Oversight panel — that is, use every last bit of authority to dig into the Biden administration. That work begins in earnest this week.

Several sprawling probes — largely directed at President Joe Biden, his family and his administration — set the stage for a series of legal and political skirmishes between the two sides of Pennsylvania Avenue. It’s all with an eye on the true battle, the 2024 election, as Biden flirts with a reelection run and House Republicans hope to expand their control to the White House.

After two impeachments of former President Donald Trump and a select committee that publicly detailed his every last move to unsuccessfully overturn the 2020 election results, GOP lawmakers are eager to turn the spotlight. And their conservative base is hoping for fireworks, calling on Republican leaders to grill several Biden world figures, including Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, retired chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci and presidential son Hunter Biden.

This isn't at all surprising, of course. In fact, it was probably inevitable after the Speaker vote fiasco exposed just how bitterly divided the GOP is (and how in thrall it is to its nihilist caucus). They're never going to forward an affirmative policy agenda, since they can't agree on any particulars beyond sloganeering (and also, policies tend to require money, which the GOP adamantly refuses to raise or spend unless it is on gut-busting upper-bracket tax cuts). But investigations? That doesn't require any policy agenda at all -- that's just mugging for the camera and talking about how much they hate Democrats. Right in their wheelhouse! 

That the GOP is still nursing ludicrous levels of grievance over the terrible unfairness of a House panel exposing why coups are bad only exacerbates their belief that this is naught but turnabout being fair play. And as the New York Times reported the other day, the GOP's view of "investigations" is to take it as a divine axiom that they and theirs are being abused, then pursue that axiom to hell and back no matter how little evidence ends up supporting the proposition.

So this is entirely within expectations for the new GOP House. Expect nothing but loud yelling investigations for two years as they throw everything they can at a wall and wait for something to stick. They don't agree on or even believe in anything else, but they can agree on doing that.

The GOP Congress IS the Swamp

The House GOP caucus has beaten a hasty retreat from its proposal to gut their independent ethics oversight body, thanks to a firestorm of calls from angry constituents. A good example of what angry constituents can still accomplish. But also a good opportunity to start imposing a narrative on 2017.

As far as I'm concerned, the second Trump is inaugurated is the second that the DNC and affiliated organizations should start cutting ads hammering Republicans on ethics. Over and over and over again. Drain they swamp? They are the swamp! And the more quickly that narrative is established, the harder it will be for congressional Republicans to wriggle free of it come 2018. Take this script:

Entrenched corruption in Washington. Politicians in the pocket of Wall Street billionaires. Foreign states interfering in American elections. Unprecedented conflicts of interest. 

And the first thing [John Doe] did in 2017? He voted to "gut" Congress' independent ethics watchdog.

Drain the swamp? John Doe IS the swamp.

No credit for having second thoughts. Run it until they bleed.

Sad Congressmen

Is Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI) really opposing the new House ethics legislation because it'd hurt Congressional self-esteem?:

Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii), a senior member of the Armed Services Committee, registered his displeasure with the proposal by using a parliamentary tactic to delay the vote. Just after 8 p.m., Abercrombie forced a vote on a motion to adjourn, which only served to delay the vote on the ethics resolution until an hour later. The vote failed 177 to 196, with 14 Democrats voting in favor of it.

Afterward, Abercrombie railed against the proposal to resounding applause on both sides of the aisle.

“With this proposal we are indicting ourselves, yielding and retreating to those who would tear this House down and denigrate us as crooks and knaves and hustlers…we cringe before our critics,” he said. “If we have no respect for ourselves—how to we expect it from anybody else?”

Abercrombie is normally a pretty solid progressive, making this all the more ridiculous. Here's a thought: people will think higher of you if you set high standards of conduct and are transparent about meeting them.

Romney The Outsider

I'm intrigued by this new ad he's putting out, where he chides Republicans for spending "like Democrats", ignoring border security, and having ethical standards that are "a punch line for Jay Leno."



How will it play? There are definitely a lot of Republicans disenchanted with their Party right now, but it does violate Reagan's 11th Commandment. Especially the last one could be trouble with the base, because while many conservatives are upset "from the right" on spending and immigration, I feel there is a much higher propensity to view the ethics charges as trumped-up fictions of the left-wing media ("DeLay is a martyr!").

Ted Stevens Has Gonads The Size of Bowling Balls

I know that if the FBI and IRS raided my house, I wouldn't threaten to put a hold on the Ethics Reform bill that just passed the House. Or perhaps I would, depending on your point of view. But, still, it takes huevos grandes, and just like the word "internet," Ted Stevens doesn't know the meaning of Chutzpah.

Culture of Corruption, what?

****

Going political for a moment, what does this say about Stevens' Senate seat? Ted Stevens is the kingpin of Alaska's political establishment, and I have to think that if he runs, nothing short of an illegal immigrant under-age gay prostitute ring scandal will bring him down. But he may not run (he may be in prison). In which case, can Democrats poach his seat? Maybe, but don't get too excited. In 2006, a Democratic wave year, we couldn't win the Alaska governorship despite a) it being an open seat where b) the incumbent was removed because he lost his own primary (in other words, the GOP was weak in Alaska specifically) and c) we had our ideal candidate (former Governor Tony Knowles). I have to think that if we can't win in a perfect storm like that, we can't win at all. But this set of circumstances might be even more GOP-unfriendly. 2008 still looks to be an overall strong year for Dems. The corruption scandal that is tearing through the Alaskan political establishment is taking down top GOP figures left and right, and if Stevens' goes down, the Alaska GOP could reach Ohio-levels of dysfunction. All that would be needed is a strong candidate. Anyone know what our bench looks like in the Arctic?