And the Hearing Will Come to Order...

As I drove in to CES this morning, I turned the radio on, and they were covering the Senate hearing chaired by John McCain investigating reports of Russian hacking during the presidential election.  It was fascinating, sober, and thoughtful -- and all I could help thinking the whole time was..."Okay, there it is."  Or "Aha, kismet."  Or "Bingo, what goes around, comes around."  Or any other such similiar phrase.

This is the sleeping bear that foolishly got poked.  And I don't mean the Russian Bear.

The point of this hearing is valid, important and needed.  That seems absolutely clear to me.  What is also clear is that this, finally, is comeuppance.  The moment during the GOP primaries that Donald Trump began trashing John McCain as not being a hero because he was "caught" during the Vietnam War, I kept wondering and waiting for when the senator would fight back.  It was a bit surprising during the election that McCain publicly kept supporting Trump, but I long-suspected that was as much political expediency as anything.  He was running for re-election in Arizona, it was a close race, and he had to be a "Good Soldier."  But he won, and now he's back in the Senate.  And there for six more years at which point it won't be surprising if he then retires.  And back chairing his Armed Services committee.  And as proper as it is that Sen. McCain is holding hearings into such a critical issue, and as much as it might have happened anyway, I am sure that the sleeping bear was poked awake and waiting to respond.  Revenge, it has been said, is best served cold.

Welcome to the deeper world of politics, Donald Trump.  It isn't all glitz and surface and razzle-dazzle and crowds and banners and TV.  It's a profession where some people have worked with seriousness and skill for many decades.  They actually know what they're doing.

There was a point in his Senate career where John McCain was reasonably admirable, where he actually was a bit of a maverick.  I think that's been long gone for almost a decade.  When he nominated Sarah Palin to be his running mate as Vice-Preident, he showed that he really didn't put America First, as much as he made that his campaign slogan.  And ever since losing to Barack Obama, he has showed his anger and petulance and thoughtlessness in being purely partisan in a sort of even-nasty way at times.  And when he has been pushed in his own local elections he's reverted to pure-party politician.  The maverick was a distant memory.  I'm not sure if this senate hearing that he's chairing is a return to his maverick days.  It could be, if only in part.  But mainly, I think his is him not only being mature and understanding of a big problem...but mainly his chance to finallly get back, finding a proper venue and platform for it.

It was notable that it was McCain who brought up a question to witnesses, asking if they thought that Julian Assange was a credible source when saying that the Russian state was not behind the information he leaked.  The question came out of the blue and wasn't addressing a point made by any of the witnesses at the table.  It struck me instead as a direct, and not-so-subtle slam, at Trump's tweet only the day before that embraced Assange as a more credible source than the U.S. intelligence services.

And so...okay, there it is. 

Kismet.

This is one of the things that happens when you act like an idiot, screwing around with someone who not only actually is a hero, but also has the power and authority to act and respond.