Madam, I'm Adam

Yesterday morning, Adam Schiff gave an almost 2-1/2 hour opening argument so magnificent that afterwards on MSNBC an analyst said that they would be studying it in generations to come and rhetoric students would be giving it at competitions.

In the evening yesterday, Adam Schiff gave a 90-minute closing argument that afterwards Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said was one of the 10 best speeches he's heard in his entire career in politics.

Not a bad day of oratory.

What was most notable about the closing speech -- where Schiff laid out the timeline of Trump's actions in meticulous, riveting detail -- is that several senators and commentators made the fascinating observation that, this was likely the first time many Republicans had heard those facts and seen video clips that got incorporated from the House impeachment hearings.  Either they didn't follow the details over the past months or, as Republicans, they just watched "Fox News."  The result of this, as Schumer and later MSNBC reporter Geoff Bennett (who was watching from the Senate gallery) both commented is that for the last half-hour of Schiff's closing speech, the roomful of senators -- who had not been focused during much of the day -- were sitting riveted to him.

“I watched the Republicans. And most of the time they're sitting there to their credit. They don't want to hear it. So they're looking the other way their heads are down,” Schumer said. “But for the last half hour, they were glued to him.”

My only complaint with the closing argument last night is that when he was finished, Schiff didn't turn to the Republican side of the Senate, look them over and then say, "So, you still want to call me as a witness?"

I have nothing to add beyond that.  So, here are his opening closing arguments.  I figure just let him speak for himself.  He does it well enough. 

No need to watch all of this, of course, if you didn't see any of it before, just jump in anywhere among them for a few minutes.  I suspect it will suffice just fine...

And here's the closing argument..
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