The Downside of Petulance

When GOP House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy pulled Republicans from the House Select Committee, I wrote that it was one of his more stupid moves imaginable.  As the House Select Committee prepares to hold its public hearings starting January 9, we're about to see the fruition of his mistake when public hearings are held.

While it’s true that Democrats kicked off certain Republicans from serving on the Select Committee, that was because there was a chance some of them could be targets of the investigation (and likely were).  But Kevin McCarthy could have still put forth members approved by him to have served.  Instead, he got pissy and peevish and instead of being a political leader, acted like whiney high school freshman and decided not to.  And ended up shooting his party in their collective foot.

Huge mistake.  Massive.  A mistake that could impact the future of the country, for all we know.  And it was not just a huge and massive mistake…it was an easy mistake to avoid.  As they say in sports, an unforced error.  McCarthy did it all on his own.

If Kevin McCarthy had let his choice of Republicans remain on the Select Committee, those members could have obfuscated the process.  To start with, they could have disrupted the whole interview process – arguing about who to call, voting against issuing subpoenas, and during the interviewing process, they could have thrown a wrench into that with objections and off-topic questions, and dragged out the investigation, delaying it.  They could have voted against referring recalcitrant witnesses to the Justice Department for criminal indictment.  Further, they would have been available to go on talk shows and discussed how unfair they thought the Select Committee was, saying from the inside that it was all just a witch hunt.  They could leaked information favorable to their side.  And above all, they could have undermined as much public confidence in the Select Committee even before the public hearings were held.

But even more than all that, it’s long been the public hearings that held the biggest risk for Republicans, where not only could all Americans see witnesses testify under oath, but the wide range of video and private audio – that seems likely the Select Committee has put together – would be available and all the harder to refute.  With McCarthy Republicans on the committee, they could have turned the whole event into a circus, interrupting, calling for Points of Order, making relentless objections, asking questions with no validity intended to undercut witnesses and twisting the hearings into such convoluted knots that enough of the public would have been able to dismiss it all out of total confusion.

But…there are no McCarthy Republicans on the Select Committee.  There are, however, two Republicans serving on it, making the investigation bipartisan, as much as others try to suggest otherwise.  Further, though she was dropped from party leadership, one of those Republican members was the number three GOP House leader.  And everyone on the Select Committee is united in not only investigating what truly happened during the January 6 insurrection to overthrow the government and getting to the bottom of it, but almost more importantly when it comes to the public hearings that will be the most accessible aspect of the committee – they will be united and clear about presenting the story.

With no McCarthy Republicans on the Select Committee, I am sure that the members and their staff have been laying out the public hearings ahead of time like a finely crafted novel.  Determining what the story is, how to best tell it, who to speak first and in what order, how the witnesses should be presented and built for the greatest effect, and when to intersperse the audio and video, along with how to best edit to for the most impact. 

All without objections.  All without obfuscations.  All without disruptions.  All without histrionics.  All without cries of lies and unfairness and partisanship and witch hunts.

“Just the facts, ma’am,” as Sgt. Joe Friday would say on the old TV series Dragnet.  “Just the facts.:

The facts.  Straightforward, structured, insightful.  Laying everything out in a way that we’re told will blow the roof off.  With facts.  With audio.  With video.  Just without interruptions to distract.

Oh, yes, there will be cries of lies and unfairness and partisanship and witch hunts.  But all those will come after the fact.  After the Select Committee has presented its witnesses, evidence, facts, video and private, never-before-heard audio.  After the American public has had a chance to see it all for themselves.  Unfiltered.

And all because Kevin McCarthy had a hissy fit and pulled his Republicans from the House Select Committee.

In the 1950s, American history was subverted by the McCarthy Hearings.  Now, 70 years later, another Congressional hearing will take place that could have been sabotaged by a different McCarthy.  But his mind-numbingly foolish mistake to pull his support has left the House Select Committee with an open path, this time, to do its job for the benefit of the country.

Which brings to mind another McCarthy for such a dummy move.

Charlie.