OPINION:
Rep. Adam Schiff, not that he cares, will nonetheless stand for a test of fire from fellow House Republicans who are forcing a vote on his censure.
What good will the vote do? Likely: Little. The House is Democratic-controlled and honestly, censuring someone as “shifty” as Schiff, as Rep. Jody Hice calls him, would have about as much effect on controlling his anti-President Donald Trump rhetoric, behavior and performances as pelting him with marshmallows.
But let the vote commence. No sense wasting good marshmallows.
“Big vote tonight as the House finally votes on censuring the shifty & dishonest @RepAdamSchiff,” Hice tweeted.
Hice went on: “Censure shows the House’s deep disapproval of a Members’ behavior and, if passed, he must stand in the well while @SpeakerPelosi formally rebukes his lies, corruption and misconduct.”
Fellow Republican representative Andy Biggs, meanwhile, tweeted this: “Tonight, I will force a vote on my motion to condemn and censure Adam Schiff. he must be held accountable for misleading the American people. 173 Members of Congress have cosponsored this motion.”
And Trump weighed in with this: “Censure (at least) Corrupt Adam Schiff! After what he got caught doing, any pol who does not so vote cannot be honest … are you listening Dems?”
Schiff has been under fire, mostly by Republicans, for his handling of the “impeachment Inquiry” — a term the Democrats adopted as a means of keeping alive the dreaded anti-Trump “I-word” in the media, without having to take yet another formal vote on impeachment. ’Cause they know such a vote would fail. ’Cause it already has.
Anyway: Schiff has been one of the loudest, most vicious callers of impeachment — besting even Rep. Maxine Waters, if you can believe it. One of Schiff’s most widely panned shenanigans? He put on a parody performance of Trump telephone conversation with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky that featured a massive White House quid pro quo — without bothering to mentioning, for the record, oh, yes, this is all fun and parody games.
In other words: He parodied for the purpose of inflicting political damage, while maintaining plausible deniability. Busted, congressman.
Biggs, chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, said in a recent interview on Fox News that yes, his censure motion is going forward; that yes, Republicans would be holding several private meetings in coming days to root out the “Stalinesque, Soviet-style” impeachment crap; and that yes, the intelligence community would be under scrutiny.
What’s the purpose of a Republican-pressed censure vote on a Democratic member of the House in a Democratic-controlled atmosphere?
It’s symbolic, true.
But it’s also educational.
It’s also revealing.
“We want to make sure that the American people understand what Adam Schiff is doing is not the normal way you conduct an impeachment inquiry,” Biggs said. “I would say it gives the Democrats an opportunity to show the American people where they are on due process.”
Just in case we missed that whole Brett Kavanaugh thing, right?
“It’s filled with a lot of symbolism, but it’s also got the harsh reality of it as well,” Biggs said.
Maybe.
But the harsh reality of American politics is this: Schiff probably isn’t going to be censured. In a House controlled by Pelosi — it just isn’t going to happen.
Still, the vote is necessary if only to show even more clearly the political battlefields on Capitol Hill: On one side, the moral; the other, the immoral. No doubt, the vote will fall utterly on partisan political sides, as well. And with election season upon us, Americans can sure use the clarity.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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