You can stop saying “Benghazi” now. The correct word for what’s going on in the House is “impeachment.” No matter that Boehner says it’s a politically dangerous move. It’s what the new, post-Issa select committee is all about.
… A select committee is what you form when there may be crimes and misdemeanors to uncover. It has no other business to distract it, and it will be led by Trey Gowdy, a former prosecutor who excels at channeling conservatives’ outrage.
To be clear, this doesn’t mean that Boehner or the party establishment he represents want impeachment, not by any means. They realize what a political disaster it was when they did it in 1998, and they understand that the effects would likely be similar if it happened again. But there are multiple Republican members of Congress who have at least toyed with the idea, and the committee’s hearings could build pressure in the Republican base for it. …PaulWaldman,WaPo
This isn’t really a Dem vs. Republican fight. It’s a fight between the conservative right and the radical right within the Republican party– between sweaty old guard Republican righties and the parasitic tea party radicals.
The harm, then, will be to the increasingly stressed cohesion and credibility of the Republican party nationally. Waldman’s Washington Post comment section already has whopping 2376 comments on impeachment.
What to look for in the coming months? Or hope for?
Increasing fragmentation of the Republican party during the run-up to the November election seems to be a safe bet. And further evidence that the damage Republicans have done to the country is also damaging their party and its future.