Republican House – A kangaroo court

Two Begrudging Cheers for Chuck Grassley

The gavel banged. The chief kangaroo intoned, “Will the kangaroo court please come to disorder.” It did. It then opted to impeach President Joe Biden on grounds of “stonewalling” about his son who may or may not be guilty of something.

I know kangaroos will complain they are being maligned, but that is the label the House earned. Their impeachment inquiry is so irresponsible that even some Republicans are disgusted. Anthony Scaramucci worked very briefly at the Trump White House and left as a disillusioned critic after a couple of weeks: “Former Trump communications director Anthony Scaramucci attacked House Republicans for their attempts to impeach President Biden for allegations of family business corruption. Scaramucci said the investigation is baseless and hurts this party with prospective voters.

“I think it’s a specious inquiry. I disagree with it. …. I’m a lifelong Republican, and unfortunately, we’ve really damaged our party. I don’t think this helps our party.”

Mr. Scaramucci understands he seriousness of the action and Speaker Mike Johnson doesn’t. Another Republican is not cheering either. When I mention Sen. Chuck Grassley here, I usually have something critical to say, but today he deserves praise and I offer it. He didn’t ask and certainly may not care, but I forgive his past sins, and salute him, at least for the moment. The senator said that there is no evidence to support impeachment. The senator is no dummy and smart enough and conscientious enough to read “evidence.” Now, the question is whether he will have the courage to vote against impeachment, as I assume he logically must, and urge our congressional delegation to join him in speaking out.

The vote to impeach Biden was on party lines, 221 to 212, but some Republicans have admitted the whole business is show business. Grassley is one of the doubters. After reading all the evidence, he found and said explicitly that there was no evidence that would even suggest impeachment.

Some Republican members of the House said they voted for impeachment because the Biden White House had been “stonewalling.” I’m not sure “stonewalling” is an impeachable offense, but even if it is, this stonewall has not kept information from Congress. They have 100,000 pages of information.

The White House pointed out that House Republicans have not only that, but more than 35,000 pages of private financial records, more than 2,000 pages of Treasury Department financial reports, at least 36 hours of witness interviews, and just this week the House began receiving 62,000 more pages from the National Archives, including much of Joe Biden’s communications as vice president.

The House vote has been called a “revenge impeachment.” Our Congressional delegation still has time to speak out, supporting revenge or Senator Grassley’s conclusion.

By the way I was unfair to the kangaroos. I apologize. This was monkey business and nothing more.

Norman Sherman of Coralville has worked extensively in politics, including as Vice President Hubert Humphrey’s press secretary.