Impeachment hearings make for riveting TV
I watched the impeachment hearings last week. In the living testimony of witnesses there is drama, suspense, pathos, moments of unexpected humor, plot twists and a great cast of characters. There are heroes and villains and some who get caught in a web that others spin.
MSNBC and Fox are providing gavel-to-gavel coverage with few interruptions. A former prosecutor, Adam Schiff, intelligence committee chairman, presides with practiced efficiency. Using lawyers to question witnesses for the first 45 minutes of each session allows their stories to emerge as a coherent narrative. It also cuts down on partisan grandstanding.
“Fake news” can’t get a foothold. Our information is coming straight from the source; we get to decide who to believe. That’s exhilarating, a test of how good we are at judging character, a skill Americans used to take pride in.
Thus, we become eyewitnesses to history as our democracy of checks and balances plays out in real time. By the way, last week was a doozy.
Ann Shoben
Northeast side
Don’t let elected officials lose their nerve
Hey America, this is how we lose our democracy. Not from losing a war to a foreign power but rather, falling for a populist that neither understands nor respects the pillars upon which our nation was built. There was truly no choice but for the House to impeach, and it was way overdue in light of Donald Trump’s emoluments violations, clear obstructions and, of late, extortion of a foreign nation to “collude” on his personal behalf (abuse of power).
I don’t know if he just didn’t get what the Mueller investigation was about or felt emboldened by getting off. If he wasn’t colluding then, he sure as heck was with Ukraine.
Ultimately, it’s up to us though. Do we voice support for the impeachment process or cower and truly weaken our democracy, forfeiting the concepts of separation of powers and checks and balances? Our representatives need to know where we stand, if only to strengthen their spines/resolve.
Dana Whitson
Oro Valley
Trump accuser
is the real patriot
How dare Trump and his surrogates attempt to sully the outstanding credentials of a military hero because he chose to uphold his oath of office?
I ask this question: Who is the real patriot?
Is it Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, highly decorated war hero who was willing to sacrifice his life by serving in war-torn Iraq and who agreed to testify when he realized his commander in chief was attempting to extort the newly elected leader of Ukraine in order to get dirt on a political rival, a matter not of national security but a matter of personal benefit?
Or is it cowardly, serial draft dodger Donald Trump, who won in 2016 with widespread Russian assistance and who, after assuming office, eschewed our country’s decades-long relationship with Western allies in favor of the world’s murderous, deceitful despots? The same Donald Trump who in Helsinki astoundingly preferred to believe Putin’s lies over the sound assessment of our own intelligence agents?
I ask again: Who is the real patriot?
Gladys Lujan
SaddleBrooke
Enough of this Democratic scam
Rep. Adam Schiff is determined to see President Trump found guilty of bribery, a term which a focus group found more to their liking than “quid pro quo.” Regardless of which term is used, bribery is nowhere to be found in the transcript of the phone call between Trump and Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky.
This circus, played out on the world stage, ignores the fact that Zelenskiy has stated he never felt pressured by Trump to look into the Bidens’ involvement with Burisma Holdings and never knew $391 million in military aid had been temporarily withheld from Ukraine until almost five weeks after the July 25 Trump-Zelenskiy call.
There’s no “quid” and no “quo,” people, so let’s wrap up this costly witch hunt. Trump isn’t even allowed to face his “whistleblower” accuser who has obviously collaborated with Schiff, who has stated he doesn’t know who this individual is. We Americans elected our representatives to work for us — not to spend their time preening in front of cameras.
Lindsey Smith
Northwest side
