The Get-It-Over-With Impeachment.
Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Adam Schiff couldn't be bothered with going to court to try to enforce a subpoena — the normal way of doing things — they did not even try to compel Bolton’s testimony.
Now, with an impeachment trial approaching, if Pelosi and her Democratic forces didn’t lift a finger to try to force Bolton and others to testify, why should Senate Republicans?
There's nothing new to say, and it is time for it to be said in the Senate.
"It's like the old saying: Everything that can be said has been said, just not everyone has said it," Rep. Doug Collins, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee said.
"If the last three or four hours of the hearing showed us anything," added Republican Rep. Andy Biggs, also on the committee, "it was that, as expansive as the English language is, the explanations for and against impeachment have been exhausted."
"There weren't going to be — and there haven't been — any bombshells to change anyone's mind," said Republican Rep. Chris Stewart, a member of the Intelligence Committee. "It's much of the same thing, over and over, just told by different people."
"Thursday was Groundhog Day," said Republican Rep. Brad Wenstrup, another member of the Intelligence Committee.
Indeed, both Democrats and Republicans knew that, even as they kept arguing. The 116,000-word transcript of the hearing — yes, 116,000 words, longer than many novels — contains reference after reference to the sheer repetition of argument taking place.
"We heard that over and over and over again ... "
"We hear time and time again ... "
"I keep repeating this ... "
A search of the transcript shows that on 28 occasions, one lawmaker or another noted that the committee was hearing the same thing "over and over." Even the condemnations of repetition became repetitious.
Republicans made substantive defenses of the president — not just protests about process — throughout the session. The aid to Ukraine was delivered on time. The Ukrainians didn't know about the holdup. The Democrats based much of their case on Ambassador Gordon Sondland, who based much of his testimony on presumption. And so on.
Senators will have the opportunity to say the same thing over and over again. And they will surely do so.
By then, impeachment could well become boring — precisely the opposite of the nation-captivating drama Democrats hoped to create.
In the end senators will spend a couple of weeks saying the same things over and over and over again, followed by a vote to acquit the president. And the investigation, impeachment, and trial of Trump in the Ukraine affair will be over.