from The Gray Area:
3/6/20:
Mitt Romney is infuriating conservatives for his consistent anti-Trump positions. Everybody knows how he voted to remove Trump from office for during the Senate impeachment trial. Now he is threatening again to vote against his Republican counterparts to stop a subpoena regarding the Hunter Biden-Ukraine corruption issue. What's up with him?
Mitt Romney is a frustratingly inconsistent Senator to me. Much the way John McCain was. McCain stuck to principled positions which were usually correct but ignored the opposition's lack of movement in his direction. They would accept McCain as principled, but never take a principled stand moving in his direction. It was always a one-way street. Romney is doing the same thing. Yet, his opposition is just not just standing firm, it is instead waging war against his president, his party and everything he stands for. Yet, he refuses to fight back. Principled, yes. Politically realistic, no.
In this case I believe he is correct in his position. Romney said:
- “I think people are tired of these kind of political investigations”.
- “I would prefer that investigations are done by an independent, nonpolitical body”.
- “There’s no question the appearance is not good.”
- "With regards to Hunter Biden, taking excessive advantage of his father’s name is unsavory, but also not a crime”.
Each of these statements is true, though the last one may or may not be a crime. Thus the need for investigation.
We are all tired of these political investigations. I don't need to see Congress investigating each other any more. Go back to doing the people's business and that is not investigating, it is legislating. Now, if you do that, you are letting the opposition off scott-free for what they do that is on or over the line, like this. Letting the Democrats continuously investigate Republicans without consequence is not a situation that is good for Republicans or the message to the country.
Romney is a bit inconsistent on which action, Trump's vs Biden's, he believes appears to be criminal. The Biden / Ukraine affair obviously deserves attention and even investigation. Maybe the Justice Department could do that. They might, but understanding the reality of 2020 politics, getting it done vs hoping it gets done makes more sense. That most likely means another political investigation.
The Senate should err on the side of truth and what message is being presented to the public. By skipping this investigation, the media spin will create a message that once again (in their minds) Trump was wrong in pursuing the Biden's actions in Ukraine, and that he should have been removed from office.
This is what Romney and others continue to ignore or accept. That has to change, now!