June 22, 2023 10:39 AM UTC

Republicans Make Hero of Rep. Adam Schiff

•  
• by: Colorado Pols

While much of the oxygen yesterday in Congress was sucked up by Rep. Lauren Boebert’s half-baked and ultimately stalled articles of impeachment against President Joe Biden, another tit-for-tat political drama was playing out over a resolution from the GOP House majority to censure Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California more or less entirely for the amusement of ex-President Donald Trump. As ABC News reports, the GOP majority was able to ram the motion through–but what came after wasn’t part of the plan:

The vote was 213-209, with Republicans voting yes, Democrats voting no and six GOP lawmakers voting present…

After the vote on Wednesday, members could be heard chanting as Schiff moved toward the well, where he stood as Speaker Kevin McCarthy read the adopted resolution aloud.

The heckling included shouts of “shame! shame!” while McCarthy repeatedly paused until there was quiet, at one point saying he had time to be there all night.

As the speaker read the censure resolution on the floor, the banging of his gavel could barely be heard over Democrats yelling that the move was a “disgrace” and more…

Although Republicans had the votes to censure Rep. Schiff, the stout defense of Schiff mounted by his Democratic colleagues provided another opportunity to expound on the real reason for this censure resolution, vengeance for Trump against one of his most persistent critics, and deflecting blame for the violence and chaos Trump left in his wake. Here’s Colorado’s Rep. Jason Crow imploring Republicans to “set yourselves free from your servitude of Donald Trump so we can move forward as a country.”

Defended my friend @RepAdamSchiff yesterday against gross partisan attacks. Here are some facts: pic.twitter.com/X6CV2E9lrk

— Rep. Jason Crow (@RepJasonCrow) June 22, 2023

Meanwhile, GOP Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado was among a handful of Republicans who voted “present” on the Schiff censure resolution. The other “present” votes were reportedly members of the House Ethics Committee staying neutral, but not Buck–who again expressed his displeasure over the GOP-controlled House focusing on vendettas instead of governing. Washington Post:

Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) was one of several Freedom Caucus members who supported the blockade of the House floor earlier this month. But on Wednesday, he expressed frustration that Republicans were focused on issues tied to personality preferences and disagreements rather than debating substantive policy, pointing to last month’s fiscal fight. It was a feeling many of his Republican colleagues shared.

“We get to [consider] things like this, and now impeachments,” Buck said after voting present on a resolution censuring Schiff. “It’s just not what we’re here for. We should be striving to do better.”

Instead of doing political damage to Rep. Schiff, who is running for the U.S. Senate in California next year, we expect Schiff to wear this censure resolution like a badge of honor in that race. The only place this censure resolution made any sense was within the counterfactual bubble of MAGA alternate reality, and that’s very far from a majority of California voters. It’s surprising to us that fellow Californian Speaker Kevin McCarthy didn’t realize that in the long run, this move only helps Schiff.

The same criticism applies to Rep. Boebert’s politically boomeranging articles of impeachment, but McCarthy’s ability to impose reason has its limits.