Impeachment Managers

On Sunday, Rachel Bade reported that many Democrats, particularly freshmen, want Pelosi to name Justin Amash (I-MI) to the impeachment manager team that will present the House's case to the Senate. Amash is very conservative, far more so, in fact, than Trump, and he's an articulate and principled pro-impeachment former Republican. (Presumably, once Trump is out of office, Amash will rejoin the GOP.) It would be hard to imagine Pelosi giving him such a key slot.

And speaking of impeachment managers... when the House Republicans impeached Bill Clinton in December of 1998 the GOP prepared for the January trial by naming 13 impeachment managers, all right-wing crackpots.

• Henry Hyde (IL)
• Jim Sensenbrenner (WI)
• Bill McCollum (FL)
• George Gekas (PA)
• Charles Canady (FL)
• Steve Buyer (IN)
• Ed Bryant (TN)
• Steve Chabot (OH)
• Bob Barr (GA)
• Asa Hutchinson (AR)
• Chris Cannon (UT)
• James Rogan (CA)
• Lindsey Graham (SC)

Only three are still in Congress, Lindsey Graham, now serving in the Senate because of the notoriety of his role in the impeachment, Jim Sensenbrenner and Steve Chabot (who was defeated in 2008 and reelected in 2010 and has been making a monkey out of himself in the Judiciary Committee impeachment hearings).

Most of the managers were in impregnable red districts. But one-- James Rogan-- was defeated, ironically, by Adam Schiff in what was at the time, the most expensive House election in history. (Rogan spent $6,889,947 and Schiff spent $4,650,104.) Former Blue Dog Democrat-turned-Republican dog, Charles Canady retired in 2000 and was appointed to the Florida judiciary by Jeb Bush. Blue Dog dog Charlie Crist-- then a Republican-- appointed Canady to the Florida Supreme Court. Canady, a fanatic supporter of the death penalty, is now the chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court and he is on the Trump list of potential U.S. Supreme Court judges. The other Floridian impeachment manager, Bill McCollum, ran for the open U.S. Senate in 2000 and lost to Bill Nelson. (He ran again in 2004 and was defeated again and ran for governor in 2010 and lost again.) Ed Bryant also ran for the Senate (in 2002) and unlike Graham and just like McCollum, lost.

Asa Hutchinson was reelected in 2000 but left Congress to work for George W Bush, heading up the war of drugs. In 2002 Bill Barr was redistricted and had to face another GOP incumbent, who defeated him. He left the GOP and ran for president as a Libertarian and then rejoined the GOP and was defeated in 2012 and 2014 in bids to be reelected to Congress. He's generally considered insane, even by Republican standards. In 2002 George Gekas lost his gerrymandered super-red seat to Democrat Tim Holden.

Steve Buyer, who was infamous for taking bribes from PhRMA and big tobacco, retired and became of lobbyist for McKesson and then for R.J. Reyonds, promoting "smokeless tobacco." Chris Cannon was defeated by Jason Chaffetz in the 2008 primary. And, last but not least, anti-Choice psychotic Henry Hyde retired in 2007 and died a few months later.

Pelosi hasn't announced who she will appoint to the impeachment manager team. She'll probably botch that up just like she's botched up the whole process so far. It's likely that the managers will come from both the Judiciary Committee and the House Intel Committee. Aside from chairmen Nadler and Schiff-- and judging by how they handled themselves in the inquiry-- the best members would be Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Ted Lieu (D-CA), Eric Swalwell (D-CA), Madeline Dean (D-PA), Jim Himes (D-CT), and Joe Neguse (D-CO). It's more likely that ability will take a back seat and that Pelosi will use, as always, political calculation instead, even if it means appointing members incapable of thinking on their feet or framing an argument coherently without being told what to say by staff. I'm sure we'll be making fun of her selections within a few days.