Sit down and shut up, Steny

Steny Hoyer

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is taking impeachment off the table just hours after a redacted version of the Mueller report dropped, while Congress and the public are still reading its hundreds of pages and figuring out what the heck it all means. Many are reading the report as a thinly veiled impeachment referral, while the House Judiciary Committee is preparing to subpoena the unredacted report and is calling for Robert Mueller to testify. But Steny already has his answer.

Hoyer told CNN's Dana Bash that “Based on what we have seen to date, going forward on impeachment is not worthwhile at this point. Very frankly, there is an election in 18 months and the American people will make a judgment.” Way to use Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s rationale for not confirming Merrick Garland there, you fine and strong legislator you. Is Hoyer really suggesting that legislators should spend 18 months out of every two years doing nothing? No, he’s just looking at a, say, second and seven position and punting on this specific issue. It’s an embarrassment—and it needs to remain a personal embarrassment to Hoyer and not become a general one for the Democratic Party.

This is ridiculous. The only reasonable thing to do here is to move forward with all options on the table pending the outcome of a full investigation—you don’t fully rule out impeachment when you don't know what the complete report says or what Mueller himself will testify. Time for Steny to take up a strict regimen of planks and squats to build enough core strength to support that wet noodle of a spine he’s walking around with.