While conservatives are busy denying that they ever wanted to deal with a lawsuit against President Obama in the first place and trying to put out yet another inextinguishable wildfire in their PR, the Democratic Party is fortunately basking in the spoils that have been made possible by the Republican party's blunders. Obviously, the GOP, while keeping their traditions firmly rooted in the past, are not looking to the past and are repeating their mistakes of 1998.
But I'm not complaining. The Republican party looks scrambled and the Democrats are gaining traction. The thing the Republican party takes for granted is a little phenomenon called the "rally around the effect": to sum it up in the context of this situation, any potential threat to the president will be met with rapid and potent mobilization in support of him. And the result couldn't be greater. According to Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman Steve Israel:
"Since the announcement of the lawsuit, we've raised more than $7.6 million," Israel said at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. The committee has received more than 160,000 donations, Israel said, and the average donation amount is $19.
One thing worth taking note is the fact that amid this $7.6 million fundraising, the average donation amount was
$19. Shoutout to the little guy and us average Americans for showing campaign finance that we can still be relevant even despite the floodgates being opened for corporations.
Meanwhile, the Republicans are stuck in a double bind. The Washington Post reports:
A CNN/ORC International poll released last week showed that while 65 percent of the public opposes impeachment, 57 percent of Republicans support it. That's left GOP candidates doomed to alienate either the conservative base or moderates no matter where they come down on impeachment.
At this point, no matter how Republicans proceed, they are going to alienate one important constituent or another.
I'm certainly not qualified to speak on how the Republicans will proceed with the lawsuit (in fact, I'm not even sure any Republican is qualified to speak on the matter), but I can say one thing for certain. Things are looking good for the Democrats.