In June, I warned in my column in The Hill that if the Republican Party took control of the House of Representatives, there would be a wave McCarthyite abuses of Congressional committees through abuse of subpoenas and abuse of the Congressional investigative process.
There are now growing public reports of the threats and abuses I warned about in June, including a new story in Politico today.
The Republicans are making a huge political mistake that will rally the Democratic base, offend political independents and backfire against them in November.
This is the arrogance of power by those who do not have power, who are so consumedby the politics of persecution and character assassination and so dependent on the support of extremist political forces that they are bragging about the abuses of power they will pursue if they get said power.
The Republican plan is to abuse the power of multiple Congressional committees, abuse the power and the process of subpoena, by hiring a fleet of partisan Republican lawyers and partisan Republican staff at taxpayer expense to pursue a politics of vendetta and persecution.
Remember the abuses of power of Republicans in Congress when they launched bogus attacks on Bill and Hillary Clinton during the Clinton presidency, culminating in a de facto attempted coup d'etat through an abuse of process that culminated in an attempt to impeach President Clinton while he was creating jobs and balancing the budget?
Make no mistake, the party of Richard Nixon and Joe McCarthy is planning a new era of Nixonian and McCarthyite abuses to repeat the politics of persecution it attempted against the Clintons when Republicans had control of Congress.
Make no mistake, Republicans plan a vendetta and politics of persecution and abuse of power against President Obama.
Make no mistake, they plan a vendetta and politics of persecution and abuse of power against the White House staff.
Make no mistake, they plan a politics of vendetta, persecution, abuse of power and character assassination that extends to "Democratic allies."
Make no mistake, the party of Richard Nixon and Joe McCarthy is so punch drunk with the lust for power and so dependent on extremist supporters who pursue the politics of hate that the party that is no longer the party of Lincoln is virtually bragging about the abuses of power they intend to perform if the given the power to do so.This is a Republican Party that is dangerously dependent on extremist factions that viewAmerica as a place where opponents are demonized, where even Democratic war heroes have their patriotism attacked by those who never served in the military, and where opponents are not treated as patriotic Americans with differing views but as enemies of the state.
These intended abuses of power that are now being revealed will drive the Democratic base to greater turnout and drive independent voters to Democratic candidates.
These intended abuses of power should and will be one of the major issues as the campaign comes to a close.
Voters do not want Washington to become a snake pit of political vendettas and partisan persecutions, paid for with taxpayer dollars and abusing the institutions of government.
The Democratic base will rouse against it.
Political independents will not stand for it.
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