The impeachment of a President is a serious thing.  An attempt to remove a President amounts to the “undoing of a national election.”  Attempts to impeach make people angry. “one of the reasons we all feel so angry about what they are doing is that … they are ripping asunder our votes.”  That must be true because those words were spoken by Jerry Nadler (in 1998).  He must have changed his mind.  When such a serious matter is contemplated, it must be undertaken only when there is bipartisan agreement as to its necessity.  “It would have been wrong for Richard Nixon to have been removed from office based upon a purely partisan vote.  No president should be removed from office merely because one party enjoys a commanding lead in either house of the Congress …”  What’s more, “It is our constitutional duty to give the president the benefit of the doubt on the facts …”  These are the words of Joe Biden (in 1998).  He’s either changed his mind, or lost his mind.  I can’t decide which.  Another vintage 1998 lawmaker cautioned against one Party acting purely out of hatred of a President from the other Party.  “until the Republicans free themselves of this hatred, our country will suffer.” That was the wisdom of Nancy Pelosi, who today is the ringmaster of the impeachment circus.  After all, it should be remembered that the President has pressing duties which must not be disturbed except for the most grievous wrongdoing.  “Today we are here in the people’s House debating the partisan impeachment of the President of the United States of America while the Commander in Chief is managing a crisis and asking world leaders for support.”  So sayeth Maxine Waters in 1998.  Today, asking a world leader for help by itself is reason for impeachment.  And even when impeachment is undertaken after a finding of a high crime, such as perjury, as in 1998, some lawmakers still find the process detestable.  John Conyers was moved to observe, “I am witnessing the most tragic event of my career in the Congress, in effect a … coup d’etat, in process.”  Well John, if the shoe fits …  The Dems went nuts when Donald Trump recently said his impeachment inquiry was a “lynching.”  But I guess it depends on who’s ox is being gored.  Joe Biden and former Democratic Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy called Clinton’s impeachment “a political lynching.”  Democratic Rep. Danny K. Davis even condemned the impeachment trial itself as “a lynching.”  Someone should have explained to Congressman Davis that lynching victims don’t get any trial, much less a trial presided over by the Chief Justice of the United States.  If, as all the long-tenured Democrats quoted above have said, impeachment must be the result of bipartisan consensus, and if an election should be overturned only when the voters have been convinced that it is necessary, it would stand to reason that any legitimate impeachment investigation should be conducted in the light of day, for all the world to see.  The Washington Post has assured us, after all,  that “Democracy dies in darkness.”  They would never lie, would they?  The Democrats in 1974 hated Richard Nixon as much as today’s Dems hate Donald Trump.  Yet in 1974, and again in 1998, the President was afforded the rights to counsel, to call witnesses, and to confront the witnesses that were produced.  And the hearings were public, very public.  In 1974, at a time before cable TV and 24 hour news networks, the Watergate Senate hearings and the House Judiciary hearings were televised live every day.  With only a few available channels, you couldn’t escape them.  We all saw John Dean give his testimony and Alexander Butterfield’s revelation that there were tapes of White House conversations.  At the end of that process, the result was inescapable, Nixon had to go.  But not this time.  The House has resisted allowing a vote on the commencement of an impeachment investigation, until yesterday’s phony vote to continue the Star Chamber inquisition.  Adam Schiff (for brains) is conducting his “impeachment inquiry” in a closed basement room in the Capitol.  Access to the room is strictly controlled by the Dems, it’s almost as though they’re hiding something.  They are.  They’re hiding the fact that they have no evidence that might compel Republican lawmakers, or the voting public, to the conclusion that there is good reason why this President should be removed.  The President has not been afforded the right to counsel, to see the testimony of witnesses, to call or question witnesses.  Republicans on the Committee can’t call witnesses either, and Republican Congressmen can’t even review transcripts of testimony unless they’re monitored by Democratic Committee staffers.  What are they afraid of?  They don’t want the truth to leak out.  If they had any real evidence of wrongdoing, it would be televised 24 hours a day.   Meanwhile, Democrats, on a daily basis, cherry-pick snippets of testimony that they consider harmful to the President.  Adam Schiff (for brains) has consistently lied to the public.  I don’t mean good old-fashioned Bill Clinton “spin.”  They’re just lying, and the lapdog media swears to their lies.  The popular consensus is that the House will eventually impeach Trump, no matter what.  Based on what evidence?  We don’t know.  Will Republican House members be permitted to see the so-called evidence?  We don’t know.  Will voters be able to evaluate what the House relies on to make up their own minds?  We don’t know that either.  Democracy dies in darkness?  You bet it does.  What’s going on is not a legitimate impeachment investigation, it’s double secret impeachment.  It’s impeachment by rumor, lie and artifice, and it’s dangerous.  This goes far beyond whether you like Donald Trump or you hate him.  This undermines our system of government, and trashes our Constitution.  It sends the message that your votes don’t count.  That is unacceptable.  Let the sun shine in and show us your cards.  You can’t bluff a President from office.