Overture, Light The Lights ...

There is gonna be a lot of ink spilled about the impeachment hearings. Fox News is going to parrot trump's line that it's a witch hunt, that it's illegitimate, and so on. MSNBC is probably going to argue that the evidence is incontrovertible and impeachment must happen.

I'm not going there. Instead, I want to talk about how the hearings are presented, and what individual members are trying to accomplish. Naturally, there are two broad camps here, Republican and Democrat, and members are staying in their lanes, but I want to address the style of these questioning sessions.

For the most part, when members are questioning witnesses in this hearing, they are not really trying to uncover the truth or elide information. Instead, they are trying to reinforce the points that have already been made. Unfortunately for trump, the Democrats have a distinct advantage here in that Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, is far more telegenic and clear-spoken than his Republican counterpart, Devin Nunes.

Consider today's opening statements. Schiff laid out what had happened to date, and what was expected from today's hearing. Nunes chose to read the transcript from trump's congratulatory call in May of this year to Ukrainian president Zelensky. Throughout the hearings, Republicans have been trying to shut down witnesses when they try to explain their answers, preferring to take a marginally accurate "yes" instead of a more accurate "yes, but only in these very specific ways."

The Democrats have a clear edge in terms of presentation here, and this has to do with the fact that ... well, the facts are on their side. The Republicans know their case is weak to nonexistent, and as a result we are seeing the following:

• Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) interrupting Chairman Schiff to complain about being interrupted.
• Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) trying to make the case that, since the military aid was eventually release, then there was nothing wrong.
• Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) loooking really confused pretty much all of the time and making the claim that publicly televised hearings are "secret depositions."

In short, these hearings are theater, and the Democrats are just better at it.

I gotta lie down.

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