By every metric, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer’s impeachment crusade against President Joe Biden was a humiliating failure. The Kentucky Republican set out to uncover evidence of wrongdoing and undermine the Democrats’ 2024 nominee, and the GOP congressman ended up finding nothing and watching the incumbent retire.
Even many members of Comer’s own party concluded that his efforts were a fiasco.
It’s against this backdrop that the hapless chairman apparently has a new plan: Comer’s crusade against the original Democratic ticket was a flop, so he’s trying again with the new Democratic ticket. Politico reported last week, for example, that the Oversight Committee chair is launching an election-season investigation into Vice President Kamala Harris’ work regarding the southern border.
As last week neared its end, Comer announced his panel would also investigate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s ties with China.
The obvious problem with the Republican congressman’s antics is that he apparently believes the House Oversight Committee is little more than a partisan super PAC. The less obvious problem is that even some of Comer’s intraparty allies — the ones who were frustrated by his failed anti-Biden scheme — think he’s still off-track. Axios reported:
Some House GOP lawmakers fear their party’s new investigations into Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz could potentially backfire politically. … One House Republican, speaking on the condition of anonymity to critique their party’s investigations, said the probes are “unnecessary.”
The same GOP member went on to tell Axios, “We have an election to win. Don’t make these people [Harris and Walz] martyrs.”
Democrats are even less pleased.
The same report quoted Rep. Dan Goldman saying, “I don’t think any rational person would see this as anything other than continuing to use official congressional authority, improperly, to help Donald Trump’s electoral goals.” The New York Democrat added that Walz and Harris haven’t “done anything that merits an investigation other than [being] on the Democratic ticket.” In all likelihood, Comer will ignore the latest round of criticisms. Indeed, his anti-Biden gambit was seen by both parties as a debacle quite a while ago, and he nevertheless kept it going for a year and a half, indifferent to the toll it was taking on his credibility and reputation. With this recent history in mind, the Kentuckian will likely shrug his shoulders and keep going after Harris and Walz, despite the abundant evidence that he has engaged in an election-season stunt. That said, if Comer is hoping to see anyone take his latest efforts seriously, the Republican is likely to be disappointed.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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