A lot of people were extremely upset with the Democratic leadership for loudly proclaiming on the one hand, that Trump presented a grave danger to the country and on the other, calmly informing us that they were going to wait over the weekend to start impeachment proceedings.

I was one of those people.  This morning, turned on my computer to find that someone named Samantha Corbin was lecturing me about House rules.  According to her, Democrats could not reconvene until Monday without Unanimous Consent and Kevin McCarthy was holding this up.  So, I could just shut my uninformed mouth and stop carping.

Others who were disgusted with the Democrats were also lectured on Twitter their lack of understanding of House rules and procedures and chided for childish impatience.

This is so characteristic of the Democratic elite I just don’t know where to begin.

First of all, on the rules question.  Corbin and evidently Pelosi’s daughter @sfpelosi (whose tweets I am prevented from seeing because she strictly limits access) presented this rule about reconvening as iron clad.  The House could not reconvene until Monday, period.  No way, no how without the unanimous consent of the House.

But, as other people in the Twitter discussion pointed out, it was simply impossible to believe that there was not a way around this rule.  What happens, for example, if the House needs to meet on a Sunday because of a national emergency (which this is)?  Are they sincerely telling us that under no circumstance can the House meet before Monday without unanimous consent?

And @MattGlassman312 contested Corbin and Peliso’s read of the rule.  He wrote that was required was “consultation” with the minority leader, not consent, and definitely not unanimous consent.

So, there is a question of whether what Pelosi et. al. are asserting about the rule is even correct.  And, even if it is correct, aren’t there ways around the rule?  If Nancy Pelosi is the strategic genius her supporters (and her daughter) maintain she is, why hasn’t she figured out how to get around this rule?  I would be willing to take a bet that if this rule was constraining Mitch McConnell he would have figured out a way around the rule or would simply violate the rule and worry about the consequences later.

And, as another person in the discussion pointed out, even with all this self-righteous lecturing about the rule, we don’t know whether Pelosi formally requested a weekend session and McCarthy objected or whether the Democratic elite were simply assuming that McCarthy would object and not bothering to even ask.  One of the people in the discussion points out that a “statement would be helpful.” Ya think?

Pelosi et. al. are whining on Twitter about being misunderstood, receiving unfair criticism from ignorant people, but we wouldn’t even be in this position if the elite in the Democratic Party felt it in any way incumbent on them to explain to the American people what was going on. 

For at least yesterday and today, Pelosi’s phone couldn’t be reached. The mailbox is full and nobody is answering.  Now, if Nancy Pelosi sincerely wanted to know what the unwashed masses thought, she would arrange for her phones to be working and messages to be taken.  But, the truth is that she doesn’t care.

If indeed the Democrats absolutely cannot convene until Monday, they should be all over the news explaining exactly why and who is holding them up.  They aren’t. This is the very first time I have ever heard that the rules prevent them from convening and that McCarthy is holding them up.

Why, oh why, can’t the Democrats seem to understand that every time the Republicans obstruct them, pointing this out gains them political points?  What’s so hard about that?  Why can’t the Democrats bring themselves to tell the truth about their “colleagues?”

There is political advantage to be gained by first of all explaining what they are doing to the American people and second of all scoring points off the Republicans’ obstruction.  They just won’t do it.  You tell me why.

Part of the attitude seems to come from an unbelievable hubris that characterizes the Democratic elite and the absolute belief that a class of professionals who make an enormous amount of money for consulting and advising, know what’s best.  They aren’t out there explaining to the rest of what they are doing because they don’t think they have to.  They regard us as a necessary evil.   It reminds me of that line in “The Postman Always Rings Twice” where the lawyer (Hume Croyn) says with sinister finality: “When I say I’m handling it, I’m handling it.”  The Democratic elite doesn’t feel a need to explain.  They don’t feel a need to answer their phones in a crisis.  And, they get damn offended if anybody questions them.

Nancy Pelosi and her minions have managed to create this narrative that Pelosi is this genius strategist and that the rest of us just aren’t smart enough to understand the three-dimensional chess game she is playing.  I have heard this mouthed by Mika Brzezinski and Jennifer Rubin, to name but two.  The “she’s a genius” combined with a big chunk of “you’re just criticizing her because she’s a woman” intimidates a lot of people.

As another person in the twitter discussion (@RhiFionn) pointed out: “If you want understanding, explain what’s going on…”