Mitch McConnell's mistake?

I suspect that lots of Republicans hate Mitch McConnell for cautioning against impeaching Joe Biden. I'm not not critical of McConnell for saying "I said two years ago, when we had not one but two impeachments, that once we go down this path it incentivizes the other side to do the same thing. Impeachment ought to be rare. This is not good for the country."

The smart play is starting an impeachment inquiry. Republicans would need 19 Senate Democrats to vote with them to convict and remove Biden. There's a better chance of me getting hit with lightning while holding a winning lottery ticket than getting that many Democrats to vote for conviction. If there was overwhelming proof that a) Biden had sold out the U.S. and b) Democrats were passive in defending Biden, it'd still be an uphill fight.

While there's some proof that Biden sold out the U.S., there isn't overwhelming, beyond-a-shadow-of-a-doubt proof of that happening. Further, there's no proof that a single Democrat or independent who votes with and caucuses with Democrats flipping.

Predictably, propagandist outlets like CNN have started piling the propaganda on thick in defense of Joe Biden:

But to move ahead with a formal probe, they’ll have to convince Republicans like Rep. Don Bacon, who hails from a Nebraska district Biden carried in 2020 and will be targeted again by Democrats in 2024. Indeed, already a liberal group, the Congressional Integrity Project, launched on Monday a paid digital ad campaign targeting the 18 Republicans who hail from Biden districts over the GOP investigations, and Democrats expect similar efforts to take shape in the months ahead.

Bacon told CNN the Oversight and Judiciary committees should continue to dig into Hunter Biden’s business affairs and get more facts before moving ahead with any impeachment proceedings.

"It seems apparent that President Biden wasn’t being honest when he denied any involvement in his son’s business dealings," Bacon said Monday. "Further, it’s apparent tens of millions of dollars were involved that prospered the family."

While there are 18 Republicans hold seats in districts that Biden won in 2020, it's far from certain that Biden would win those districts this time. For that matter, it's far from certain that Republicans couldn't successfully defend those seats. CNN is already conflating impeachment with an impeachment inquiry:

An impeachment inquiry simply gives the House enhanced investigative authorities on things like subpoena powers and being able to force people to testify. It isn't full-throated impeachment. Impeachment means special hearings, usually in the House Judiciary Committee though not always, where the Committee decides if a president or cabinet secretary has done something that rises to the level of "Treason, Bribery, high crimes or misdemeanors." After that, the Committee must determine the specific charges and turn those charges into Articles of Impeachment. Right now, the House Oversight Committee is still gathering information on what Joe Biden did.

While no impartial person thinks that Biden wasn't involved in an international pay-to-play scheme, partisans like Dan Goldman have made fools of themselves. Wednesday, for instance, the House Oversight Committee released bank documents showing a $3,917,000 wire from Elena Baturina, the former First Lady of Moscow, to Rosemount Seneca Thornton. The initial investigation into that transfer couldn't detect what services Rosemount Seneca Thornton provided.

Howeverk, 3 weeks later, she had dinner with then-VP Joe Biden. Fast-forward to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The Biden administration put sanctions on a number of oligarchs. Ms. Baturina is the richest woman in Russia but she wasn't sanctioned. Is that because she wired $3,917,000 to Hunter? At this pont, we don't know. That's why we need an impeachment inquiry.