Incoming!

When the memoir of former U.S. Representative Ray LaHood (R-IL), President Obama's first transportation secretary, weas published a year ago, he claimed that the alleged decision by the White House to pass economic stimulus legislation without Republican votes was the "beginning of the end of bipartisanship."

That's a little odd,  given that then-House Minority Leader John Boehner on January 17, 2009 had told his caucus to condemn the incoming President's stimulus bill on television, social media and the House floor as "another run-of-the-mill, undisciplined, cumbersome, wasteful Washington spending bill … I hope everyone here will join me in voting no!”

If anything, Boehner was late to the dance, having missed the meeting of over 15 Republicans, most of them Representatives and Senators, on Inauguration night, in which the partisans agreed to "show united and unyielding opposition to the president's economic policies" and "begin attacking vulnerable Democrats on the airwaves."

Even some of them were late, given that Vice President Biden stated that during the transition, he

spoke to seven different Republican Senators, who said, `Joe, I’m not going to be able to help you on anything,’ he recalls. His informants said [Senate Minority Leader Mitch] McConnell had demanded unified resistance. “The way it was characterized to me was: `For the next two years, we can’t let you succeed in anything. That’s our ticket to coming back,’” Biden says.








If Hillary Clinton is elected, she'll have the advantage of being warned even before she is chosen by the American people. The Associated Press reports

"I would say yes, high crime or misdemeanor," GOP Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said this week in an interview with the Beloit Daily News, arguing that with her handling of emails Clinton had crossed the constitutionally established threshold for impeachment proceedings.

GOP Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, in an interview Wednesday on Fox News Channel, suggested that the Clinton email investigation might lead toward indictment. "At that point in time under the Constitution, the House of Representatives would engage in an impeachment trial," McCaul said.

Those comments follow recent remarks by GOP Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Richard Burr of North Carolina and John McCain of Arizona suggesting that they will oppose any and all Supreme Court nominations Clinton might make.

McCain walked his comment back, saying any nominee would be considered. But Burr told GOP volunteers, in private remarks leaked to CNN, that he would aim to keep the existing vacancy on the Supreme Court open throughout Clinton's term.

There no longer is any need to speak in hushed terms, to hold conversations in dark alleys, or to pretend (although McCain evidently is still doing so). It's upfront now.  Hillary Clinton, witness to the last eight years, has been forewarned, and how she confronts this challenge from the Party of victory first, ideology second, and country a distant third will be a major factor in determining the success of her presidency.







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