In case you weren’t convinced that most House Republicans are a miserable sack of vermin, the aptly titled #2 Republican in the House, Steve Scalise, issued a notice to Republican members that Republican “Leadership recommends a NO vote on H.R. 3233 – National Commission to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol Complex Act.”

House Minority Weasel Kevin McCarthy had designated Homeland Security Ranking Member John Katko to negotiate the terms of the bill, and Katko did so in good faith. The bill would establish a bipartisan commission to investigate the January 6 Capitol Insurrection. Any patriotic American would want this failed, but dangerous, attempt to overturn the results of a free and fair Presidential election to be thoroughly investigated, including any involvement by current or former federal elected or appointed officials. A vast majority (87%) of Republican House Members don’t want this. Now why would that be? 

Scalise whines that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has limited the scope of the investigation to the January 6^th insurrection and not included isolated one-offs by wackos that resulted in the shooting of Scalise at a baseball practice in 2017 or an attack by a motorist at a Capitol Police checkpoint in 2021. 

In general, Republicans are the ones who merely shrug over commonplace shootings that plague our nation, as if nothing can be done about them. But if the 2017 shooting, which targeted Congressional Republicans, did warrant a Congressional investigation – why now? Why not in 2017 when Republican Paul Ryan was Speaker of the House? Why is Scalise suddenly interested in investigating the shooting by a lone avowed Bernie Sanders fan, with ZERO involvement by Sanders or any Democratic official?

Why sleep on this for four years, and then try to throw it into the mix when establishing a commission to investigate an organized attempt to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power for the first time in our nation’s history? Do Republicans seriously think an attempted coup is not so extraordinary that it warrants a commission to focus on it alone, or is something else at work here?

Republican Senators and Members of Congress were, rightly, incensed at the attack on the Capitol as it was happening, but they have since backpedaled desperately. Kevin McCarthy, who, at the time, apparently was furious with Trump for not sending in the National Guard to quell the insurrection, has decided to follow Trump off the cliff like a good little lemming, and, after paying a visit to Mar-a-Loser, now considers the Insurrection to be no big deal – perhaps because some of his members (as well as his Lord and Master Trump) are implicated in it.

Prominent Republican Senators and House Members have recently downplayed the seriousness of the attack, claiming they never felt in danger, or it was just a routine tourist day at the Capitol, or it is really unfair to call it an insurrection.

Is it possible that Republicans, who had hearing after hearing on Benghazi in order to harm Hillary Clinton politically, are now playing politics by trying to stonewall the Jan. 6 Commission, while accusing Speaker Pelosi of doing just that? Is it possible that most Republicans don’t want anybody to peer too deeply – and publicly — into connections between Trump, Trump supporters, Trump cronies, and Republican legislators and the Insurrectionists? Trump himself came out against the Commission last night. Surprising? No. If there is a decent, honorable path to take, Trump will always pass it up.

Is it possible that Trump and his allies have something to hide? And they don’t want their complicity to be on display for all the public (and especially voters) to see in the run-up to the 2022 mid-term elections? All the more reason to move ahead with the Commission, lest there be no accountability.

Good for the 35 Republican House members who broke ranks with their leadership and supported the Jan. 6 Commission. Let’s see if 10 Republican Senators have the same courage and decency. Don’t hold your breath.