WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2026
Did every Democrat want that? Pete Hegseth could have been impeached. That would have led to a Senate trial.
Is that the way Democrats wanted to start the new political era? To us, that wouldn't necessarily seem like the best possible way to proceed.
Other people feel very differently, as you can see below.
At any rate, eleven Democrats missed the vote, including Nancy Pelosi. Where was the former Speaker? We link you to Newsweek's report:
Nancy Pelosi Explains Why She Missed Pete Hegseth Impeachment Vote
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi missed a key vote on articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after leaving Washington, D.C., to attend a veterans event in San Francisco, where she was receiving an award.
The House voted 211-204 on Tuesday to refer eight articles of impeachment introduced by Republican Representative Thomas Massie to the House Judiciary Committee, effectively halting the effort.
Eleven Democrats, including Pelosi, were recorded as not voting. Eight additional votes against the motion would have been enough to defeat it.
Pelosi's absence was notable because the former speaker has previously called for Hegseth to leave office, saying in an October 9 social media post that he was "beyond unfit" to lead the military and declaring: "He must go."
And so on from there.
Has last week's triumphal Blue American unity come to an instant end? More pungently, is it possible that elements of the Democratic Party didn't want to start the new regime with an impeachment of Hegseth?
We have no way of knowing the answer to that. But as Mediaite reports, Blue American unity did take a bit of a tumble:
‘Embarrassing!’ Progressives Erupt at Jeffries and 11 Dems Who Blew Off Hegseth Impeachment Vote
Progressives erupted at House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and the 11 Democrats who failed to show up for Tuesday’s vote on impeaching Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, allowing Republicans to kill the effort despite their narrow House majority.
The House voted 211-204 to send eight articles of impeachment introduced by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) to committee, effectively ending the push to remove Hegseth. Massie was the only Republican to oppose the procedural maneuver.
According to The New York Times, Republican leaders had initially worried they lacked the votes to defeat the measure. Instead, 11 absent Democrats handed them a victory.
Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA) blasted her absent colleagues in remarks to MeidasTouch’s Pablo Manríquez following the vote.
And so on from there, with other examples of blasting noted.
"Shameful," Rep. Kamlager-Dove said. Quite a few other people seemed to feel completely sure about their own assessments.
The eleven Dems are being attacked, at least by a certain number of people. So is the future Speaker Jeffries.
"Embarrassing," at least one person has said. At fault, some Democrats say, is some sort of a traffic delay caused by some sort of alleged police escort.
To us, it didn't necessarily seem like the best way to go. To others, the matter seemed different. For better or worse, this is how things tend to work.
Did every Democrat want him impeached? We have no idea!
ReplyDelete"‘Embarrassing!’ Progressives Erupt at Jeffries and 11 Dems Who Blew Off Hegseth Impeachment Vote "
Oh, so it's the Dumbocrat pwogwessives who want to do theater instead of doing their job? Sure, it figures.
And what about the DSA faction, are they into it too? Just curious.
"Some of those truant Democratic lawmakers said they were stuck in “bumper-to-bumper” traffic on their way back from a new member reception held by the Elect Democratic Women PAC, according to Axios’s Andrew Solender. That group’s offshoot, the EDW Action Fund, has served as a major pass-through for funds from United Democracy Project, a super PAC formed by the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee. It’s not clear which members were in attendance at the event.
ReplyDeleteRepresentative Katherine Clark, who as Democratic whip is responsible for organizing her party’s House members ahead of a vote, is also one of the founding members of EDW. Clark was not absent for the vote, and called the results a “disgrace.”
Of the 11 Democrats who missed the Hegseth vote, eight have received support from EDW or its action group, including Brownley, who sits on the organization’s executive board, and Stansbury, who serves on the board of directors." [The New Republic]
"A spokesperson for Pettersen accused Republicans of having “cynically closed the vote early” when several Democratic members were stuck in traffic. In a statement posted to social media, Brownley said she and her colleagues were “rushing to the floor” when House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) closed the vote." [Rawstory]
Delete"Drop Site News co-founder Ryan Grim noted that EDW was one of many groups that served as a “pass-through” for AIPAC funds in Democratic primaries during the 2026 election cycle.
As The Lever reported last month, AIPAC’s super political action committee (PAC), the United Democracy Project, donated nearly $2.4 million to the group’s political arm, EDW Action, while Democratic Majority for Israel donated another $140,000. "
Hegseth should be impeached and removed.
ReplyDeleteSomerby says: "More pungently, is it possible that elements of the Democratic Party didn't want to start the new regime with an impeachment of Hegseth? "
ReplyDeleteAside from pungent being the wrong word (did he mean poignantly?), Somerby appears to be suggesting that the missing Democrats didn't want to impeach Hegseth, while other writers are suggesting that the PAC luncheon and traffic jam were engineering to prevent 8 (of the 11) Democrats from voting (in collusion with Johnson) on behalf of AIPAC and Israel maneuvering to protect Hegseth.
Given that several of the Democrats have been interviewed and said they supported Hegseth's impeachment and were trying to get there in time to vote but were prevented, Somerby's hypothesis seems unlikely. This does not appear to be a boycott of the voting. Given that Republicans are entirely capable of manipulating voting in collusion with AIPAC, the circumstances preventing these Dems from voting appear to be more likely as an explanation.
Note that Somerby does not mention much less explore the alternative theory about Republicans delaying the Democrats so that the vote went their way. That is one way Somerby puts his thumb on the scales in favor of the right. Often, with Somerby's essay, what he leaves out is more telling than what he actually writes. In this case, his suggested explanation (Democrats in disarray) is the traditional right wing and media suggestion. An actual Democrat or liberal or even progressive would not be so quick to blame Democrats. But this IS how Somerby rolls.
Dems know all Republicans are ratfuckers. Plan accordingly when there is an important vote. Or your rat will be fucked.
DeleteUnder Hegseth, the US military has had so many impressive successes. In the previous 4 years, they screwed up the withdrawal from Afghanistan and got morale so bad that they couldn't recruit enough people. Hegseth deserves a big medal.
ReplyDeleteBut, the Dems are essentially a Hate Group. They hate Hegseth. They hate Kennedy. They hate Trump. They hate Vance. When they take power in January, I expect them to set out to punish their hate objects. Look for pointless impeachments of Hegseth and Trump.