What Went Down On Day 1 Of The Impeachment Hearings

We’re 15 minutes into our five-minute break. Reminds me of a line from “The West Wing” when a committee chair says, “We’ll take a five-minute break. Please, let’s keep it to 10 minutes.”

Would like to remind everyone of the mood and framing of the ongoing story after Dems’ questioning of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in his last confirmation hearing. The pundits all spoke about how many blows Dems landed during the break after their round. But by the time GOP questioning was done — and after Lindsey Graham did some yelling — things had shifted, and all of a sudden it was easier to see how GOP would still vote for his confirmation. The press often relies on politicians to make politicians’ rationale visible to them, and then shifts the frame accordingly.

Yeah, Micah, I agree, and I think Chad’s point from earlier looks like it’s going to be right on the money. I turned to Twitter just now and the reaction is a lot stronger than I would have expected just sitting and watching (not that Twitter is representative, but it shows how things will be framed). And The New York Times news alert I just got was pretty dramatic.