Heading into the critical impeachment votes, Democrats and their media allies were working overtime to try to shame Republican senators into voting for ADDITIONAL witnesses and the ultimate removal of President Trump from office.

(“Additional” is emphasized to draw attention to the fact that there were 18 witnesses with testimony presented in both the House and Senate – either live or via video.  Outside of Special Prosecutor Ken Starr, that is how witnesses were handled in the Clinton impeachment.  They did not appear on the floor of the Senate as implied in news reports.)

But I digress.

One of the main claims in the shaming effort is that Senators who did not vote with the Democrats will have their reputations destroyed now and in the future.  They will forever be remembered negatively for their vote.  History will not be kind to them.

I have lived through two impeachment efforts.  The first was the aborted impeachment of President Nixon and the second the impeachment of President Clinton.  The Nixon impeachment was more memorable to me because I worked in the Nixon White House – although I was back in the private sector when that break-in at the Watergate occurred.

Obviously, I followed the events very closely.  I even knew a lot of the players in the White House and in Congress.  I remember more than most, but that is no big deal because most people today have virtually no knowledge other than Nixon was about to be impeached – and he resigned.  That is about it.

The names of the senators who supported or opposed Nixon are barely known to historians.  Their biographies and obituaries are filled with many more notable accomplishments.  To the extent they are remembered, it is only by those few who do research and, perhaps, the folks in their local communities.

Even in the Clinton impeachment – with all that sensationalism – there is very little civic memory of individual senators.  And … were all those Democrat senators who voted to acquit Clinton the same political pariahs that Democrats and the press now describe contemporary Republicans?

In other words, all this talk about their name in history is nonsense.  Anyone who thinks that the names and works of the senators who served as the impeachment jury will resonate through history are either foolish or arrogant.

Most senators probably know that – and that is the reason that they could not be shamed by the Democrat/media character assassination campaign.  It is not easy to shame people who believe that they did the right thing for the country – even if others might disagree.

I would dare say that a good number of those Republican senators are proud of their vote – feeling that they did the right thing.  Even more, there are probably a lot of folks back home who will applaud their senator’s vote.  Living in Florida, I am very happy that Senators Rick Scott and Marco Rubio put an end to that highly partisan impeachment.

The shameful shaming tactic will not work because it will not influence the legislators or change many minds among the public.  It is just the left displaying its arrogance and intolerance.  The real shame falls on the east coast press for engaging in this low-level political propaganda.

So, there ‘tis.