Yesterday, Politico asked three different House Democrats about impeachment and got three different answers, suggesting that maybe Democrats aren’t really sure what they’re doing. Today, the Washington Post published an ‘analysis’ piece at The Fix which basically reaches the same conclusion.

Depending on whom you ask, on Thursday morning, the House Judiciary Committee will vote on procedures to investigate whether to open an impeachment inquiry or to continue an already opened impeachment inquiry. Or maybe there is no inquiry at all. At this point, it’s hard to say, in part because House Democrats offer different, often-strained answers to a straightforward question: Has the House begun an impeachment investigation of President Trump?… Debating where impeachment stands is confusing and jargon-heavy. But Democrats’ semantic contortions this week are significant. They suggest a nonexistent or confusing messaging strategy on impeachment, which is the most serious investigation the House can consider… Fourteen months before the 2020 presidential election, Democratic leadership does not have its impeachment messaging straight.

After two years of flogging the collusion narrative without any evidence, I’m shocked, shocked to learn that Democrats aren’t taking impeachment very seriously. The Post also points out that Majority Leader Hoyer, who ought to know what’s going on, told a NY Times reporter no impeachment inquiry was currently underway, contrary to the claims made by Rep. Jerry Nadler.

Here is the complete transcript of my question to Mr. Hoyer about whether he thinks an impeachment inquiry is currently underway. pic.twitter.com/uCw6gebAqr — Sheryl Gay Stolberg (@SherylNYT) September 11, 2019

Finally, a clear answer! Maybe the Democratic leadership does have a handle on this after all.

But no, not really.

Two hours after giving this answer, Leader Hoyer walked it back saying “I thought the question was in regards to whether the full House is actively considering articles of impeachment, which we are not at this time.” In other words, the Majority Leader was confused. But he added that he fully supports whatever it is that Rep. Nadler is doing.

As I mentioned yesterday, there’s a very good reason why this clown show is so disorganized. Democrats are trying to satisfy the base’s lust for blood without alerting the majority of Americans, who polls consistently show do not support of impeachment, what they are doing. So you have the members in safe blue districts able to say they are already impeaching Trump while the members from red and purple districts can still claim it’s just an investigation into the possibility of an eventual impeachment vote.

I don’t see how this is going to work for another six months. Either they go for it and hope the country will feel differently after many more hours of heated talk on CNN and MSNBC, or they drop it. It almost feels like they’re waiting to see who looks most likely to win the nomination. If it’s Sanders then you almost have to go all in. But if it’s Biden, then maybe that’s a signal voters are looking a more moderate approach. But for now, the Democrats’ impeachment effort is all things to all people.