Rep. Adam Schiff is a wily, calculating old weasel, and in drawing on his impeachment show, he thought he had a live one in Vice President Mike Pence, the man who theoretically stands to gain from any removal from office of President Trump. Schiff asked Pence to declassify records of his conversations with Ukrainian leaders, same as Trump declassified his records of phone calls. It should have been easy...

But he was in for a surprise: instead of jumping to do what Schiff wanted, Pence calmly blew smoke rings at him. Here's Politico:

Vice President Mike Pence's counsel rejected House Democrats' request to declassify details of a Sept. 18 call between Pence and Ukraine's president, calling the request illegitimate because the impeachment inquiry has concluded. In a letter to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Pence's lawyer, Matthew Morgan, said it "serves no purpose" to declassify supplemental testimony from one of Pence's national security aides, as Schiff had demanded.

The reason cited, of course, is that the impeachment is over. Schiff did his Schiff show, wrapped it up, and forked it over to the Judiciary Committee for the inevitable vote against Trump. Schiff's bid to have Pence declassify documents after that has no actual purpose other than a political one for Schiff's benefit — and Pence could see it. Seriously, what possible exciting thing could be contained within a September phone conversation between Pence and the president of Ukraine? Pence isn't a flashy guy. Schiff obviously just wanted to keep the whole thing cooking, now that the current express-impeachment effort is faltering.

Politico notes that it's not the first time Pence has seen right through Schiff's maneuvers and told the clown "no."

And from Pence's point of view, it's bad stuff, given that private conversations between leaders and their foreign counterparts shouldn't be splattered all over any time Schiff wants to go digging for something new to impeach.

It's a sign that the impeachment effort is in trouble. From Schiff's point of view, impeachment that fails is impeachment that will have to go on forever, an endless impeachment unless Democrats get thrown out of power. Pence's calm refusal to play along with Schiff's never-ending impeachment bid is a splendid means of signaling that Team Trump is pretty confident the impeachment effort is garbage and on its way to failure in the Senate and maybe even the House. Confident leaders don't jump to Schiff's frenzied moves.

What a boob Schiff has made of himself with this, then. Pence's refusal to cooperate with his non-stop demands is a sure sign that impeachment is losing.

Image credit: Photo illustration by Monica Showalter from public domain sources