The point of impeachment hearings is to dribble out damaging information during the election

[JHB]

6. Republicans learned this tactic long ago. Prepare the ground...

...by arranging for a drumbeat people hear day after day after day, pushed at every opportunity.

Don't think of just the Wikileaks releases and BenghaziBenghaziBenghaziButHerEmails, think of every so-called Clinton scandal back to 92: how many were made up from whole cloth or puffed up from horseshit? Just about all of them. It was a deliberate strategy to always have headlines accusing Democrats in general and the Clintons in particular of doing something criminal or treasonous. Same principle behind FOX always "accidentally" putting a D in front of the name of a Republican being indicted for something.

As much it may grate to think about it in these terms, this is a marketing campaign.

One important point, though: the story needs to be pushed, not just "put out there", and media people who try to play it as a "both sides" thing have to be verbally slapped back on camera **coughChuckToddcough**.