ABOUT GOP AND THE INSURRECTION INVESTIGATION

Whatever one may think of Donald Trump or the circumstances of last year’s election or even the bitterness of this nation’s partisan divide, it ought to be easy to condemn the events of Jan. 6 and to support a broad inquiry into what happened and how to prevent it from happening again. Sadly, Republicans in Congress can’t seem to recognize what should be an inescapable conclusion.

First, they opposed an independent commission modeled after the panel that looked into the events of 9/11. Next, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy attempted to undermine House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s backup plan, a 13-member bipartisan select committee charged with the same duties, by nominating five members who were, to put it mildly, mostly right-wing flamethrowers loyal to the former president. On Wednesday, Speaker Pelosi rejected the two worst, Reps. Jim Jordan and Jim Banks, leaving Reps. Rodney Davis, Kelly Armstrong and Troy E. Nehls. McCarthy then withdrew all five nominees and vowed not to cooperate with a “sham process” unless all five are seated. …

It remains to be seen whether some reasonable standards of decency and intellectual honesty can be restored to what has, perhaps predictably, descended quickly into partisan squabbling. …

Voters like values. In 1974 when Richard Nixon resigned from office in disgrace after Watergate, Republicans did not come rushing to his side to claim the break-in and cover-up never happened. That honorable choice was good for them, good for their party, good for their country. Actively seeking to derail this inquiry as Mr. McCarthy and his suspect on-again, off-again appointees appear anxious to do, falls woefully short of that standard.