Benen rewinds to the Republicans in 1998:
* In 1998, voters were unimpressed, to put it mildly, with the Republican crusade against Bill Clinton. In the midterms, voters sent a message -- in a historical rarity, the party that controlled the White House gained congressional seats in the sixth year of a presidency.
House Republicans responded by impeaching the president anyway. In fact, they did so quickly, before newly-elected lawmakers could take office.
Two years later, they won the White House, too.
But the Democrats might just crumble. Because of Scott Brown.