“I’m not a horrible person, I’m just terrible at my job” is one of the most frequent Democrat defenses. Hillary Clinton used it to explain her email abuses. But it’s particularly startling in Rep. Nadler’s case because if you take him at his word, maybe he should go do something else.

House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler said Friday that he inadvertently referred to former White House aide Hope Hicks as “Ms. Lewandowski” on three occasions during this week’s closed-door session, saying he “meant nothing by that.”

“I just screwed it up,” Nadler, a New York Democrat, told CNN in the Capitol on Friday.

The Dems claimed that they had brought a key witness in. 

If you believe Rep. Nadler, he barely had any idea who she was. And just kept hearing Lewandowski so much that he didn’t even know whom he was talking to. In that case, he should probably step down from his current task and look for lighter committee work.

Either that or he didn’t care who Hope Hicks was. He just wanted to be on TV and had trouble keeping the various players straight.

That excuse might just barely pass.

But nah. Rep. Nadler knew nothing would come of this so he kept calling her Ms. Lewandowski to rattle her and score some points with the base which is hoping for some kind of action. Even though even they have to realize by now that dragging in Hope Hicks produced nothing.

So Rep. Nadler is either incompetent or a jerk. Realistically speaking, he’s most likely a jerk. And he should own that.