Put bluntly, going hard after Hur could be a huge mistake. Hur is a potentially crucial witness in this hotly contested election year, and he does not have the resume to make him out to be a GOP activist or a MAGA devotee. He is also uniquely situated to inflict political damage on Biden if he wants to — and to do so in ways that are probably not apparent if you haven’t read his report in full. In fact, poking at Hur’s integrity could easily backfire if it prompts him to unleash more fully on Biden.

Holding back may not be easy, particularly if Democrats are trying to play to their base. Liberal pundits loudly complained about media coverage of the episode, and it quickly became a truism among professional Democrats that Hur was a political hack who never should have been trusted with the probe and who was plainly out to hurt Biden in an election year.

So Democrats have a choice to make during the hearing: Do they resurrect the hyperventilating onslaught against Hur to his face — which he will now be able to respond to — or do they try to take the temperature down and perhaps try to show the public that they aren’t secretly worried about their own nominee’s fitness for a second term?