As practically everybody in the universe must know by now, The Donald and the RNC have launched an aggressive smear campaign against James Comey, anticipating publication tomorrow of his book.<\/p>\n
Well … I’m not so impressed by the former FBI Director as I’d like to be, either. But it isn’t at all clear to me that he has done something wrong. Seriously: How many lawmen, do you suppose, have found themselves in the position of simultaneously investigating the two leading presidential candidates, the first a careless, unimaginative hack, and the other an overt, affirmatively corrupt sleaze who might be in cahoots with our country’s enemies?<\/p>\n
Comey, it seems clear to me, was in an unprecedented, untenable situation far outside the facts contemplated by conventional ethical guidelines — and the responsibility for that lies chiefly with Donald Trump (who publicly invited his foreign patrons to release Hillary Clinton’s e-mails, remember, and publicly suggested Second Amendment fanatics might want to execute Clinton).<\/p>\n
What Comey tried to do is finesse his way through an impossible situation — recall that Mitch McConnell refused President Obama’s pleas for cooperation against the Russian meddling — upholding Justice Department guidelines while deflecting Trump’s relentless “Lock Her Up” chants. That was a reasonable, honorable approach, but foredoomed because he could get no help from either Congress or the Executive branch.<\/p>\n
What I wish Comey had done is this: Gone to the American people with the state of the e-mail investigation, which he did, but also his worries about Trump. His half-measures did not end Trump’s demagogy about the e-mails, but he renewed the focus on Clinton and put Trump’s corruption and possible treason on the back-burner.<\/p>\n
The only criticism I have of Comey is that, dealt an epically bad hand, he played it poorly and made things worse. Unfortunately, I can’t think of anybody in public life I would trust to do better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As practically everybody in the universe must know by now, The Donald and the RNC have launched an aggressive smear campaign against James Comey, anticipating publication tomorrow of his book. Well … I’m not so impressed by the former FBI … Continue reading