Saturday, October 29, 2016

Comey's latest political dirty trick

I've been a late bloomer in learning how to embed tweets in the blog.

But now that I've learned, here are a few of my favorite ones on the James Comey incident this week, when the Republican that President Obama appointed as FBI Director made a vague, irresponsible statement about some e-mails that he, his Republican co-partisans and the corporate press linked to the pseudoscandal nothing-burger of Hillary's e-mails.









John Dean has been taking a careful, critical look at Comey's conduct and the Hillary pseudoscandal stories this year in his Justia column:

Hillary’s James Comey Nightmare Likely Continues 07/08/2016, in which he warned of just the kind of Republcian political dirty trick that Comey pulled on Friday.

The Outrageously False Charges of Perjury Against Hillary Clinton 08/19/2016: particularly interesting in that he goes into the weeds of what it means to "find" e-mails on old computers.

Seeking to Criminalize the Clinton Foundation—A Footnote 09/02/2016, in which he notes:

For almost forty years, I have been following Hillary Clinton’s scandals, with claims of her allegedly unethical when not criminal behavior. Consistently, the charges have been all smoke and no fire. First there was the cattle futures trading controversy in Arkansas (1978-1979), then Whitewater (1992), followed by Travelgate (1993), Vince Foster’s death (1993), Filegate (1996), with hiatus and mostly silence about any notorious conduct as U.S. Senator from New York (2001-2009) and Secretary of State (2009-2013). That changed when it was clear she was running for president, and the charges resumed starting with Benghazi (2013-2015), uses of a private e-mail server (2013-2016), and now we have the emerging Clinton Foundation scandal, as her detractors try to criminalize her relationship with her husband’s charity. [my emphasis]
The falsity of the pseudoscandals doesn't remove the reality of the systemic corruption of the American political system by the campaign finance system that now prevails. And the setup of the Clinton Foundation does provide perfectly legal methods for people with particular pecuniary interests in government policies to make large donations to a major project of the immediate family of the woman who will likely because the US President in January.

Pointing out those facts is not the same as claiming that Hillary broke specific laws. Or even that she's personally corrupt in any normal sense of the word. It's a criticism of the way our current system works to undermine political democracy to the benefit of the wealthy and powerful and connected.

Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo is paying close attention to this story:

Josh Marshall, Astounding 10/28/2016

Josh Marshall, Comey's Judgment Looks Far Worse on Day Two 10/29/2016

Esme Cribb, Report: FBI Director Broke With Attorney General Over Letter To Lawmakers 10/29/2016

No comments: