Greg Sargent explains.
As Jonathan Chait explains, Comey’s willingness to let such concerns influence these episodes reflects the success of a decades-long campaign by Republicans and GOP-aligned media to skew the political dialog by hyping fake scandals, which in this case led Comey to act to “avoid charges of favoritism,” thus willingly handing bad-faith actors leverage over law enforcement. It’s hard to read Comey’s NPR interview as anything other than confirmation of this. Worse, Comey also revealed that not allowing this to happen would have been a perfectly appropriate outcome.
All of this implicates the media’s conduct as well — both before and after the fact. Though Comey’s last-minute email revelation admittedly created a complicated editorial conundrum, it was widely hyped by the media in a manner that was surely disproportionate, given that at the time, no one knew whether the emails amounted to anything at all (which, it turned out, they didn’t). As Nate Silver has shown, the episode may have helped tip the election to Trump.
When supporters of Clinton made these points after the election, they were widely derided for being in denial about the real reasons Clinton lost. The notion that Comey and related over-the-top press coverage might have played an important role was greeted — including by some neutral reporters — as self-evidently, uproariously, knee-slappingly absurd, as if it constituted nothing more than hopeless partisan brainwashing.
It is true that Clinton lost for all kinds of other reasons, including her own role in emailgate, her flaws as a candidate, multiple strategic failures by the campaign and various unhealthy tendencies in the Democratic Party. But as Comey himself has now confirmed, the conduct for which he was responsible didn’t have to happen. Comey won’t allow himself to take this extra step, but his own retrospective testimony also confirms that it should not have happened. It likely helped Trump win, and to the degree that it did, it produced genuine institutional and systemic failure on multiple fronts. Comey’s media tour should lead us to forthrightly grapple with this — and to acknowledge that Clinton supporters are absolutely right to be bitterly angry over it to this day.
In defense of Comey and his decision making process.
If Hillary had won the election and the House and Senate remained in the hands of the Republicans, impeachment proceedings would have begun immediately. Like on Wednesday.
The battle would have been 10 times more vicious then the current battle with Trump.
The leadership of the Democratic Party is abominable.
Democratic leadership, like Republican leadership, sells imagery. Shadows on the wall.
What the average Democrat wants is a discussion about substance. Tangible things.
So far this year 40 Republicans (and they hold power) and 19 Democrats will not be running for the US House again.
In November the “Blue Wave” will take out the remaining Republicans.
Wannabees, like senators Cory Booker and Kamala Harris are just light-weight, warmed over neo-liberals.
Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Oh) doesn’t appear to be selling the same old Democratic leadership crap.
You know, Democratic “substance” got me cataract surgery so I’m not fucking blind any more.
Anyway, Comey could have avoided the problems he had from breaking the rules by, you know, following the rules.
Comey is a Republican, so I don’t understand how people expected him to behave, other than like a Republican.
When “…Clinton supporters are absolutely right to be bitterly angry over it to this day….” they are wasting energy on an event over which they have no recourse. Instead, they should focus on what they can change in the future: “flaws (of the) candidate, multiple strategic failures by the campaign and various unhealthy tendencies in the Democratic Party…” The institutuional Dem party has made it very clear that they are using Comey and the Russkies as cover to continue the same nonsensical approach that lost them both houses of Congress and 1000 state offices nationwide. Go after white, male, working class Republican voters who supported Trump, and assume that the Dirty F*cking Hippies (i.e. F*cking Morons) will fall in line after they find a way to kneecap Bernie, and Liz if necessary.
So if they take the House, and Nancy is thrown to the wolves, who wants to succeed her. Why Steny Hoyer, of course. And let’s have Joe Biden for prez next time, too. I’m so excited. Hope and change.