Jennifer Rubin was hired by the Washington Post to represent a conservative viewpoint in its editorial column.
However, she is appalled by Trump’s tweets and lies.
She describes here how Comey humiliated Trump at the House hearing yesterday.
He can’t lie his way out of the mess he has created, she says, nor create a big enough distraction to change the subject.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Just got Trump’s latest tweet: “The sky is falling.”
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Perhaps Comey is trying to compensate for putting an eleventh hour nail in Hillary’s coffin. He can restore some of his reputation by seeming to be neutral.
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I think Comey follows his own compass, and prides himself on that, to a perhaps unusual degree.
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It’s obvious far too late for that. Comey committed an egregious offense against our democracy in early July of last year when the FBI should have simply issued a clear and concise announcement that the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s emails has concluded that there was no evidence of any criminal wrongdoing.
Instead, Comey chose to go before the cameras, as if this finding—which fully exonerated Clinton—required him to personally grandstand in almost theatrical fashion.
On that day, Comey then chose to “spin” his own announcement with some outrageous and bizarre editorializing about Clinton supposedly acting “irresponsible” and “careless”—as if the FBI director was legally obligated to officially declare his opinions on her actions.
But no—that shameful action on Comey’s part apparently wasn’t harmful enough to the Clinton campaign. He needed to do more and he found the perfect excuse provided courtesy of Anthony Weiner’s continuing sad struggle with social media, which, in Comey’s mind meant another opportunity for a flashy, cheap, demagogic missive aimed right at the Clinton campaign with a mere 11 days to go before the election.
Comey had to know that such an sleazy and underhanded “announcement”—with zero evidence of anything against anyone—would be a perfect last minute dirty trick, undoubtedly deployed with the millions of very low-information voters in mind. Comey had to realize that his vague but ominous sounding statement would be understood as the equivalent of “CLINTON BUSTED!” to a huge segment of easily malleable voters in several crucial states. It’s hard to see how Comey’s late October demagoguery didn’t provide the crucial margin for Trump in a few battleground states that he won by a nose.
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^^Yes. Exactly this.^^
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I watched the Republicans express more concern about the “leaks” than about the fact that Trump lied and Comey said as much–not an ounce of evidence on Obama surveillance. Trump humiliated himself.
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The Republicans humiliated themselves by their indifference to Comey’s testimony and their insistence that the leaks were more importance than the truth.
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So many on the right just don’t seem to see that each time they close ranks to defend an ever-more-defensive nutcase, they are publicly seen as complicit. This will not bode well for them in the long run.
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I’m guessing here, but I think Obama and others, though they knew about what was going on with Russia and the Trump team, were afraid that making that knowledge public would open them to the charge of trying to create an “October surprise.” However, it was all couched in the thought that Hilary would win anyway. Now if that’s the case, THERE’s a cause for an apology–big-time.
But having watched Comey in both hearings, I’m thinking he errs like the rest of us, but, as FLERP! says, he “follows his own compass and prides himself on that,” or, said differently, is a man of principle and high conscience walking a very thin line in history.
But in the end, and though it takes its gawdawful time, truth will out.
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A different perspective: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/notes-from-the-house-select-intelligence-hearing-on-russia-w473003?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=daily&utm_campaign=032117_11
And before you reflexively dismiss it, please keep in mind that you yourself have positively cited Taibbi on this whole Russian issue.
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Dienne,
Nothing in the Rolling Stone article contradicts what has appeared here or in the mainstream media.
Comey confirmed that the FBI is investigating Russian efforts to influence the election. Comey confirmed that Russia actively tried to influence the election on behalf of Trump because Putin hated Clinton. The FBI is investigating whether there was collusion between Russian agents and the Trump campaign. Comey said there was no evidence that the government was surveiling Trump Tower and that no American president could order such surveillance.
As Comey said, the Russians tried to undermine our electoral process. That’s a big deal.
And we get a president who appoints people who want to destroy the agencies they lead.
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I must have read my limit of free Washington Post articles again this month. I cannot read unless I subscribe.
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