If Republicans and Democrats were both unhappy with Comey, then he must have been doing something right.
Perhaps this should also be posted in the "Trump - Russia Connecting the Dots" thread... Of course, Trump quickly tweets a denial, saying he hasn't spoken with Stone "in a long time.": Stone, on the other hand, says he has spoken with Trump as recently less than a week ago. And seems he has spoken often with Trump (all this in a recorded interview on May 5 on Sirius XM, provided in the linked article) : Roger Stone Still Talks With President Trump http://dailycaller.com/2017/05/06/roger-stone-still-talks-with-president-trump/
That's the prevailing sane response from the left and the right on this board, as near as I can tell.
How is it that this president can so openly lie about easily verified facts and quotes and the right gives a collective shoulder shrug? Is it a tactic to muddy the truth so often and so badly that the general public gets tired head and either can't or is to worn out to divine the truth? I might need to give Agent Orange more credit if this is a strategy.
General Hayden has held key positions under republican cabinets, including head of NSA and CIA. Michael Hayden: When Trump's Washington starts to resemble Nicaragua http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-bl...chael-hayden-when-trumps-washington-starts-to[/QUOTE]
[/QUOTE] Tuesday's events will only shake the confidence of a handful of independents and the left. The hard, 30% that supports General Marmalade will double down just like their leader and the rest of the cynical right will deflect, obfuscate and delay until they get the goodies they want in legislation for their fat-cat check writers. I wish he was right that it will stir some popular backlash but I'm afraid it will be lost to the next wag-the-dog international incident or twitter melt down.
Funny! I actually didn't mind the bombing in Syria when it happened, but am disappointed in the lack of follow up strategy. Other than that, no, I am not pleased with President Trump's performance so far. We will see how those who voted for him for very tangible reasons, whether it was promising a mass return of Rust Belt-based industrial labor or "not touching" Medicaid, feel about his performance next time around.
It is best to think of Trump's public statements as more of brand marketing ... versus failed attempts to tell the truth.
Agree with you on this. Seems he was fired for a surfeit of integrity. I know a lot of lefties blame him for Clinton losing, but I never did. Clinton dug her own grave by doing something that invited FBI investigation. And, ironically, if there was a time where Comey made a mistake in judgement, it was when he announced in July that Clinton was cleared by the investigation. Even then, I don't know what choice he had. Clinton created a problem by having the private server so the FBI had to investigate. Republicans made it political by capitalizing on it. Loretta Lynch compromised her appearance of propriety by meeting with Bill. At that point, the investigation concludes with not much of anything to prosecute on, but everyone wanted to hear from the FBI because no one would be happy to hear from a compromised Lynch that no charges would be pressed. So Comey did her a solid by making a strong public statement from the independent FBI. In hindsight a mistake for him, but understandable. But when facts came up again late in the campaign season about undeclared emails he felt he may have misled the voting public when he made his July statement. So he made another statement. And, a couple of days later, another, because he didn't want to mislead the voting public. He opened Pandora's Box in July and couldn't close it after that. Obama should have fired him, but he figured the optics would have been bad. Trump should have fired him Day 1 and got his own guy, but that would have looked bad too after all the campaign season praise. It looks bad now too. Anyway, I don't think Comey was partisan, and if he was partisan it was because he was a little bit sympathetic to Hillary Clinton's election. Mostly, I think he was trying to be a good public servant, but things got out of his control. I 100% don't believe this firing has anything to do with Clinton though, nor even the March 20 testimony about the Trump non-wiretapping, and has everything to do with the Russia probe. Given the compromised House investigation, and the Congressional reluctance to appoint a special prosecutor, I was looking to the FBI as the only credible institution that could give me any confidence in an investigation. The next FBI director will be appointed by Trump and will no doubt be approved by only Republicans in the Senate with all Democrats objecting but unable to filibuster. And, no matter how honest the new FBI director is, I won't know and cannot trust that the outcome of the Russia probe is truly independent. We really, really need Congress to appoint a special prosecutor.
It cost her 2% points. That could have easily swung the election. https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2017/1/11/14215930/comey-email-election-clinton-campaign
Days Before He Was Fired, Comey Asked for Money for Russia Investigation https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/10/us/politics/comey-russia-investigation-fbi.html?_r=0 WASHINGTON — Days before he was fired, James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, asked the Justice Department for a significant increase in money and personnel for the bureau’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the presidential election, according to three officials with knowledge of his request. Mr. Comey asked for the resources during a meeting last week with Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general who wrote the Justice Department’s memo that was used to justify the firing of the F.B.I. director this week. Mr. Comey then briefed members of Congress on the meeting in recent days.
Sorry for the double-post; still processing. What's really bothersome about it is that Trump knew it was going to look bad. He knew people would say he was firing Comey to handicap the Russia probe. He even referred to it in the termination letter. So, knowing it would be seen as a corrupt move to impede an investigation, that all the Democratic Senators would be on TV calling for a special prosecutor, etc etc -- he did it anyway. If there was nothing to the Russia probe in the end, it'd be better for him to allow a bungling FBI Director continue in his role and find nothing. Trump has political cover that Comey has a 10 year mandate, that the FBI is independent, etc. There wasn't even any pressure being brought to can Comey. So, he invites all this criticism and some risk about what might happen in the Senate anyway. That smells to me like desperation. It looks like there is an urgency to get Comey out that has nothing to do with any of the stated reasons because the stated reasons pale in comparison to the political blowback he knows he'll endure. The only thing that can cause that much urgency and that much desperation is the risk that the Russian probe will turn up something even worse. And he has to pull out all the stops on killing the probe.
Well @JuanValdez if you believe the reporting, the White House is actually surprised they are getting backlash over this.
I didn't say it didn't cost her the election. I said it was her own damn fault for causing the mess. I don't really believe anything they say.
Being a boring, unprincipled, compromised neo-liberal piece of corporate garbage is what cost her the election. The fact that Trump was within 10 points of her at any point in this race shows how laughably bad of a candidate she is. Comey was a problem of her own making. To blame him is to reinforce the core reason people hate her and hate the modern Democratic party. To put it in basketball terms; don't blame the refs when you leave the margin of error close enough for a single free throw to change the outcome.
It wasn't just Comey, though. His letter definitely had an effect. But she also had to deal with the FoxNews propaganda machine, hoopla over Wikileaks in the MSM, a press gaga over covering every Trump speech and event, and a GOP anti-Clinton campaign that ramped up in 2013. Hearing after hearing to further slime her. And of course, voter suppression. She wasn't my first choice. And she screwed up in many ways. But it wasn't just a single free throw.
