re: #228 Sir John Barron

One thing about the Comey letter: if the Huma email thing had come out after the election, amidst FBI agent leaks that Comey/DOJ had conspired—conspired—to withhold that evidence, the frothing rage on the part of Fox News, talk radio, et al would be earth-rattling. HRC’s presidency would be cast as illegitimate (i.e. more illegitimate than it already will be to some).

Not that I’m letting Comey off the hook: Yes he should have been willing to take the post-election outrage, and yes, the letter was worded extremely problematically.

But all things considered, this might not have been the worst potential outcome of this episode.

Here’s the thing: The FBI is supposed to be above this sort of thing, is supposed to avoid getting sucked into petty partisan politics. If indeed Comey sent this letter as a form of CYA, which is what seems the most likely scenario in light of info that came out since he sent it, then he’s again chosen to put his thumb on the scale in a blatantly partisan fashion. This election supposed to be about things bigger than the career of James Comey. Whether the GOP choose to make him the scapegoat for their loss or not is beside the point.

As to the idea that the GOP would have used the FBI keeping silent about this cache of emails until after the election to attack Hillary’s legitimacy, that ship sailed months ago. They have spent every waking moment since the polls turned on them attacking the legitimacy of this election. These emails would have been one of a laundry list of excuses for their impending loss.