Via valued commenter Conster, an excerpt of a CNBC story posted an hour ago:
FBI Director James Comey argued privately that it was too close to Election Day for the United States government to name Russia as meddling in the U.S. election and ultimately ensured that the FBI’s name was not on the document that the U.S. government put out, a former FBI official tells CNBC.
The official said some government insiders are perplexed as to why Comey would have election timing concerns with the Russian disclosure but not with the Huma Abedin email discovery disclosure he made Friday.
Let’s take a step back and assess. In case #1, nothing is likely to come of the emails on Huma Abedin’s laptop, unless you believe Hillary sent Huma an email that says, “Please inform our Muslim Brotherhood comrades that Ambassador Stevens will be in Benghazi on 9/11. Allahu Akbar!”
In case #2, U.S. government officials, including the FBI, have concluded that a hostile foreign government is trying to swing the U.S. election toward Putin fan Donald Trump. Trump is notoriously vague on policy and had almost zero input on the GOP platform except to check off Russian wishlist items like disrupting the NATO alliance. That happened during the tenure of his former campaign manager Paul Manafort, who was subsequently forced to resign after his ties to Putin came to light.
But Comey decided a probable nothingburger of a development in case #1 is important enough to toss a monkey wrench into a national election in the final weeks, and he didn’t want to sully the Bureau’s integrity by attaching its sacred name to statements about #2 so close to the election.
Comey is either willfully injecting himself into the presidential race, too chickenshit to stand up to partisan dickheads like Jason Chaffetz and rogue agents who allegedly threatened to leak investigation details or lacks the judgment to comprehend the effect of his actions. Whether through partisan hackery, cravenness or naiveté, he’s not fit to lead the FBI.
Trentrunner
Wow, even I’m surprised at the 2-3-4-day story the Huma emails has become. Sure, Congressional Repubs are making sure, but wow. No one cares about anything else. At all.
This election will truly by a referendum on the American experiment. May (non-existent) god have mercy on some of our souls
Patricia Kayden
1 billionth reason why Democratic Presidents should leave Republicans the hell alone. Lesson learned the hard way.
Tokyokie
Those choices are not mutually exclusive.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
All of the above, also as somebody said yesterday, drunk on his own press about ;him being the only paragon of virtue in Washington
jeffreyw
I want to see Senator Professor Warren question Comey about this thing.
Keith G
Hs motivations probably don’t matter any more. The damage to his ability to carry out his job is over. I do read that the White House is saying, “that President Barack Obama does not believe that FBI Director James Comey is trying to influence the election”.
Further Josh Earnest said “Obama still has confidence in his FBI director amid widespread criticism of his decision to make information public about Clinton’s emails.”
I wasn’t expecting POTUS to take a swing at Comey, but sure would have been nice to voice some discomfort with Comey’s actions.
dedc79
@Patricia Kayden: Possibly the only smart thing W did was to stick his token Dem appointment in the Department of Transportation where he could do no harm.
Obama should have followed suit.
Keith G
@Patricia Kayden: Problem is….Obama committed that bit of stupidity at least 4 different times.
FlipYrWhig
I bet Comey would say that signing off on the Russian story would undermine confidence in the integrity of the election, which is why it _shouldn’t_ be told, and that signing off on the Abedin email story would enhance confidence in the integrity of the election, which is why it _should_ be told.
YAFB
“It’s too close to the election to reveal that a foreign power is interfering in the election!”
Comey must have been a Dr. Strangelove fan.
Betty Cracker
@Trentrunner: It doesn’t surprise me. Comey’s statement was so vague that it’s a mad-libs game.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@jeffreyw: Her committees don’t have jurisdiction over Justice, would you take Senator Franken instead?
Major Major Major Major
Comey was kind of the best Obama could do, I think. The person who was supposed to be in line for the FBI directorship caught some major Benghazi cooties.
Arclite
Isn’t there a Trump porno or something that someone can drop? The media needs a new “squirrel!”
FlipYrWhig
I still don’t really understand how “Huma Abedin had emails on a computer” is supposed to incriminate Hillary Clinton of… something.
Mary G
Great post, BC.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Patricia Kayden: Yeah, appoint a Republican ratfvcker and if he gets the chance he’ll ratfvck you. Hope we’ve finally learned that lesson. I doubt Hillary will take the risk of appointing any Republicans because they cannot resist shiving her with false accusations, even the supposedly moderate well intentioned ones (like any of those even exist anymore).
I see this as Comey protecting his future Fox News sinecure, so yeah, it’s partisan hackery. Burying the story that Russia is helping Trump is skating awfully close to aiding and abetting an enemy of the United States, IMO. Maybe someone should point that out.
RoonieRoo
I’m pretty much done with any cross the aisle crap anymore. I was always supportive of republicans being appointed in Dem administrations if they were the right person for the job. Not anymore. I am hoping that Hillary gives them nothing. I want her to clean house of every republican that she can kick out. I want her to not be even the tiniest bit magnanimous towards appointing a single republican anywhere in her administration.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@FlipYrWhig: it’s the Hillary standard, whether it’s Benghazi, emails or “Wall Street Speeches!”: Why can’t she prove she did nothing wrong?
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@FlipYrWhig: You haven’t been paying attention. EVERYTHING incriminates Hillary of something. That’s just the way it has always worked.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@FlipYrWhig: Didn’t you read Betty’s “case#1”?
trollhattan
@dedc79:
Sure, you say that now but after eight years exchanging light rail cars for cattle cars and declaring the F-150 the Official U.S. passenger car, where would we be?
T S
@Trentrunner: But anyone who says this wasn’t in the bag or that Sam Wang’s 99% number are garbage is a pantswetter. Cue efgoldman’s cranky demented trolling.
No, the reality is that while I am accused of being the pantswetter, I was never so afraid that I could not stare right into the gulf and see we might lose. It is possible, and more so everyday. It shouldn’t be. In a just world, the media would report things properly and Hillary would have it in the bag. We don’t live in that world though. Anyone taking a dump on me or anyone else for saying, holy crap, we might lose this thing is actually the one who is fearful–too afraid to face reality and lashing out at those who were simply making observations of the data (albeit with real emotional investment).
Still, Hillary might win–it’s just not a sure thing. And if she does, feel FREE to gloat and say I told you so. It really isn’t accomplishing anything with me, though, because we were supposed to be on the same side. I will be ecstatic if she wins, and I made my contributions before hand and will be proud that I helped. And don’t say, ‘but your negativity accomplished nothing.’ Oh yeah? I don’t think touting 99% probability to win really convinces those people who have to decide between leaving work to vote or avoiding the ire of a hard ass boss that their vote is all that critical. That goofy optimism does not motivate the complacent ones into action, that’s for sure (and we NEED all the votes we can get, even from people we don’t respect).
Mary G
When you’ve lost Joe “Get out the muskets” Walsh, you’ve really fucked the rat,
ETA: And Karl Rove, too!
Kay
The big complaint I hear is no coverage of climate change, but the second most common thing I hear is no coverage of education. Education is a little different since so much of it is state law but it’s weird to never mention it at all, especially because it was such a big piece of the Clinton v Sanders race and they KNOW it’s a top-tier issue for young people. It’s as if they said “Democrats care about these two issues-let’s completely ignore them!”
Patricia Kayden
@YAFB: Or is a big Trump fan.
Betty Cracker
@Keith G: Yep.
different-church-lady
Methinks thou doth protest too much.
FlipYrWhig
@?BillinGlendaleCA: But IIRC hasn’t it been said that none of the emails are to or from Hillary Clinton?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@T S: ever see “A River Runs Through It”, where Tom Skerritt keeps handing his aspiring journalist son his writing back and just saying “Less”
Patricia Kayden
@T S: You have every right to be nervous. We have to keep fighting and not get complacent. I don’t recall Obama and McCain or Obama and Romney being so close in the polls but Secretary Clinton has a lot more baggage than Obama ever did. Still think she’ll squeak on through despite the bad press. And yes, if we had a sensible, honest media, the election wouldn’t be close. Trump has a lot of dirt to cover, if the media was interested. Thank goodness for the Washington Post and Mr. Farenthold.
Botsplainer
Hell, Comey didn’t intend it, but he may have set up a beautiful bit of insulation for her, insofar as Chaffetz is concerned.
And honestly, that sleazy little shitweasel Chaffetz is going to be sitting there with nothing but his dick in his hand in the very near future – he has been teed up for a McCarthy “fuck you” moment. Imagine when some witness says “I’m not going to answer you, and I’m not taking the fifth- what you ask is nothing more than a partisan witch hunt and I’m contemptuous of you personally and your conduct of this laughable investigation”.
piratedan
@Keith G: I look at it as being a man of his word… he stated that his administration would try and display that bipartisanship ideal of both sides, working together to solve the problems of the nation. Apparently the GOP was too busy examining his birth certificate and the melanin levels of his skin to put any faith in his actions. Scary enough, the GOP is busy even burning down the last vestiges of showing that they should not be entrusted in any leadership position in any governmental slot of any kind..
?BillinGlendaleCA
@FlipYrWhig: But they may be, so it’s a fact they are.
/Media
smintheus
I don’t understand why anybody is any longer pretending that Comey did not realize he would be helping Trump and the GOP downticket and harming Clinton and the Democrats with his letter. He was told explicitly not to do it, and told why. We didn’t actually need this new piece of evidence to prove to us that Comey knew what it meant to make public statements about an investigation of a candidate for office just before an election. The circumstances on their face convict Comey of meddling in the election.
Nobody running the FBI can be that naive.
Botsplainer
One interesting effect – at upper levels, I doubt that Clinton Cabinet members will use emails.
Phone calls and paper memos will cover business.
catclub
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Tell Joe Lieberman there is new chief self-righteous asshole in town.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Damn, this MSNBC guy filling in for Chuck Todd is a hardcore Comey fluffer
The Moar You Know
Comey’s term doesn’t expire until 2023.
Love the guy, but gotta say it: Obama fucking sure can be stupid for such a smart guy sometimes. WHY THE FUCK would he put ANY Republican into a cabinet position, much less one that’s a ten-year appointment? Seriously, what the fuck was he thinking? Christ, it’s not like the Republicans ever have!
GOP gets the presidency:
Step 1: Fire every Democrat that is fireable.
Step 2: Appoint no Democrats
Step 3: Rape the survivors over and over again until they leave or die
This at a minimum should be Dem policy going forward. I don’t give two shits if the GOPer is the best guy for the job. His job #1 ALWAYS will be party loyalty and he’ll just fuck you over first chance he gets. Dems NEED to play the same game. I hope Hillary is not this stupid or it’s going to be a short and horrible four years.
Jesus tap dancing Christ I am pissed.
FlipYrWhig
@Patricia Kayden:
The latter were. Obama vs. Romney 2012, final polls. The former, not so much. Obama vs. McCain 2008, final polls.
Mary G
Just trying to learn how to include language of tweets
Patricia Kayden
@RoonieRoo: Given how nasty Republicans have been towards her (Ryan demanding that she be excluded from intel briefings, Christie leading the call for her to be arrested during the RNC, McCain promising not to consider any of her SCOTUS nominations, Chaffetz promising to investigate her into oblivion), President Hillary Clinton has zero reason to even pretend to be bipartisan. If she gets the Senate, she better get as much done as she can before the mid-term election.
Bipartisanship is for suckers.
JPL
@smintheus: Since I believe the election is close, I just hope that if Comey appears again, it’s to offer an apology. That won’t happen, so I’d rather he just hide until after the election.
Cacti
Comey is a Ken Starr flunky through and through.
He wasn’t between a rock and a hard place with Clinton. He purposely put a thumb on the scale to help his party.
When he said there was no basis for charging Clinton, that was his lone instance of truth telling. Because if there was, he’d have shouted it from the housetops.
FlipYrWhig
@The Moar You Know: Can we try it again without the rape part? Thanks.
Betty Cracker
@piratedan: That may be an explanation for the appointments. It can’t excuse the cover the WH is giving Comey now.
Patricia Kayden
@FlipYrWhig: Wow. You’re right. Never knew that Romney was so close to Obama. No wonder he didn’t have a concession speech. LOL.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Botsplainer: Trump wouldn’t use emails either, Pigeons.
Trentrunner
Never mind…
Baud
@Trentrunner: I was thinking this Halloween that this election will test whether we can successfully fight the monsters without becoming one.
T S
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Did you ever see Dirty Dancing? It’s a dumb movie, and I was forced to watch it once too often…but there’s a good lesson in there about trying to be too much of a pompous ass…but don’t worry. You aren’t, either.
smintheus
@JPL: Comey needs to resign. Somebody should tell him it’s the principled thing to do after you’ve screwed up this badly.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Trentrunner: watching MSNBC (I know, no sympathy for self-inflicted harm) and the ‘bot filling in for Chuck Todd is contemptuous of ‘Democrats attempts to change the subject from these emails” (that he doesn’t know the contents of). I don’t think it came up at all during the roundtable of groundlessly self-satisfied (multi-tasking, and don’t find Ruth Marcus worth paying attention to)
NR
Per 538, black turnout is down and Hispanic turnout is up. I don’t know if higher Hispanic turnout can offset the drop in black turnout though since Hispanic voters are mostly concentrated in non-competitive states. If Trump loses California by 40 and wins Texas by 2, it makes zero difference in the electoral college. Unless we can flip Arizona, this will end up being a net negative for us.
We’d better hope that something devastating comes out on Trump in this last week.
FlipYrWhig
@Cacti: Unless you credit the idea that anti-Hillary FBI agents were feeding Chaffetz (and others?) a story about how the FBI was dragging out the Weiner investigation, which had bearing on Hillary Clinton and classified information through Huma Abedin, to keep voters in the dark, thus “rigging the election.” And I do think that’s what happened. And the hue and cry that would have resulted from that story would have been INSANE. Even beyond this. I still think Comey is a chump, though, if he can’t discipline his agents from going rogue like that.
Joyce H
I’ve watched some news today and in several different stories about the stupid laptop, the reporters mentioned the “six hundred and fifty thousand e-mails’ as if that was already a well-established fact. Does anyone know the sourcing on this figure? Because – 650,000! That strikes me as WILDLY improbable for a laptop that wasn’t a business or government computer but a person’s own personal computer. Anyone else struck by the implausibility here?
FlipYrWhig
@NR: Saw it the first time, you despicable little fuckface.
different-church-lady
@NR: You weren’t getting enough attention with this on the other thread?
Patricia Kayden
@Cacti: True. I hope his interference backfires and voters rally around Clinton. No matter what she has done with her emails, Trump is dangerous to this democracy and this world. He is undeserving and unqualified to be President. I wish the media would focus on that and stop pretending that he is just a regular candidate.
Baud
@piratedan: Loved this comment of yours on LGM.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
me, too. I’d love to see the emails of Chaffetz, his GOP colleagues and their staffs
Baud
@Patricia Kayden:
I hope so too. This is a test by fire for our coalition.
Joeff
@Major Major Major Major: Which is precisely how the GOP rolls. They smear all but their own.
jl
@smintheus: I don’t think anyone here is trying to pretend that Comey’s BS, if it did anything, did not help the GOP, either at the top of the ticket or down ticket or both. The only debate is whether it was through ineptitude, or some corruption subtle or unsubtle.
I agree with commenters above that it would be a mistake for HRC to appoint any GOPer to any significant position in her administration (assuming she wins). There are no good Republicans left. The supposedly good strong sensible serious daddy GOPers that the corporate media and pundits love to praise don’t exist. What kind of competent reliable good strong sensible serious anything, daddy or mommy, or whatever, goes along with the crap the GOP has been pumping out over the last 10 years, let alone the last 30. They are fakes and frauds, just as much as Ryan. They are either not competent, or not reliable, or not good, or not strong, or not sensible or not serious. Which category(s) Comey falls into at this point is unclear, but he falls into at least one of them. Comey’s very odd decisions wrt to Russian attempts to influence the election in favor of Trump versus HRC email BS non-scandal nothingburger confirms that.
I guess Obama did not make a mistake with the GOP Secty of Transportation. But even that is a risk now. They are good for nothing.
Turgidson
@Mary G:
Deadbeat Joe Walsh probably has his Twitter hacked by a comparatively sane person.
Turdblossom is one of the biggest ratfking assholes in the history of American politics and less smart than he and his fans think he is, but he’s not a total dolt. He knows full well that the FBI/CIA/DOJ could casually drop a bomb on a future GOP candidate just as easily as Comey did. And since the to GOP brass thinks criminal law exists only to keep “those people” in their place and away from the voting booth, but certainly not to ‘Murican patriots like them,- especially when they have the power of the executive branch (see Bush, George W., Administration of), the non-braindead Republicans like Rove are not particularly excited to see a law enforcement agency possibly setting a new precedent like this. Rove’s probably capable of imagining what could have been if the CIA or FBI had lobbed a grenade confirming torture and black sites or warrantless wiretapping, or confirming in an authoritative way that the Iraq War was built on a premise of indefensible lies and scaremongering in October 2004.
jeffreyw
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Jurisdiction? Don’t need no stinking jurisdiction! How about a Franken Warren tag team? Color announcer’s spot is open…
FlipYrWhig
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: If there was only a hacker collective that liked to expose the machinations behind American politics.
hueyplong
@NR:
I missed the part where NR listed the states that will be lost because of lower black turnout. He mentioned California (no change), losing Texas (no change) and a mild concern trolling about whether the increased Hispanic turnout will flip Arizona (worst case, no change).
Is there some thought that the Dems need to improve on 2012 to keep the White House? That would be a Clinton Rule that even the GOP hasn’t espoused yet.
MazeDancer
Scuttlebut is NY FBI office wants to get Hillary. Has long wanted that. Very likely they will release something.
Can’t have all this “expedited review” without something. Comey didn’t do what an FBI Director should do and discipline and remove agents threatening to leak before an election, Comey gave in to their threats.
If nothing is found in the absurdly numbered 650,000 emails, Comey and the leak gang look even more ridiculous. Stand by for a little “c” buried in the text of something. Which they probably identified early October. Will be unimportant material but headlines will be: “Classified material found on Weiner laptop”.
Probably Wednesday. Can’t “find” too soon, can’t wait too long.
amk
rethugs blame dems for rethugs’ fuckups.
dems blame dems for rethugs’ fuckups.
And dems wonder why do they keep losing power. Great.
trollhattan
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I see “Shomi” got his ass banned and is back as “T S.” Pity.
Turgidson
@Botsplainer:
The BothSiderist media would collapse into their fainting couches in unison and decry the shrill, partisan witness.
Baud
@amk: Yep.
NR
@hueyplong: Black turnout is key for Dems in just about every swing state except maybe New Hampshire.
PAM Dirac
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I think it’s even dumber than that. “Hillary is a crook” is not a conclusion based on analysis of facts, it is an axiom. The RWNJ ( now the entire GOP ) kind of vaguely know that there is something called reasoning and evidence, but they are so unfamiliar with it they don’t quite know how to do it. They think the anyone or anything associated with her must be bad, so they shout “Bengazi”, or “emails” or whatever the days cry is and think that’s what makes a winning argument. It is impossible to prove anything different because anything that suggests Hillary is not a crook is inconsistent with the defined truth, which proves it’s a lie. They are just completely disconnected from reality and the sad thing is they expect the sane ones among us to clean up any messes that creates.
FlipYrWhig
@MazeDancer: Wouldn’t that mean that Huma Abedin had mishandled classified information? Is she running for president? What the fuck is anybody even trying to prove anymore?
JPL
@MazeDancer: I tend to agree with you. The good news though, is my track record is not very good.
Waldo
@jl:
Yep. And good luck finding one who’d take a job in her administration anyway. This horse has left the barn.
Patricia Kayden
ABC News finds links between Russian oligarchs and Trump. Now this is what needs to be investigated by the FBI.
quakerinabasement
No, of course not. More likely, they’ll dig up some offhand comment, some small moment of blunt, undiplomatic directness to create a whole new generation of media obsessions with swirling questions/shadows/clouds.
Applejinx
So the FBI are Russian moles?
Well, that explains why the Village is too scared to be honest… :P
MazeDancer
@FlipYrWhig:
Truth not a high priority for taking down Hillary. Doesn’t matter if it doesn’t hold up. Confusion and taking over the media are all that counts. The difference between Huma “mishandling” and Huma “hiding” is perception.
Goal of keep Senate GOP is only a few percentage points and a little “I’m splitting ticket to balance Hillary”
Hope I’m being way too cynical.
raven
I’m taking my camera out to take pics of the littles as the trick or treat!
different-church-lady
And y’all wonder why five-and-a-half New England states are convinced Tom Brady got railroaded?
LAC
@NR: you couldn’t hit the fuck off button harder if you used your granite skull to hit it.
Patricia Kayden
@raven: Awww. Something nice to look forward to.
Bess
This is copied from Reid’s letter to Comey.
Reid needs to send out copies of that letter (redacted as necessary) to show that Trump’s Russian connections are something that turned up oh, so recently.
Blow that “too late in the election cycle” talking point out of the air.
smintheus
@jl: And my point is that Comey knew what the effect of his meddling would be, contrary to DOJ policy. It’s impossible to conclude that anybody with that much experience in DC is as naive as his defenders would have us believe. Doesn’t matter whether or not he feared that others would leak the info if he (correctly) refused to leak it. You don’t burn your house down because you fear an arsonist is afoot.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@jl:
It’s clear; all of them, Katie.
p.a.
Where’s Anonymous in all this? Although ideologically amorphous, it seems like Russian hackers attempting to subvert democracy- here AND in Europe- would be a likely target. As well as an American fascist movement masquerading as the Republican party.
Chyron HR
@NR:
If only we’d nominated Bernie “I would fix race relations by making black teens get productive jobs instead of hanging out on street corners” Sanders.
cmorenc
@FlipYrWhig:
This theory only works if: a) Clinton wins the election by a comfortably clear margin; AND b) in the post-election interim before Clinton takes office, GOP hacks like Jason Chaffetz publicly and unambiguously acknowledge that Comey’s gesture to “enhance confidence in the integrity of the election” is sufficient to satisfy them that they can call off any further investigations and get on with concentrating on ordinary disagreements over policy.
Kay
@MazeDancer:
I tend to agree. They never found jack shit on Benghazi and that didn’t matter at all. There are a huge group of people who believe Clinton did something illegal re: Benghazi. They found nothing.
They dig in so deep with the allegations no one can save face without pretending something happened.
piratedan
@Baud: ty sir, there are times where when you sit back and recap the chain of events, it helps bring so much clarity to an issue that you want to begin to drink heavily just to blur it all again.
randy khan
I’m increasingly becoming convinced that the real story here is that Comey just doesn’t have any control over his agency. There’s a pretty good amount of reporting that there’s a group of agents who’ve decided that they must get Clinton at any cost and that they essentially threatened to leak the information in the most detrimental way possible (that is, detrimental to Comey), so he felt he didn’t have any choice.
Even then, of course, Comey could have handled it much, much better. For one thing, he could have told those agents that their careers would be over if anything got leaked, or told them to get the freaking warrant and get back to him if they found any emails to or from Clinton on the laptop. Even if he thought he had to report it, he should have reported it completely: He should have said from the start that the FBI believed that there were emails on Weiner’s laptop that were to and from Abedin, and that, while there was no evidence that there were any emails that had not been found before, diligence required a review to see if anything was there. That’s a much different story.
Sadly, it’s very hard to fire the FBI director, although if he has a shred of integrity, he’ll realize that he can’t really work for Clinton if she’s elected. (I know, what am I thinking?)
hovercraft
@Keith G:
He also said there was a reason for for past practices and traditions, including the separation of the FBI and the justice department, and the White Houses tradition of not interfering and or commenting on ongoing investigations. The inference was that Comey inserted himself into this, and he was getting heat because of this. He pointed out that the Congress is not an impartial branch of government and that involving them was likely to inject politicians into the matter. So while he was not critical, refused to “criticize or defend” him multiple times during the presser.
hueyplong
@NR: And what do you consider the swing states?
I’d say increased Hispanic turnout make Nevada and Colorado look pretty good. Getting those two would have her to the point at which the states you list probably won’t be needed to get to 270. If you list Pennsylvania, I’ll realize that you’re not serious.
dedc79
Franklin Foer, Slate, Was a Trump Server Communicating With Russia?
p.a.
@efgoldman: yes. +1. O can’t do it now; the fallout would be disastrous.
NR
@Chyron HR: Yeah, it sure is good we nominated Hillary instead. A drop in black turnout would be really bad. Good thing Hillary is so awesome that it’s not happening.
jl
@MazeDancer: You are not being too cynical. I suspended judgment, at least in terms of imputing the worst to the GOP, for a while, but has been clear for months now that the HRC non-scandal scandals, including the entirety the emal BS has been a classic, very cynical Big Lie. A smear job. Character assassination. Partisan dirty tricks of the lowest order. Vile operators like Chaffetz and the crummy little chickenshit Grassley know exactly what they are doing.
After (God willing, knock on wood) HRC wins, the only responsible stance towards the whole of the GOP is strong denunciation. They have become a purely evil dangerous force in US politics. They tolerate an unqualified, dishonest candidate for president who refuses to respect democratic norms, who eggs his followers on to violence and illegal behavior. They tolerate a political movement that supports their presidential candidate that is ever more willing to intimidate and influence the democratic process using threats to violence. Witness the rash of threats against Mormons, because they have the temerity to support a conservative candidate for president (McMullin) who is not a looney anti-democratic liar and ignoramus.
Corporate media needs to be denounced as well. That is what responsible Democrats should do, IMHO.
amk
@NR:
What are you blabbering about?
Elaine Benis
Saw this re Comey:
1. Use weiner 11th hour laptop bombshell to throw election to Trump.
2. Impeach President Trump for Russian bombshell currently on hold.
3. Voila! President Pence.
randy khan
@NR:
Given the choices (I mean, it’s not as if Jim Webb would have boosted black turnout), I’m not sure what your point is. Certainly it’s hard to figure that one of the other Democratic hopefuls, or even Joe Biden, would have done better than Clinton with blacks.
Jorge P
This might be much ado about nothing. It just looks like the 45% of Americans who will vote for a Republican every four years even if they run Pol Pot and Aileen Wourno’s love child have all finally come home.
I do wonder what it would be like if the shoe was on the other foot. What if the Dem base went nuts and ran Woody Allen against Ted Cruz in 2024? What would I do?
p.a.
Here’s a TPM article to help bedwetters (like me!) relax. Also too, in my own defense, I don’t see how any Dem alive in 2000 can or should feel secure about the electoral process. Our opponents are filth.
Baud
@Jorge P: The difficulty with that question is that Dem crazy isn’t typically malicious, so even an Allen might be preferable to a Cruz.
Schlemazel
Is Kay around? Sounds like they are having a good ol time in Ohio. Someone dumped a load of manure outside the Warren County Democratic offices.
NR
@hueyplong: Per 538, the swing states where the black vote is the most important are Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
Try out their tool for yourself. A drop in black turnout leaves the Dems vulnerable to Trump swinging non college-educated whites his way.
Baud
@Schlemazel: I read that happened in 2012 also.
mai naem mobile
@Major Major Major Major: so with a population of 300M and the FBI with upper management staff in the thousands, there wasn’t anybody else available? I do not want a Democrat president appointing a GOPr in a major position. Period.
Schlemazel
@hueyplong:
NR has never been serious. NRs only job has been to try to sew discord among Dems and to dishearten us. The fact it does the exact opposite is obvious to anyone paying attention with an IQ about room temp . . . so not NR.
Ruviana
@Baud: @Jorge P: Well, Woody’d be 89 so you could hope he didn’t live to take office.
hovercraft
@FlipYrWhig:
Are you new to politics and or America?
Clinton Rules:
-Guilty until proven innocent.
-Normal political conduct is shady when done by the Clintons.
-Since it is shady it must be investigated.
-Since they are being investigated, there must be wrongdoing.
-They are found not to have broken the law, so they must be getting special treatment.
-Ergo they are corrupt and shady.
Kathleen
Cinci-nasty is here for Hillary. I’m so thrilled to be here.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Patricia Kayden:
His campaign even unskewed the polls to claim he would win.
Meh, this all sounds like everyone has resigned themselves to a Clinton victory and press is going back to playing mean girls on Hillary Clinton. The reporters are well practiced so the articles write themselves.
GrandJury
Breaking. Breitbart is reporting that an undisclosed source is telling them the new documents contain an email from Hillary to Huma that says,
Schlemazel
@Baud:
The guy confessed to that one also. CLAIMS he is not a Republican only anti-abortion.
I am sure a conviction on these two events wouldn’t get him 90 days and the cost of clean up but they really should push for it.
Mike J
A secret email server talking to a Russian bank.
Shut down when NYT asked about it.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Mike J:
Yeah, that article is something big.
GrandJury
@NR: Ahhh yes, I see the defeatists are back again today. It was so quiet around here over the weekend. Glad to have all you prophets of doom back again. Missed ya.
hovercraft
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Peter Alexander is Mrs Greenspan’s regular fill-in when she is not there. So that should give you an idea of where he’s coming from. He’s as useful as soap in the desert.
Schlemazel
@GrandJury:
The check cleared so he is back on the job
chopper
@NR:
unless you can figure out how we could have put obama on the ticket again, i don’t understand who else could have kept AA turnout as high as it was in 08 and 12.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@chopper: NR would never advocate for the Disappointing Obama! He has high principles. And mommy issues.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@GrandJury: If you can’t trust Breitbart*, who can ya trust.
*Still dead.
Baud
@Schlemazel: Bull. Trump’s checks never clear.
Kay
@Schlemazel:
I love his mugshot.
I can’t wait ’til it’s over. Worst election ever. I can’t even stand Trump’s voice for a second now. That braying, bragging sound drives me up the wall. He loves to hear himself talk the same way Newt Gingrich does. I was out in the country Saturday visiting one of my wards and I passed this incredibly long hand-painted giant anti-Hillary sign outside a junkyard- this is a state route- people are going by at 60 miles an hour. They can’t read 100 words. I don’t even respect their activism.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Schlemazel: Heh.
Schlemazel
@Baud:
RNC
They have been short this season because Trump is killing their fund raising.
Baud
@Kay: Same here, Kay.
Kay
@hovercraft:
How dare Democrats talk about issues important to Democratic voters. They should talk about issues important to GOP voters, like media does.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Richard Burr doesn’t notice a hot mike, apparently
WaterGirl
@Keith G: My best guess is that President Obama is pissed as hell about this. But he won’t say so publicly. I don’t pretend to know why, but I have a couple of ideas. I suspect the President is trying to calm the waters. I can see also him saying this as a face-saving measure for Comey, who will certainly be out of a job post-haste. Obama can leave it to others to nail Comey to the wall – I imagine the president is trying to avoid the free-for-all that would happen in this country if the president accused the FBI director of trying to influence the election. The last thing the president wants is the result of the election being called into question.
I, however, wish the president had fired Comey post haste.
PPCLI
@Turgidson: Or they could just do what Karl Rove did, and just not show up at all.
sunny raines
have long plowed the political fields of Washington DC and having risen to lead a MAJOR government agency it simply is not credible that comey is innocent. Sure, sure go through the necessary process of convicting him of his crimes, but there is no possible way he is innocent.
Mike J
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: He wants to decide who lives, who dies, who tells your story.
Schlemazel
@WaterGirl:
ON November 24th. Lost in the Thanksgiving hub-bub followed by Trump appearing in court on the 29th
MomSense
@The Moar You Know:
WTF is wrong with you? This is frustrating as hell but it’s not rape. Go take a walk, have some ice cream or look at kitten videos.
Holy 8lb 3 oz baby Jesus people the sky is not falling. If anyone is feeling pissed or freaked out then donate $10 or sign up for a phone bank shift.
Did anyone here think the Republicans, media, and moneyed interests would not try and fuck with this election?!
We always knew this would be hard. Seriously, snap out of it.
Schlemazel
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
He also promises to prevent President CLinton appointing any judges and brags the the USSC will be short for her whole term. We need to crush these fuckers.
Sm*t Cl*de
@YAFB:
You can’t fight in here! This is the War Room!
JPL
@NR: One North Carolina county had 26 early voting sites last year, and now they have one.
Steeplejack
@Patricia Kayden:
The story at your link (Occupy Democrats), with the somewhat feverish headline “October Surprise: ABC Uncovers ‘Millions’ of Payments from Russia to Trump,” eventually points to an ABC News story from September 22 that is about Trump’s business dealings in Russia, not donations or political contributions.
This is not my idea of an October surprise.
NR
@JPL: That may explain part of the drop. I hope they can make it up on election day.
Kay
Lock him up:
How about THIS theory? They knew this was going to leak so Comey rushed out to issue the Clinton “bombshell” to preempt/cover it?
I think that’s possible. I have to say though- our law enforcement and intelligence agencies should probably do some work occasionally instead of campaigning.
Shalimar
Still leading all the national newscasts 3 days later. Questions have been raised, her campaign may or may not be seriously damaged by this, blah blah fucking blah.
This is what our media decision-makers want to talk about right now. They are choosing to make it the only story this week. May all the evil fuckers burn in hell.
hovercraft
Kay:
It’s not for them to determine what is important for the American people to discuss, the media and the republicans are the proper gatekeepers as to what is important to us.
Kay
@Shalimar:
It’s no different than the last 20 months of Clinton email coverage, though. That may actually save the day- they have been talking about Clinton’s emails for almost 2 years.
hovercraft
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
That needs to get into a Ross Ad right away.
srv
It will be ironic if the weiner that takes the Clintons down is not Slicks.
Schlemazel
@Steeplejack:
This bullshit has proliferated on FB. Bold, shocking headlines that lead to nothing burgers and/or old news that was a nothing burger at the time. I have unsubscribed from all of them, if I wanted bullshit spoon fed to me I’d become a Republican
Mnemosyne
@Shalimar:
AFAICT, it’s nowhere on Facebook. Even Trump voters don’t give a shit.
YAFB
@Sm*t Cl*de:
Thanks! I was just about buried in tumbleweed and thought I was showing my age.
BTW, a few folks have already linked it above, but this Slate long read bears repeating:
Happy Halloween!
Shalimar
@Kay: I hope so, but Jesus this is annoying. None of our media betters are stupid enough to believe there is a real controversy underneath all this smoke they’re blowing at us. This is willfully putting a gigantic hand on the election scale.
Kay
@hovercraft:
God, I hope she’s not “changing the subject” to healthcare or climate change or something. She must discuss emails 24/7 because that’s what the GOP base are interested in.
It’s always like this. They’re always bent out of shape when Democrats appeal to their base, as if that’s slightly disreputable. They fundamentally don’t believe middle or working class issues are important or ‘serious”.
“oh, CHILD CARE again. What about NATIONAL SECURITY?” Remember when they used to sneer that Democrats were the “mommy” Party? Those issues aren’t manly and serious and vital. That’s why silly “mommies” care about them.
Elie
@WaterGirl:
I agree w you and believe that Obama would see making this even worse if he jumped on Comey. I also believe that he will act when the time is right and that Comeys days are numbered. He cannot act now and I believe his restraint is necessary. I also believe that Comey prob has met with or spoken w Obama and knows what he really thinks
YAFB
Could some kindly mod release my last comment from moderation, pretty please?
hueyplong
If srv weren’t so insignificant, Hitlery would already have arranged his “suicide” in a DC park.
Chaffetz might not be so lucky.
Van Buren
@Botsplainer: Might I suggest the purchase of some owls? I understand they are quite good at carrying messages.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
MomSense
We stopped identification and persuasion calls a loooong time ago. At this stage of the game it is about getting our voters to the polls. Right now the challenge is to make sure every single Den voter votes. Same as every year.
Van Buren
@smintheus: I’d ask him to watch Shogun and ask him if he understands the concept of shame.
amk
@srv:
If the real dick does get elected, then you are truly fucked. Now, that would be ironic.
MisterForkbeard
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I can’t fathom the amount of stupid involved there.
But then, I have another lefty college friend who is convinced that Hillary has been bribed by corporations and all the e-mails show it “and that she was arrogant and believed she was above the law about emails”. There’s a lot of stupid there, too.
amk
@MomSense:
Yup. All the blog pearl clutching bs notwithstanding, it’s what matters. Every fucking time.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@efgoldman:
That seemed to be the general sentiment towards NR is the last thread it showed up on today. I concur wholeheartedly.
NR
@efgoldman: I wasn’t the one who brought up Bernie Sanders, fuckface.
Kay
@MomSense:
I’m canvassing tomorrow night. I’ll wear my lucky shoes from when we won the school levy vote!
They always give me an east side list, which is “the poor side”. I’m trying not to take this personally :)
My middle son canvassed in Toledo last week. He got invited into a house and spent like 2 hours there- eating, drinking beer, watching tv. I told him that’s not really “canvassing”, it’s more like “going door to door making friends”.
hovercraft
@JPL:
And guess what happened on the day they opened up a whole bunch more? The numbers shot up, they are still behind where they were last time, but they are making up the difference slowly. Here are the charts.
MomSense
@Kay:
I’m all for making friends! I’m signed up for more phone bank shifts and still making calls from home. I wish I could do more canvassing but much of our turf is not really canvassable.
pluky
@Turgidson: Let them.
MomSense
@dedc79:
Just read that. Wow
Shalimar
@NR: Who were you saying we should have nominated instead of Hillary then if you weren’t talking about Bernie? It was very obvious what you meant. You have said the same thing dozens of times before.
Schlemazel
@NR:
That does not change the fact that you really do need to go fuck yourself, sideways, with a rusty farm implement.
Chris
@Kay:
Trump may have ruined New York accents for me.
NR
@Shalimar: I was talking about black turnout in the general election. Chyron HR brought up Bernie Sanders (which isn’t any kind of rebuttal to a point about black turnout in the general election, but ‘ol Chyron isn’t too bright) and I responded to him. If you want to blame someone for relitigating the primary, blame him.
JPL
@efgoldman: They compromised according to the article I saw. They were planning on shutting down Sunday voting also.
JPL
@hovercraft: Thanks.
D58826
@Major Major Major Major: And even then the GOP filibustered Comy
JPL
The slate story looks explosive, because he said he had no dealings with Russia. She will hopefully start using that tomorrow, in order to get him to release his taxes.
LAC
@Schlemazel: yeah, I never understood why anyone would answer this clown NR in a serious manner. It is like taking srv seriously – and driving the car with your feet. Why?
hovercraft
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Hillary is GUILTY is of something, anyone who has ever failed to indict and convict her of something is CORRUPT. The reason for all of the investigations is that they just know that if they keep digging they will find the PROOF, they just need that one smoking gun, just that one break, and then everyone will know and agree with them. They tried the same thing with Obama, but he is squeaky clean so nothing stuck, ( as a black man with great ambition he knew he had to be). The Clinton’s on the other hand operated as standard politicians and the republicans have tried to criminalize that, with the media playing the ingenue’s who’ve never seen politics practiced before.
Mary G
I can’t believe Fahrenthold’s latest story has been disappeared. Bad media.
hovercraft
@efgoldman:
They took the judges orders literally, the order said “at least one site”, so that’s what they did, they were technically in compliance. This is a large part of the drop in AA early voting in the state.
MomSense
@Mary G:
What about the Trump server story? Far more concerning than Russsia trying to interfere in our election is that the Trump campaign is coordinating with Russia.
PPCLI
Newsweek speaks: Well, it turns out that Trump has regularly destroyed documents that were under subpoena. Will the MSM mention this when broadcasting over and over again his outraged “She was under subpoena!!!!!” howls? Will they mention it at all?
mai naem mobile
@GrandJury: they have the story wrong. Daily Caller is reporting that one of the emails on HUmas laptop is from Barack Hussein Obama to Huma and ccd to Hillary about the successful completion of the Benghazi attaack and Allah Akbar.
Ruckus
I’d like to point out that even more than not fit to lead the FBI, Comey is not fit to be a citizen of this country.
Hal
Sigh. One thing I hate about being a Democrat. We make the biggest deal out of this shit. Stop saying this race is a squeaker. It’s not. That people are going to change their minds because of this email nonsense. They’re not. Yes, Trump should be polling at 20%. He’s not. But he is going to lose. Let’s worry about how Hillary Clinton will govern after November 8th.
JPL
@PPCLI: no
mai naem mobile
@PPCLI: okay but he’s white ,male and rich. Also too, he’s a GOPr.
Chris
@Shalimar:
I don’t know about that.
I think the MSM, the GOP, and it appears the FBI, approach the Clintons basically the same way the Bush administration approached Saddam Hussein. They “know,” axiomatically, that the Clintons are corrupt, in the same way that the Bushies just “knew” that Saddam had WMDs, and they’re convinced that if they’re just allowed to tear their place apart, that will be revealed and vindicate them. I don’t think they even consider the possibility that there isn’t a controversy beneath all this (which justifies whatever digging the FBI might want to do and whatever ways Comey might try to trip her up), partly because everyone in their circles also takes it for granted that the Clintons are corrupt, and partly because considering that possibility would mean considering the possibility that they’re the hacks, and who likes to do that?
gwangung
@NR: But you ere the stupid one bringing up Clinton with respect to black turnout.
It was an ignorant comment.
So go fuck yourself.
mai naem mobile
@Schlemazel: Rusty farm implement doesn’t want to copulate with NR.
NR
@gwangung: Actually I didn’t even mention Clinton in my original comment. I simply mentioned that black turnout is down from 2012, which is supported by data from the 538 article I linked.
Maybe try reading before you flame and you won’t look so stupid next time.
Cacti
I see Nattering Republican (NR) has shown up to masturbate some more about his hero Trump.
Schlemazel
@mai naem mobile:
As a Trump supporter consent is not his concern. “GRAB ‘EM BY THE TINES!”
Dog Dawg Damn
If we get the Senate, Dems need to immediately open an investigation into Russia’s involvement in this election and allow it go deep–Trump, Manafort, Flynn, Stein, and anyone else involved.
This would effectively push any “emails!!!%!#%#” nothingburger to the back page, and it would be welcomed from most of the electorate.
Schlemazel
You know this has to be true, it was published in “Americas Finest News Source”, The Onion:
p.a.
Fuckin’ kids today can’t even be bothered with costumes: just showing up with pillow cases expecting candy. Get off my fucking lawn!
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Schlemazel: FWIW, that’s not a new thing in Warren County. Happened in 2012, when I worked in that county. (For a nonprofit, not the county or a party…) Also, too, Warren County is imho the reddest county in the state; it doesn’t have a moderating metro area like Hamilton County does in Cincinnati, which would otherwise be redder than Warren based on bigger size alone, in addition to the power of the more experienced GOP machine.
FlipYrWhig
@NR: “Who, me? I simply continued baiting people from one thread to another because I had some objective demographic insight to share! Why am I so misunderstood?”
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Chris
Trying think about them as Internet Trolls. All these cheep shots at Hillary are about generating outrage and in turn getting people to look at their stuff so they can sell advertisement. From the MSM point view, outside a Trump and Putin having shirtless gay sex on a bear, there would be no point into talking about Trump getting chummy with the Russians, everyone despises Trump. But the left does like Hillary Clinton so playing mean girl on her pisses the left off and gets them some love from the right.
Central Planning
@FlipYrWhig: I have emails from Hillary Clinton on my computer. I swear they are all just asking for money. I gave some and got bupkis in return. So much for buying influence for $100.
Ruckus
@PAM Dirac:
Wrong. They expect us to all go along with their delusions. That we don’t and clean up their messes is what makes us horrible, wrong and requiring disposal. You are giving them way too much credit, if they considered us sane, that would make their position untenable.
debbie
@Schlemazel:
Yeah, and they’ve caught him and charged him. Idiot. (The shit dumper, not you.)
TaMara (HFG)
@MomSense: OMG, the first voice of reason today. Thank you.
Schlemazel
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
Same guy. He confessed to both.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Schlemazel: I expected as much. And of course I answered before reading that several others had noted the same thing. I just happened to remember 2012 because I was there then.
TaMara (HFG)
@efgoldman: Well if you said something similar, I just missed it, sorry.
Anya
I don’t understand why would Comey help Trump, and in the process tarnish his reputation? No sane human-being who cares about the country and its institutions would want Trump as POTUS. I am more inclined to believe that Comey was blackmailed or brainwashed by Metahuman Russian spies than to believe he did this to support Trump. Maybe he’s not a pride guy.
Ruckus
@Anya:
He also might not be all that bright. And his sanity? I’d say there is a pretty serious question about that.
ETA I have little pride and probably less shame and so I think I can say with authority that pride or lack of it is not his main issue.
Anya
@Ruckus: lol. Weird typo. I meant to say he’s not that bright.
Villago Delenda Est
@jeffreyw: As Reinhard Heydrich once remarked to someone who questioned the legality of something Heydrich was about to do, “Who is going to be able to stop it? We are the police!”
dww44
@MomSense: Lots of us Dems must be taking this advice. Got 2 calls today about volunteering, one from the Clinton campaign, and the other from the Barksdale campaign. He’s the not predicted to win opponent of Johnny Isakson, the latter with his non-stop evening news commercials about how bad and expensive Obamacare is and he will work to repeal and replace. Plus testimonials from lifelong Democrats who are grateful for some personal issue he resolved fro them.
I digress, but it is a good sign that we are focusing on GOTV. Still hoping for something to turn the conversation away from Hillary and the emails. We Americans deserve something better from James Comey. If that’s not forthcoming, then maybe the HRC campaign is working on something that will make that issue disappear posthaste.