As I discussed over the weekend, the Democratic leadership appears to be spinning its snatching of defeat from the jaws of victory this electoral season. Various Democratic leaders have been blaming the results not on their engineering Hillary Clinton’s victory over Bernie Sanders but FBI director James Comey. Now Clinton herself is advancing that same spin despite every objective measure to the contrary. It is precisely why Clinton was never able to seriously improve the overwhelming view of being less than honest. Her campaign would continually spin events and scandals rather than deal directly with obvious problems. In the meantime, Clinton’s controversial friend and close advisor Sidney Blumenthal is raising yet another vast conservative conspiracy theory — that it was not the candidate but a cabal of secret agents directed by Rudy Giuliani that caused the defeat.
For those still interested in recent history, the public has been consistent that they did not want an establishment candidate and particularly did not want Hillary Clinton. Clinton and Trump were the most unpopular politicians ever to be nominated for president and over 60 percent of voters viewed Clinton as fundamentally dishonest. None of that stopped the DNC from engineering her victory over Bernie Sanders who presented precisely the populist campaign that many voters were looking for. Clinton had the Democratic establishment and many allies in the media — everyone agreed except the public. That was enough . . . until the voters had their say on November 8th.
Now there are many (particularly Sanders supporters) calling for a massive overhaul of the Democratic party. In response, the establishment has been quick to blame Comey even though Clinton’s unpopularity levels remained dismal and her popularity was dropping before his disclosure to Congress. For many, the problem with the emails was not so much as the concern of her compromising national security but her bad judgment coupled with er belated acceptance of responsibility. Clinton at first laughed off the controversy and refused to say that she used bad judgment. She then begrudgingly accepted that it was a “mistake” while still maintaining that her national security judgment was her primary strength.
Clinton’s first statement after concession came in a private call with major donors. She did not acknowledge her long-standing polling issues with truthfulness or reputation as the ultimate establishment candidate in a counter-establishment election. Instead, she said it was all about Comey even though she was struggling to even gain a few percentage points over Trump who had rallied oppositional forces against himself. She even lost Wisconsin – a first since 1984 for a Democrat. That is not about Comey. The whole election was a disaster as we previously discussed on the blog. While this blog and others openly marveled at the decision of the Democratic establishment to pick an establishment candidate with such baggage, Democratic insiders and the media pushed the line that Clinton would necessarily win and that people would overcome their clear dislike for her. While Clinton appears to have won the popular vote, a Democratic nominee without the baggage and bad polling numbers might have produced a starkly different result, including the possible flipping of the Senate. particularly a perceived outside like Sanders. While I have long been a critic of the electoral college and an advocate of a majority requirement for president, a run off would not have necessarily helped Clinton. First, while she won the popular vote, she was well below 50 percent. She was roughly 5 million below Obama’s total in the prior election against a much more polarizing opponent than Mitt Romney. The final numbers are still uncertain but both REe likely to end up in the 47 percentile. She won Colorado after Libertarian Ron Johnson took five percent. The Clinton campaign sought to win on an anti-Trump vote as Trump sought an anti-Clinton victory. That was not enough for a lot of young people and others who were simply not motivated by Clinton. In the end, the pro-Trump and anti-Hillary voters were unstoppable. Moreover, judging from the losses of the Senate races, the Democrats gave up on selecting a candidate with any “coattails.” The Democrats lost a golden opportunity to take back the Senate and will now face the opposite situation in two years where more Democratic seats will be a risk.
For some, the Comey spin was not nearly conspiratorial enough. After all, Comey had spent weeks being pummeled by the right for his clearing of Clinton of any criminal actions — the basis for a number of pro-Clinton ads and pitches. He then informed Congress that they were looking into new emails while expressly stating that they did not know the significance of the emails. He then cleared her again a few days later. Blumenthal (who has been long denounced as something of a gossip and conspiracy spreader) is not willing to simply stop with Comey. No conspiracy is sufficient unless it is vast and conservative. So Blumenthal is reportedly telling people that a group of “right-wing agents” in the FBI staged an effective coup d’etat. Of course a coup presupposes that Clinton was the ordained new leader and that the election was merely a formality. He is quoted as telling Dutch television that “It was the result of a cabal of right-wing agents of the FBI in the New York office attached to Rudy Giuliani, who was a member of Trump’s campaign. I think it’s not unfair to call it a coup.” Unfair? No I would say unhinged is more accurate.
As shown by the staffer who denounced Donna Brazile last week, many liberals (and particularly young people) are not buying the spin. Liberal blogs are already denouncing the DNC for engineering the victory of the “Clinton-corporate wing.” One such critic is Bill Clinton’s former Labor Secretary Robert Reich who insisted that “The Democratic Party can no longer be the same, it has been repudiated. This has been a huge refutation of establishment politics and the political organization has got to be changed … if the Democratic Party can’t do it, we’ll do it through a third party.”
Notably, in a Hill article, Democratic insiders are blaming Sanders voters and young people for not doing as they were told and voting for Clinton . . . which obviously misses the point. The Democrats have been selling the lesser of two evils for years and voters simply had had enough with the selection of Clinton. The primary revealed deep-seated opposition to Clinton who continued to refuse to turn over her Wall Street speeches and spinned serious questions about massive contributions and speaking fees from corporations and power brokers. Even if the leadership sought to be willfully blind before the primary in lining up behind Clinton, the Sanders movement revealed the depth and anger of the electorate. It was their election to lose and they engineered the Clinton victory and lost it.
To show the inability to even consider a new course after this defeat, the establishment is already grooming Chelsea Clinton for political office under the apparent theory that the solution to the public rejecting the Clintons is to add more Clintons. Likewise, various Democratic members are pushing to continue the leadership of Nancy Pelosi as minority leader in the House despite calls for new leadership from younger members.
So the spin is on. It was not Clinton and certainly not the Democratic leadership. It was Comey and perhaps a hidden cabal of secret agents. The Democratic party is again fulfilling Einstein’s view that “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.”
HRC protesters grow up.
More protests are coming. Trump has appointed a white supremicist.
I am impressed with the magnanimity of Pres. Obama who, after realizing how thoroughly unprepared the Trump team is [for example, they didn’t know that they would have to hire all new West Wing staffers] has decided to spend more time than expected with Trump to help him through the transition.
That he would do this for a man who for five years promulgated one of the most deceitful, vicious, and racist efforts of my lifetime, birtherism, to delegitimize the first AA president astounds me. Trump is too much of a malignant narcissist to offer an honest, heartfelt apology to the president for this. Perhaps, if he can rise far above himself, he will offer a sincere thanks to Obama and his staff for pulling him out of the swamp of his and his team’s ignorance of the transition period.
But, no matter, Obama’s kindness and compassion doesn’t require reciprocity from Trump. It is perfect just as offered and it will long be remembered as such. You reap what you sow.
Oh, screw your silly Birthers are racists nonsense. Sheeesh, it was Hillary and the Democrats who started it. Look up Phillip Berg. But speaking of Birthers, the issue did come up during the meeting!
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CxFeyEYUUAAxDzn.jpg
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
That he would do this for a man who for five years promulgated one of the most deceitful, vicious, and racist efforts of my lifetime, birtherism,
You really need to see someone about this fantasy.
Bannon is a former Goldman Sachs investment banker, a former Naval officer and was special assistant to the Chief of Naval Operations in the Pentagon, Hollywood producer (Seinfeld) with an MBA from Harvard. John Weaver, on the other hand is a [who cares?]
Oh, wah. Time magazine remains in the bubble. I look forward to the demise of the MSM Useless and corrupt.
http://time.com/4569766/bernie-sanders-ralph-nader-2016/
I suggest that we look at the numbers instead of narratives and strongly support election verification in every race, not just close ones. Greg Palast, for instance, has some numbers worth a look: http://www.gregpalast.com/election-stolen-heres/
Analysis: Breitbart’s Steve Bannon Leads the ‘Alt Right’ to the White House
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/analysis-breitbart-s-steve-bannon-leads-alt-right-white-house-n683316
For the last six months, Republican leaders walked a careful line supporting Donald Trump. They supported his campaign and loved his running mate, Mike Pence, but they didn’t agree with his positions on banning Muslims or mass deportations, or with the far-right figures who backed them.
That line was easy enough to maintain when it was just campaign rhetoric. But now Trump is signaling that the far right wing of the party will be going with him to the White House, where it will have a chance to influence policy, as well.
Steve Bannon, former president of the incendiary Breitbart News and more recently chief executive of Trump’s campaign, is taking on a role as “chief strategist and senior counselor.” Gannon’s ascension is the clearest sign yet that Trump will maintain his ties to the populist white nationalism that helped propel him to the White House against overwhelming opposition from party leaders and traditional media.
“The racist, fascist extreme right is represented footsteps from the Oval Office,” John Weaver, who advised Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s 2016 presidential campaign, tweeted in response to the news. “Be very vigilant America.”
John Weaver @JWGOP
Just to be clear news media, the next president named a racist, anti-semite as the co-equal of the chief of staff. #NotNormal
4:35 PM – 13 Nov 2016 · Austin, TX
4,411 4,411 Retweets 4,095 4,095 likes
You are misleading people from the very first word of your comment! You use the word “ANALYSIS” which implies a certain neutrality, a certain objectivity. But what follows is just a partisan screed-like OPINION.
This is where the honest Democrats often get snookered. Because they think they are getting an intelligent ARGUMENT. No, what they are getting in “white nationalism” and “racist, fascist” talk is stupid partisan CONCLUSIONS masquerading as argument.
Good lawyers know that you are supposed to plead “arguments”, not “conclusions”. Conclusions are supposed to be the RESULT of arguments, not a substitution for arguments. But these phony analysii get bounced around the Democratic echo-chambers, and nobody thinks to question the conclusions.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
That’s right…discount anything written about Stephen Bannon. One might think that Turley regulars such as yourself would be happy that an individual like Bannon will be serving in Trump’s administration…that a racist and anti-Semite will be our next president’s “chief strategist and senior counselor.
I knew that comment would be over your head, and that you would come right back and plead your conclusions/opinions as if they were facts. I think maybe everybody knew it.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Nice try Squeeky! You’re always so quick to reply with an insult to the intelligence of someone who disagrees with you. I hope it makes you feel happy in your smugness. I guess posting an analysis about a man who has made anti-Semitic comments and is known to have connections to white nationalists is frowned upon by folks like you. I have read many lies/misrepresentations/factual errors on this blog by folks who dislike anything connected to the Democrats, liberals, progressives, etc.
DUH! edm’s head meet brick wall. You said, “I guess posting an analysis about a man who has made ”
It was NOT an ANALYSIS. It was an OPINION. As a Democrat, you simply don’t know the difference. Sad.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Bannon is a former Goldman Sachs investment banker, a former Naval officer and was special assistant to the Chief of Naval Operations in the Pentagon, Hollywood producer (Seinfeld) with an MBA from Harvard. John Weaver, on the other hand is a [who cares?]
Guess that confirms that he is not an anti-semite because he did a stint a Goldman. He assaulted his wife along with making anti-semitic statements.
BWAHAHAHAHAHA!
His EX-WIFE said! Oh, how thoroughly researched! My goodness, Keith Ellison worked for Louis Farrakhan! Who is the “biggest anti-Semite” in the country! And defended him!
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
The negatives of HRC:
1. Propensity to lie or go loose with truth
2. Corrupt (and cannot see the corruption)
3. Power hungry, felt entitled to win
4. War mongering hawk
5. Ultimate insider (experience was a baggage not a positive, as were Bill and even Obama back fired)
What HRC supporters do not want to admit is:
1. It was HRC who decided to have a private server
2. It was Bill Clinton who decided to meet AG Lynch privately on her plane; this resulted in Lynch reclusing herself and giving Comey the green light to go in front of the media. Remeber Comey was a hero to HRC in July till he became a toad in October/ November.
Not to mention the role played by Debbie wassermanz and Donna.
These are self inflicted wounds! As a progressive I want a total redo of the democratic party.
Hillary was probably more obviously a product of PR thinking & focus groups than any other US Presidential candidate ever.The first thing she did after announcing her candidacy was to embark on a “listening” tour. This tour consisted of “representative Americans” (selected by her team) ask her scripted questions (written or approved by her team). This instantly turned me against her. I’m sure millions of other people had similar Hillary moments. Joe Biden would have beaten Trump. Maybe even Bernie if he never self-described as a socialist (maybe Western European style progressive would have worked).
Interesting points.
I suspect Biden would have lost. Too close to the status quo. He has his fingers in a lot of lucrative pots.
I think Bernie would have done fine using his “Democratic Socialism” or “Socialist Democrat” or whatever. People are very ready for real change. In spite of brilliant efforts to keep people terrified, “Socialism” has lost a lot of it’s stigma to the younger generation, and Bernie’s variety is basically Capitalism with a smile. Being up front and non apologetic about it also has proven to work well. Everyone in the media and the large bulk of moribund Democrats are mystified that Hillary didn’t win. They would be equally mystified that Sanders would have won. Probably hands down, but subsequently he would have had just as hard a time as Trump is going to have unless Trump breaks many of his campaign promises (which most all modern politicians do – so no specific blame there).
Clinton again proves she has no idea how to be a leader and take responsibility for any missteps. Her dissembling is one of the many reasons people couldn’t bring themselves to vote for her.
And PS– the Libertarian candidate taking 5% of the vote in Colorado was former New Mexico Governor GARY Johnson. Ron Johnson is a Republican Senator from Wisconsin, re-elected over tired, retread challenger Democrat Russ Feingold (talk about not learning from past mistakes!) in this election cycle.
O.K.
So we each took the elevator down to the basement. At that point we received instruction on our shoe phones. Word was, “get rid of her”! So we did. How you ask?
We made it look like she was corrupt. We phonied up a bunch of pay to play. We made it look like she’d rigged the primary against Bernie. We concocted a weird story about her e-mail server being in the basement with some millennial who was out of work! Next we released fake speeches to GS and made it look like she wasn’t really sincere about environmental change by having her say she’d promoted fracking around the world.
Next we went for foreign policy. Here we had her phoning in drone kills of civilians. Next, the whole Libya thing-y. We were on a roll so we added e-mails calling Hispanic voters “tacos”, talk about whiny gays and “the black”. WOW, people might think she wasn’t sincere about her concern for these groups.
It worked!!!! She lost the election! WHOA!
Maybe the polls didn’t work this time was because Trump was such a bizarre & unique candidate the ordinary rules of polling didn’t apply. Maybe Hillary’s election was in serious jeopardy all along in ways the polls didn’t detect.
It did work, didn’t it!
Still don’t know what her and Bill are going to do with all those chickens that have come home to roost.
Get out there Democrats and get the good people involved. If Trump is as bad as you say. Throw your racist, genocidal, blood lusty (we came, we saw, he died…), megalomaniac Clinton and ride to the top.
Jill, that was brilliant. Afraid to send it to my hilbot friends though – they are so fragile they’d either shatter or come after me =)
Autumn,
Thanks, but it wasn’t me. Sid told me it verbatim and I was just his stenographer. 🙂
Slohrss,
That’s how I look at also. Get cracking! Do something meaningful in the world. There’s so much to be done.
Comey is sleazy but he sleazed about both ways, first “for”, then “against”, then back for Clinton, so I don’t see how he can be an issue. Of course I see Putin everywhere (as I’m certain every right thinking person does) but he’s not my president. At this point I’m just hoping my president doesn’t blow Russia and the US up (the bar is low for Obama!).
In the meantime, we should pull together to help out!
Oh, and as far as blaming it on Comey, I did think his letter to Congress about the Weiner emails negatively affected her campaign. I mean, c’mon, you find 650,000 HRC emails on Mr. I’m Too Sexty’s phone??? Even the Democratic Party Kool Aid Drinkers were having a tough time with that one.
The question is, was that the straw that broke the camel’s back, or just another straw. I think it was the one that had the camel’s knees buckling, and the Spirit Cooking nonsense sent the poor critter to the ground.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
What amazes me is prior to the election we were told by the media how Hilly held most of the cards in regard to electoral votes. They said Trump had an impossible task to get close to her with electoral votes. Everything was just great when it came to the electoral votes and be damn to the popular vote. Comes the day after the election and we have to get rid of the electoral college and only the popular vote is right.
The left thought they were going to continue erode the constitution for another 4 years but Americans who are picking up tab felt otherwise. To those of you who contribute to the blog and are not American citizens tell us what country you’re from. Before anyone from outside this country throws stones at my country I’d like to know what’s so great about you’re country.
Hillary, honorary Blues Brother.
Democrats: Hill, You lost.
Hillary: No, I didn’t. Honest… I ran out of gas. I… I had a flat tire. I didn’t have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn’t come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from out of town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake. A terrible flood. Locusts. It wasn’t my fault. I swear to god!“
Did someone mention the Blues Brothers?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vet6AHmq3_s
Excellent analysis, though I agree with Squeeky on the Electoral College. The last thing this country needs are sanctuary cities running our country.
When you put your finger up to test the wind, you do it to adjust your sails, not to change the course of the wind. The only reason liberals have made it as far as they have, politically, is because they’ve managed, in conspiracy with the mainstream media and popular culture, to change the course of public opinion. Trump has proved that that no longer works. Liberals will now have to adjust their sails, too, just like working class Americans have always had to do.
What Trump’s working class supporters will now have to adjust to is that his bumper sticker “solutions” don’t work.
How could you possibly know?
The Democrats had options but chose to go with the line of voting for the sister of the woman who had a house fall on her. For all you popular vote people, do you support a bicameral Congress? Also, if the nation as a whole really was wanting the Democrat’s agenda, then why did they not take back the senate and most importantly, why did they lose more governorships and statehouses?
I am completely dismayed that Prof. Turley wants to abolish the Electoral College. As I posted here yesterday:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CxK0zrOUAAAviVo.jpg
Machine politics often run the big cities, and massive numbers of fraudulent votes could easily switch an election. Who doesn’t believe that many black precincts are simply vote factories for the Democrats. And who is naive enough to believe that Democrats oppose voter ID because it “suppresses” the black vote? No, they oppose voter ID because it makes fraudulent voting a little more difficult. The Democrats even oppose having to prove citizenship to vote.
If the electoral college were eliminated, there would have to be Voter ID, voting cross checking between states, citizenship requirements, and a good way to double check.
But you would still end up with the Big Cities and the two coasts controlling the entire country. Urban people don;t hunt, sooo there goes the 2nd Amendment. Because to be consistent, if the Electoral College goes, so does our system of changing the Constitution. That would become by popular vote, too.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
There’s possible intermediate steps between the electoral college system & strict popular vote. Maybe some kind of run-off could be held if electoral vote winner loses the popular vote by more than some percentage of the total vote. If nothing else this new wrinkle would add great entertainment value to the election by prolonging cliffhangers.
BTW Democrats indeed do oppose voter ID because it suppresses the black vote. Not coincidentally the black vote is always overwhelmingly Democratic. Democrats are no better or worse than Republicans in this way; they’re all motivated by self interest,.
You seem to have some far reaching delusions. If we the United States, exporter of democracy thought so highly of the Electoral College, we would have exported it as well, but we didn’t. That you think the rural vote will be disenfranchised only speaks to you not understanding how the Electoral College works. And round the world they marvel to see that “popular” vote is NOT The Vote! Have you noticed that we vote directly for every other government affiliated except for President? That that “popular” vote cast is what elects Reps,Sens etc? Its old and outdated. It, I believe causes a fair number of people not to vote; cause their vote doesn’t mean anything and technically it doesn’t. The rural areas get an undo thumb on the scale because of this system.
Oh the terrible fraudulent votes cast by Black people in the inner cities. Well generally speaking I am happy to accept compliments from White people but in this case that goes smack up against Black people being lazy not willing to work for anything. By the way the last two actual documented cases of in person voter fraud were by a White woman supporter of Trump and Republican politician. In the billions of votes casts in this country over a 10 year span, only 33 were initially thought to be fraud but then that number was reduced when it was found that persons names not spelled correctly or addresses not updated caused the problems. It is difficult to get people in the United States to vote, put any obstacles in their way and the numbers go down. Speaking specifically as you have about Black voters in the Democrat factories, some of us are highly motivated to vote and no obstacle is too much for us to try to exercise the franchise. But for a lot of Black people it becomes an arduous task. Voter IDs that they never had to have before. IDs that can only be obtained in certain places; then places that are not open everyday or even every week and if you miss that day or week; you wait for another chance. These are some times places out of the way specifically placed to make it harder to get to by those who need to get there the most. No everyone has the Acceptable ID for their State; college students going to State schools can’t use the IDs issued to them from the State. That’s crazy right? All of your supporting information for an ID don’t match; women your last name has changed due to marriage or divorce; can’t get ID. A State Legislator in Texas who was herself a sponsor to the ID bill, could not vote outright (provisional ballot) because of the spelling of her name was different and her drivers license didn’t reflect her divorce name. That is just a tiny telling of obstacles to being able to get IDs but back to Black people. I can tell you for a fact and based on the racial biases attributed to Black people (lazy) no Black person is going to stand in a line for 4-8 or more hours to vote legally and then go out and get back in the line at end of the line to stand and wait again for another long period of time to In Person Fraudulently Vote. Its not happening!! The most logical place to look for voter fraud is in Mail in Ballot but fraud isn’t actually what is motivating these laws. You seem a bit short sighted in your analysis of Urban people; we hunt and fish and take people hostage with guns. We kill wild exotic animals; see Trump kids here, New Yorkers. Second Amendment isn’t going anywhere and No One is calling for its repeal. People like me would just like less toddlers killing themselves and others. Yes toddlers seem to be the most deadly group this year. In closing United States exports Democracy to world but sees the flaw in its own Constitution of the Electoral College so it does not export that. World does not understand why the “popular” vote is NOT THE VOTE and there is no good explanation!
There is a great explanation but it has been educated out of this country over the last 100 years. It’s no longer discussed because progressives consider anything created by the founding generation as outdated.
Democracy existed long before the United States established our form of government. Our system is (was) designed to recognize the right of the citizens and the states to have an equal voice in our central government. The House and the Senate were originally designed to represent each of them. This was what the Great Compromise was all about. Same theory goes for the electoral college. The 17th amendment effectively gutted the voice of the state legislatures in the central government. If the system was changed to go with the popular vote then most states and their citizens would not have a voice in electing the Executive.
As long as our Declaration of Independence is considered obsolete then you will have no foundation to explain why things are structured the way they are. And I believe that IS precisely the strategic goal of the progressive movement.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/11/13/sanders-backs-trump-protests-questions-electoral-college/93767186/ Bernie is quickly becoming the leader of the Trump resistance.
It wasn’t me, it was the one-armed man!
If the United States were a couple, they would obtain a divorce.
Let me ask, if we Red State Trump supporter types are so wicked and evil, why not let us go?
The Constitution says we must keep you, believe me most other States would simply let you go. Most Red States cost the Union much more than they contribute to the Union. Besides that’s what the Civil War was a divorce with bad consequences for the Southern seceding “spouse”.
Will you say the same when the LA Raza types want to seceed from the Southwest or will you give them the same answer?
No, you probably won’t, because LA Raza is correcting a past injustice!
If I were a liberal Hispanic, you would be kissing my *ss about now, trying to suck up to me.
Bunnie, your elite, snot nosed, “I’m better than you”, look down your nose ass is showing……. you’ve got four or eight years to think about moving.
beakie, You’re a great addition here. Keepin’ it real is your forte.
I have a feeling around the year 2060, people of your persuasion will justify it, when La Raza type activists want the Southwestern US to secede and revert back to Mexico. And make no mistake that is in their platform.
I also have a feeling that if I were a liberal, victim, bitch and moan Hispanic, you would be trying to kiss my a## in an attempt to suck up.
Bet I am right on both.
I thought the words “Canadian loonie” referred to a Canadian currency.
Comey’s announcement probably did injure HRC’s chances of becoming president, but it was her behavior that set the investigation into motion. A finding that she was “extremely careless in [the] handling of very sensitive, highly classified information” while serving as Secretary of State was sufficient for me to conclude that she was unfit to serve in a higher office.
Arrian – Whitewater did it for me.
Comey’s announcement? You mean His proclamation of guilt but not criminal guilt. Don’t know how old you are but I can tell you and others who are honest will say a Director of the FBI or anyone heading an investigation has never made such a pronouncement. Have never called a Press Conference. Have never voiced opinions on an investigation; opinions are not facts that drive the investigation or determine the decision to charge or not charge a person with a crime. I don’t recall the exact date of the July Press Conference but it was barely if at all outside of the 60 day Hatchet Rule. Most of the same comments you cite made by Comey were walked back at the Congressional hearing. But the Press Conference and those comments were already out there. So if you based your decision on the Press Conference held and the letter sent to House Republicans, you can imagine how many others did as well. It was not Comey place, not his job and uncharacteristic for the Director of the FBI to do as he did. It certainly swayed a lot of people in that 11 days before Election Day. So I say it wasn’t her behavior, it was Comey unsubstantiated words that were”extremely careless in the handling of very sensitive investigative information”. Where is the prosecution or investigation into the millions of emails destroyed by Bush/Cheney (they admit to doing so), the investigation into the destruction of emails by Secretaries of State; Powell and Rice? Lets go all the way back to Rep Kevin McCarthy who said these investigations were designed to bring Clinton favorable numbers down to better assist the Republican candidate. The House did their job well.
“..a Director of the FBI or or anyone heading an investigation has never made such a pronouncement”.
That task would normally fall to the Attorney General.
Since she decided to “punt” on announcing a decision on the investigation, Comey served that role.
That is not an ideal situation. It also would not have happened without the full consent of Loretta Lynch.
There may be some future “backroom” information that comes to light about the discussions between Lynch and Comey.
But one element of this story stands out….Attorney Gen. Lynch was AWOL, and essentially delegated what would normally be her job to the FBI Director.