Says Bret Stephens, quoted at the NYT in a conversation between him and Gail Collins that has the headline "When a Politician and a Lawman Try to Play the Hero, the Lawman Usually Wins." That's the headline because it's what Collins then says:
Gail: When there’s a choice about whether a politician or a lawman is going to get to play the hero, lawman usually wins. I suspect Comey will go down in history as the hero who stood up to a crazy president. Although in a fairer world he’d also be remembered as the guy whose overdramatic press conference got us said president in the first place.1. I think "If Trump is a pig, Comey’s a prig" was a much spiffier and more obviously true line than "When there’s a choice about whether a politician or a lawman is going to get to play the hero, lawman usually wins," but I can see why the Collins quote was chosen to appeal to NYT readers.
2. As to "I suspect Comey will go down in history as the hero who stood up to a crazy president" — Comey himself explicitly rejected the notion that Trump is crazy. From the transcript of the ABC interview: "I don't buy this stuff about him being mentally incompetent or early stages of dementia."
3. Where did Collins get the notion that in a showdown between a politician and a "lawman," "the lawman usually wins"? I'm getting a Western movies vibe from this image, what with "lawman." I've been in the law field myself for 40 years and "lawman" doesn't feel idiomatic to me as a way to refer to present-day law-enforcement personnel. In Western movies, though, I agree that the lawman usually wins. But in modern American life, politics and law interact in complex ways, and the law often leaves the answer to political choice.
4. I'm searching the NYT archive for "lawman," and I found the next most recent use and think it's something that may have influenced Collins. From "Best of Late Night":
In an interview with ABC News over the weekend, [James Comey] went into detail with a critique of Trump’s tan. Trevor Noah wondered aloud whether Comey could be undermining his own credibility.And just before that, in "James Comey’s Attacks on Trump May Hurt a Carefully Cultivated Image":
“You see, now that’s funny, but that doesn’t sound like an impartial lawman. That sounds like a guy who got fired from White Castle talking trash about his old boss — that’s what it sounds like. It’s like, ‘Man, that dude smelled like onions before he got to work!’”
For decades, James B. Comey cultivated an image of purity as a lawman who stood above politics and politicians. Then came the book tour.If I go any further back in the NYT archive, I get the word in the Western sheriff context, so I'll just note that there seems to be a new tic, calling Comey the "lawman." Perhaps there's some ideation that the sheriff is in town or that Trump feels like the Wild West and needs taming.
With the release of his memoir this week and a set of high-profile media interviews to publicize it, Mr. Comey... has veered onto risky terrain, shedding the trappings of a high-minded referee and looking instead like a combatant in the country’s partisan battles.
Mr. Comey’s description of the president as an unethical liar “morally unfit” for office; his call for voters to decide Mr. Trump’s fate at the ballot box in 2020; and even his observations about Mr. Trump’s appearance — his “orange” skin, his too-long ties, his hands — are stark departures from the law-enforcement mission of his old agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
5. There actually was a TV show "The Lawman" (1958-1962). I'm old enough to have an impression of that in my head. When I hear "lawman," I picture something like this:
And maybe that's what some people (including Comey?) would like to picture Comey doing to Trump.
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104 comments:
From what I have read about the book and Comey's media tour so far, I would say it is more about Comey doing it to Comey.
I love the highly stylized westerns from the 1950s. That dude's costume looked like a second skin.
On Comey, it's only been a few days, and his act already smells like 5 day-old fish. The internal contradictions of his position are too overwhelming for even the never-Trump media to ignore. If you are going to market yourself as high minded and above the fray, you don't help yourself by trash talking Trump's appearance or marriage. Nor is an image of impartiality helped by blatant double standards for Republicans vs. Democrats/FBI insiders (for example blasting the Scooter Libby pardon but praising the lying and leaky Andrew McCabe) or the admission that all of the Comey women were enthusiastic participants in the Women's March.
Credible, I don't find Bret Stephens' thinking credible. A suck up.
If the NYT is discussing it it must be going badly for Comey already.
The pig wins as long he doesn’t pretend he's not a pig. The prig will always pretend he's not a prig.
Credible case, credibly accuse is now tantamount to guilty, apparently.
Just more propoganda generated by the MSM and AA, I'm sorry you're falling for this line from the NYT and MSM hook-line and sinker. Geez, Comey is damaging himself? You have got to be kidding me. This man has disgraced himself so thoroughly, I don't think his book tour will further damage him. The book tour will just reinforce what everyone Left/Right already know this man is a megalomaniac personality whose life is about to come in touch with reality - not the type of make believe junk petaled in D.C.
I suspect Comey will go down in history as the hero who stood up to a crazy president.
Huh? I mean, in his own head I'm sure he believes that. But I believes he's completely out of touch with reality. Comey is off in his own weird world where he's this great hero. The pretentious, risible title of his silly book is a strong indicator of how he imagines himself.
But everybody hates the guy. It used to be said that if you're pissing off everybody you're probably doing something right. But I don't see how that could possibly be the case here. He just seems an thoroughly deluded, incompetent, whingeing buffoon who is his own worst advocate.
I suspect Comey will be indicted and he won't go down in history as a hero.
"I suspect Comey will go down in history as the hero who stood up to a crazy president."
-- I suspect Comey will be a footnote in a textbook, if that. Most likely, he'll just be absorbed as "The FBI" in the history books. "The FBI's mishandling of the Clinton investigation forced it to re-open the case during the election. Some say this is what cost her the election."
The pee-pee dossier won't make the cut, and if it does, I don't think the simple facts
["The FBI believed that the dossier--paid for by Trump's political enemies with information provided by Russian agents. No credible evidence was ever found, despite years of investigation."] will make him stand out as a hero.
Also, what a contrast it is to see the real Jim Comey and read his words vs. the description of him from The Swamp over the last few years ..."Lifelong Republican, stand up guy, straight shooter, etc etc."
Comey is so far from being a lifelong Republican and straight shooter that we now know the Swamp was just protecting its own.
Comey's problem is claiming for himself more than one vote.
Aren't lawmen ideally regarded as laconic, stoic?
The lawman is an ass...
Liberal loser bubble babies.
If Trump is ick, then Comey's a prick.
Having read the Stephanopoulos/Comey transcript, I believe Comey sees his book and his publicity appearances as a prelude to a run for president in 2020. He's setting himself up as the paragon of honest, virtuous leadership, in sharp contrast to his portrayal of Trump. He's even more deluded than Blache DuBois. She trusted in the kindness of strangers; he's trusting in the kindness of Democrats. Call the men in the white suits.
It's time for Twitter to play the part of Pfc. Wintergreen, the mailroom clerk in Catch-22 who cut off all communications from generals he didn't like.
The general increase in farce would be worth it.
(Eaglebeak)
One problem with Gail Collins' thought: Trump is not a politician.
"Where did Collins get the notion that in a showdown between a politician and a "lawman," "the lawman usually wins"?"
If that was really a thing it wouldn't be hard for Collins to cite the obvious historical examples, but she didn't. Wishcasting.
I find that, using a feature of audio mixers and switching, listening to Scott Adams instead of Rush, who remains recorded via another channel, is my preference most afternoons after the youtube Adams version becomes listenable.
Rush goes on and on about the same things now. So does the left, but nothing clever is happening on either side there.
The Adams presidential genitalia disinterest act was proposed today.
All these shoddy efforts to tear Trump down only seem to make him more of a folk hero to his supporters, fighting the corrupt broken system. Especially now that "investigation" has moved away from the Russia collusion story and on to the more salacious and puerile world of porn stars and payoffs, a tell-all book from a disgruntled underling, and FBI raids that seem unnecessarily exorbitant and desperate. It just seems like the opposition isn't not doing themselves any favors with all these antics.
That's just my impression. We'll see I guess though.
"It allows Trump and his defenders to paint Comey as disgruntled and self-serving"
Which is annoying for progs and LLRs, since otherwise we deplorables wouldn't be "allowed" to paint him as what he really is, and the MSM could more easily stick to the "man of integrity" narrative.
Of course, my contempt for MSM prog flacks is boundless, but the notion that Comey could be a "hero" is still, umm, surprising.
On the down-side, the DVDs promised for today are stuck in NJ owing to "natural disaster or weather."
Perhaps I will watch the full 17 hour flight from London to Sydney I noticed yesterday.
The antics are the news women's pages.
It's Potemkin lawmen all the way down.
Or perhaps it's more like an old Western, with Comey as one of those buildings with an impressive phony façade.
Collins can tell herself whatever makes her feel good and rationalizes her prejudices and attitudes, but that doesn't make it so.
They see a lawman, I see road kill. We live in entirely different worlds.
Hero to LLR's everywhere James Comey: “If I ever start considering whose political fortunes will be affected by a decision, we’re done … we’re just another player in … the tribal battle.”
Also James Comey: “I don’t remember consciously thinking about that, but it must have been. Cause I was operating in a world where Hillary Clinton was going to beat Donald Trump. And so I’m sure that it … was a factor. Like I said, I don’t remember spelling it out, but it had to have been. That … she’s going to be elected president, and if I hide this from the American people, she’ll be illegitimate the moment she’s elected, the moment this comes out."
Discuss.
Or we could just go with the classic "whited sepulchre."
That was annoying! I had to type sepulchre three times before the autocorrect would leave it unchanged to sepulcher! I added it to the dictionary and now it leaves it alone.
Sepulchre! Sepulchre! Sepulchre! Take that, f***ing autocorrect!
Here you have two of the most anti-trump of the anti-trumpers in one of the most anti-trump vehicles basically admitting that Comey is not doing himself or the FBI any favors. The DOJIG's report/s is hanging over all and making a lot of people who would otherwise be hysterical very cautious about what limbs they climb out on.
Pulling out the heavy artillery and going full KJV on Comey's ass.
Comey would do well to take heed of GB Shaw's advice, "“Never wrestle with pigs. You both get dirty and the pig likes it.”
Hillary must enjoy the spectacle Comey is making of himself, since he's one of the Legion that cost her the election.
Just a theory... he might not care about damaging the FBI's case against the president if he knows there isn't any case. In that case, he's acting logically.
Maybe Comey’s right in believing that Trump is morally unfit to be president. But the fact remains that he won the election, and Comey’s attempt to over-rule that election is a much worse moral failing than Trump’s crassness.
"Maybe Comey’s right in believing that Trump is morally unfit to be president."
Yeah, Comey wasn't elected God.
Politician: James Comey, notorious panderer
Lawman: Donald Trump, Commander in Chief
I suspect it's generally true the public thinks that prosecutors and the FBI are on the right track, even if things go badly wrong in some cases. The special counsels in Washington are generally not blamed for their excesses, few people feel sorry for Martha Stewart or Conrad Black. I guess there's a suspicion that where there's smoke, there must be fire, and these rich people probably get away with a lot of things--high time they got caught for something. Al Capone and his taxes, etc.
Mueller and Comey may be just the dudes to reverse some of this hard-earned good reputation. The high points of their careers are fiascos, abuses of power, displays of incompetence or simple cluelessness, generally dressed up as the group think of "the right people," or personal self-righteousness. I'm reminded of the first Dumb and Dumber: Jim Carrey, an incompetent limo driver, drives through an intersection, causing a horrific crash. He emerges unscathed, and doesn't look in his rear view, but the camera shows flaming wrecks, human suffering and so on. Mueller and Comey. Pulse nightclub, Boston Marathon bombings, Whitey Bulger, the asbestos attack of 2001, just for starters.
Looks like Chuck Connors there. Chicago Cubs' loss but the Old West's gain.
"It allows Trump and his defenders to paint Comey as disgruntled and self-serving"
Disgruntled and self serving mean little.
Comey's Treason in paying foreign powers for information to affect the 2016 election is a bigger deal.
His conspiracy with the Obama and Clinton organizations to illegally spy on political opponents and leak information to the press is a bigger deal.
The special counsels in Washington are generally not blamed for their excesses, few people feel sorry for Martha Stewart or Conrad Black.
Maybe, but they have so many black marks against them since the 1990's that I suspect they've already used up the public's good will. I believed the "lawmen" were just doing their job at Waco and Ruby Ridge. I became less willing to believe they meant well with Martha Stewart. After the Clinton email scandal and now this whole Russian dossier thing, I have zero trust in them. I think of them as the bad guys, not the good sheriff.
Comey is not a "lawman". He is a lawyer who happens to work at an agency that claims to be law enforcing. BIG difference.
A real lawman, puts himself in danger to uphold the law. Being a lawman isn't just what he does for a living, it is what he IS. Deep down on a basic level a lawman has a strong moral code, enforces the laws, protects the weak. He doesn't have to wear a gun or sport big White Hat Stetson, but even without those things you know that a real lawman is an upright White Hat kind of guy who would not ever break the law himself. You KNOW he is one of the good guys, without question.
None of those things above remotely describe the self serving, priggish, drama queen, weasel that is Comey.
Andrew "The Lying Leaker" McCabe says that he was authorized to leak by "Crazy Comey the Leaker".
The practice of authorized leaking did not begin when Comey was the FBI Director.
Comey learned how to leak and to authorize leaks from his BFF, Robert "The FBI Whitewasher" Mueller.
When Mueller was the Director, the FBI leaked to favored journalists -- most prominently to Nicholas Kristof -- that the anthrax poisoner was Steven Hatfill. Mueller's FBI leaked this information for the following purposes:
* To assure the public that the investigation was succeeding.
* To scare Hatfill into incriminating himself by confessing, contacting collaborators, or trying to flee.
* To make Hatfill unemployable.
* To make Hatfill a social pariah.
Eventually, Mueller's FBI had to pay Hatfill $5 million in compensation.
Now as the Special Counsel, Mueller spends much of his time leaking and managing leaks. Mueller has authorized some of his gang of Trump-hating lawyers to leak -- just like Mueller had authorized some of his FBI gang to leak.
Crazy Comey has toasted himself.
The Left hates him because he inadvertently sunk Hillary's campaign, twice! Once by trashing her, while exonerating her, and, then, by re-opening the investigation based on the Anthony Weiner e-mails.
As for the Right, well, we think he is Forest Gump. A leaker, a schemer, and a Drama Queen, who was rightfully fired.
McCabe doesn't like him either.
Bring on the next IG Report!
When I hear "Lawman" my mind goes to the brand of jeans popular with female students when I was in high school. They only seemed to come in slim sizes and in fact I was lucky enough to date a girl who wore them.
I dunno what decade Gail is living in, but right now "lawmen" are most certainly unpopular. "Lawmen" are being called out for all sorts of unethical, corrupt and violent behavior that they could practice with impunity before. Heck, even when they are acting with the best intentions, "lawmen" are getting called racist, as are the people that called the "lawmen".
Jimbino ... why do you think Comey is not a pig?
When Mueller was the Director, the FBI leaked to favored journalists -- most prominently to Nicholas Kristof -- that the anthrax poisoner was Steven Hatfill.
Didn't Mueller drive an anthrax researcher to commit suicide or something?
Cause I was operating in a world where Hillary Clinton was going to beat Donald Trump
If you overdose on Hopium® immediately seek medical attention.
Nonapod at 3:04 PM
Didn't Mueller drive an anthrax researcher to commit suicide or something?
I think that that anthrax researcher, Bruce Edwards Ivins, indeed was the culprit.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Edwards_Ivins
Heh, the flop sweat from the left on Comey is palpable. This exchange between two concern trolling lefties is just another example of them wishing Comey would just go away like Hillary. This whole russian collusion thing is a dry hole and we see they have now moved on to Stormy Daniels and sex. I don't think these Acme Rocket skates will work any better than the Acme "Bat suit" they just flew into a boulder will but by all means knock yourself out.
The problem is that Comey not only does NOT act like our vision of "Lawman" or a "FBI Director".
He's NOT one. He's a lawyer. Who never worked in law enforcement before being appointed to be FBI DIrector.
He was DAG for 1.5 years, worked in the private sector for 7 years, and was US Attorney for 10 years or more.
He's not Elliot Ness, he's Hamilton Burger.
I loved to investigate Burt Stehpens private life.
Lets see if he's "a prig or a pig"!
Some lawmen (e.g., county sheriffs) are elected, but most law enforcers are not. Those who work for the FBI certainly are not.
Politicians are elected, and thus remain directly accountable to the electorate. Most politicians (including legislatures and executives with a veto power) are directly involved in creating law, whereas lawmen who attempt to create (and not just enforce) law are rogue lawmen for their job is only to enforce existing law and not to create (or creatively interpret) law.
When Comey arrogates to himself a right to determine what the law is (or even worse, what it should be), or when he decides that a President Hillary Clinton should assume office without criminal taint, he is usurping powers which rightfully belong to elected politicians, or to The People.
It surely is not up to Comey to decide what voters should or should not know. The People are sovereign, and if they choose to vote for a candidate tainted by criminal behaviors or even indictments they remain free to do so.
No one elected Comey, and rogue lawmen are reasonably viewed as a danger to the public (or even to the republic, depending on who and where they serve). Comey's root problem seems to lie in attempts to assume a Hero of the Republic role by acting well beyond his (former) authority as a federal lawman.
So no, Mr Comey, you ain't Batman. Mostly you appear to be an increasingly disgraced ex-lawman. Your tragic flaw appears to be a narcissistic hubris.
FBI Director "Crazy Comey the Leaker", CIA Director John Brennan and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper were zealots who hated Donald Trump so much that they jumped into a belief that Donald Trump was being blackmailed by Russian Intelligence.
This belief was based on their hatred of Trump. Because Trump had done some business with some Russians, then that necessarily meant he was being blackmailed by them.
Zealots cannot be reasoned with. They believe nonsense firmly.
At the end of July 2016, when Trump joked that Russian Intelligence should release its copies of the e-mails that Hillary Clinton had deleted, these three zealots adjusted their loony thinking to the idea that Trump had colluded with Russian Intelligence to hack her e-mail server.
These three zealots have abused their top positions in the Intelligence Community to disgrace not only themselves personally, but also that entire institution.
Those three officials were paid well to exercise good judgment. Instead they concocted a crazy conspiracy theory that has thoroughly poisoned US politics.
The "intelligence Community" under Obama was a disaster.
Comey - the slippery prig.
Brennen - The angry commie and Left-wing hack.
Clapper - the Liar.
Waiting for the next IG Report.
Those reports are definitive. No amount of squealing makes a difference.
McCabe is gone. Like a ghost. He may avoid indictment. Or Trump/Sessions may indict him and force him to spend $1 or 2 Million of his savings on defense costs (which is what a leftwing DOJ typically does).
Comey may survive financially. But he won't work in the DOJ again. Probably, get a gig teaching law somewhere or a soft-landing at the big law firm.
Let's see what happens to the rest of these clowns (Strzok, Page, Ohr, Yates, et al.).
There are no 'lawmen' inside the Beltway. They are careerists playing political games orangling for a sweet double-dip after retiring at 55.
The lawmen are out in flyover country actually enforcing the law.
Same goes for the armed forces and the intelligence agencies. The noble and the brave aren't in DC.
I'm somehow reminded of the BHTv guy -- was it Bob Wright -- saying that the Press was so heavy-handed for Clinton that they could never get away from that if she lost. Or something like that.
This is the same thing. If your bias is so obvious that it's out there for anyone to see, and you're not supposed to be biased, you've lost all credibility.
Was Comey really a lawman? He was not a career FBI agent right?
He was a politician in a law oriented position.
"Comey was the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York from January 2002 to December 2003, and subsequently the United States Deputy Attorney General from December 2003 to August 2005 in the administration of President George W. Bush. Comey appointed Patrick Fitzgerald to be the Special Counsel to head the grand jury investigation into the Plame affair after Attorney General John Ashcroft recused himself.
In August 2005, Comey left the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and became general counsel and senior vice president of Lockheed Martin, based in Bethesda, Maryland.[4] In 2010, he became general counsel at Bridgewater Associates, based in Westport, Connecticut. In early 2013, he left Bridgewater to become a Senior Research Scholar and Hertog Fellow on National Security Law at Columbia Law School. He served on the board of directors of HSBC Holdings until July 2013.[5]
In September 2013, President Barack Obama appointed Comey to the position of Director of the FBI."
That's not exactly Wyatt Earp or even Eliot Ness.
Calling him a "lawman" is technically correct, he's a lawyer, but not as it's usually applied to mean sheriff or law enforcement. The Old West had an image of New York City lawyers, of course, but it wasn't positive and in that respect a populist politician would have definitely a local advantage.
So...how do the 'lawmen' look in this day of the BLM narrative that the NYT is pushing?
Do the 'lawmen' automatically win?
Well, they might if the NYT hadn't spent decades trying to trash their reputations.
And the FBI has never been a squeaky clean organization, between Hoover, the X Files, Waco, and the increasing number of scandals coming bout about Pulse nightclub.
How does such a doofus reach the pinnacle position in law enforcement?
Robin Hood is a much more ancient myth than the "lawman".
There are "Robin Hoods" everywhere. And fairy tales are full of people abusing their authority.
Distrust of authority is almost as ancient as the existence of authority.
"Says Bret Stephens, quoted at the NYT in a conversation between him and Gail Collins".
Wonder how Stephens feels these days, about his decision to go over to the Dark Side. There was a time when he would have been as likely to hold a "conversation" with Gail Collins as to spend a weekday watching celebrity bowling. Now he has to pretend the stupid fucking cow is a "colleague". My God, that must be a lonely feeling.
The Intelligence Community began going down its wrong road already in mid-2015, when Donald Trump entered the Presidential race.
Trump-hating zealots at the top of the Intelligence Community were certain that such a sleazy businessman who had done much business in Russia and with Russians must be subject to blackmail by Russian Intelligence. They based their certainty on their hatred of Trump.
Even if the Intelligence Community had no facts for such a presumption, the zealots at the top were certain that they eventually would discover such facts by applying all the resources of the Intelligence Community.
The zealots engaged themselves and the entire Intelligence Community in a perverse circular reasoning.
* The facts must be there.
* We eventually will find the facts.
* Therefore, the facts certainly exist, just waiting to be discovered.
Therefore, Trump certainly is being blackmailed by Russian Intelligence.
At the end of July 2016, Trump joked that Russia should provide its copies of the e-mails that Hillary Clinton had deleted.
This joke became the entire cause of the zealots' new certainty that Trump was colluding with Russian Intelligence to steal Clinton's e-mails.
These zealots earn big salaries and will receive big pensions because they supposedly exercise good judgment. Instead, they have acted for years like crazy loons.
These partisan zealots, by concocting and sticking to their preposterous fantasies, have disgraced their institutions and have poisoned our country's politics thoroughly.
As to this "lawman" bilge, I have to laugh. Were the KGB thugs who kidnapped pretty girls for Beria to rape "lawmen"?
Sydney,
"I believed the 'lawmen' were just doing their job at Waco and Ruby Ridge"
There was a ton of evidence back then that they weren't. Hopefully your newly-found wisdom has been applied to those past events too.
The Intelligence Community began going down its wrong road already in mid-2015, when Donald Trump entered the Presidential race.
Have you forgotten the last CIA Iran nuke assessment of the W. Bush era?
Lloyd W. Robertson said...
"few people feel sorry for Martha Stewart or Conrad Black."
I felt deep sympathy for both of them, and respect for the courageous way they flatly refused to feel the least bit sorry for themselves. They are both vastly better human beings than the slinking jackals who lied them into prison.
Unknown at 4:02 PM
Have you forgotten the last CIA Iran nuke assessment of the W. Bush era?
I meant going down its wrong road in this preposterous Russiagate investigation.
For many of us, Trump served to keep HRC out of the White House and to also allow many on the left and the MSM (but I repeat myself) to to reveal themselves as uninterested in any truth that gets in the way of Democratic politics.
So that has been accomplished, Comey's just making me enjoy it all over again.
Rehajm. Thanks for reminding me of that great line: "Cause I was operating in a world where Hillary Clinton was going to beat Donald Trump..."
Hi. I'm Jim Comey, your Director of the FBI. I live in a fantasy world, and am proud of it. We are here to serve and protect you. Enjoy your day!
”And maybe that's what some people (including Comey?) would like to picture Comey doing to Trump.”
How did Althouse get an image from inside Chuck’s head?
J. Edgar Hoover fancied himself a lawman, but when he fancied himself, he was more like Miss Kitty.
I love the fact that grown men and women fell for this dossier prank. It is great fun on so many levels.
"I suspect Comey will go down in history as the hero who stood up to a crazy president."
Comey actually said that Trump was NOT 'crazy' and was of 'higher than average intelligence' but was 'morally unfit' to be President.
1. White Castle, a brand I only came to know once I moved to the East Coast (from LA). Does Madison have WC?
2. I forget which it movie it was that delivered the idea that the FBI considered themselves to be pistoleros. I suspect it must be due to their creation during prohibition or somesuch.
What does "win" mean?
Comey is selling a book. He's doing the publicity tour. The more Trump, or others, call attention to it, the more $$ Comey gets.
For Trump:
Winning is (1) Midterms (2) Can he get Congress to enact his programs? (3) Winning in 2002.
Comey is not a big factor in those 3 items.
George Clintonopolis and ABC happy to help. Whatever it takes to avenge poor Hillary.
"I suspect Comey will go down in history as the hero who stood up to a crazy president"
Here's the thing -- when did he ever do that? He didn't quit in righteous refusal to serve under a President he now claims to have despised. He was fired!
Only after he was fired did he do anything to oppose the President. This is not exactly a profile in courage. One might charitably infer that the President never actually tried to force him to do anything improper, anything that might actually prompt him to express opposition. The worst I am hearing him say (I have not read his book) is that Trump was like a "mafia boss" and tried to get him to swear loyalty . . . and he was absolutely comfortable continuing to work under that mafia boss. There's . . there's no narrative arc here where things pile up and in the end it's just too much for our righteous hero to accept. No. He stuck around until Trump told him "you're fired," and that was the end of it.
I suspect a lot of the friendly fire he is attracting right now is due to people on the left who have the uneasy sense that he's an opportunistic coward, a man who was willing to lick Trump's boots when he thought it might let him keep his job (writing classic CYA memos on the sly, of course -- we've all dealt with coworkers of this type), and who now puffs himself up when he risks nothing.
Comey might be a lesson to the Left that the enemy of your enemy is not necessarily your friend. Trump-hate is necessary but not sufficient for Progressive Heroism.
The stupid hate Trump guys can not comprehend that Comy has never been an FBI Agent or Amy other Law Man. He is a slick lawyer used by the Clintons to Direct all FBI Agents to cover up and deep six all Clinton Crimes. And the weirdo is actually proud of his skills. He is the anti-Lawman. Which brings up Mueller who did that himself until he got sick of it and quit.
Comey sounds like a disgruntled former employee, which is what he is.
CNN from 2013:
Washington(CNN) – FBI nominee James Comey reported a net worth of more than $11 million in documents filed with the Senate committee due to weigh his confirmation on Tuesday.
Comey also reported to the Judiciary Committee that he will get a profit-sharing payout of more than $3 million from the hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, if confirmed.
They are both vastly better human beings than the slinking jackals who lied them into prison.
Fitzgerald is a skunk and one reason I wish I was not an agnostic. It would b nice to think of him on a hot seat.
He is the anti-Lawman. Which brings up Mueller who did that himself until he got sick of it and quit.
Excellent point and someone pointed out yesterday that one motive for Felt was that Nixon appointed Gray who had not been an agent.
Comey and Gray may be the only two Directors to have never gone through the academy,
Oh my gosh, Ann broadcasts her confusion over the meaning of "lawman," and invites her commenters to chime in on their own.
Speaking of broadcasting, what do y'all make of the Hannity news, with poor Sean being thrown under the bus into the Cohen-Trump slime? Ann has failed to pass on to her readers why Cohen faces serious SDNY charges -- he is not only Trump's lawyer but also a made man in Ukrainian organized crime families -- look up his wife.
Hannity is now involved with all that, and it has nothing to do with real estate.
What do you think? Turns out Hannity talks to Trump several times a day, the president can't think of many other people to talk to. Would Ann take his call?
Assuming Walter Scott's version (Ivanhoe) -
lawman = the Sheriff of Nottingham, or one of those official characters standing in in Scott's telling. No one by that title in Ivanhoe, but we can certainly make room.
Trump = Richard I naturally
Cohen = One of the Jews of course, Isaac of York et al.
Hannity - The minstrel, Alan-a-Dale
Fill in the others.
I don't think Pickering read Ivanhoe.
John Pickering: "...and invites her commenters to chime in on their own."
Astonishing.
A blog actually inviting commenters to chime in on their own.
This will not be allowed once The Party gets total control. People can't be expected to share RightThoughts without state guidance.
Drago @ 7:07.
The left are frightening when it comes free speech. They think it's normal to squish it
Pikering is deep in the swamp but I doubt he has an alligator in this race.
Just another chump.
That's a promising start on Ivanhoe: For Rebecca's role (Liz Taylor in the movie), it's gotta be Stormy Daniels.
Come on you guys, the government seems to be partly run by Fox News! I know it's better than Hillary, but is it good, the way things are? This vile man with his thugs and his fixers? I blame Ann for choosing not to reveal the extent of her reading.
I.N.G.A. And Squeamish seem to be getting some company.
John Henry
Disgruntled? Which of Trump's former employees/co-workers is gruntled? The guy is impossible to work with/for, except as a controversy-attracting law client. No one in business wants to touch that orangutan with a 10-foot pole.
Ah well if we are going to lay goofy Western movie games (Comey, "I want to play cowboys and Indians"), I'll say that Comey reminds me of "That dirty little coward who shot John Howard".
The phrase and the song line is from a movie supposedly about the fellow who shot Jesse James in the back. Jesse was in hiding using the alias "John Howard".
Lawman my ass. Former Lockheed Martin General Counsel
James Comey; Former HSCB Board Member James
Wyatt Earp wasn’t a corporate bag man who made tens of millions before becoming a Lawman. FBI Director is a face position. A figure head job. They should get some over the hill Hollywood actor tfor the position. The duties are to protect the Swamp.
Actually Swamp Ranger is a better title
TTR: "No one in business wants to touch that orangutan with a 10-foot pole."
Demonstrably false.
Which is why so many left-wing groups are complaining about the deals the Trump Organization was making in the years prior to Trump's run as well as the deals that keep coming to them which the dems claim is an emoluments clause violation.
So, which is it, Trump can't get any business going OR Trump has so many business dealings in the mix that the emoluments clause is being violated?
Sort of like how Trump was coordinating and colluding with the Russians during the election but yet, somehow, for some reason, still needed to set up a back channel to the Russians after the election. And the CIA/NSA hoovered up every single communication by every Trump family member and Trump campaign worker and Trump organization member and extended Trump circle for over year prior to the election but cannot demonstrate any collusion.
So I guess we'll just chalk it all up to Trump hiring Dionne Warwick to mind-meld with the Russians for coordination purposes.
Do you know the way to St Petersburg?
I'm going back to find some peace of mind in St Petersburg...
Sheesh, even Black Lives Matter didn't slander Lawmen the way Collins just did by calling Comey one.
When I think of Comey, I think of Johnny Behan, not Wyatt Earp.
Stop picking on Comey.
He was a hard worker.
So much so he wrote an exoneration before critical steps of "the matter" were concluded. By the book..I mean..Buy my Book! Comey.
Most apt Dionne Warwick song is "Walk on by"/ode to Obama:
If you see me walking down the street
And I start to cry each time we meet
Walk on by, walk on by
Make believe
That you don't see the tears
Just let me grieve
In private 'cause each time I see you
I break down and cry
Walk on by (don't stop)
Walk on by (don't stop)
Walk on by
I just can't get over losing you
And so if I seem broken and blue
Walk on by, walk on by
Foolish pride
That's all that I have left
So let me hide
The tears and the sadness you gave me
When you said goodbye
Walk on by (don't stop)
Walk on by (don't stop)
Walk on by (don't stop)
Walk on
Walk on by, walk on by
Foolish pride
Is all that I have left
So let me hide
The tears and the sadness you gave me
When you said goodbye
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