Comey admits he made his late announcement because he thought Hillary would win

[Fuzzy Bear]

I've cut Comey slack in the past.  He was in an incredibly crappy position, in that he was going to anger almost half of America no matter what he did.  The problem I have with Comey is his thinking and reasoning here.

If James Comey is investigating a possible crime, why does Clinton's standing in the polls matter when it comes to public disclosure?  It was either wrong or right to disclose that she was, again, under investigation,  due to new information not previously discovered.  To admit that taking the polls into the calculation of how you would handle a disclosure and then pretty much flatly saying that you wanted Hillary to win casts your actions in the light of someone looking for cover for their own actions, and not looking out for the interest the public has in an impartial FBI. 

If James Comey didn't believe that there was evidence of a crime, then why didn't he simply refuse to investigate, once he made that determination?  Rich Lowry (of all people) make a valid point of special prosecutors; they are investigating PEOPLE rather than investigating CRIMES, and there is a real danger to personal liberty in this.  It's how Whitewater got to be about Monica Lewinsky; the special prosecutor began investigating CLINTON and not WHITEWATER.  Mueller is doing it now; he's investigating TRUMP and not a specific crime Trump has allegedly committed.  To a degree, this is true of Hillary Clinton; her actions were reckless and didn't reflect well on her, but there was a demand to "Investigate Hillary" and not to investigate a particular act, once Comey got done with the e-mails.  Comey's actions beg the question of whether or not he would have begun an investigation of Hillary when he did, had he believed that Donald Trump, and not Jeb! or Little Marco, was going to be the GOP nominee. 

If Comey thought there was evidence of a crime, he should have told Loretta Lynch off and referred to the Clinton investigation as an INVESTIGATION and not a "matter".  Loretta Lynch disgraced herself with that maneuver; she damaged the integrity of the DOJ with that, and with her meeting with Bill Clinton privately on the tarmac in a plane.  The FBI Director can't be fired by the AG; he/she has a unique degree of autonomy to act, and he should have used that autonomy to better protect the integrity of the DOJ; instead, he was weak and allowed it to be used.  Had he done so earlier, the last minute revelations, followed by an "It's OK, nothing here!" announcement afterward may not have appeared necessary to Comey. 

Comey did damage with his book by disclosing his political motives.  He undid some of the cleansing that restored the FBI after the revelations of the worst of J. Edgar Hoover (a/k/a "Scumbag of the Century").  It's really a shame.  This could have been the FBI's finest hour.  It's turned out to be far from that.

[Fuzzy Bear]

when the man himself did nothing wrong.

He actually did many things wrong including going over the head of his boss Loretta Lynch several times. He could have waited until he actually reviewed the emails to Congress before getting Republicans like Jason Chaffetz all wet between their legs with news of a re-opening of the Clinton investigation. They ended up reviewing all the e-mails before Election Day anyway, and when they announced there was nothing new it didn't even stick because it only made it look like Obama's FBI Director was just covering for her again. It was pointless and reckless. I don't care if Hillary was up 20+ points in the polls. You just don't do something like that.

The impasse here is over the definition of "wrong." I have a lot of trouble putting blame on Comey for acting totally reasonably given the information available to him and to everyone at the time. I'll admit that objectively, what he did turned out to have been factually wrong and had unfair consequences. I meant morally wrong, which I probably should've clarified. Let me explain.

Sure, his actions turned out to be incorrect, awkward, and potentially damaging, but they did not in any way decide the election. It turned out to be pointless, and in hindsight one could call it "reckless." Just like the basket of deplorables comment turned out to be pointless, and the 47% comment turned out to have been reckless, and Dukakis' tank photo turned out to have been harmful.

If Hillary had run a more competent campaign overall, we would be talking about this in a totally different context, because Comey may well have been fired out of spite by President Clinton. If the Clinton campaign wasn't marred by the DNC and her personal inability to energize a lightning rod, she would've been elected regardless of whether Comey came out with it before or after the election.

He should have spoken with Deputy AG Yates before publicly disclosing the information. Period. He acted recklessly and undermined his female superiors over and over and made a decision based on political reasons. He was wrong.

Of course, Loretta Lynch and Sally Yates are role models of non-partisan law enforcement.

Lynch and Yates would have advised Comey on this issue to do what was in the best interest of Hillary Clinton and not what was in the best interest of the Nation.  If the two coincided, it would be pure luck.  Lynch has no honor, and Yates is full of herself, imagining herself on some future national ticket. 

[Fuzzy Bear]

when the man himself did nothing wrong.

He actually did many things wrong including going over the head of his boss Loretta Lynch several times. He could have waited until he actually reviewed the emails to Congress before getting Republicans like Jason Chaffetz all wet between their legs with news of a re-opening of the Clinton investigation. They ended up reviewing all the e-mails before Election Day anyway, and when they announced there was nothing new it didn't even stick because it only made it look like Obama's FBI Director was just covering for her again. It was pointless and reckless. I don't care if Hillary was up 20+ points in the polls. You just don't do something like that.

The impasse here is over the definition of "wrong." I have a lot of trouble putting blame on Comey for acting totally reasonably given the information available to him and to everyone at the time. I'll admit that objectively, what he did turned out to have been factually wrong and had unfair consequences. I meant morally wrong, which I probably should've clarified. Let me explain.

Sure, his actions turned out to be incorrect, awkward, and potentially damaging, but they did not in any way decide the election. It turned out to be pointless, and in hindsight one could call it "reckless." Just like the basket of deplorables comment turned out to be pointless, and the 47% comment turned out to have been reckless, and Dukakis' tank photo turned out to have been harmful.

If Hillary had run a more competent campaign overall, we would be talking about this in a totally different context, because Comey may well have been fired out of spite by President Clinton. If the Clinton campaign wasn't marred by the DNC and her personal inability to energize a lightning rod, she would've been elected regardless of whether Comey came out with it before or after the election.

He should have spoken with Deputy AG Yates before publicly disclosing the information. Period. He acted recklessly and undermined his female superiors over and over and made a decision based on political reasons. He was wrong.

Of course, Loretta Lynch and Sally Yates are role models of non-partisan law enforcement.

Lynch and Yates would have advised Comey on this issue to do what was in the best interest of Hillary Clinton and not what was in the best interest of the Nation.  If the two coincided, it would be pure luck.  Lynch has no honor, and Yates is full of herself, imagining herself on some future national ticket. 

Yeah. I really doubt that Yates was imagining herself on some future national ticket back in summer 2016. But you do you.

Bill Clinton imagined himself running for President when he was navigating how he would avoid the draft.  Sally Yates was far closer to that goal than Clinton was back then.

I think we've already have a Sally Yates 2020 poll here, or something like that.