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Let the Willing Suspension of Disbelief Begin
As a senator, Hillary Clinton once told General David Petraeus that trusting his positive reports to Congress on the surge in Iraq required “the willing suspension of disbelief.”
FBI director James Comey announced today that he would decline to recommend Clinton for prosecution for her mishandling of top secret information during her tenure as secretary of state.
Here’s a short list of claims related to the FBI’s investigation of Secretary Clinton’s unsecured e-mail setup that currently require the willing suspension of disbelief:
- Clinton didn’t know the e-mails she sent and received were classified and, in some cases, top secret, the most secret that a government secret can be.
- She set up the unorthodox e-mail server out of convenience, not in some attempt to hide what she was doing as Secretary of State from public view.
- She cooperated fully with the investigations into her e-mail setup.
- All of the 30,000 e-mails that her staff deleted from the server were about Chelsea’s wedding, yoga routines, and family vacations.
- Bill Clinton’s private meeting last week in Phoenix with Comey’s boss, Loretta Lynch, was entirely coincidental.
- The former president and the attorney general didn’t discuss the e-mail investigation at all.
- The 2012 prosecution of Petraeus for mishandling classified information was, like, totally different.
- Donald Trump knows how to exploit Hillary’s troubles in a way that both heals the nation and ensures a sweeping repudiation of Clintonian politics.
- If Hillary were a man, this wouldn’t be happening.
- We are a nation of laws.
- Words have meaning.
- Everything is okay.
She is not going to be prosecuted. I don’t think we need to spend anymore time or taxpayer money on this – any common sense person can figure out if she is that clueless, careless or crafty regarding the security of our country, why would anyone trust her ability as President of the United States and director of our armed forces? We have serious accountability issues throughout all branches of government, top to bottom. If it continues, and we elect her, we have ourselves to blame.
The good news is that she will be prosecuted in the court of public opinion. Even WaPo and CNN are saying she is still on a downward trend as trustworthy. I don’t really care if she lands in the hoosegow; it’s got to be enough that she has to wake up every day and still look at Hillary in the mirror. Inescapable punishment, that.
I am not surprised. As other’s have noted, we knew the fix was in a long time ago. The Lynch/Clinton meeting was the final message to him to play ball. I don’t know what Comey’s price was, but the Clintons/Obama paid it. Maybe he has a scandal in his closet too. Who knows. The fact is the rule of law no longer applies. It’s the rule of the audacious and powerful.
I think most people know this is true. Unfortunately, the closest the Republicans could find on the audacious map was Trump. I don’t support Trump, but I am voting Trump in the fall because I will do anything to stop Hillary from becoming President. And that includes getting muddy and messy by voting for him.
The true shock would have been if we still had a country where the rule of law applied for powerful Democrats. But we don’t and it doesn’t.
#HillaryForPrison #NeverHillary
Except that we have youknowwho running on the other side. This is who we are now? to have nominated these two people?
If she knew, she’s untrustworthy. If she didn’t know, she’s incompetent.
I wish, that presumes she has a conscience. More likely, she looks in the mirror and says: “you beat the bastards for another day!” She hates us in the “Vast Right Wing Conspiracy (TM)”, and probably has contempt for the lame sycophantic chattering class of her Palace Guard. That’s her attitude, all the way to the grave.
#HillaryForPrison
Old saying from sports …. You are what the back of your baseball card says you are. So, yeah. Its embarrassing and its a shame, but this IS who we are now.
I knew she would never be indicted, much less tried. I knew she’d skate. The DOJ would never go after the Dem standard bearer. I knew it all along. So why am I depressed?
As a reluctant-Trumper, I agree, this is good news. This will be a permanent cloud over Hillary, perhaps discouraging many Democrats from voting and motivating Conservatives. A Hillary indictment would have allowed them to remove her from the race without stirring up too much antagonism from her supporters and would have allowed Biden or Warren to run, both idiots, yes, but far more likeable and presentable than Clinton.
I think her campaign and the media (but I repeat myself) are going to spin this as complete and total exoneration, vindication, and repudiation. The right-wing lies have been “debunked.” No one is going to read the fine print of Comey’s remarks. Not just “old news,” it will actually be considered illegitimate even to bring up her email server or the classified emails. For the average voter, it is now water under the bridge.
It’s the best possible outcome for Trump if not for justice.
First it assures that he’ll run against her and not the far tougher to beat Biden/ Warren.
Secondly his line of attack has been that she is a liar and that the system is corrupt and rigged against the voting public.
Comey checked all the boxes for Donald.
Congress needs to have an impeachment package ready to go on inauguration day.
It’s simple: Whenever someone tries to pretend she was exonerated, just point out that the official report was that she was incredibly stupid and careless.
Then ask why they think an incredibly stupid and careless person should be President.
It is no longer possible to impeach and convict any Democratic president, ever, for any reason. The Senate Democrats will not vote to convict no matter what. She could have Americans summarily executed, give nuclear weapons to our worst enemy, (oh wait…)
Well sure, you can educate people one at a time. Doesn’t change the “narrative.” People still think “Bush lied, people died.”
Because you hoped that someone would be principled enough to yell NO and resign. Comey, for instance.
Just a reminder, it will be Clinton or Trump who’ll be appointing the next AG, overseeing the DOJ, etc. Unless you are completely indifferent to who it is, pick the one you prefer.
As much as Comey would deny it (and think he is correct in doing so), his judgment that no reasonable prosecutor would take this to trial confirms what many believe — America is no longer a country ruled by the disinterested application of the law to the mighty as well as the weak. His commentary seeks to resurrect some notion of accountability and has its political uses. In other words the mighty can only be felled politically and not by the law. If that is not the definition of a nation of men, not law, I do not know what is.
Wouldn’t it be really nice if right now there was a nominee with a serious record of public and political competence? Trump can yell all he wants about Crooked Hillary, but if the argument is about being accountable and smart, I don’t think he has anymore credibility than she does. Will he really be able to educate the public at large about this to a point where they will understand the Crooked Hillary line? Right now that line seems most effective on people who already had made their judgments about her and this case. I am willing to bet though that easily half of the electorate doesn’t even know what this is all about. I doubt they ever will now.
If I were Paul Ryan and I wanted to prove my disgusting GOPe credentials, I’d make sure anything I said about Donald Trump’s social media would overshadow what I have to say about this.
So they can unsuccessfully impeach another Clinton? If you want to get the Democrats to circle the wagons, this is the best possible way.
Waiting for Comey’s report felt to me kind of like waiting for the Supreme Court’s first Obamacare decision. Hoping so much that it would go our way, but knowing deep down inside that it wouldn’t. Now I put Comey in the same category as Roberts. He argues that A=B and B=C, but therefore A does not = C. I don’t get it. This reluctant Trumper just became a little less reluctant. I just want the whole rat infested place fumigated.
Unedited transcript of Comey announcement:
Gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, no indictment, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble. No questions.
As it is with all of her/their scandals.
I deny that this will be a willing suspension of disbelief.
Sanders supporters melt down over FBI’s Clinton decision.
From CNN.
I still don’t buy the notion that she was careless with her emails. She was careless with national security, but she was careful about the email trail she was leaving. She was careful about making sure she would be the one to control what would get released to investigators and FOIA requesters. She may have made a few mistakes here and there, which she could afford to because she has the media running interference for her, but she was careful enough.
If she was just “careless” about her emails, then she’s too stupid to be president.
Donald has already beat him to the punch tweeting this…..
The system is rigged. General Petraeus got in trouble for far less. Very very unfair! As usual, bad judgment.
11:37 AM – 5 Jul 2016
We’re 3 weeks away from the Democrat convention. I hope the Philly cops are doing some last minute riot control training.
I suspect there won’t be a lot of “brotherly love”.