James Comey’s Self-Righteous Meddling
What law enforcement officer, by the way, announces that he is going to conduct a search before even obtaining a warrant?
.. Was Comey acting out of pure concern for the law? Or did he relish the chance to assert that he, and not the president, was right? We can’t know for sure, but Comey has always enjoyed flexing his power.
.. And now Comey is telling his staff that he felt compelled to tell Congress about the extra set of emails (which the F.B.I. most likely already saw in its original investigation) because, well, golly, he promised he would keep Congress informed.
.. The idea that he wanted to help his political party is pretty terrifying. But the idea that he acted out of moral self-righteousness is not much more reassuring, given the immense powers of his office.
.. Barry Goldwater, a real conservative if there ever was one, was outraged by the rise of morality politics in the Republican party.
“Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the party, and they’re sure trying to do so, it’s going to be a terrible damn problem,” Goldwater once said, according to John Dean’s book “Conservatives Without Conscience.” “Frankly, these people frighten me.”
.. Was Comey setting out to change the election results to benefit his own party and its leaders in Congress? Or was he posing as the owner of the moral high ground?
Neither option is comforting. And neither changes the fact that Comey had to know that his actions were not justified by government procedure or lawyerly protocol