The Deep State Cracks (Ever So Slightly)
This week, many conservative pundits, who still hate Hillary Clinton, sneered that she is pathetic. With Easter fast approaching, maybe the conservative press will feel some pathos toward Hillary, and direct their verbal cannons at former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, a now-proven enemy of democracy and justice, who was officially fired from government duty Friday night.
In the spirit of Christian charity, Hillary’s tragic story should invite feelings of sadness because she’s in a failed marriage…and because she’s a failed politician. While I never connected to her as a public figure or supported her policy suggestions, I just feel pathos toward her. And I am still suspicious of the deep state under Obama and the Clinton state department.
Hillary is not the first woman to stay in a bad marriage for inexplicable reasons and look to her career for emotional fulfillment. Of all the cute and clever guys at Yale, she sadly fell for Bill Clinton, who is at least half of her troubles. Bill attracts women like moths to a flame and disregards his wedding vows to satisfy his sexual cravings. Still, we never hear Rush Limbaugh express empathy for the real person that was blindsided one day by her husband’s infidelity – because Hillary is just some liberal in Limbaugh’s eyes.
Hillary was also no great candidate for high office: the 2008 and 2016 results prove this. However, there is no shame in running for office and losing, when half the candidates fall into this category. Still, Fox News runs a “pathetic Hillary” story every month because of her frequent and public comments about losing in 2016. Her excuse-riddled speeches are unbecoming, but organizations keep inviting her and audiences keep asking her about the 2016 election. Hillary’s political sin is mostly being married to Bill Clinton without actually being Bill Clinton.
Bill Clinton would have trounced a rookie senator in 2008 and a rookie businessman in 2016. He would not deliver a “basket of deplorables” speech, and he would have campaigned in Pennsylvania, Michigan, or Wisconsin. However, one week after Hillary’s loss, Bill was on TV: “I told her to campaign in the Midwest.” I feel pathos for any woman whose husband publicly calls her out when she is down. Still, Ann Coulter never criticizes Bill’s comments for undermining the confidence of his smart, aspirational wife.
Hillary’s sin is this: she wanted to play in the big league, but she never had an A-game within her. She married a prime-time husband, but she lacked his charm and political skill. She was just as smart, just as connected, and just as aspirational: she was just not Bill Clinton. This week, when I watched reports of her stumbling down steps in India, Hillary resembled the aging boxer being battered in the ring to the delight of the blood-lusty audience, and I was moved to pathos. Conservatives should put their humanity first and not pile on a feeble liberal when she’s clearly lost a step.
I feel no such pathos toward Andrew McCabe, who was fired by the attorney general Friday and almost surely lost his tax-payer-funded pension. Yes, the liberal press will equivocate his firing with Nixon’s Saturday Night Massacre, but it is no such thing. Attorney General Sessions acted upon the recommendation of the DOJ inspector general, whose investigation found McCabe had made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and had lied to investigators reviewing the FBI’s probe of Hillary Clinton’s email server. And that inspector general was appointed by Barack Obama.
McCabe’s initial response makes him look guilty as charged. First, his attorney told the media McCabe had learned from Sessions’ press release that he had been fired - except the DOJ provided records of their advance notification to McCabe and his attorney. Oops! The attorney was forced to confirm this, adding McCabe was not regularly checking his emails - - since he was on leave from his duties at the bureau.
Second, McCabe does not deny any of the inspector general’s findings. Rather, he chooses to spin a conspiracy theory. “Here’s the reality: I am being singled out and treated this way because of the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the James Comey firing.” In fact, the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility refuted McCabe’s spin with their dismissal recommendation: “All FBI employees know that lacking candor under oath results in dismissal and that integrity is our brand.” Bam!
Third, McCabe’s very first press release included a declaration of political war against the president. “The attack on my credibility [is part of] this Administration’s ongoing war with the FBI [and their persistence] only highlights the importance of the Special Counsel’s work.” Translation: Trump colluded with Russia! “The president’s tweets [have called] for my firing [and loss] of my pension. And all along we have said nothing, never wanting to distract from the mission of the FBI. No more.” Translation: I, citizen Andrew McCabe, will now join the chorus of anti-Trump voices (and probably get a paying gig on CNN or MSNBC).
I am perhaps different from some conservatives in that I don’t want to see the Clintons or Barack Obama behind bars, because I am convinced that will make today's political acrimony even worse. America will suffer if we establish a tradition of election winners marching their opponents to the guillotine. It is a far better strategy to go after the lieutenants. Nixon’s attorney general, John Mitchell, deservedly served 19 months in jail. Therefore, I would rather see Loretta Lynch, James Comey, Susan Rice, Samantha Power, Peter Strzok, and Huma Abedin tried, convicted and jailed. I think the deep state needs to be politically neutered. It was a political President Obama that expressed Hillary Clinton's innocence. It was a conspiratorial Loretta Lynch and Peter Strzok that ensured her exoneration.