Now we know: Bill Clinton cost his wife the presidency

[DonViejo]

By Dana Milbank Opinion writer May 3 at 6:27 PM

So now it can be told: Bill Clinton cost his wife the presidency. Almost three hours into a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, FBI Director James Comey shed new light on his decision to go public about his agency’s investigations into Hillary Clinton’s emails, first in July 2016 and again, with devastating effect, in late October, 11 days before the election.

The specific reason he cited: Bill Clinton’s decision to board Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s plane in late June, when their planes were both on a tarmac in Phoenix. “The capper was — and I’m not picking on Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who I like very much — but her meeting with President Clinton on that airplane was the capper for me,” Comey said. Comey decided to “step away” and announce, without consulting the Justice Department, that Hillary Clinton shouldn’t be charged.

In Comey’s telling, this public announcement in turn required Comey to speak up again in October, when more emails were found. “Having done that [the public announcement] and then having testified repeatedly under oath that we’re done,” he said, “it would be a disastrous, catastrophic concealment” not to go public on Oct. 28 with the newly discovered emails.

It’s a tragic chain of events: If Bill Clinton hadn’t boarded that plane in June, Comey might not have spoken out in July, which means he wouldn’t have felt compelled to speak up again in October, which means Hillary Clinton would have won the election in November.

These were Comey’s fullest comments to date on his indefensible decision to announce on the eve of the election that he was reopening the investigation into Clinton, almost certainly handing the election to Donald Trump. It wasn’t a compelling explanation, but, knowing the self-righteousness and independence that drives the FBI director, it seemed genuine. He made a disastrous decision but for reasons that weren’t entirely wrong: Bill Clinton’s clumsiness created a vacuum of credibility, and Comey, self-appointed guardian of the justice system, stepped in to fill the void.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/now-we-know-bill-clinton-cost-his-wife-the-presidency/2017/05/03/3ecc1398-3044-11e7-9534-00e4656c22aa_story.html?utm_term=.f486be23cc06&wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1

[liberal N proud]

1. That is hogwash

[DonViejo]

3. Didn't read the full article, right?

[L. Coyote]

13. Why read hogwash? Comey is trying to justify his criminal actions. Hatch Act violation.

Federal employees are banned from political activity. Simple enough law that he violated.

Meanwhile, blaming Bill Clinton for Hillary's loss is a whole degree up the hogwash scale above horseshit and bullshit.

Link to tweet

[DonViejo]

16. Get back to me after you've read the full article.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

38. Obviously not. It cant be disputed that Bill Clinton cost Hillary the election 4 the reasons stated

... Time to take the blinders off?

[LisaM]

52. I read the whole article and it sheds zero light on why this was a problem for Comey.

So a former Democratic president climbs on the plane of a current Democratic AG? So what? What's his point?

And another thing, the fact that he raced to Ashcroft's bedside doesn't impress me in the least. Ashcroft was a miserable Attorney General, a raging sexist who spent actual government money covering up a classical statue with a curtain. The fact that he's a role model to Comey should have raised major red flags.

[DonViejo]

53. Appears the WaPo needs to provide their columnists with an emoticon similar to the one

DU has. This one:

[LisaM]

55. Or, he's just not a good writer.

If he's trying to be sarcastic, it's a huge fail.

[snooper2]

15. no, Bill should have known better than pulling that stunt

It was stupid as shit...

If we can't call out leaders of our own party for doing dumbass things we should look closer at ourselves.

[Jacquette]

28. No it was desperate

Whatever he had to know or tell her was worth taking the heat. My question and sorry if it's been answered: how did the FBI even get wind of this impromptu tete a tete?? Are they in the habit of monitoring the travel habits and movements of the AG? So much so that the fbi is even notified and aware when she temporarily disembarks?

Or are they closely monitoring Bill Clinton?

[karynnj]

44. It's possible it could have been the media .. or the social media

Bill Clinton and, to a lesser degree, Lynch are public figure. Both had their own planes at the tarmac. I assume that anywhere Clinton goes, there are people stunned to see him -- who tell others. In today's world, that then is often out on social media. However it happened, it became a HUGE news story - which was predictable given that HRC was under investigation and she was the AG.

The Milbank article makes sense. I wish he would have spelled out even more what could have been behind Comey's agitation and concern. For one, we have (to my knowledge) never had a Presidential nominee under investigation - and in 2016, we had two. I expect there will be more behind the scenes stories for top Democrats, including the Clintons, on whether the existence of that investigation ever caused a discussion on whether Clinton should have stepped aside.

On the one hand, at an earliest enough date - say, March 2015 - when the email issue became public, HRC handled it poorly, and her trustworthiness numbers cratered, there was no popular alternative running against her - as there was in 2008. Additionally, as came out, there was NOTHING she should be indicted for - so standing down at that point would have sacrificed her chance to become President when she looked like a shoo in. Although she never regained the high approval prior to 2015, she was still seen as very likely to win -- until the first of the two October Comey letters came out.

Right now, I get the image of everyone in the various inner circles playing "hot potato" -- no one wants to be seen as the one responsible. The truth though is that MANY are likely responsible for this -- including Comey, who did not really HAVE to put out the 2 letters. Chaffetz for immediately leaking a letter that I assume was confidential. Bill Clinton for meeting Lynch and various off message comments such as the one on Obamacare. However, the most blame really is HRC's for NOT leaving email, already requested, with the State Department when she left. Doing that likely would have closed the hearings far before the election - with nothing negative found. It is likely that no one might have known how she processed the email -- and if it came out, she could say that she archived it on a timely basis.

Having not done that, she really blew her chance to explain once completely and accurately what had been done, admit it was not the best thing to have done and to indicate that she agreed with how the SD was handling the current secretary's email. The fact that there was no precedent on a Secretary using just a dot gov account and archiving everything in real time when she came in. Had she done that, I think the email crisis would have ended earlier and she might have retained the trust of far more people.

[brush]

56. Don't get it twisted. Comey is the reason Hillary lost. He alone sent the Oct. letter

Everything else Comey tries to blame is just attempts to justify his violation of the Hatch act which put unstable, not too smart megalomaniac in the White House.

And as far as megalomaniacs go, the last thing we need is an not smart, unstable one.

[LisaM]

57. What stunt?

What, exactly, transpired when an ex President got on a plane with a sitting AG from the same party?

[snooper2]

59. It was non-stop on radio/tv everywhere for weeks

What did it accomplish for Bill? He can't make a phone call?

COMPLETELY unneeded distraction near the end of an election season

[LisaM]

63. So, again, what exactly did he do wrong?

It actually wasn't nonstop on the radio for weeks (though of course there were references and it was blown out of proportion) but what exactly did he do that was so terrible?

[HoneyBadger]

2. The optics were bad

But that does not make it THE reason. There seems to be quest to find the ONE reason and label it as such, as if you ruined your meatloaf by using sugar instead of salt. Perhaps the world does not actually work like like.

[CrispyQ]

51. +1 -nt

[riversedge]

4. No logic: 1st Comey decided NOT to charge Hillary-But just B/4 election he decided URGENT to tell

Congress that more were found--without a warrant and he admitted he knew his letter would be leaked. There is no connection in logic between these two decisions.

[BeyondGeography]

9. If he was out to get her, Bill certainly made his job easier

Didn't he?

[itcfish]

22. No

Manafort and Flynn talking to the Russian Ambassador should have made his job easier.

[bettyellen]

50. Why would anyone normalize a person in his position "being out to get" a candidate for president?

It's an illegal abuse of power we're talking about. Of course they'll blame Dems if they can.

[defacto7]

54. this

Sloppy excuse. He's looking for someone else to blame that the gullible will eat up.

[Baconator]

60. I think he thought what we all thought...

... And believed Clinton was going to win.

In that case, it would have come out after the election and there would have been charges of a cover up.

It may have caused problems for other people but I do think he did what he thought best for the FBI.

[Kentonio]

5. If he hadn't spoken out the first time

Wouldn't the whole thing have been hanging over her the whole time anyway?

Also why would Bill Clinton boarding that plane make Comey decide to publicly say she wasn't being charged? That makes no sense to me.

[ucrdem]

42. Yep.

It was a valiant attempt to put the stupid thing to rest and give the AG a way out of it, is how I remember it.

[VOX]

6. Comey saying zip about the Trump/Russia investigation caused Hillary's loss.

Because the use of a private email server and maybe-sorta-some-other-emails-but-who-knows-for-sure MUST take precedence over the simultaneous investigation into Russian interference in a U.S. general election, the purpose of which was to influence its outcome, with multiple individuals in Trump's campaign directly meeting with Russian agents.

Comey was in the tank with the Republicans from the get-go. He would have done/said the same things regardless of who Bill Clinton spoke to on the tarmac.

[miyazaki]

7. This e-mail crap is dumber than the hanging chads.

Fuck this guy.

[Eyeball_Kid]

8. It was a "confluence of related factors", Dana, not a singular event.

There could have been a number of factors that could have made Comey's decision irrelevant. Milbank wants to oversimplify reasons for HRC's defeat.

[delisen]

10. Comey gave an unusual press conference to explain NOT charging Clinton

and used that public forum to denigrate her.

At the same time he was not making public another ongoing investigation involving her opponent.

There are at least three FBI heads who never should have been appointed and who misused authority given to them"

J. Edgar Hoover appointed by Calvin Cooledge

Louis Freeh appointed by Bill Clinton

James Comey appointed by Barak Obama

[WinkyDink]

11. Comey: "He made me do it! I can't conceal! I must reveal!"

[Mike Nelson]

12. Nope...

...#1. Comey is deflecting what should be his own mistakes...
...#2. Dana Milbank just fills space he's paid to write for...

[JTFrog]

14. More lies. Does anyone really expect any of these pieces of shit to tell the truth at any point?

All they fucking do is lie to cover up their greed and hate. It's more than deplorable. It's fucking despicable.

They are all dead to me now. Every single asshole who had a hand in anyway helping these fuckers steal the election can just go Cheney themselves.

[Blue_Roses]

17. I am so damn confused!

Good grief...

[GeorgeGist]

18. When all else fails, Republicans blame the Clintons.

[okieinpain]

19. i think it wasn't just bill clinton, i think all of their mess came back

to sink her in the end.

[ucrdem]

20. This guy has more excuses than a freshman caught turning in his roommate's term paper.

[itcfish]

21. This is bullcrap

Comey is a conservative republican who did not want Hillary to win. He thought that Trump's ties with Russia were not important but Hilliary's non-issue e-mails. If the Washington Post can't see through this, all hope is lost.

[Volstagg]

23. We also know that Bill told them they would lose the Midwest

and they did. He warned them they needed to go harder in WI, MI, and PA and they ignored him. If they had listened to him, they could have won the electoral college.

People were looking for a reason with Clinton. If Bill hadn't boarded that plane, it would have been something else.

Nice try, though. Maybe Clinton needs to actually take responsibility for losing this election and not say she does followed immediately by "but Russia and Comey. Buy my book."

[JHan]

24. Yes she did take personal responsibility for her loss.

While acknowledging the FACTS of the FUCKERY that also contributed to her loss.

Lots of people are selling their books right now, you have a beef with the concept?

Yes? no?

Anyway, I'll let you cook

[Volstagg]

25. Couple things

I was disappointed that her taking responsibility was pretty much "I take responsibility. But if it weren't for Comey, I'd have won." Which isn't really taking responsibility. She did say she made mistakes. I'll give her that. But this election was winnable.

I've read severals threads on here talking about how horrible it is that Warren is pushing her book. Thought that might mean that anyone using something to push their book was bad. Apparently that's just when it's Warren, I guess.

I have no problem with someone selling their book. But that's all that interview was about. Let's not pretend otherwise.

No clue on the "cook" comment.

[JHan]

31. She took responsibility for her loss..

I know people inherently antagonistic towards clinton ( I don't know your history of feeling towards her) tend to hear what they want to hear when the woman says something, but it is an empirical fact that Comey's letter had an impact. It is an empirical fact that she was out of the margin of error in polling in a couple states ( as far as I recall) until that letter hit. I am glad she is acknowledging all the facts. People want her to grovel about this when her opponent was a million times worse than she was and yet, was rewarded with the Presidency.

No, there was too much fuckery last year to ignore the other factors or diminish them. It was insane, it was illogical, and it was the most nauseating presidential election I have suffered, granted I'm just a millennial. I want the other factors discussed:

I want the fact discussed that the cable news media didn't spend enough time discussing the things I care about but found an empty podium at a trump rally more interesting.

I care about national security and the hacking of american institutions by hostile powers.

I am concerned that we are headed for a world where AI will be weaponized in such ways that democracy itself maybe threatened.

I have far more anger for the Right Wing and their smears against our candidates, and how we allow those smears to define who we are as a party and what we care about.

You can make it about Hillary clinton and Hillary Clinton alone if you like, I won't.

"Let you cook" - "let you do your thing"

[yallerdawg]

41. You absolutely nailed it!

"...cable news media didn't spend enough time discussing the things I care about but found an empty podium at a trump rally more interesting.

Today and everyday, we can expect "an empty podium" will be televised for hours. Labeled "BREAKING NEWS."

The M$M produced this show.

[img][/img]

[JHan]

43. what I realised as well..

Last edited Thu May 4, 2017, 01:17 PM - Edit history (1)

was that Trump's narratives went unquestioned for the most part. It was accepted that his populistic view was the "right" take on America, the implications of that frightened me. This was a man deemed to connect to "The people" while losing the popular vote and losing badly among other demographics. How does that work?

His rhetoric about immigration almost became normalized, how many times did we read about the Trump voter and their anxieties and how "immigration was a legitimate issue" when net immigration has been at zero for however long?

His racist attacks against the mexican-american judge got approx 3 weeks of outrage, maybe 4 at the most. Meanwhile, if I had to rely on Cable News or issues that were trending, I would not have heard or read much about substantive issues.

Not a single question about automation was posed to the Presidential candidates.

Not a single question about climate change as I recall.

I don't want to beat up on the media too much because the fourth estate is under threat already, but they bear some responsibility for their awful reporting at times, their priorities, who they chose to focus on and who not. I think we're all gonna have to do more work sussing out what we're being told ( from mainstream AND alternative media sources).

[karynnj]

48. Just as I suspect that Comey saying this is playing a verbal game of "hot potato",

so was this. In fact, this is typical Bill Clinton. Here, he is "said" to have warned people to do more in the Midwest, but do not forget that he validated comments against Obamacare in Michigan - listen to the clip here and you will hear Clinton giving a speech that works better for a change candidate, not HRC running, for the most part on Obama's legacy - http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/04/politics/bill-clinton-obamacare-craziest-thing/

Note that Clinton was a loose cannon in 2008 - possibly being a factor in Kennedy joining Kerry in supporting Obama - with close to racist comments after the SC loss. He also famously defended HRC's Bosnia comments - after that furor died down, explaining HRC was old and tired from campaigning - http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bill-resurrects-hillarys-bosnia-blunder/

In 2004, as he recovered from heart surgery, several close Clinton allies all spoke of his frustration with Kerry in September -- that he should not speak of terrorism, where Kerry was among the first to publicly speak of the danger back in the 1990s, or Iraq, but should speak on the domestic issues. In fact, Kerry's numbers, which were terrible after the media condoned all the attacks and purple heart bandaids at the Republican convention, ROSE as he gave a speech on Iraq at NYU, a speech on non state terrorism at the University of Pennsylvania, and was amazing in the first (foreign policy) debate. Not to mention, the timing of his book tour - summer 2004 -- when the most sought after answer was "because I could" resurrected a topic that was not helpful and he attacked the "left" that questioned the Iraq war itself or how it was being fought. Yes, I KNOW he campaigned after surgery in Philadelphia ... but IMO, he did more harm than help as the source of all the negative comments that were in every newspaper I read.

In 2000, Gore had a dilemma. He was part of Clinton/Gore and the administration did many successful things, but the immediate two years were colored by the impeachment hearings. I doubt I was the only mother of middle school girls who was not happy with the conversations in the car pools I drove! That a man who was known to the media as a mean drunk until he was 40 was able to run on bringing honor and dignity back to the White House could not have happened without this.

This really means that Clinton's vaunted political genius rests with winning the Presidency against a President at 39% and re-election against a pathetic opponent (Dole, a Senate hatchet man).

[Botany]

26. How about the Russian Fertilizer King's plane landing @ airports w/Tump?

[Bleacher Creature]

27. Bull. Morons who fell for a scam coat her the Presidency.

Followed very closely by Jim Comey and a gullible press that decided that the phony email story was the single most important issue of the election.

[Motley13]

29. I think he did & I think he cost her the nomination in 08

remember this one

“As the economy gets worse, Barack Obama calls on Bill Clinton to help his failing campaign,” the voice-over proclaims. The ad stops short of criticizing the popular former president, stating, “He’s a good soldier, helping his party’s president. But what did Bill Clinton say about Barack Obama in 2008?”

The video then cuts to an out-of-context clip of Clinton in 2008, who at the time was campaigning for his wife Hillary in a primary contest against Obama. In the segment, Clinton says, “Give me a break. This whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I’ve ever seen.”

The voice-over continues, “23 million Americans struggling for work. A middle class falling further behind,” before replaying Clinton’s “give me a break” line.

As the Associated Press reported soon after the 2008 comments, Clinton quickly moved to clarify his statement, saying that he was criticizing Obama on his Iraq war stance:

“There’s nothing ‘fairy tale’ about his campaign. It’s real, it’s strong, and he might win,” Clinton said in a phone interview for the Rev. Al Sharpton’s Radio One network talk show.

Clinton said his “fairy tale” remark on the eve of the New Hampshire primary _ won by his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton _ was only intended to describe Obama’s claim to have exercised better judgment about the war, not as a sign of “personal disrespect.”

In the original clip, Clinton explains:

“It is wrong that Senator Obama got to go through 15 debates trumpeting his


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/06/mitt-romney-ad-give-me-a-break_n_1861899.html

[LOL Lib]

30. 20+ years of lies about the Clintons is why HRC lost.

That is the bottom line. Years and years of false and misleading info about both Clintons, but HRC in particular. The last 4-6 years of witch hunting by the GOP was successful in brainwashing independent voters.

[Lil Missy]

32. Bullshit alert!! Bullshit alert!! Bullshit alert!!

[B2G]

33. It seems that everyone is to blame

...except Hillary.

[Raster]

34. Bullshit, plain and simple.

[MFM008]

35. What crap

Period.

[still_one]

36. bullshit. Why did they hang on to the computer for 5 weeks, and only come forward 11 days before

the election with the letter?

but even worse, when Comey sent the letter to the republicans in congress, going against the orders of the AG who told him not to, why did the media LIE about that letter and say "the FBI reopened the email investigation", and why did Comey not correct that LIE from the press?

"Media Freak Out At FBI Letter, Disregard Facts And Run With GOP's False Description Of Clinton Email Review"

https://mediamatters.org/blog/2016/10/28/media-freak-out-fbi-letter-disregard-facts-and-run-gops-false-description-clinton-email-review/214184

"How one Congressman punked the media on the FBI letter about Clinton’s emails
No, the FBI did not say it would ‘reopen’ its investigation."

https://thinkprogress.org/trump-chaffetz-fbi-investigation-lies-e9fff5359102

"NY Times Floods Front Page With FBI Letter Stories While Acknowledging It Didn’t “Reopen” Clinton Server Inquiry"

https://mediamatters.org/blog/2016/10/30/ny-times-floods-front-page-fbi-letter-stories-while-acknowledging-it-didn-t-reopen-clinton-server/214202

[Chasstev365]

37. So unfair: Bill was just trying to ask her out!

[StevieM]

39. Comey is a good enough politician to know that this is the right lie for him to tell.

It is nonsense. He was always going to interfere--both times. His entire bogus investigation was one big interference.

If Clinton hadn't boarded that plane Comey would have held his press conference anyway. And he wouldn't have made a recommendation not to indict, instead he would have simply said it was up to the Justice Department. And Lynch would have had to announce "no indictment" in the aftermath of Comey destroying her reputation with his lies.

[EffieBlack]

40. Pure bullshit

If Bill Clinton had never gone anywhere near the AG, they would have just manufactured another false outrage and used that against her.

I can't believe Democrats keep falling for this shit ...

[Motley13]

45. another one from Bill that didn't help

Former President Bill Clinton’s unexpected remarks about Obamacare — delivered Tuesday at a Hillary Clinton rally in Michigan — were so negative, they might have felt more at home in a Republican stump speech.

“You've got this crazy system where all of a sudden 25 million more people have health care, and then the people that are out there busting it — sometimes 60 hours a week — wind up with their premiums doubled and their coverage cut in half,” Clinton said at a rally Tuesday morning in Flint, Michigan. “It’s the craziest thing in the world.”


https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/10/4/13162654/bill-clinton-obamacare

After that one, I wanted Hillary to lock him in his rm until after the election, then the infamous meeting wouldn't haven't taken place

[R B Garr]

46. This is just an excuse, since he also took revenge on Loretta Lynch by

saying this and including her in this no matter what he said. Just look at the duplicity -- he doesn't know what Bill and Lynch talked about, as it could have been grandkids or any number of things. Bill Clinton is extremely gregarious and talkative and social. Obviously Comey assumed the worst for convenience purposes, and used it as an excuse, i.e, the article references "Bill Clinton's clumsiness".

But, Comey *does* know what Trump and the Russian connections talked about. Anyone who can say with a straight face that Americans didn't need to know about a hostile foreign power knowingly communicating with our elected officials to undermine our elections is simply not telling the truth. Yet he chose to conceal all that and use that which damaged Hillary even though he didn't know yet if anything was there. Amazing.

Russia/foreign power interference vs. unproven gossipy tidbits of salaciousness. Now we see what he picked to bring to America's attention. How is this not gross incompetence? How does he still have a job? Freaking crazy!

[tavernier]

47. Obviously no one read the entire article.

The title of the article is misleading. DM is actually calling bullshit on Comey in a tongue-in-cheek way.

[Voltaire2]

49. That episode was baffling.

[Baconator]

58. It was her campaign, her baggage and her responsibility...

[R B Garr]

61. It wasn't her decision to withhold information about Russian meddling

from the American people. It wasn't her decision to instead release gossip and speculation about what might be in some emails. It wasn't her decision to smear other Democrats.

[Baconator]

62. ... And a stronger campaign and candidate

... Could have been better prepared to react.

[R B Garr]

65. lol, that's why they call them October surprises. But I realize that doesn't

please the mindless bashers. And her hands were tied with some of the attacks because she couldn't "alienate" those who were smearing her.

[ecstatic]

64. Maybe, but who died and made Jim Comey the decider of everything? I hate when

hypocrites sit on a high horse. His arrogance is stunning! Simply unreal!