2016 Oct 28^th

FBI Director Comey tells us he has “new evidence” in the form of more emails that he must look into. While he is doing this, he thought he should inform congress, not that he had come to any new conclusion, but that he had some new information.

A long time ago, when I was a working college professor, I had a colleague who had a new doctorate in a field in which we were interviewing candidates. This professor expected to be included on the interview committee. She was famous for her spectacularly witty and equally caustic comments. I was on the interviewing committee and I asked the Dean if she would be included, He replied the he would not have her pissing in the soup. Yes, I know; this is farmyard humor but the Dean was a farm boy and the expression was apt.

A similar situation exists with this election. The Russians are able to penetrate the private email accounts of anyone and so they dribble information from those accounts, some of it mildly incriminating but none of it criminal, out into the public domain. The upshot is that many people believe more damaging information about Hillary Clinton is on the way.

The Trump campaign is now in ecstasy over the Comey comments because they believe this revelation might stop their plunge in the polls. The Clinton campaign is furious with Comey for deciding to reveal the resumption of the investigation at this time. You may remember the tongue lashing Comey directed at Clinton over her handling of confidential emails some time ago. Perhaps this Clinton scolding then helped to calm the conservatives who thought Clinton should have been prosecuted. Comey may believe that he is on a tightrope here; if this is news that would have had an impact on the election and Comey decided to hold it until after the election, he is in deep trouble. If the news is trivial but Comey’s discussion of it now impacts the election, he is in deep trouble.

The Russians are not responsible for this bunch of emails. It happens that the FBI was investigating Huma Abedin’s husband, Anthony Weiner, who is being prosecuted for sexual interaction with an underage girl. The laptop used by Weiner was also used by Uma Abedin, Weiner’s wife at the time, to communicate with her boss Hillary Clinton. It is those emails that the FBI is now reviewing. The result will almost certainly not be available until after the election.

Comey, the director of the FBI, is besmirched no matter how he handles this mess. The Trump supporters who are sure the election is rigged will have more ammunition even if they still lose…and they likely will. The result, regardless of who wins, or how the down ballot races turn out, is a citizenry convinced that the system is rotten. The Russians haven’t done it this time; this time we’ve contaminated our own soup.