Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

In after Baud. Damn.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

We’re not going back!

Everybody saw this coming.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Let there be snark.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

This fight is for everything.

No one could have predicted…

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Repub Venality Open Thread: James Comer & Chuck Grassley Are Loyal to Their Party, Not Their Country

Repub Venality Open Thread: James Comer & Chuck Grassley Are Loyal to Their Party, Not Their Country

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I personally find it interesting that James Comer, spotlight hound, has suddenly chosen to shove Addled Granpa Grassley in front of the cameras. If this fishing expedition backfires as badly as it looks to do, our Jimbo would much rather let Chuck take the ‘credit’, as it were…



“Comer commits to contempt vote for FBI director, mulls release of confidential record”

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said an FBI offer to review a document he subpoenaed has not swayed his plans to hold Director Christopher Wray in contempt of Congress, adding he may release the confidential tip publicly.

Comer issued a subpoena earlier this month compelling Wray to produce any FD-1023 forms — records of interactions with confidential sources — from June 2020 that contain the word “Biden.”…

Speaking with reporters shortly after the call, Comer said he plans to bring the matter up for a vote in committee next week, a move that was slammed by Rep. Jamie Raskin (Md.), the top Democrat on the panel.

“Obviously the purpose of requesting the subpoena is to try to get a contempt motion against the FBI director. There’s no other explanation for it, because they’re essentially offering anything that they want,” Raskin said Wednesday…

The Tuesday letter from the bureau stressed “concern over the chilling effect that could flow from the wide dissemination of investigative files, to include reduced willingness of confidential human sources to provide valuable reporting.”

“As you know, confidential sources are critical to the FBI’s ability to build cases, including those against violent gangs, drug cartels, and terrorists,” it added.

The FBI also reiterated the unverified nature of the information.

That was a point echoed by Raskin, who was blocked from joining Comer’s call with Wray but spoke to the director afterwards.

“This Form 1023 is a record of some information that comes to the FBI. It could be based on double, triple, quadruple or quintuple hearsay. Somebody told somebody who told somebody who told somebody who told somebody this tip, right? So I don’t know the specifics of this, but a Form 1023 overwhelmingly does not lead to a criminal investigation or prosecution,” Raskin said.

A contempt vote for Wray, while a remarkable move, would have little practical effect for the director. The vote, which also must be approved by the full House, serves as a recommendation to the Department of Justice (DOJ), which would make the final call over whether to pursue a criminal prosecution…

Tweet from last month:

Doubt that Comer is gonna be able to slide out of all blame, now:

Reader Interactions

45Comments

  3. 3.

    japa21

    Okay, a question for the hive mind. Imagine that the Congressional people being mentioned were all Democrats and instead of Raskin, it was Gaetz making the claim that this is totally political. Now, substitute Trump for Biden. How would we look at this?

  4. 4.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Hey, I have video of Comer and Grassley tag teaming a … Yeah, unlike those 2 assholes I have limits I won’t sink below. But they are making it extremely difficult to resist the temptation to create a parody account on twitter, extremely difficult. And part of me hopes somebody else does.

  5. 5.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @eversor: Although it would be GREAT if Biden was “forced” to name a new FBI director and finally break this long a stoopid string of Republican-only directors. Wonder what Peter Strzok is doing these days…

     

    ETA correct spelling of Strzok.

  7. 7.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Baud:

    They all need to follow Tara Reade to Russia.

    Russia would be ideal, but I’d be satisfied if they settled for Hungary.

  9. 9.

    eversor

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    That would be great!  He got done dirty and that’s a shame.  I also think his shit eating grin and smarming, laughing, and mocking his way through that fucking farce gave it and those fucking with him exactly the dignity and seriousness the fucking fiasco deserved.

    Even that asside he more than has the credentials and resume for it.  Also let the man finish off his service and get his pension.  He deserves better than all this.

  14. 14.

    japa21

    @Dr. Jakyll and Miss Deride:  Actually, the point is to get an understanding of how their side, and the voters for their side, will see it.  It doesn’t have to make sense and can be, as you say, absurd.  As Baud pointed out, the Dems would just go and view the document.  But everybody, right or left, tends to think where there is smoke there is fire.

    The fact that we are the good guys is irrelevant, as they see themselves as the good guys.  And just as we look at the idiocy of what they are doing and name it, rightly, cynical politics, they do the same in reverse.

    I am trying to figure out how, when the media treats their behavior as a serious attempt to get at the truth, how we combat this.

  15. 15.

    Scout211

    @japa21: it was Gaetz making the claim that this is totally political.

    Nope. That example is not a valid comparison. Gaetz and his crazy caucus would never respond directly to an accusation like that. It’s all, whataboutism and distraction with them.  You know, like “butter emails.”

  16. 16.

    Roger Moore

    @Scout211:

    Gaetz and his crazy caucus would never respond directly to an accusation like that.

    They absolutely do.  That’s what all of Trump’s whining about witch hunts is; he’s claiming the investigations are purely political rather than a response to any real wrongdoing.  It’s total coincidence that we’ve found a lot of witches.

  20. 20.

    Dr. Jakyll and Miss Deride

    @japa21: Is the media treating it that way?  Not so much, judging by what’s posted in the OP.

  22. 22.

    Craig

    @Dr. Jakyll and Miss Deride: exactly. The media has been treating Comer like a buffoon for a month. His actions just scream attention whore on a political stunt. Comer:” I need to see the FBI file”

    FBI: “OK, come over and see it”

    Comer: ” no. I need a hard copy”

    FBI: ” uh, pretty sure you’ll leak it”

    Comer: ” GRRR. I’ll file to find the Director in contempt”

    FBI: “Snore”

  23. 23.

    Dr. Jakyll and Miss Deride

    @Dr. Jakyll and Miss Deride: We can’t stop Republicans in Congress from trying to make fake news as long as they have committee chairmanships in one house and ready access to mics and cameras in both.  The best we can do is pretty much what the Democrats are already doing:  screaming bloody murder at each new outrage on the one hand, and simultaneously making our own real news on the other.

  25. 25.

    West of the Rockies

    The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and they got in over their heads…

  26. 26.

    Redshift

    @japa21: The implausible part of the reversal is that Democrats wouldn’t hunt up an unverified accusation, call it “evidence” so they can pretend it’s a conspiracy if the FBI won’t let them take it on Fox.

    Asking how it would be if the roles were reversed only works if Dems are as bad as Republicans, and the answer is, they’re just not.

  27. 27.

    Jackie

    How long before TFG hears about Roger Stone caught bragging about manipulating him?

    “Roger Stone told documentary filmmakers about his influence over Donald Trump by explaining how he psychologically manipulates the former president into saying whatever he wants him to say, the Daily Beast reports.”

    ”Said Stone: “I have a 40-year record of being able to convince the big man to do what’s in his best interest. He’s not easy to deal with. It’s complicated. He resents any implication that he is handled or managed or directed.””

    ”He added: “You have to say, ‘Remember that night when we were in Buffalo. And you gave that speech, and God, it had to be 10,000 people, the biggest crowd they’d ever seen. And you said XYZ, and the place went crazy, remember that? I don’t know where you came up with that line, but it’s one of the best things.’”

    ”More: “Doesn’t fucking matter that he never said it—doesn’t matter. It’s time-consuming, but it works. I did it for 30 years.””

  29. 29.

    bbleh

    Their Party, Not Their Country

    To them, their party IS their country.  Those not of the party are lesser folk, not really worthy of consideration

  31. 31.

    Jeffro

    boy, Maria Baritomo sure has gone all-in on the crazy, hasn’t she?

    Has anyone done any reporting about the supposedly ‘regular’ news folks who’ve lost all their marbles/gone full trump cult/gone “Q”/same thing at this point in the past decade?  Baritomo, Lara Logan, that lady who went from 60 Minutes to RWNJ websites (I tried, I can’t even remember enough to Google her right).

    Just wild how they felt empowered in the trumpov era to let their freak flag fly, fly, and fly some more

  33. 33.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @Jeffro: i used to think Bartiromo was just playing along like Tuckems but I think she’s become a true believer. She reminds me a lot of Kari Lake who also went down the QAnon route..   I don’t understand how somebody in the news can turn into a QAnon. You would think you would automatically be cynical and have a BS detector if you’re in the news business.

  34. 34.

    piratedan

    @japa21:

    to take your premise at face value….  I think you have to come to an agreed upon definition… what the GOP has is an unsubstantiated accusation, sans proof, documentation or potentially even agency.  The FBI has offered to allow the GOP to see the documentation but not disseminate it, as it has what could be a potential source that they would prefer not to make public.  Those reasons range from that the source itself may not be wholly reliable but they prefer to keep those lines open to the source is good for other items but this gossip is something that they ran across but could not confirm, so why burn the source for something outside their wheelhouse?

    The Dems have been pragmatic when it comes to Humint, the GOP doesn’t give a shit (think Valerie Palme) and believes that sources are there to be used and not protected.

  35. 35.

    piratedan

    @japa21:

    to take your premise at face value….  I think you have to come to an agreed upon definition… what the GOP has is an unsubstantiated accusation, sans proof, documentation or potentially even agency.  The FBI has offered to allow the GOP to see the documentation but not disseminate it, as it has what could be a potential source that they would prefer not to make public.  Those reasons range from that the source itself may not be wholly reliable but they prefer to keep those lines open; to the source is good for other items but this gossip is something that they ran across but could not confirm, so why burn the source for something outside their wheelhouse?

    The Dems have been pragmatic when it comes to Humint, the GOP doesn’t give a shit (think Valerie Palme) and believes that sources are there to be used and not protected.

  36. 36.

    karen marie

    @Mai Naem mobile:   I don’t think any of the people in question actually follow the news.  Other people doing news reports are competitors, not people who are conveying useful information.

    They’re not reporting, they’re performing.

  37. 37.

    RaflW

    The notion that the GOP now basically hates the FBI is so topsy turvy. The ability to turn on a dime like that ought to make our press betters suspect the core motives of Republicans. But, well, yeah…

  38. 38.

    RaflW

    @piratedan: The GOP doesn’t give a shit, and believes that sources everyone but themselves are there to be used and not protected. #FTFY

    And yes, I mean everyone. 339,990,000 of us. Possibly all 8,045,311,000 of us.

  39. 39.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @karen marie: this is true especially of TV. How do you even do any reporting when you’re spending so much time doing tv spots, Twitter posts, insta posts, Facebook live posts,  appearances on other media etc. Where’s the time to interview somebody and not only get info but verify it.

  41. 41.

    Tony Jay

    @Jackie:

    Stone says he’s been manipulating Trump to do his bidding for 30 years?

    To do what, and on whose behalf, Roger?

  42. 42.

    BellyCat

    @Tony Jay: To do what, and on whose behalf, Roger?

    Prezactly. Let the circular firing squads begin. Why would Stone disclose this? He’s VERY cautious about exposure for himself and while a blowhard he’s not so much a braggart. What’s Stone’s play?

  45. 45.

    RaflW

    @Mai Naem mobile: Stale thread, but I gotta say: My partner was a newspaper journalist. There were also folx aiming for TV news jobs in his college department. The paper people largely avoided calling them journalist.

    They’re what the Brits call “TV presenters”. Which is damningly accurate as to their desire to inquire or report.

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