About all I can say after reading it is, "that's it?!?" Despite the size nothingness that was presented, I'm afraid that many may not even bother to read it. Instead trusting that because something was released, it must be a big deal.
This comment from a reader over at Washington Post sums my feelings up pretty nicely:
englishman in ny wrote:Well let's see, even without access to anything but information in the public domain there are several counterpoints that materially undermine the memo.
1) Fusion GPS opposition research was commissioned by GOP operatives during the primaries and only later taken up by the DNC. Reading this one would believe the genesis of the contract was the DNC.
2) To suggest the DNC or Clinton campaign retained Steele simply because the firm they hired in turn independently hired him is to stretch the credibility to breaking point. The parrellel would be that somehow I am responsible for the laborers my General Contractor hires. Common sense dictates this is absolute nonsense.
3) Steele has been very public about his opposition to Donald Trump winning the Presidency and has stated this was an opinion directly informed by what he was finding. Why a UK citizen, with no skin in the game, would be opposed to one particular candidate without something to trigger that opposition is not addressed.
4) Agent Strzok has been reported as the agent who drafted the memo regarding re-opening the investigation into Hillary Clinton after the seizure of Anthony Weiner's computer. This directly led to Director Comey's public disclosure of such days before the election. Such action is not consistent with either an institution with bias against Donald Trump nor of Agent Strzok letting his personal opinions influence his professional conduct.
And these are just the initial details off the top of my head. Talk about a credibility gap. At least we now know for certain just what a hack job this thing is.
"If you consider what are called the virtues in mankind, you will find their growth is assisted by education and cultivation." -Xenophon of Athens
Trey Gowdy - Trey Gowdy! - is currently throwing cautiously worded shade at the memo. That's such a disorienting thing that it's birthing all over the map speculation about what is going on ranging from him angling for a DoJ replacement job to him having actual principles that can be violated. A lot of my favorite commentators, people like Julian Sanchez and Matt Tait, currently are going into detail on the subject in a way that is quite persuasive, but I'm with the general initial reaction of "That's all?"
Just heard on MSNBC a commentator say Democrats should be showering Nunes with gifts because he unwittingly refuted one of their favorite talking points that the investigation was initiated because of the Steel dossier. This started in July, the dossier was in October.
I think the worst part for me is I would love to be able to have a serious conversation about how the intelligence community and surveillance in general need a hard looking at. I think many would be happy to take a good long look at how FISC works and maybe go back to the drawing board a bit.
Unfortunately this memo just isn't that. Its partisan nature does the topic no justice and makes it hard to touch those kinds of conversations with anything shorter than a ten foot pole.
"If you consider what are called the virtues in mankind, you will find their growth is assisted by education and cultivation." -Xenophon of Athens
I guess there is one really big question that pops up from this memo: Does it provide Trump with enough cover to stop the investigation without Republicans blowing up on him? I'd love to say that it doesn't but the current political environment is pretty insane and I wouldn't put anything past the GOP.
"If you consider what are called the virtues in mankind, you will find their growth is assisted by education and cultivation." -Xenophon of Athens
I'm fairly certain one of our three or four Trumpsters will be along shortly to post a Breitbart or Hannity piece hyping the memo.
- Doc
In the face of madness, rationality has no power - Xiao Wang, US historiographer, 2287 AD.
Every record...falsified, every book rewritten...every statue...has been renamed or torn down, every date...altered...the process is continuing...minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Ideology is always right.
Xenophon wrote:I guess there is one really big question that pops up from this memo: Does it provide Trump with enough cover to stop the investigation without Republicans blowing up on him? I'd love to say that it doesn't but the current political environment is pretty insane and I wouldn't put anything past the GOP.
I accidentally erased my own post on the subject, but a CNN reporter recently reported that Orinn Hatch said on record that Trump may have to get rid of Rosenstein if he "becomes too controversial." Tellingly, this comment is in the context of the Trump admin appearing to drum up controversy regarding Rosenstein. Assuming that report is accurate, that's at least one key Senator who is waving Trump home.
To your question, I don't think the memo matters one way or another. Republicans appear poised to back Trump scuttling the investigation through purging the leadership at DoJ. I think that remains roughly as true both before and after it. If the memo has done anything it is to help gauge how much Congress will go along with such overtures.
EAllusion wrote:To your question, I don't think the memo matters one way or another. Republicans appear poised to back Trump scuttling the investigation through purging the leadership at DoJ. I think that remains roughly as true both before and after it. If the memo has done anything it is to help gauge how much Congress will go along with such overtures.
Your right that this memo probably doesn't change the stance of any individual in Congress one way or the other, Republicans seem more than willing to go along with the show. Probably a better way to phrase the question is: Does this give him enough coverage to do this without being punished at midterms? Or, given the country's general support for this investigation, do we expect that to shift from this release?
"If you consider what are called the virtues in mankind, you will find their growth is assisted by education and cultivation." -Xenophon of Athens
That does make whatever the heck Trey Gowdy is doing more interesting. He announced his retirement out of the blue (and without getting to the bottom of Benghazi...), is reported to have rejected a nomination offer for an appellate court, and is just floating out there tossing shade at this whole affair. He is one of a handful of people with substantial access to the underlying intelligence. He has such a history of being a partisan hack that this makes for speculation that he is positioning to take one of the jobs Trump could clear out in a purge, but it could just as easily be what it appears to be: That he's at least one key Republican not down with what is going on.
