This Is Not James Comey’s Fault, Democrats…It’s your fault.

Ian Tuttle:

Judging by Democrats’ reactions, you’d think James Comey had endangered classified national-security information or something.

“Apocalyptic” is the only adequate description of the Left’s reaction to Comey’s recent letter to Congress announcing new information in the Hillary Clinton e-mail investigation. As letters go, it was light on detail, as Democrats have been quick to point out, though it would seem to be putting one’s nongendered garment over one’s head to suggest that it is a threat not just to Clinton’s chances at the ballot box on Tuesday, but to the survival of American democracy itself.

Yet that is just what several left-leaning politicos and commentators have suggested, from Harry Reid’s insinuating that Comey’s letter may have broken the law, to Michael Tomasky’s arguing that “this is shaping up to be a Third-World election” and that perhaps the Organization of American States should intervene. Tomasky even went so far as to hint that Iran — yes, Iran — is doing more to protect its electoral integrity than we are.

In July, the same James Comey contorted himself into rhetorical pretzels to avoid recommending Hillary Clinton be prosecuted for exposing classified information, despite laying out a compelling case that she would be facing serious charges were she possessed of any surname besides the one she has. He settled on saying that while she was “extremely reckless,” her actions did not constitute “gross negligence,” a distinction that remains unclear.

Democrats were miffed that Comey had the audacity to go even that far, but, all in all, he was praised as a fine public servant. As my colleague Andy McCarthy has explained at length, Comey’s press conference was an extravagant departure from Justice Department protocol, but Democrats were more than comfortable pardoning Comey’s excesses then, since he had acted in the service of helpful ends. He just wanted to “stay out” of the election, they explained.

But now? Following another departure from DOJ protocol, Democrats are incensed about the threat Comey’s letter poses to the foundations of our key institutions, and to our democratic (or was it Democratic?) government! On the matter of whether he himself is a bitter GOP partisan or simply “appeasing [Republican] bullies” (E. J. Dionne), opinions vary. But that he’s done something shockingly irresponsible, Democrats have no doubt. When Comey went rogue in July, he was just leaving the race up to We the People. But when he went rogue in October, he “put his thumb on the scales.”

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