By Curt_Anderson March 12, 2024 10:13 pm Category: Opinion (0.0 from 0 votes) Rules of the Post Write A New Article How To Post Here Rate this article (5=best, 0=poor)

Jesse Wegman, a NY Times editorial board member, wrote the above titled editorial which I excerpted here and linked to the entire op-ed below. Mr. Wegman didn't say it, but the Republicans behavior brings to mind the old quote, "they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory."

This was gift-wrapped campaign fodder for Republicans, and yet somehow it still wasn’t enough.

“You are part of the Praetorian Guard that guards the swamp out here in Washington, D.C., protecting the elites,” Representative Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin said to Hur, a deputy U.S. attorney general in the Trump administration.

Tom McClintock of California used his allotted time to complain about the classified-documents prosecution of Donald Trump, charging the Biden administration with using the rule of law as “a weapon to wield against political rivals and a tool of despotism.”
[...]
All Republicans had to do was sit back and enjoy Hur’s one-sided report and the political damage it has inflicted on Biden. Why wouldn’t they?

Because, as has become clearer with every day of the Trump era, they don’t actually want to win. They don’t even care about classified-document retention. All they care about is their endless list of grievances about the swamp, the “deep state,” the elites — whatever today’s term is for the government that they control half of.

Cited and related links:

1. nytimes.com

Comments Start Below

by HatetheSwamp on March 13, 2024 3:46 am Yeah, Curt. Two things: 1. NYT? The equivalent of the Father in your Holy Trinity. 2. And, again. SOME Republicans. The GOP is the home of openness and inclusion, acceptance, diversity, tolerance and freedom. The Dems were locksteppin yesterday, as they do... and, can't seem not to. Some GOPs are bothered by our two-tiered banana republic justice system in which the party of the sitting President is using the judiciary to persecute their leader's chief political opponent. Others, not so much, as you saw yesterday. by Curt_Anderson on March 13, 2024 10:56 am HtS, I keep asking you, what news outlets are not in your "holy trinity"? I was surprised at the antagonism that Robert Hur endured from the Republicans. It was their hearing and he was their witness. The way he was treated by Republicans is something like a defendant on the stand being badgered by his own defense attorney. by oldedude on March 13, 2024 11:18 am You keep carping on this. And yet you don't really understand WTF you're talking about. Hur didn't charge anything. Even though he stole classified documents out of a SCIF when he was in the Senate (illegal). He then stole documents out of a SCIF when he was VP (illegal) and holds ZERO right to take anything out of a SCIF. So now, he's a doddering old fuck and he gets off scott free. And we're not talking about sniffing a 11-year old's hair. There's a problem with that illegal, two-tiered system you support so much. The "only" way they could legally get out of this was to say pedojoe was just a senile old fuk that couldn't go to trial. Okay, deal with it. Obviously, he wouldn't be going to prison anyway, but at the same time, he can leave "quietly" if he could just understand the charges and how someone, somewhere threw him a solid. They're trying to give him a break here, and he's too far in dementia to figure it out, and his handlers are too stoopid. I'd be happy if he'd prove himself capable of going to trial (meaning he can actually run for "president"). Hur would have to retract the favor given to joe and he can go down in flames. DONE. Easypeasy! Don't collect $200! Make your choice. Again, this is a two horses, and one big ass. by Curt_Anderson on March 13, 2024 11:28 am OD, I am the consistent one here. Before he testified, even though he is a Republican and a Trump appointee, I said I would accept Robert Hur's testimony as true unless proven otherwise. I don't see any reason to think that Robert Hur was anything but honest and followed the law in his investigation. You and HtS seem to be the ones who are angrily disappointed with Hur and how the GOP-led hearing went. selectsmart.com by HatetheSwamp on March 13, 2024 11:56 am Curt, What about Hur's testimony is any GOP saying ain't true? Clearly, some contend that he participates in the Swamp two-tiered justice system. One thing you apparently, don't apprehend about the GOPs is that there are SwampGOPs and GOPs who are antiSwamp. Roughly and generally, the antiSwamp GOPs were all over Hur like flies on $#!t about Hur giving that "dithering and diminished" "feckless dementia-ridden piece of crap" a free pass and not charging him because he's a Doddering Old Fool. You probably noticed that many GOPs in the hearing were more than content to allow Hur to repeat that he stands by his assertion that Joe would never be convicted because his brain's shot. The GOP is the home of openness and inclusion, acceptance, diversity, tolerance and freethinking. You'll never understand until you accept that. While you're at it, splain why you think pb's disappointed with the hearing. I don't think either the "dithering and diminished" Doddering Old Fool or Trump should be charged over this document silliness. That Hur declined to prosecute the Flatulent Fool makes no never mind to me. by oldedude on March 13, 2024 12:14 pm curt- actually, you're not. You've been putting up whines, bitches, and complaints about this whole thing. I'm with Lead. Either way, I'm fine. You just can't have both, which you insist on doing. Hur said he's not sane enough to stand for trial, and you continually fight that. If he can go to trial, they'll throw pedojoe off the island by federal offenses. You're making excuses for everything Hur has said. I don't think Hur likes being a pawn of the swamp, yet here he is. He seems like a really good investigator, and an excellent interviewer/ interrogator. I think someone visited his house one day and had a talk with him about how he was to proceed. Hur doesn't like that, and he's too young to retire without benefits. He isn't able to go off the farm too much. In part of the questioning, Hur was asked why DOJ hierarchy contacted Garland personally about Hur's case and an "independent" investigator. Hur didn't like it (as would anyone who was told he worked directly for Garland), but he said they had a "right" to go around him regarding Hur's investigation. Welcome to the DOJ you love! Long story short. pedojoe accepts the dementia theory and never gets taken to court and disappears to pasture in deleware. OR he's charged. Again, I don't care. Either is good for me. by Curt_Anderson on March 13, 2024 12:22 pm "I think someone visited his house one day and had a talk with [Robert Hur] about how he was to proceed. Hur doesn't like that, and he's too young to retire without benefits." --OD That sounds like you are saying that someone pressured Hur not to charge Biden or maybe to tone down any testimony that denigrated Biden. I doubt that happened, but if it did, as an independent special counsel, Hur should have said something about the undo influence. Reportedly Hur resigned from the DOJ this past Monday. by oldedude on March 13, 2024 1:31 pm I don't doubt it at all. Welcome to politics. I know you're a political novice as the inner workings is new to you. Stuff like this happen all the time. How do you think they form bills into law? It was also apparent during the hearing. He doesn't hide disgust well. And I think this kind of popped his cherry about how DC really works. Either way. Like I said, peddojoe has two choices. Claim he's a great guy and is ready to be prez again, and have the GOP indict him for the classified he was caught with, especially that were classified when he was Senator and VP. He can't run from that if that what he chooses. And if you want trumpster to get charged, with the classified documents he took from the SCIF, pedojoe must be indicted. If pedojoe chooses to get out of the race and follow Hur's suggestion, he goes back to DE as a retired prez and trummpster will get charged. His choice. DOJ won't have a choice after what they found out. If they're going to charge trumpster, the must, by default charge pedojoe. Only in a kangaroo court could they get away with charging one but not the other. Those are the only choices. At all for DOJ. by Curt_Anderson on March 13, 2024 2:23 pm OD, I don’t think that Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Mike Pence or anybody else should be charged with the innocent, unknowing possession of classified documents. With the reams of paper that presidents and vice presidents deal with, I could imagine it’s difficult sorting them all out when they leave their White House or official residence. However, officeholders should be charged if they do any of the following: Willful retention of national defense information False statements and representations Conspiracy to obstruct justice Withholding a document or record Corruptly concealing a document or record Concealing a document in a federal investigation Scheme to conceal Altering, destroying, mutilating, or concealing an object Corruptly altering, destroying, mutilating, or concealing a document, record, or other object Can we all agree to that? by oldedude on March 13, 2024 3:35 pm First the short answer; The powers that be would consider "Willful retention of national defense information" applicable to all classified (see below). I am very wary about "exceptions" to the rules in this case. Top secret. Information that requires the highest degree of protection, and the unauthorized disclosure of which could reasonably be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security that the original classification authority is able to identify or describe. Secret. Information that requires a substantial degree of protection, and the unauthorized disclosure of which could reasonably be expected to cause serious damage to the national security that the original classification authority is able to identify or describe. Confidential. Information that requires protection and the unauthorized disclosure of which could reasonably be expected to cause damage to the national security that the original classification authority is able to identify or describe.” I was a GS13/5. Had I been caught doing that assuming it was a "mistake," I would automatically lose my clearance. If I kept it in my cubicle outside of the SCIF, co-workers have a requirement to report me. So the problem is that what is "classified" is classified for a reason. What "we" think is immaterial. may not be. My agency was not an originator of classified. So we had no actual decision in the classification or the reason. And it also made our lives easier. joe intentionally took classified documents out of a SCIF on more than one occasion and his position did not allow that access. What he does after he leaves is a crap shoot at best. That's a quagmire that is muddy at best. The issue with POTUS actually started with obomber. Unfortunately, my guess is that trumpster took that to a new level. So there's an issue there. I don't think the rules around classified have been brought up to date, which makes life vague at best. by oldedude on March 14, 2024 12:01 am curt- Your idea was not horrible, I'll agree to that. I appreciate the idea of a compromise also. It was good enough for me to step back for a negotiated, thoughtful answer. Thanks for that. Go To Top

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