FBI Director James Comey seems to have managed quite a feat: In the closing days of the most contentious presidential election in American history — where everyone loathes everyone who's not on their side — he is hated by both sides. Way to go, fella!
Before his weekend announcement that the "new" e-mails found on Anthony Weiner's laptop are nothing new and do not change his conclusion that there is no criminal case against Hillary Clinton, a whole lotta pundits wrote that that would be the case. They didn't expect it before Tuesday but they did expect it. One who expected it was Matthew Yglesias, who posted this article before Comey's announcement.
As Yglesias notes, Clinton foes have always operated on the following assumption: We know the Clintons are guilty; the only question is what are they guilty of and when will we find the evidence? And when they don't find any such evidence, they never conclude that there isn't any. They just keep digging and trying to spin whatever they do find into a scandal. The other day here, I tweeted…
Trump's final pitch: "We all know she's guilty of a horrible, awful crime and if you elect me, we'll investigate her until we find one!"
I got a lot of agreeing tweets and reposts but I also got three kinds of other responses: Several people who asked if Trump had actually said that, several people who said they could name a dozen crimes but didn't, and a couple who said things like, "I don't care if she'd committed a crime or not. I just want to see her behind bars!" Yeah, that's how we roll in America.