In the past year, the Democrats have taken America down the Yellow Brick Road to the land of Oz where resides the Wizard, otherwise known as “The Great Russian Collusion Conspiracy.” This mighty and frightening Wizard, they tell us, has undermined the safety, nay the very fiber of our American being and must be unmasked before he can cause the demise of our once mighty nation.
Last week, James Comey, the former Director of the FBI who was fired last month by President Trump, testified under oath to the Senate Intelligence Committee, thereby introducing us to the Lion, the Tin Man, and the Scarecrow, all rolled into one. Last night, Shawn Hannity compared Comey to the Cowardly Lion, but he is far more than that. James Comey, like the Cowardly Lion, has no courage; like the Scarecrow, he has no brains; and like the Tin Man, he has no heart.
Comey testified that during one of his conversations with President Trump, he felt uncomfortable when the President said, according to Comey, “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is good guy. I hope you can let this go.”
But uncomfortable as he claimed to have felt, thinking that this president, unschooled in the political world, might be saying something inappropriate, he didn’t have the courage to say to him, “Mr. President, I understand your concern for Mr. Flynn, but this is not a conversation that you and I should be having.” This head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation once served as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, United States Deputy Attorney General, Special Counsel to head the grand jury investigation into the Plame affair, General Counsel and senior vice president of Lockheed Martin, and general counsel at Bridgewater Associates to name a few. But yet, this man did not have the courage to tell the President of the United States that he thought he should not be discussing the matter he wished to discuss? The Cowardly Lion, or the Cowardly Lying?
Nor does Comey, like the Scarecrow, apparently have a brain, despite his seemingly sterling bona fides. He testified, “The Clinton campaign, at the time, was using all kind of euphemisms — security review, matters, things like that, for what was going on. We were getting to a place where the attorney general and I were both going to have to testify and talk publicly about. And I wanted to know, was she going to authorize us to confirm we had an investigation? And she said, ‘Yes, but don’t call it that, call it a matter,’” Mr. Comey continued. “And I said, ‘Why would I do that?’ And she said, ‘Just call it a matter,’ which confused and concerned me,” he concluded (New York Times). “Concerned?” Certainly. “Confused?” Not likely! Surely the Director of the FBI knew that to be told to call an investigation a “matter” by the Attorney General of a Democratic president when the subject of the investigation was the Democratic Candidate for the presidency was clearly an attempt at obstruction of justice and a felony. He should have gone immediately to Congress to reveal what she had said to him. But instead, “confused,” he had done as she asked. Surely this Scarecrow had no brain.
And finally, Mr. Comey has no heart. It takes a heart to feel compassion and loyalty for others, and those traits, James Comey clearly does not have. In his carefully worded testimony, he threw everyone under the bus, trying only to save himself. Was Trump under investigation by the FBI for collusion with the Russians? No. Had Trump tried to obstruct justice? Well, Trump hadn’t actually ordered him to drop the investigation in so many words, Comey explained, but he felt that was what he meant. But when Senator Risch asked him if he knew of anyone who had ever been charged with obstruction of justice for saying that they “hoped” something, Comey had to admit, “Not as I sit here, no.”
Comey has come under intense fire by Republicans for announcing publicly before the election that despite her wrong handling of classified material, no prosecutor would find enough to charge Hillary Clinton with a crime. Democrats cheered and danced and smelled the sweet smell of an election victory. And then, just before the election, he sent a letter to Congress informing them that he was reopening the investigation, and Democrats went into a frenzy of invectives against him, relentlessly charging him with responsibility for Clinton’s eventual defeat in November. In fact, until the day he was fired by President Trump, Comey was hated by Democrats.
And yet, though Comey decided to ease Clinton’s burden before the election (and perhaps sway the election in her favor), he showed no such understanding or compassion for President Trump. Although he knew that the president was not under investigation for colluding with Russia to sway the election, he made no effort, through month after month of smears, lies, and innuendos from the left, to exonerate the President of the United States.
Yes, Republicans and Democrats were both correct in their anger and dismay at Comey, for it is not in the purview of the FBI director to determine the innocence or culpability of someone under investigation. Nor is it his call as to whether or not that individual should be prosecuted. Comey clearly overstepped the bounds of his position in the Clinton investigation, and he knew it. So in his testimonies both to the House Oversight Committee last year and before the Senate Intelligence Committee last week, Comey was careful to excuse his bizarre and unprecedented actions by blaming them on former Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s inappropriate meeting with Bill Clinton and her directive to soften the official explanation of the Clinton investigation. While both of Lynch’s actions were suspect and perhaps criminal, Comey took did nothing at the time. He waited until his own actions were under scrutiny and then blamed it all on her. This Tin Man loves only himself. No loyalty. No understanding. No compassion. No heart.
And so we continue down the Yellow Brick Road despite the fact, admitted over and over again by investigators, that no proof of collusion between Trump’s team and Russia has been discovered after nearly a year’s investigation and millions of taxpayer dollars. So what is behind that curtain in Oz? What does the Great Wizard look like? From what we know now, when that curtain is drawn back, we will find a slight, bespectacled Democrat with a giant smoke machine, running the greatest scam in American history.