FIRING SQUAD

You know who the happiest person is regarding the firing of FBI Director James

Mayor Ed Murray confirms the truth by
making the classic "guilty politician face."

Comey? I mean, other than Pres. Trump.

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, that's who. Yesterday, the alliterative Mayor Murray announced his disinclination to run for re-election after allegations surfaced that he sexually abused teenage boys in the 1980s. What would have been the third story on the network news was immediately relegated to ticker-tape headlines on cable. (By the way, you know Murray's a Democrat because the NPR story I linked to didn't identify his party affiliation.)

"Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Tall Boy."

Now, you'll excuse me if I don't get too worked up regarding Comey getting his walking papers by the object of his investigation. And certainly not worked up as much as Democrats, who were calling for his head during a scandal involving one of their own last year.

Unlike what Democrats are crying now, this isn't the same as Nixon's "Saturday Night Massacre," which involved an Attorney General, his Deputy, a Special Prosecutor, and the latter's entire staff investigating Watergate. 

Trump's action is closer to a Tuesday Afternoon Mugging. He can't fire the entire FBI workforce which, by all accounts, is extremely loyal to their former boss. In fact, this might redouble their efforts to discover if the seat of the Russian government should be renamed the Trump Kremlin.

None of this lets the GOP off the hook. In fact, it sticks them on even deeper. For, like

So there!

their donkey colleagues, Republicans once loved loved loved Comey -- when he took a very public interest in a certain presidential candidate's emails. But if it's their guy in his crosshairs, they're suddenly Off with his 6'5" head!

What both parties are ignoring are a plethora of scandals (alright, ten) under Comey's tenure. Somehow, not acting on information that could have prevented terrorist attacks in Boston, Ft. Hood, Florida, and New York -- while raiding a legitimate if wacky political meeting in Texas, and allowing Hillary Clinton to destroy her laptops -- doesn't even rise to the level of "Say... what gives?"

No, I'm not defending Trump. But nor do I think James Comey has gotten a raw deal. All I know is that in the last five years, the phrases "FBI" and "wracked with scandals" have become the hottest couple since Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski. Had then-President Barack Obama fired Comey last year, Republicans would have collectively sounded like a jungle full of howler monkeys. Democrats would have solemnly muttered that it was an "unfortunate but necessary" action for which there was no other choice.

But in 2017 with a new guy in the White House? Forget it, Jake. It's Washington.

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