Comey truly is the kind of career public servant that we should be
proud of in this country. It's a shame so many of them have been
replaced by political cronies under Bush.
Noone knows if 2006 will be the year the power of the
despots in this country will be checked, but if it happens it will be
due to people like James Comey who after only three weeks on the job
as the number two man in the Justice Department went to John Ashcroft
in December of 2003 and told him he had to recuse himself from the CIA
leak investigation.
It was also James Comey who appointed his
good friend, the godfather to his son, Patrick Fitzgerald as Special
Counsel and gave him the power to do the job without interference.
According to the New York Times,
it now appears that when John Ashcroft was hospitalized for a gall
bladder operation in March of 2004, Andy Card and Abu Gonzales had to
go his hospital bed and ask for approval of key parts of the
warrantless wiretapping program because his acting deputy refused to
certify it.
Pete Williams was on MSNBC today spinning the yarn that James Comey's
objections to the NSA wiretapping scheme were only momentary and
technical, and that he eventually was part of the effort to get the NYT
to sit on the story.
I just wish people would preface any mention of Pete Williams' opinion
with a little caveat mentioning his ties to Cheney. How about: "Ex-Cheney Staffer Pete Wiliams" Let's not act like we don't know this. Geez...
"In
1986 he joined the Washington, DC staff of then Congressman Dick Cheney
as press secretary and a legislative assistant. In 1989, when Cheney
was named Assistant Secretary of Defense, Williams was appointed
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs." While this tale is I suppose possible it sounds quite unlikely, and its successful perpetuation depends on two things:
1) That Comey himself will not come out and challenge it. Probably true.
2)
That nobody in the blogosphere will ferret around in the news vaults
and set Comey's relationship to the Administration during his brief
stint at the DoJ in its proper context.
In this particular instance the context is set by Orin Kerr over at the Volokh Conspiracy, who unearths this superb bit from the Legal Times in October 2004:
There
are a number of candidates who could be tapped to replace John Ashcroft
as attorney general if President George W. Bush wins re-election. But
perhaps the most obvious choice, Deputy AG James Comey, almost
certainly will not be.
Since his confirmation as the No. 2
Justice Department official in December 2003, sources close to the
department say Comey has had a strained relationship with some of the
president's top advisers . . . .
Earlier this year, after the
disclosure of internal administration memos that seemed to condone the
torture of suspected terrorists overseas, Comey pushed aggressively
for the Justice Department's memos to be released to the media and for
controversial legal analyses regarding the use of torture to be
rewritten.
In a deeply partisan administration that places a
high premium on political loyalty, sources say Comey — a career
prosecutor and a former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New
York — is not viewed as a team player.
"[Comey] has shown insufficient political savvy," says the former official. "The perception is that he has erred too much on the side of neutrality and independence."
And:"The
appointment of Pat Fitzgerald is the kind of decision that the White
House isn't thrilled with," says one former DOJ official. "Comey knew
what he was doing when he appointed Pat."
Comey announced his resignation from the Justice Department in March
2005. And when BushCo. tried to appoint a Skull & Bones crony to
oversee Fitzgerald, Comey did an end run around them and appointed the extremely ethical David Margolis to the task as his parting shot out the door.
Thank you Fitz, Comey, Feingold, Murtha, Cantwell, and Reid for showing
that there are still people of courage and honor in American public
life.
Thanks to all the brave and tireless people who fought for
the underdog; from Bono and Bob Geldof working on debt relief for the
Third World, to the Red Cross for providing disaster relief from
Indonesia to New Orleans, to Noah's Wish and the Humane Society for
rescuing furry family members, and all the volunteers who put their
lives on hold to go help those in need.
Here's to 2006: May the Good Guys Win the Big Ones!
Noone knows if 2006 will be the year the power of the
despots in this country will be checked, but if it happens it will be
due to people like James Comey who after only 
