A Well Respected Man

And he's oh, so good,

And he's oh, so fine,

And he's oh, so healthy,

In his body and his mind.

He's a well respected man about town,

Doing the best things so conservatively.

~~ “A Well Respected Man” by The Kinks

My, my, what an interesting week.

Like millions all over the country, I was glued to our TV set (not literally) Thursday morning as I watched former FBI Director James Comey have his say when he appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee. (I really wish Senator Al Franken were on that committee.) It promised to be quite a spectacle, and it didn’t disappoint.

Let me preface this by saying that while plenty of my friends hate Comey for the way he handled the Hillary e-mail brouhaha, I’ve always had mixed feelings about it. I didn’t like it, either, and I think it may have played a part in her EC loss, but I don’t think it’s fair to lay it all on him. There were many factors involved. I also read quite a bit about his thinking, and I get where he was coming from. His goal was to protect the Justice Department and the FBI from any allegations of wrongdoing or coercion or undue influence or whatever you want to call it. Of course, it turned out that it probably did influence things somewhat, but I just don’t think we can lay it all at his feet. I remember talking to Ken about it at the time, and we agreed that he made the decision that he had to make. The guy was between a rock and a hard place. Neither of us cared for it much, but we understood his reasoning from a logical viewpoint. I felt then, and still feel, that Comey was a man of integrity.

I know that some of my friends on the left will disagree with me. Hell, probably plenty of people on the right will disagree with me. If you’re pissing everyone off equally, doesn’t that mean you’re nonpartisan? I don’t know. But really, I think the guy is the real deal and genuinely wanted to follow the law and fight crime. One of the Good Guys.

As for the hearing...holy shit! I was so riveted that I didn’t even get up to take a bathroom break, and since I’d fixed myself a Bloody Mary, things were getting quite urgent by the end of those two and a half hours! It was absolutely fascinating and Comey was beyond impressive. He was a cool customer who came across as highly competent, committed to the truth and the law, self-deprecating, but obviously intelligent and sharp as a tack. I enjoyed it so much that I watched it again via video from another network, and this one included lots of dramatic closeups of Comey’s face. That was fascinating in itself because you could see his rapid eye movements and his nods as the Senators were asking their questions. He was like a machine processing everything and figuring out how he was going to answer. Probably exactly how he reacted when sitting with the Yam, figuring out how he was going to answer those inappropriate requests.

I’ve said from the very beginning of this whole mess that the Yam picked the wrong FBI director to fuck with. This guy is a true professional who knows how things work.

Speaking of inappropriate requests, I’ve seen multiple stories equating how Comey felt in these encounters with his boss with how women sometimes feel in the workplace when we are faced with such comments. It even extended to the hearing, when several Senators—including a couple of female Senators!—asked him why he didn’t do more, say more, speak up, fight back at the time. Amazingly enough, James Comey was victim-shamed. As one Twitter comment said, “Mr. Comey, what were you wearing at the time?” The awful truth is that anyone, no matter their gender or any other qualifier, can be subjected to feeling that their job hinges upon how they respond to the advances of their superior. I think plenty of us have been in such a situation and it can be very uncomfortable and you try to tread as lightly as possible. Imagine that your boss holds the most powerful position in the country. How would you react?

Comey did the smart thing and documented everything. Ken and I have both been in that situation, too. His situation did turn into one where he had to give a deposition and his notes were invaluable. I give that advice to anyone having issues at work. Document, document, document! Of course, Comey didn’t need my advice. He was the freakin’ FBI chief, so he knows about documentation.

He also knows how to play the long game. One of the most fascinating things that came out of the hearing, at least to me, was that he said yes, I gave my notes about the meeting to a friend and asked him to give it to a reporter in the hopes that a special prosecutor would be appointed. He just flat-out said it! And that is exactly what happened. Checkmate, em-effers!

Now the Yaministration is trying to portray Comey as a “leaker.” Good luck with that, you incompetent dolts. He was a private citizen—you know, ‘cause you fired him—and he was careful to ensure that nothing included in his memo was classified. The Yam maintains that Comey is lying, which means that he is accusing him of perjury. I think only the most rabid Yampeople would look at the Yam and at Comey and conclude that the Yam is more trustworthy. Comey will win that contest every single time among the majority of the American people.

Also, James Comey is hot. Everyone knows that intelligence and integrity are attractive. Two of the many reasons I married Ken.