351 The Bill E Buckner of American Politics of American Politics: Comey IS the 500 Year Flood

🧨 Chapter Title: The Bill E. Buckner of American Politics: Comey Is the 500-Year Flood

He’s the GOAT—and not in the good way. James “500-year flood” Comey likes to claim he was swept away by forces beyond his control.

Former FBI Director James Comey Says Holding The Job In 2016 Felt Like A 500-Year Flood : NPR

But the record shows otherwise: Comey wasn’t swept away in “a 500 year flood: He was the flood if not levee that broke.

🧠 Philosophical Insert: The Comfort of the Flood Myth

Comey’s flood metaphor is a psychological shield. It lets him pretend he didn’t choose to violate DOJ norms, didn’t choose to hold a press conference, didn’t choose to send the October Letter.

But as the DOJ IG found, Comey “deviated” from protocol and acted in open insubordination. See DOJ OIG Report on Comey’s Conduct, June 2018.

 

His wife, Patrice, voted for Clinton. She begged him not to send the letter. He did it anyway-indeed with no little self righteousness-apparently, he was no less sanctimonious in speaking to his wife about it than Trish Anderson.

FN: See Chapter Why Did Comey Write the Comey Letter?

🧱 Sidebar: The Savvy Media’s Memory Hole

The Savvy class loves bad narratives—especially anti-Clinton ones. That’s why they helped foment Emailgate in 2016 and then memory-holed it post-election.

Jeff Gerth’s 23,000-word Russiagate postmortem opens with Dean Baquet’s quote:

“Holy shit, Bob Mueller is not going to do it.” — Gerth, CJR, Jan. 2023

But Mueller didn’t “say no collusion.” He documented numerous links, coordination, and support between Trump’s campaign and Russian interference. See Mueller Report Summary, Just Security, April 2019.

📎 FN Cascade

• Jonathan Turley, “Comey’s 500-Year Flood Collides with the IG Report,” The Hill, June 2018.
• Jeff Gerth, “The Press vs. the President,” CJR, Jan. 2023.
• Emptywheel, “The Blind Spots of CJR’s Russiagate Narrative,” Feb. 2023.
• Ryan Goodman, “Guide to the Mueller Report’s Findings on Collusion,” Just Security, April 2019.
• Slate, “Inside the NYT Town Hall,” Aug. 2019.

🧨 Modular Insert: Jeff Whitewater Gerth and the Savvy Memory Hole

Jeff Whitewater Gerth’s recent 23,000 word glittering peon to the Russiagate fiasco opens up with an alleged quote of Dean Baquette post the release of the Mueller Report Bill Barr’s fake exoneration letter:

“Holy shit, Bob Mueller is not going to do it.” — Dean Baquet, NYT Town Hall, July 2019

Gerth opens his 23,000-word Russiagate postmortem with this quote, framing Mueller’s testimony as a failed coup attempt. But Mueller was never going to “pursue Trump’s ouster.” That’s not how special counsel authority works. Congress ousts. Mueller investigates.

Gerth knows this. Which makes his framing not just wrong—but bad faith.

🧠 Philosophical Insert: The Power of the Lie

“Baquet, speaking to his colleagues in a town hall meeting soon after the testimony concluded, acknowledged the Times had been caught “a little tiny bit flat-footed” by the outcome of Mueller’s investigation.”

“That would prove to be more than an understatement. But neither Baquet nor his successor, nor any of the paper’s reporters, would offer anything like a postmortem of the paper’s Trump-Russia saga, unlike the examination the Times did of its coverage before the Iraq War.”

There’s so much wrong with this it’s hard to know where to start. What strikes you right off the bat is how ungrateful Gerth sounds. Baquet did everything to take down Hillary Clinton, he and Comey essentially elected Trump-and both in their own way completely buried the fact of Russian Interference and Collusion prior to the election, yet Gerth and his fellow GOP co-conspirators claim that Comey and Baquette were unfair to Trump?!

EW did her own piece on Gerth’s follies and found his first error at word 18

Gerth’s narrative isn’t just flawed—it’s strategically dishonest.

Emptywheel found Gerth’s first factual error at word 18—and took issue with his use of “collusion” at word 12. I actually found his first error at word 5:

He calls the Mueller probe “long” at word five. But by historical standards, it was short:

• Mueller: 22 months
• Whitewater: 7 years
• Durham: 4 years
• Hunter Biden: ongoing since 2018

And to the extent that Gerth’s characterization of Baquette’s reaction to Mueller’s testimony is accurate-and with all Gerth’s misstatements of fact on this I tend to suspect he is accurate-it speaks pretty badly of Baquette-as so many of the former NYT executive’s statements and actions do. It would show that yet again the Dean Baquette MSM accepted a bad GOP narrative as the truth.

🧱 Sidebar: The Comey Rule and the Rehabilitation Machine

When Showtime released The Comey Rule, it was based on A Higher Loyalty—a book so forgettable it offered only one revelation: Comey admitted he used Tarmacgate as a pretext for the July Presser. Faux outrage on Fox gave him cover for a decision he’d already made.

See James Comey, A Higher Loyalty (Flatiron Books, 2018), p. 189

The MSM buried Emailgate once it did its job. But Comey’s rehabilitation project—like Barr’s—found eager allies in the Savvy press.

📎 FN Cascade

• Jeff Gerth, “The Press vs. the President,” Columbia Journalism Review, Jan. 2023
• Dean Baquet, NYT Town Hall Transcript, Slate, Aug. 2019
• Emptywheel, “The Blind Spots of CJR’s Russiagate Narrative,” Feb. 2023
• James Comey, A Higher Loyalty, p. 189
• Mother Jones, “Gerth Misrepresents the Scandal He’s Scrutinizing,” Feb. 2023

🧨 Modular Insert: Hagiography Run Amok

The subtitle of Showtime’s The Comey Rule could easily be: Hagiography Run Amok.

The first scene opens with Rod Rosenstein pulling A Higher Loyalty off a shelf and muttering:

“Jim was always a showboat.” — The Comey Rule, Showtime, Sept. 2020

Ironically, this was the most honest moment in the entire series.

🧠 Philosophical Insert: The Comey Paradox

Variety:

“Not even most Comey fans might contest this point.  Comey’s late reopening of the case against Hillary Clinton is seen by many (including the onetime candidate herself) as decisive in delivering the election to Donald Trump. But the man himself has tended to depict it as a personal drama in which he played hero — an argument compelling enough to a segment of the audience to have made his book a bestseller, and to have generated this show. The title of his memoir says it all: For Comey, the most recent presidential contest came down to a war staged within himself, in which pragmatism or a willingness to cede the stage was superseded by a devotion to ideals that he doesn’t mind telling you are lofty. That makes Jeff Daniels, who on HBO’s “The Newsroom” played a media figure who became famous and beloved for lecturing people, an apt casting choice.’

Regarding these ‘James Comey fans…’-I mean  the question begs: why would anyone be a James Comey fan? Well this brings us to yet another fascinating paradox of American politics.

Post-2016, one party sees Comey as a hero. The other sees him as a moral showboat who flipped an election.

The surreal twist? Democrats are the ones defending him.

Even after Comey admitted in A Higher Loyalty that he used Tarmacgate as a pretext for the July Presser—because Fox News outrage gave him cover.

📎 FN Cascade

• Rod Rosenstein, “Jim was always a showboat,” The Comey Rule, Showtime, Sept. 2020
• James Comey, A Higher Loyalty, p. 189, admits using Tarmacgate as a pretext for the Presser
• Slate, “What’s Fact and What’s Fiction in The Comey Rule,” Sept. 2020, confirms Patrice Comey’s Clinton support and post-election devastation
• Jeff Gerth, “The Press vs. the President,” CJR, Jan. 2023
• Emptywheel, “Gerth’s First Error at Word 18,” Feb. 2023

🧨 Modular Insert: Redemption Without Repentance

Comey wants redemption. He tweets about electing more women. He donates to Democrats. He wears the t-shirt.

But he still insists he did nothing wrong in 2016. He can say anything but s-s-s-… sorry.

See James Comey, “Elect More Women” tweet, Aug. 2020 See Hillary Clinton’s response, “A lot of us tried. You f***ed it up.”

🧠 Philosophical Insert: The Fonz Syndrome

Comey’s linguistic contortions are legendary:

• “500-year flood”
• “Reveal vs. conceal”
• “Very bad vs. cataclysmic”

But when it came to Carter Page, he found the words:

“I was wrong. I was overconfident. There was real sloppiness.” — Fox News Sunday, Dec. 20193

He apologized to Republicans. But not to Democrats. Not to Hillary Clinton. Not for Emailgate.

🧱 Sidebar: The Page Paradox

Despite years of Storm and Strang by Trump and his GOP co-conspirators, the Carter Page wiretap was adequately predicated. The Horowitz report found 17 procedural errors—but no political bias.

Comey didn’t personally approve the wiretap. That’s done by a federal judge. Yet he took the fall—and offered contrition.

See DOJ OIG Report on FISA Applications, Dec. 20195

Meanwhile, the investigation into rogue anti-Clinton agents—opened a year earlier—was shelved.

📎 FN Cascade

• James Comey, “Elect More Women” tweet, Aug. 2020
• Hillary Clinton, response tweet, “A lot of us tried. You f***ed it up.”
• Fox News Sunday, Comey interview, Dec. 15, 20193
• DOJ OIG Report, “Review of Four FISA Applications,” Dec. 20195
• Emptywheel, “Adequate Predication and the Page Paradox,” 2020

🧨 Modular Insert: Selective Contrition and the Page Paradox

Comey apologized for the Carter Page wiretap. But not for Emailgate.

Why? Because Page was a Republican, and Comey’s own role was peripheral.

He apologized for nothing. On Fox News, no less—the same outlet whose faux outrage over Tarmacgate gave him cover for the July Presser.

See Fox News Sunday, Comey interview, Dec. 2019 See Emptywheel, “Carter Page Was Not Special”, March 2020

🧠 Philosophical Insert: The Myth of Specialness

The DOJ IG reviewed 29 FISA applications. Carter Page’s wasn’t uniquely flawed—it was typical.

• 4 applications had no Woods file at all.
• The remaining 25 had an average of 20 deficiencies each.
• Page’s case was not special—except in how loudly it was politicized.

See OIG Management Advisory Memo, March 2020 See Law & Crime, “FBI Abuse of FISA Was Widespread”, March 2020

🧱 Sidebar: The Surreal Inversion

Republicans now pillory Comey as Deep State. Democrats now defend him as a hero.

But Comey rigged the election for Trump. He was fired by the man he elected—in a stunning fit of ingratitude.

Democrats responded with reflexive outrage, forgetting Comey’s sabotage. Randol Schoenberg was a rare exception.

See Schoenblog, “Thoughts on Comey’s Firing”, May 2017

📎 FN Cascade

• Fox News Sunday, Comey interview, Dec. 15, 2019
• Emptywheel, “Carter Page Was Not Special,” March 2020
• OIG Management Advisory Memo, March 2020
• Law & Crime, “FBI Abuse of FISA Was Widespread,” March 2020
• Schoenblog, “Thoughts on Comey’s Firing,” May 2017

🧨 Modular Insert: Optics Over Ethics

Schoenberg nailed it:

“Comey consistently behaved as though he was compelled to do the wrong thing, in order to create the appearance of doing the right thing.” — Schoenblog, “Comey Is Guilty”, May 2017

In July, he held a press conference to “clear” Clinton—while laying out a case against her. In October, he sent the Comey Letter before reviewing the emails—because he feared being accused of concealment.

He didn’t follow DOJ norms. He followed Fox News optics.

🧠 Philosophical Insert: The Barn Door Fallacy

Trump fired Comey in May 2017. But the damage was done.

It was like closing the barn door after the cows were in the mountains.

Schoenberg was “happy, happy, happy.” But the real question was: who comes next?

Trump could’ve picked Giuliani—the rogue agent whisperer. Instead, he picked Chris Christie’s Bridgegate lawyer, Christopher Wray.

🧱 Sidebar: Once Again the Surreal Inversion

Comey rigged the election for Trump. Trump fired him anyway.

Republicans now call him Deep State. Democrats now call him a hero.

Schoenberg was one of the few who saw it clearly:

“The culprit who cost Clinton the election, and said he would do it again, was gone. What could be bad about that?” — Schoenblog, May 2017

But while I fully share his Comey Derangement Syndrome as this book makes abundantly clear I couldn’t quite CHEER Comey’s firing-the damage was already done. And the way Trump fired him-the fact that it was Trump who fired him only exacerbated the damage Comey already did.

CODA: I would have been fine with Hillary Clinton firing him-though no doubt all the handwringers in the Democratic establishment would have gravely warned her against it. This is because I think that Comey DID deserve to be fired but Trump didn’t fire him for the right reason-the why matters. 

Schoenberg did harbor a significant misperception himself in dismissing “Russiagate” as “a side show.” In this he differed from mainstream commentary which completely forgot Emailgate once it served the purpose of defeating “That Woman” but he was quite wrong about Russiagate-it wasn’t that Comeygate was the “real scandal” and “Russiagate” a sideshow bur rather: Comeygate and Russian interference were one operation. See Chapter: Mensch

 

📎 FN Cascade

• E. Randol Schoenberg, “Comey Is Guilty,” Schoenblog, May 3, 2017
• Law & Crime, “Schoenberg FOIA Lawsuit on Comey’s Search Warrant,” Dec. 2016
• Emptywheel, “Carter Page Was Not Special,” March 2020
• PBS, “What the Mueller Report Says About Trump’s Firing of Comey,” June 2019
• Asbury Park Press, “Christie’s Bridgegate Lawyer Christopher Wray Tapped by Trump,” June 2017

🧨 Modular Insert: Redemption Without Regret

Schoenberg nailed it again:

“Comey continues to claim that if he had it to do all over again, he would make the same decision.” — Schoenblog, “Comey Is Guilty”, May 2017

Comey’s “Speak or Conceal” dichotomy was a false binary. He feared Clinton would win—and the FBI would find “golden emails” after the fact. So he preemptively sabotaged her.

He didn’t follow DOJ norms. He followed Republican paranoia.

🧠 Philosophical Insert: The Hero Who Got Her Killed

Comey wants to be the hero who cleaned up the mess. But he’s the one who made it.

Like Kanan in Power, he doesn’t get points for cleaning up the mess he made.

Like Tariq, he wants credit for avenging his sister—after getting her killed.

Comey’s “500-year flood” wasn’t a natural disaster. It was institutional sabotage.

🧱 Sidebar: The Case for Accountability

Comey’s actions were catastrophic. His lack of remorse is galling. His rehabilitation campaign is offensive.

The penalties should be steep:

• Clawback of pension benefits
• Clawback of book profits
• Asterisk on his FBI record
• Revocation of honors

If this seems harsh, so were his actions. And so was their impact. Though saying “was” is misleading as the terrible impact is far from over starting ironically with Comey’s own daughter.

📎 FN Cascade

• E. Randol Schoenberg, “Comey Is Guilty,” Schoenblog, May 3, 2017
• Law & Crime, “Schoenberg FOIA Lawsuit on Clinton Email Warrant,” Dec. 2016
• Forward, “Lawyer Slams Lack of Evidence in Clinton Email Warrant,” Dec. 2016
• FiveThirtyEight, “The Comey Letter Probably Cost Clinton the Election,” May 2017
• DOJ OIG Report, “Various Actions by the FBI and DOJ in Advance of the 2016 Election,” June 2018

🧨 Modular Insert: The Comey Treatment

Comey’s sabotage wasn’t a solo act. Horowitz has hidden the identities of 100 rogue agents who leaked anti-Clinton material in 2016.

Each one deserves the Comey Treatment:

• Loss of pension
• Clawback of honors
• Public accountability
• Full investigation

See Chapter: Horowitz If You’re Listening

🧱 Sidebar: The J6 Overlap

Jim Jordan’s “whistleblowers” in the anti-J6 narrative may be the same rogue agents who leaked in 2016.

The overlap is plausible. The pattern is clear.

Rogue agents undermined Clinton. Rogue agents undermined J6.

The FBI and Secret Service are very Republican places.

See Chapter: Trumplandia 2.0

🧠 Philosophical Coda: Unprecedented Measures for Unprecedented Sabotage

Deleting texts. Undermining investigations. Leaking to Giuliani. Sabotaging democracy.

These are not routine errors. They are institutional betrayals.

The penalties must match the damage:

• Loss of job
• Loss of pension
• Loss of honors
• Public reckoning

Comey is not a hero. He is the Bill E. Buckner of American politics. He didn’t just miss the ball—he redirected it into the net.

 

🧠 Philosophical Coda: Come Back to Me That Day

Of all Comey’s sanctimonious canards, none is more galling than his May 3, 2017 testimony:

“Come back with me to that day and tell me what you would do.” — Senate Judiciary Hearing, May 3, 20172

Schiff had the right answer: The choice wasn’t “conceal or reveal.” It was follow DOJ policy or violate it.

As we discussed in Chapter Why did Jim Comey Write the Comey Letter? Schoenberg nailed it: Comey didn’t expect Clinton to win. He feared the FBI would find “golden emails” after the election—and that he’d be blamed by his Republican peers. So he preemptively sabotaged her.

🧱 Sidebar: The Legacy of the October 28 Letter: The Biggest Mistake in the History of Mistakes

Schoenberg persuasively argues Comey’s October 28 letter was “the biggest mistake in the history of mistakes.” It flipped one of the most consequential Presidential  elections in US history.. It elected Trump-the most unqualified and authoritarian candidate in US history. And it unleashed everything that followed.

Schoenberg’s analysis is forensic:

• Trump’s odds surged from 20% to 35% between Oct. 27 and Nov. 6
• Clinton’s recovery was too slow for rural voters to catch up
• Had the election been held two days later, she likely would’ve won

Comey’s legacy includes not just his own firing—but the firing of his daughter, Maureen Comey, from the Epstein investigation. She was let go without explanation, after prosecuting Ghislaine Maxwell and Sean “Diddy” Combs4

🧨 Modular Insert: Redemption Without Repentance, Revisited

Worst of all Comey still insists he’d make the same decision if he had it to do again. He calls the alternative “catastrophic.” But what could be worse than what actually transpired?

Schoenberg once again pins the tail right on the nose of the donkey:

Obviously, Comey is simply incapable of imagining the world as it would have been had he made a different choice.  What could he possibly mean by “might have been even worse”?  Worse than what actually transpired?  Worse than his firing by President Trump?  What exactly is he imagining that would be worse?  Really, what is it?”

He hints that he feared leaks from rogue agents. But as we showed in Chapter: Why the Comey Letter, leaks would’ve been easier to manage than a sanctioned FBI letter. Especially if the search warrant came in November, not October.

It’s called an October Surprise for a reason.

📎 FN Cascade

• James Comey, Senate Judiciary Hearing, May 3, 20172
• Randol Schoenberg, “Comey, Comey, and More Comey,” Schoenblog, 2020
• Benjamin Wittes, critique of Nate Silver’s modeling, Lawfare, 2017
• Edward Glaeser, rural information lag theory, Harvard Publications, 2020
• Maureen Comey, firing memo and SDNY letter, MSNBC, PBS, Independent, July 20254