OP-ED
PAGE 20
The Jewish Voice
MAY 19, 2017
The Left’s Shameless Hypocrisy on the Firing of the FBI Director By: Daniel Greenfield
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efore the election, Nancy Pelosi had hinted that Hillary would fire FBI Director James Comey. "Maybe he's not in the right job," the House Dem leader had coyly suggested. "I think that we have to just get through this election and just see what the casualties are along the way." The FBI Director was at risk of becoming a “casualty” over his handling of the Hillary investigation. There was no outrage and no front page editorials at the New York Times and the Washington Post. No comparisons to Watergate or calls for an investigation. A top Dem suggesting that the FBI Director would have to leave because he was investigating another top Dem was just “good government.” And there would have been none of the hypocritical media outcry if the election had gone another way and Comey were being told to pack his bags by President Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager had also hinted that Comey might have to step down because of his bias against Hillary. Now he claims that Trump’s firing of Comey “terrifies” him. After Comey’s letter, Schumer had declared, “I do not have confidence in him any longer.” That is what top government officials say before demanding someone’s job. But now Schum-
er is outraged. "If we don't get a special prosecutor, every American will rightfully suspect that the decision to fire #Comey was part of a cover-up," he tweeted. Were the Dem calls for Comey to resign also part of a cover-up? Harry Reid had called on Comey to resign. Congressman Steve Cohen even wrote an oped titled, “For the Sake of the FBI, Comey Should Resign.” Now he touts Comey as a recipient for the Profiles in Courage award and accuses Trump of firing him because Comey “threatened his presidency.” From Comey must go for investigating Hillary to Comey must get an award for investigating Trump. Did Cohen want Comey to resign then because he threatened Hillary Clinton’s presidency? The incoherently official position of the Dems is that Comey should have been forced out for investigating Hillary. But that Trump shouldn’t be allowed to fire him because that’s a cover-up. Democrats should be able to get rid of inconvenient FBI directors any time they please. And if Hillary had won, it wouldn’t have been the first time that President Clinton fired an FBI Director. The last president to send an FBI Director packing was Bill Clinton. The firing of Director Sessions was widely supported by the media even though the
found in his briefcase included the phrase, "The FBI lied in their report to the AG." The FBI was quickly brought in on the investigation. Foster had been closely involved in the scandal. Vince Foster's death and Bill Clinton's nomination of Freeh as the new FBI Director had to compete for space on the front page of the Washington Post. Floyd Clarke, the acting director whom Sessions had blamed for” pushing him out, briefed Freeh on Foster’s death. But the media found no problem with President Clinton firing the FBI Director. It took his justification for the firing at face value, but it insists on ascribing dark motives to Trump. "Mr. Comey’s breathtakingly rash and irresponsible decision," the New York Times had breathlessly editorialized during the campaign, "had undermine(d) the American people’s trust in After Comey’s letter, Schumer had declared, “I do not have the nation’s top law enforcement confidence in him any longer.” That is what top government agencies.” Now it has a splashy officials say before demanding someone’s job. But now front page linking Comey’s firSchumer is outraged. "If we don't get a special prosecutor, ing to Watergate. every American will rightfully suspect that the decision to fire “Many hear echoes of Water#Comey was part of a cover-up," he tweeted. gate,” the Times editorializes. Then Bill Clinton won and same month that Clinton fired “The immediate echo: ‘Saturday the FBI was up to its ears both Sessions, the White House re- Night Massacre,” the Washingdoing the dirty work for Hillary leased a report on the propriety ton Post echoes on its own front in the travel office scandal and of its own actions. It was against page. Can you hear the echo? It’s investigating the scandal. The this corrupt background that the echo of a media echo chamClintons had bypassed the Jus- the FBI Director was fired. Director Sessions was fired on ber repeating its lies to itself. tice Department to get the FBI The Post had gone from to target travel office employees July 19, 1993. On the next day, and secure a position for their Deputy White House Counsel headlines like "Comey misstatfriends and relatives. They ille- Vince Foster was found dead in ed key Clinton email evidence at gally obtained FBI files on their a Washington D.C. park. A note hearing" and "James Comey just early Clinton scandals had already bumped up against the FBI. Like Comey, the media had initially backed Sessions on the hope that he would hurt Bush. And indeed, on Sessions’ watch, the FBI had tried to entrap the head of President Bush’s Texas campaign.
targets and on hundreds of Republicans under false pretenses. The House Government Reform and Oversight Committee would later produce a report accusing the White House of politicizing the FBI. The FBI had been investigating its own contacts with the White House. The
stepped in it, big time" to "Firing FBI director Comey is already backfiring" and "If Trump fired Comey over Russia, he must go". As in 1984, we have always been at war with Eastasia. "This man's position at the FBI is no longer tenable #FireComey," Keith Olbermann had declared last year. Now he's demanding President Trump's impeachment for firing Comey. Dana Milbank, the Post’s answer to Keith Olbermann, screeched earlier that Comey had “single-handedly caused Donald Trump to win the presidency.” Now he’s ranting, “Trump like Nixon will fall.” Before the Comey letter, he was insisting, “Republican attacks on Comey undermine the rule of law”. Attacking Comey undermines the rule of law. Unless the FBI is investigating Hillary and then undermining the rule of law is a wonderful thing. And we should all attack Comey. The media’s response to Comey radically changed based on whether he was investigating Hillary or Trump. And any official who attempts to navigate these tricky currents will face the same whiplash. Milbank is already ranting that Rod “Rosenstein, who had a sterling reputation when he was confirmed two weeks ago, instantly turned himself into a Trump stooge.” Last year, he See The Left’s Shameless , page 36
Academic Malfeasance: U. of Arkansas Disinvites Prominent Scholar By: Winfield Myers
rector Thomas Paradise to can- distribution at the symposium." cel Chesler's appearance. They To complete their virtue signalhe latest speaker to be were joined by a dean—the ing, a statement would be read "disinvited" from an emails point to Arts and Scienc- "condemning Islamophobia and American college is es Dean Todd G. Shields as the bigotry, and affirming [MEST's] prominent feminist likely suspect—who threatened commitment to gender justice scholar Phyllis Chesler, whose to cancel the symposium and and diversity." Chesler was charged with "Isparticipation in a University freeze funding for the Middle of Arkansas, Fayetteville, sym- East Studies Program (MEST), a lamophobia," a verbal weapon posium on honor killing earli- unit of the King Fahd Center, if created to question the emotional stability of its targets and er this month was nixed days Chesler spoke. before the event. Behind the cancellation lies a sordid tale involving faculty machinations, threats from a dean, and at least one shattered window. Together, these events offer a case study on the intellectual and moral corruption of academe. Chesler is an emerita professor of psychology and women's studies at the City University of New York whose pioneering scholarship exposed the horrors of honor killing, forced marriages, and other brutalities women suffer in Muslim lands and beyond. She was invited to deliver a lunchtime lecture on "World- Behind the cancellation of Professor Phyllis Chesler lies a sordid wide Trends in Honor Killings" tale involving faculty machinations, threats from a dean, and at at a conference on "Violence in least one shattered window. the Name of Honor: ConfrontThe professorial trio plotted silence all criticism of Islam ing and Responding to Honor Killings and Forced Marriage to isolate and besmirch Chesler, rather than advance debate. Its in the West" on April 13-14, co- should their efforts to disinvite use against Chesler, herself a sponsored by the law school and her fail. The three demanded psychologist, is not the last irony the Saudi-funded King Fahd that a "qualified" speaker—i.e., of this episode. Some opponents also reCenter for Middle East Studies. one who disagreed with her— Emails obtained by Campus follow Chesler's remarks, that sorted to violence to silence an Watch (CW) from university MEST "publicly withdraw its outspoken opponent of violence personnel who requested an- sponsorship," and that it provide against women. According to onymity show that early on copies of "Islamophobia Is Rac- emails dated April 7, a window the morning of April 7, a triad ism," a flagrantly biased, pro-Is- was "shattered" at the private of professors – Joel Gordon, lamist bibliography "created by a home of Fahd Center director Mohja Kahf, and Ted R. Swe- collective of academics inspired Paradise to further intimidate denburg – pressured Center di- by the Ferguson syllabus, for him into cancelling Chesler's
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lecture. A faculty email that day states "the insurance co will replace it [the broken window] without a formal police report too which makes it all easier." How much easier is made clear by the fact that despite this firsthand account obtained by CW, the University of Arkansas Police and the Fayetteville Police Department informed CW that
Islamic supremacism, opposition to women's rights, hostility toward America, and anti-Semitism—on campuses nationwide. That Islamists played a role in cancelling Chesler's talk is revealed in a professor's April 7 email stating that he anticipated "campus Muslim organizations would get involved" and "a Muslim RSO [Registered
"Islamophobic," but precisely because her work undermines the Wahhabi-funded cult of victimology. By its tenets, because all Muslims are victims of Western colonialism and prejudice, no exposure of systemic social problems in Muslim societies— including the brutal slaughter of women—can be allowed, much less supported.
Left to right: Joel Gordon, Mohja Kahf, and Ted R. Swedenburg.
there are no records of broken windows either at Paradise's house or at a university building. No report filed means no investigation, no paper trail, and no publicity—smart moves if the goal is to shield the university from bad news rather than apprehend the perpetrator(s). The university has a chapter of the Muslim Students Association (MSA), a Saudi-founded organization that promotes Islamist propaganda—including
Student Organization] might be involved too." Later that day the same professor emailed a colleague that things were "getting heated," "really getting ugly and complicated," and that "it is getting ugly and they are rallying." That bigotry triumphed in Fayetteville last week. Chesler's scholarship exposing the horrific crimes of honor killings and forced marriages sank her invitation not because she's
An iron triangle of politicized professors, pusillanimous deans, and petrodollars won the day in Arkansas, a triangle that must be broken for freewheeling debate to be restored at American universities. (MIDDLE EAST FORUM)
Winfield Myers is director of academic affairs at the Middle East Forum and director of Campus Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum.