The Obamagate Puzzle
We are continuing to learn more about how scandal called Obamagate. We have known about a few of the pieces of this puzzle for some time. These pieces included what, until recently, I had believed were the actions of a few rogue members in the FBI and the Intelligence community. Other pieces I wondered about or suspected, but with the documents released recently, this broad outline was confirmed, and now Obama and Biden have been linked to the growing scandal. As with Nixon, a major question is now what did Obama and Biden know, and when then they know it?
One new piece is the list of those requesting the unmasking of General Flynn from election day to Jan 31, 2017. It is clear that with over three dozen requests, the system was abused. We are asked to believe that all these people had legitimate reasons to request the unmasking. According to the Left and the media, unmasking is common, even routine. Yet, if it is so common and routine, why do we have all the rules saying there must be a legitimate reason to unmask a name? Why even mask names at all? I believe it is likely that many of these people were encouraged to request the unmasking to muddy the water. Almost certainly on this list is the name of the person who leaked Flynn’s name to the press, which is not just an abuse; it is a crime. The problem is, with so many names on the list, determining which was the leaker is much more difficult.
Another piece was the release of the House transcripts that Schiff had tried to keep hidden. He was finally forced to release them. These transcripts proved that Schiff had been lying all along, but then that was not a surprise. More importantly, it showed that many of the people on TV for years claiming knowledge of evidence linking Trump to Russia were also lying. When under oath, said they never saw any such evidence.
There never was any evidence. The whole Trump-Russia story has been a lie from the beginning. It was created and perpetrated to damage the incoming administration, eventually forcing a special prosecutor, who also found nothing, ending with an attempt to impeach and remove the President. Oh, but it is Trump, so it is all ok. It does not matter what lies you tell, what power you abuse, what laws you break, just as long as the goal is stopping Trump.
Granted, the Republicans are not clean and pure, but they are certainly better than the Democrats. Republicans played a key role in the investigation of Nixon. When evidence indicated that Nixon had violated the law, Republicans went to the White House to demand he resign. Where are the Democrats today who are upset with this scandal? Where are the Democrats concerned about the abuse of power? Where are the Democrats concerned about the violation of the law? They are MIA. Instead, Democrats continue to circle the wagons and defend these actions. Rather than being upset about the lying, abuse of power, and crimes, they continue to claim Trump colluded with Russia despite the evidence. For Democrats and the media, Trump’s guilt is certain, but they just need some more time to find some evidence of his guilt.
When you ignore bad behavior, it just gets worse. The media have been biased to the left for decades, and over the years, it has gotten worse. Now they are effectively an arm of the Democratic party. Consider the following mild example, from an article on Politico
“Conservative critics have suggested Rice sought the identities of officials on Trump’s transition team for political purposes, something Rice flatly denied on Tuesday. ‘The allegation is that, somehow, Obama administration officials utilized intelligence for political purposes,’ Rice told MSNBC’s, Andrea Mitchell. ‘That’s absolutely false.’ Her denial did nothing to slow the gathering wave of outrage in conservative media outlets.”
(https://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/susan-rice-flynn-unmasking-236884)
Note the “Conservative critics,” which suggests the criticism is partisan and thus easy to dismiss. Consider that last sentence. Why should “her denial” “slow the gathering wave of outrage in conservative media outlets?” Since when did the denial by an alleged wrongdoer warrant the end of an investigation? And again, why the “conservative media” label? Are conservatives the only ones concerned about the law and abuse of power? When have you seen a sentence like a Republican “denials did nothing to slow the gathering wave of outrage in Liberal media outlets” in the supposedly non-biased media?
Then there is the issue of whether or not these unmaskings were all legitimate. Some almost certainly were, but so many of them? Just what was the legitimate reason for requesting these unmasking? The names of American citizens are masked because the US government is not supposed to be spying on its own citizens without a court order. Those who request unmasking are supposed to have valid intelligence reasons. Why were so many of the names for the Treasury department on the list? Why did the deputy Secretary of Energy request Flynn’s name be unmasked?
Despite the lack of evidence of any Trump-Russia collusion, liberals and media insist that the investigations were all okay. If that is the case, does that mean it is okay for people in the Trump administration to open up investigations on Biden without any evidence? Was the real problem with Watergate that it was Nixon’s reelection committee that attempted the bugging? If Nixon had had the FBI, CIA, or some other government agency do it, everything would have been okay? Is it ok for Trump administration officials to unmask US citizens connected to the Biden campaign? Is it ok for Trump administration officials to leak this to the press? If Biden wins, shouldn’t we just forgo the subterfuge and go straight to appointing a special prosecutor who will hire only Republican lawyers that supported Trump? If not, why was this ok when the target was Trump? Finally, if this is the new norm, it should not be. After all, if they can do this to Trump? What hope do we have if they try to do it to us? We will be like Flynn, forced into a plea deal as the only option left.