The original Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus sadly folded its tents back in 2017, but have no fear – as long as Rep. Jamie Comer trods this earth there will always be a clown.
The words don’t exist to describe just what a ridiculous figure the Republican from Tompkinsville, or wherever it is he’s hanging his hat these days, has become. Not satisfied with firmly establishing himself as a national disgrace for his pitiful and bogus attempt to impeach President Biden without enough evidence to fill a thimble, he is now determined to establish Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic Party’s vice-presidential nominee, is some kind of covert agent for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that controls the nation of 1.4 billion.
His proof? Walz has visited China about 30 times, often leading student delegations, and he spent a year soon after graduating from college teaching English at a school in the country’s southern region.
Most level-headed folks upon learning about Walz’s interest in Chinese history and culture would consider it an asset for an official in high political office in the U.S., providing a new administration with insight in dealing with the country’s largest and most aggressive rival.
Not our Jamie.
As chair of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, Comer has transformed the panel into the opposition research arm of the Republican National Committee. Not only did he initiate the bogus Biden Crime Family probe, urging the president’s impeachment, he has undertaken an investigation of Sen. Kamala Harris, of California, the Democratic nominee for president, for her responsibilities related to the southern border. Now it’s time for him to pester Walz, asking the FBI to provide “information, documents, and communications related to the CCP-connected entities and officials Governor Walz has engaged and partnered with, as well as any warnings or advice the FBI may have given to Governor Walz about U.S. political figures being targeted by or recruited for CCP influence operations.’’
“The CCP has sought to destroy the United States through coordinated influence and infiltration campaigns that target every aspect of American life, including our own elected officials,’’ Comer said in a press release. “Americans should be deeply concerned that Governor Walz, Kamala Harris’s vice-presidential running mate, has a longstanding and cozy relationship with China. Mr. Walz has visited China dozens of times, served as a fellow at a Chinese institution that maintains a devotion to the CCP, and spoke alongside the President of a Chinese organization the State Department exposed as a CCP effort to influence and co-opt local leaders. FBI briefers recently informed the Committee that the Bureau’s Foreign Influence Task Force investigates CCP activity that is similar to China’s engagement with Governor Walz. The American people deserve to fully understand how deep Governor Walz’s relationship with China goes.”
This is really Joe McCarthy stuff, folks. Guilt by association and all the other accoutrements. It is an abuse of the committee’s investigatory authority.
So now Comer has planted the idea with certain members of the electorate that Tim Walz is the walking, talking personification of Richard Condon’s Manchurian Candidate, planted here by the ChiComs to destroy the nation from within. All based on Walz’s overt fondness for the people and the history of China while, if his 12-year record in Congress is any indication, condemning the China Communist Party.
Like Gertrude Stein once said of Oakland, and what she might have said about Comer’s brain had she ever met him, there’s no there there. Simply travelling, teaching, and accompanying students to a foreign land, meeting with people, isn’t sufficient to accuse him of being a real life Yen Lo.
But here’s Jamie being interviewed by fellow nitwit Jesse Watters on, of course, rightwing Fox News, where he has all but claimed his own primetime show, going full blown conspiracy theorist.
“It’s very possible that China would be grooming an up-and-coming rising star in the political process to try to have a foothold in our government,” Comer said, adding that. “It looks like Walz’s ties may be for ideology; and this is something that we should be concerned about and we’re trying to gather as much information as we can, as quick as we can, to present to the American people.”
There is no indication that Walz is ideologically embracing China. He has, instead, proved to be a consistent critic. And Comer’s initiative is so transparently political, with the intent of boosting the Republican ticket on the taxpayer’s dime, that it is just plain ludicrous. The Biden impeachment probe, launched in an effort to thwart the president’s re-election bid with hackneyed logic and obvious lies, went nowhere and was ultimately deemed irrelevant when Biden withdrew.
Consider: Democrats currently hold the keys to the intelligence community kingdom. Harris is a part of that power structure. Would she have selected Walz as her running mate – there were several contenders — if that intelligence network had the slightest suspicion of Walz playing do-si-do with the ChiComs? No.
With Biden no longer worthy of a political ambush, Comer took aim at Harris, claiming her tenure as the “border czar’’ was an abject failure. That claim has failed to have legs, generating little concern from the general public since she never served as a border czar. But the investigation continues even though it’s clear Harris, as vice president, didn’t have the authority Comer supposes.
Walz and his China connection finally became grist for Comer’s political fantasies. Meanwhile, there are legitimate events for his committee to look into, like reports about Egypt illegally sending $10 million to a presidential campaign, an event bolstered by reports of a $10 million withdrawal from a Cairo bank. Comer would never touch that issue – the alleged incident occurred in 2016 and involved the campaign of Donald J. Trump, once again the Republican presidential nominee who happens to be endorsed by Jamie.
Frankly, there are dozens of incidents involving Trump that are worthy of Oversight Committee concerns, like his relationship with Russia President Vladimir Putin. The panel has kept hands off.
As something of a footnote, Comer finally put the Biden impeachment probe to rest this week, releasing a 291-page report accusing the president of violations warranting impeachment centering on allowing his family to bring in millions of dollars thanks to his official position.
But there was no showing of a quid pro quo, that Biden took direct action to fill the pockets of his son Hunter, or really any evidence of possible wrongdoing whatsoever.
In other words, the while schlemiel was a colossal waste of 20 months, money, and effort, a sham, a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing. The only thing the whole rigamarole proved was Comer is, well, a dope. And his failures were played out on stage for the entire nation to witness.
“I would call it a complete exoneration of the target of their pathetic attacks — President Joe Biden,’’ said Rep. Jamie Rankin (D-MD), aka The Smart Jamie, the committee’s ranking member. “Every lie, distortion, and dirty trick thrown at Joe Biden in the 118th Congress has sharply boomeranged and imploded, making our Republican colleagues look inept and absurd. Their compulsive flailing about has not only proven, once more, that President Biden committed no wrongdoing, much less an impeachable crime, but has paradoxically vindicated President Biden’s essential honor and decency.’’
Inept and absurd. Is there a better epitaph for Jamie Comer? It actually isn’t that hard to fathom just what a blithering nincompoop this guy really is. He makes it easy.
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Written by Bill Straub, a member of the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame. Cross-posted from the NKY Tribune.
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