GOP Accidentally Does Clinton A Favor MSNBC

I honestly have no idea what Republicans thought they were going to achieve with this spectacle. Did GOP lawmakers expect Comey to declare, “Now that you’ve yelled at me for a few hours, I’ve changed my mind and now support criminal charges against Clinton”?

Before the hearing Republicans had a series of fairly specific talking points: Clinton lied to the FBI; she created a national security threat; she plays by a different set of rules than everyone else. But instead of simply repeating those talking points, GOP lawmakers invited the FBI director – a lifelong Republican, whom GOP officials have repeatedly praised for his honesty – to testify about how wrong the party’s arguments are.

“We have no basis to believe she lied to the FBI,” Comey said. Asked about Clinton benefiting from a different set of rules, he responded, “It’s not true.” Asked about classified emails, Comey said there were only three messages – each of which were not properly marked classified when she received them.

Is Donald Trump Losing It? The New Yorker

Watching Donald Trump Wednesday night, I find myself agreeing with conservative Republicans the day after -- an event that rarely happens today. I agree that Donald Trump appeared unhinged and nearly pathologically possessed at moments. HE needs an exorcism, not that I support them. But with exorcisms on the rise in America, the Catholic bishops should focus on Trump, not progressive women.

In the political-campaigning industry, there is a tactic sometimes referred to as the “I am not a child molester” strategy. With no real evidence necessary, one makes a damaging claim about your opponent, forcing him or her to deny it. Trump doesn't just fall into this trap of defending himself and taking comments seriously. If you watch him carefully, you note that he takes personal offense at everything, unable to stay focused on more important talking points. According to a tally by the Toronto Star’s Daniel Dale, who tweeted a partial transcript of the speech, Trump said the word “star” twenty-eight times Wednesday night, unable to contain his anger over major complaints about last weekend's tweet of Hillary against a six-pointed star with plenty of cash behind her image. Trump ended his tirade with a new twist to the story. Referring to the decision to replace the star with a circle, this would-be US president said that he had told some of his campaign workers, “Too bad, you should have left it up. I would have rather defended it.”

New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman, Michael Barbaro, and Jonathan Mahler, described the Trump spectacle as “a striking display of self-sabotage from a presumptive presidential nominee.”

Others were less kind. Live-tweeting his response to the speech, John Podhoretz, the editor of Commentary and a New York Post columnist, wrote, “Trump whining that anyone would say he praised Saddam Hussein last night. The man is a mental patient.” Later, Podhoretz, a confirmed member of the Never Trump movement, added, “Just send the delegates this speech and lock them in a room and make them watch it all the way through.” He wasn’t the only one to wonder aloud if Trump had lost his marbles. Kyle Foley, a commentator for the conservative Web site Red State, wrote, “If you choose to support Trump, that is absolutely your prerogative, but he has proved tonight (and pretty much every night) that he is absolutely and certifiably insane.”'