Search Google

5/4/17

Abbreviated Pundit Round-up: James Comey, the Election Decider

Health care, health care, health care, but the pundits have not caught up to events. 

Nate Silver/Five Thirty Eight:

The Comey Letter Probably Cost Clinton The Election

So why won’t the media admit as much?

Hillary Clinton would probably be president if FBI Director James Comey had not sent a letter to Congress on Oct. 28. The letter, which said the FBI had “learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation” into the private email server that Clinton used as secretary of state, upended the news cycle and soon halved Clinton’s lead in the polls, imperiling her position in the Electoral College.

The letter isn’t the only reason that Clinton lost. It does not excuse every decision the Clinton campaign made. Other factors may have played a larger role in her defeat, and it’s up to Democrats to examine those as they choose their strategy for 2018 and 2020.

But the effect of those factors — say, Clinton’s decision to give paid speeches to investment banks, or her messaging on pocket-book issues, or the role that her gender played in the campaign — is hard to measure. The impact of Comey’s letter is comparatively easy to quantify, by contrast….

And yet, from almost the moment that Trump won the White House, many mainstream journalists have been in denial about the impact of Comey’s letter.

The denial was palpable on social media yesterday. The combo of the HRC interview with Christiane Amanpour and Comey testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee was irresistible. and, naturally, everyone brought their priors.

That also set off some obnoxious tweets from NYT reporters, willing to disrespect Clinton but not willing to look at their own involvement.

So it goes.



from Daily Kos http://ift.tt/2pbIs5n

0 التعليقات:

Post a Comment

Search Google

Blog Archive