As you probably know, FBI Director James Comey did not recommend indicting Hillary Clinton over her use of a private email account while she was secretary of state. But at his Tuesday press conference on the matter Comey did criticize Clinton’s conduct as irresponsible while asserting several facts that contradicted some of her previous public statements. The Republican party did not waste time in clipping Comey’s remarks together with Clinton’s statements to make an ad that, on the whole, is a pretty fair attack on the presumptive Democratic nominee’s credibility:
(I say “on the whole” because it wasn’t and still isn’t clear that Comey is saying Clinton used multiple devices at the same time, which would be the germane issue. Clinton herself has seemed to contradict her own claims on that subject, though.)
Comey is appearing Thursday at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing. South Carolina Republican Trey Gowdy took the opportunity to do a karaoke/live-action role-play version of the Clinton ad, more or less asking Comey to just repeat all the things he’d already said Tuesday while Gowdy read Clinton’s lines.
It was like one of those YouTube videos where hardcore fans recreate scenes from Raiders of the Lost Ark! Except where some are passionate about the films of Steven Spielberg, Trey Gowdy is passionate about Republican campaign talking points. We all have our hobbies.
I can only criticize Gowdy for forgetting to bring up the cybersecurity issue. The obsessives on RNC fan sites are going to be all over him for that one. Worst. Republican YouTube video re-enactment at a House of Representatives committee hearing. Ever!
Correction, July 7, 2016: This post originally misspelled Steven Spielberg’s last name.
