Opinion – Bill Straub: Comer’s Biden investigation debacle was always only about political positioning


It’s been 30 years since Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels appeared in the Farrelly Brothers’ comedy classic Dumb and Dumber, so it seems like an appropriate time for another sequel to be added to the franchise, this one to be called Dumb and Dumber and Dumbest, with Rep. Jamie Comer claiming a starring role.

Comer, R-TheFrankfortLoop, is no stranger to making a fool of himself on the public stage so it should be a seamless transition.

His antics as chair of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee over the past three and a half years are a congressional legend that have rendered our boy a laughingstock and brought disrepute upon the Commonwealth for dispatching a thoroughly bewildered mook to the nation’s capital in the first place.

Jamie, you’re sure to recall, spent months and months seeking to prove that President Biden was the capo de tutti cape of a notorious Delaware crime family laying waste to the nation he was pledged to serve. Time after time he offered evidence that he swore would drive the administration to its knees and lead to Biden’s impeachment post haste. And time after time his claims went swirling down the bowl.

The NKyTribune’s Washington columnist Bill Straub served 11 years as the Frankfort Bureau chief for The Kentucky Post. He also is the former White House/political correspondent for Scripps Howard News Service. A member of the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame, he currently resides in Silver Spring, Maryland, and writes frequently about the federal government and politics. Email him at williamgstraub@gmail.com

Suffice to say the entire enterprise was a humiliating flop. If it had been a Broadway play it would have closed on opening night before the first act was over. As Rep, Jamie Raskin, D-MD, the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, known here as the smart Jamie, said last month, Comer and his cohorts “were finally forced to admit the spectacular failure and collapse of their 17-month impeachment ‘investigation.’  After collecting 3.8 million pages of documents and more than 80 hours of testimony from 19 witnesses, they throw up their hands and confess that they have no evidence of any wrongdoing, much less a high crime and misdemeanor by President Biden.’’

Now, after that disgrace you might expect Comer to tuck his tail between his legs and light out for the territory. But as my old friend Chuck Wolfe used to say about similarly situated jamokes, Jamie “doesn’t have the good sense to be embarrassed.’’ He’s involving himself and the committee in the controversy over Biden’s mental stability and whether he should abandon his re-election campaign, to be replaced by some undesignated candidate.

Comer, it appears, is seeking to provide his advice and insight on the situation even though it involves a candidate of the opposing political party. All the while he’s neglecting to inquire about the questionable mental health of his own party’s candidate, former President Donald J. Trump, who has exhibited his own issues, not to mention an apparent inability to differentiate between the truth and a lie.

Comer initially stuck his nose in it after the president engaged in a fumbling and bumbling debate performance against Trump in Atlanta on June 27, an outing that raised questions about the 81-year-old Biden’s ability to carry out his duties in the future should he retain the office. Jamie, ever looking for political leverage instead of doing his job, sent a letter to Dr. Kevin O’Connor, the president’s personal physician, seeking to set up an interview gauging the president’s mental acuity.

In the letter, originally obtained by the Washington Times (obtained is a fancy way of saying Jamie gave it to the conservative news outlet to make sure everyone knew about it), Comer said, “After a concerning debate performance…journalists have rushed to report on what Americans have seen plainly for years: the President appears unwell.”

Comer added, “Americans question President Biden’s ability to lead the country, and the Committee on Oversight and Accountability is investigating circumstances surrounding your assessment in February of this year that ‘President Biden is a healthy, active, robust 81-year-old-male, who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency.'”

It’s heartening to know that Jamie is there to speak for all Americans.

Displeased that he had not yet sufficiently soiled the bed, Comer raised questions about O’Connor’s medical assessment of the president, hinting that it might have somehow been colored by a business relationship with Biden’s brother, James.

But wait! There’s more! There’s always more in Jamie’s bag of tricks and it never goes anywhere. On Wednesday, acting as chair of the House Oversight Committee, Comer issued subpoenas to three Biden White House aides — Special Assistant to the President Ashley Williams, Assistant to the President Anthony Bernal and Deputy Chief of Staff Annie Tomasini – claiming they have worked to hide Biden’s loss of lucidity from the public.

Comer said the aides, “…are also seeking to cover up President Biden’s declining cognitive state inside the White House. President Biden is clearly unfit for office, yet his staff are trying to hide the truth from the American people. Key White House staff must come before our committee so we can provide the transparency and accountability that Americans deserve.’’

What horse manure. And he’s so dumb he doesn’t realize people will see through the façade he’s constructed and realize that this Trump lickspittle — credit Linda Blackford of the Lexington Herald-Leader — is using his position not to probe serious issues within the federal government but to sway a presidential election with the sort of lies, misinformation and innuendo that would earn him a neat corner office in the Kremlin.

There is good reason for folks to be concerned with Biden’s age, his outlook for the near future and his current physical and mental condition. After that disastrous debate appearance, a lot of people on both sides of the aisle have called for him to step aside, something he has vowed not to do.

But it can also be noted that, at this moment in time, Biden is directing an aggressive policy to support Ukraine, the U.S. maintains the world’s best economy and it’s growing, inflation is under control and the anticipated recession never arrived and illegal immigration along the southern border has declined 25 percent since the White House imposed new asylum restrictions.

Based on that and other factors it’s hard, unless you’re a dolt like Comer, to conclude that Biden is “clearly unfit for office.’’

From an observational perspective it can be determined that the president has slowed down, perhaps considerably. And it’s reasonable to argue that what the future holds is of prime importance, not what has been accomplished in the past or present. But O’Connor, when he released the results of Biden’s physical on Feb. 28, wrote that “an extremely detailed neurological exam was again reassuring in that there were no findings which would be consistent with any cerebellar or other central neurological disorder, such as stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s or ascending lateral sclerosis, nor are there any signs of cervical myelopathy.”

Comer has never really sought accountability. It has all been about political positioning, as the abysmal and stupefying probe into the non-existent Biden Crime Family conclusively proved. If he’s really searching for a candidate “clearly unfit for office,” here’s a suggestion – look for one who raped a woman, was found guilty on 34 felony fraud counts, instigated an insurrection of the United States government, and has a history of various other sins that would reach to Pluto and back.

Then you might be on to something.


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