It says everything one needs to know about both James Comey and the liberal media. Even The Washington Post admits to the obvious game about the fired FBI Director’s imminent book tour. Headline from The Post: “Ready for the media’s Comey swoonfest? Nothing can stop it now.”
Wrote Margaret Sullivan:
Maybe it is his aw-shucks demeanor (“Lordy, I hope there are tapes”).
Maybe it is his social media chops (like dropping “tbh,” text slang for “to be honest,” into a trash-talking tweet about how his jump shot is superior to Barack Obama’s).
Or maybe it is that he is a target of President Trump, whose disdain for mainstream journalists is manifest.
Whatever the reason, James B. Comey is about to be the focus of a full-on media swoonfest as the fired FBI director embarks on a 10-city tour to promote his memoir, “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership” which publishes April 17.
Note well the “Fox News” reference and note what Sullivan does not. Here is the headline over at CNS from back in March: “Hannity Offers Comey Hour of TV, 3 Hours of Radio to Answer ‘Questions Colbert Might Miss.”
This story by Craig Bannister begins:
Sean Hannity is challenging fired FBI Director turned Anti-Trump author Jim Comey to come on his programs to answer the tough questions liberal media figures are ignoring. Friday, Hannity offered Comey a full hour on his “Hannity” television program – and the full three hours on his nationally-syndicated radio show – whenever Comey wants:
"James Comey you want to come out hot? You want to answer hard, important questions? You’re welcome on this program.
“Tonight, I am officially opening up an invitation to Jim Comey. You want to sell your book? Come on this show. We will give you a full hour. You name a day we will make it work. We will work with your schedule. I will give you three hours on my nationally syndicated radio show which by the way is on 575 radio stations around America. So everybody can hear from you.
“And we’ll ask you the tough questions. The ones that Stephen Colbert might miss.”
In other words, with a sigh Comey will slide into a chair across from a Fox anchor. But hell will freeze over before he will ever — ever — sit down on camera with Sean Hannity. Somehow this notable information did not make Ms. Sullivan’s column. Shocker. But give Sullivan this. She is absolutely right that Americans are about to watch the liberal media make a fool of itself swooning over Comey — and for one reason only.
In spite of the fact that so many liberals and Clinton supporters — not to mention Hillary Clinton herself — think that Donald Trump is in the White House because of Comey’s infamous “she did it but it wasn’t that bad so we’re not prosecuting her” press conference, followed by his October reminder that “she did it and we have more evidence but its’s too late to do anything now” announcement? In spite of all of that it is more important to despise Trump himself — and that goes double for despising the Trump supporting Hannity who has repeatedly and in detail inveighed against Comey.
So you can safely bet the ranch that 1) - James Comey will not be sitting down with Hannity to take up the latter’s offer of three hours of radio and one hour of TV. And 2)- the media will not spend a second analyzing just why Comey doesn’t have the courage to face one of his most severe critics but they will instead lavish attention on Comey’s tour of liberal media outlets where he will be lionized for calling the President of the United States a “mob boss.”
In fact, the upcoming Comey “swoonfest” could well boomerang politically. Recall stories like this one from NewsBusters back in April of 2017? The headline in the story by Mike Ciandella was this: “Media Hype Trump’s Low Approval Numbers, Hide Their Own Much Lower Ones.”
The story said, in part, this:
Liberal reporters have been eager to report on President Trump’s low approval numbers, but they’ve mostly ignored their own, significantly lower approval ratings.
According to Gallup in September of 2016, “Americans’ trust and confidence in the mass media ‘to report the news fully, accurately and fairly’ has dropped to its lowest level in Gallup polling history, with 32% saying they have a great deal or fair amount of trust in the media.”
….While the media were quick to blame Trump’s numbers on his own performance, their own low numbers were somehow also his fault. On October 23, 2016, CNN Reliable Sources host Brian Stelter planted the blame for his industry’s shortcomings squarely on the President. “Donald Trump has been waging two wars at the same time: a campaign against Hillary Clinton, and a campaign against what he calls the dishonest, crooked media. And his attacks are sort of working. A recent Gallup poll shows Americans’ trust in the media at historic lows....For journalists, this is incredibly alarming. Politicians have been railing against the media, running against the media for decades, but Trump's assault is unique. He’s been undermining the press, really completely.” A few days earlier, Stelter called the same poll “the most depressing poll I saw this week.
You can bet that it will never occur to the denizens of the liberal media that the “swoonfest” they are about to undertake on behalf of St. Jim will do nothing but harden the impression of millions of Americans that they are so predictably in-the-tank for Trump hate that the book they are selling is worthless. And as a result the book will get lots of headlines, soar to the top of a bestseller list - than drop like a stone, never to be heard from again.
And it surely will never occur to Comey and his handlers that the best chance he has to salvage what is left of his shredded reputation is to sit down with Sean Hannity and take the heat.
What Americans are about to see in the Comey swoonfest is the liberal media bubble in action at its absolute best. Which is to say, its most predictably worst.
