There are fascinating similarities between the Mueller investigation of Russian Collusion, and the Starr investigation of President Clinton in the nineties. Clearly history repeats itself when it comes to special counsels. In this case I can well understand why the Democratic Party would want the same outcome as before. Clinton was impeached, and if the impeachment of Trump were the outcome of the Mueller investigation, then that would be welcome payback for the left.
At the time I was very anti-Clinton and relished in the antics of Travelgate, Whitewater and all of Bill’s flames and flame-outs. Clinton was an undisputed political heavyweight with good looks, charm and communication mastery. This is why I was always mystified by his extracurricular activities or, more specifically, why he dallied with the women he dallied with.. News organizations are still dredging up his sordid past and accusations by a stream of harassed women, lawsuits and rape allegations. He may have been every bit as sexually sick as Harvey Weinstein but able to dodge out of trouble in a era more forgiving than the current #metoo environment.
Another similarity is that both investigations started out rather focused and proceeded to become open ended. That is, you have orders to investigate Russian collusion …. plus anything you find along the way. This is an invitation to take forever at the expense of the American taxpayer. When it comes to politics, however, nobody is particularly concerned about the American taxpayer. Once you start to prosecute people for lying, such as Flynn, or nobodies such as Papadapolous, then you have to ask where they are going with this. Yet the same could be said of the Starr investigation. Why would anyone try to hang Bill Clinton for lying about sex? This man lied to the American people and it was as clear as the driven snow. What was appalling about a presidential liar back then is now commonplace.
What nobody knew at the time was that Clinton lies and deception transcended the Starr investigation and survive to this day. While Whitewater and Travelgate are long gone, emails and Clinton foundations are still the subject of scrutiny. Clinton was being sued by women even back that far while the liberal media is currently dumping much Stormy Daniels slime all over Trump. Payback is a bitch. The bottom line is conservatives hated Clinton almost as much then as liberals hate Trump now. I cheered when Clinton was impeached. But in retrospect, it was an idiotic idea.It may have exposed Clinton’s flaws as a human but it did nothing for the country. If Clinton really was as bad as Weinstein, they should have thrown the book at him. But don’t bother trying to prosecute him as a liar, you would just have to do that with everyone.
What is happening now with the Mueller investigation is interesting. He is under fire, not only from the right, but from the President himself. Big time. Starr was under fire but not from Clinton, rather from his minions. But this President is loud and is armed with litigators in the conservative media, something that didn’t happen last century because the media didn’t litigate back then. As with Starr, Mueller can’t defend himself, as he has to keep his investigator’s mouth shut. So as the right does their own investigation, pulling out a damning trail of bad behavior by the FBI, Mueller starts to look out of control and headed for his own Waterloo. And yes, the Clintons are still causing problems, no wonder the Democrats want to get rid of them.
The conservative litigants are very vocal about this: If you are going to accuse the Trump campaign of collusion with the Russians, you need to look no further than the Clinton campaign. But only if you are trying to be fair. Liberal litigants don’t do fair, they want the Hillary investigation gone and buried, which Jim Comey mostly managed to accomplish but not without the world coming apart. In this day and age there are no unclean hands, not the DOJ, not the FBI, not 17 intelligence agencies and not Mueller. Right now the campaigns are smelling pretty good and bureaucrats not so much. Well this is the swamp to drain.
Now, when I said Mueller was headed to his own Waterloo I was kidding. Office of special counsel is sacred and his investigation will not be impeded, no way. I do not object to special counsels if they serve a purpose. But politics were injected into both the Clinton and Trump investigations in a way that is very harmful to the function of the government. If you have to dream up petty charges to destroy a decorated general and a 27 year old kid, then it isn’t an investigation, it is indeed a, a, witch hunt,