With Devin Nunes out of the way, Texas Representative Mike Conaway is set to sit in the chairman's seat, where he will lead one of the most important investigations in the history of the United States.
Also, he's a doofus with unflagging loyalty to Dear Leader, which does not bode well.
David Corn reports that Conaway's reaction to Russian meddling was bizarre.
"Harry Reid and the Democrats brought in Mexican soap opera stars, singers and entertainers who had immense influence in those communities into Las Vegas, to entertain, get out the vote and so forth." Conaway said, "Those are foreign actors, foreign people, influencing the vote in Nevada. You don't hear the Democrats screaming and saying one word about that."
Like I said. Doofus. Because there's a material difference between a foreign actor colluding with a campaign, taking active measures to destabilize a democracy, and bringing in some cultural flavor to campaign rallies. Entertainment versus action. It means something.
Here's a short excerpt from Clint Watts' testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee on March 30th:
Russia’s new and improved online Active Measures shifted aggressively toward U.S. audiences in late 2014 and throughout 2015. They launched divisive messages on nearly any disaffected U.S. audience. Whether it be claims of the U.S. military declaring martial law during the Jade Helm exercise, chaos amongst Black Lives matter protests or tensions in the Bundy Ranch standoff in Oregon, Russia’s state sponsored outlets of RT and Sputnik News, characterized as “white” influence efforts in information warfare, churned out manipulated truths, false news stories and conspiracies.
...Through the end of 2015 and start of 2016, the Russian influence system outlined above began pushing themes and messages seeking to influence the outcome of the U.S. Presidential election. Russia’s overt media outlets and covert trolls sought to sideline opponents on both sides of the political spectrum with adversarial views toward the Kremlin. The final months leading up to the election have been the predominate focus of Russian influence discussions to date. However, Russian Active Measures were in full swing during both the Republican and Democratic primary season and may have helped sink the hopes of candidates more hostile to Russian interests long before the field narrowed.
That last mention was specifically for Marco Rubio's sake, by the way.
Someone please explain to me how having Mexican dancers at a campaign rally in any way equates to this.
And this guy is now the head of the House investigation.
Say it with me now, say it loud! WE NEED AN INDEPENDENT COMMISSION!
