Steve Benen thinks the decision to declassify former Obama Administration National Security Advisor (NSA) Susan Rice’s letter concerning the notorious Michael Flynn is a mistake:
Remember, the point of this week’s disclosures, from the perspective of Ron Johnson and other Republicans, was to make Susan Rice and the Obama administration look bad. Except the gambit has now backfired: the Rice email GOP partisans were so eager to disclose shows an Obama team doing everything right, while also casting Flynn — the disgraced former general whose reputation Republicans are trying to rescue — in a deeply unflattering light.
Or put another way, Republicans have found a smoking gun, but they failed to realize it was pointed in the wrong direction.
Indeed, the gambit that was intended to put Rice on the defense has actually left her on the offensive. From the Politico article:
Rice also called for the Trump administration to release the transcripts of phone calls between Flynn and the Russian ambassador during the transition. “The American people deserve the full transcripts so they can judge for themselves Michael Flynn’s conduct,” the statement read.
I am not as complacent as Benen. I think the Republicans are banking on the common citizens’ understandable ignorance of government internal procedures to make this play out as a hit on presumptive Democratic nominee Biden, as well as former President Obama.
And this means the Democrats will need to begin educating the independents on how this all works. I suggest they get everyone’s attention by having Rice take a slightly different tack. How about a press release from her?
I’d like to congratulate DNI Grenell, Senator Johnson and his colleagues on their dedication to governmental transparency, and I now call on them to release the full transcripts of the Michael Flynn calls with Russian Ambassador Kislyak. As a service to the American people, I will be making available as web site for Americans to consult concerning standard procedures in American government, thus making it easier for the American people to come to their own judgment on the Flynn / Kislyak conversations.
If they consider the optics carefully, she might want to contact Bush Administration NSA Condoleeza Rice to sign on to this project. Nothing like a bipartisan effort to assure the public that the explanations are on the up and up. Seriously. Make those who make the effort feel like they’re actually learning something about how government functions – and it’ll be true, to boot.
So, a little snark to get everyone’s attention. This would be a bid to take the narrative away from the Republicans and use the transcripts, or lack thereof, to highlight the incompetency endemic in the Republican Party. This would also be a classic Clinton tactic – embrace the aimed blow until it becomes a weapon in your hand. Clinton’s opponents hated that with a passion.
Another example of how Republican team politics has resulted in a collection of second- and third-raters.
