At the risk of being labeled Panglossian, I do see a small upside in the decision of James Comey to recommend no prosecution of Hillary Clinton.  This does not make me a happy camper: I mourn for the damage done to the rule of law by applying a different standard to the powerful from the one applied to the rest of us.  This is civic cancer, and it makes me sick.

But if Comey had recommended prosecution and Hillary had been replaced by someone more electable (a large group, including Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren, for starters), Donald Trump would almost certainly be defeated.  Nobody comes close to Hillary in matching the unfavorable opinions held of Donald Trump.  

By providing vivid evidence that the fix was, in fact, in, Comey reinforced one of the main talking points of Trump.  He didn’t have to, but he outlined a powerful case against Hillary Clinton, only to announce that she wouldn’t be prosecuted.  This was tailored like a Saville Row suit to Trump’s campaign.

Something is going on here that we can only guess at.

Update: Allen West agrees with me.

I can’t thank Director Comey enough for coming to this decision.

My concern has always been that Barack Obama would release the hounds on Mrs. Clinton and then push for his vice president, Joe Biden, to be the Democrat nominee. And then, to placate the far lefty socialists, who own the Democrat party, Obama would position Sen. Elizabeth Warren as Biden’s VP. That would be a really tough ticket to beat, since Joe Biden’s favorables, regardless of gaffes and such, are extremely high.

However, James Comey just delivered a gift wrapped with a bow.