RobRielleWho: Watergate is BAAAAAACK! (Yay.)

The resident geriatric in The N&O newsroom is joining The CharO’s resident geriatric in praising Dick Burr and peddling this bullshit about Watergate: The Sequel:

Republican Richard Burr has been many things during his more than 12 years in the U.S. Senate – a policy wonk who likes to get into the weeds, a reliable conservative and a preppy prone to going sockless.[…]

A reliable conservative?  Heritage AND Conservative Review give Dick Burr AND his twin brother Thom matching grades of F on their respective conservative rating scorecards.

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But he has rarely sought the limelight – infrequently appearing on the Sunday talk shows and preferring to quietly tour local businesses rather than holding news conferences back home.

As a result, Burr – while politically successful – has never achieved the fame or devoted following of such Tar Heel senators as Jesse Helms, Elizabeth Dole, John Edwards or Terry Sanford.[…]

Sanford was famous for what he did in Raleigh back in the 50s and 60s.  He pretty much slept and dawdled through his one Senate term.  (The only Democrat incumbent to go down in the 1992 Bill Clinton landslide.)

Dole was famous for who she was married to.  Helms was famous for just being AWESOME.

And WHAT made John Edwards so famous, Rob?  (*You followed him around for so long.  You ought to know.*)

Burr, so far, has been famous for providing bi-partisan cover for Democrat shenanigans.  He’s been blessed with good timing. In 2004, he was a solid conservative congressman going after the hated Edwards — who ended up quitting the race before Burr could tackle him.  Burr ended up getting blessed with Clinton adviser Erskine Bowles as an opponent with an incumbent Republican president at the top of the ticket.  In 2010, Burr got to run in the Tea Party year against batty Elaine Marshall.  (Anybody with an “R” next to their name could have won that year.)  In 2016, Burr ran in another strong Republican year against the even battier Deborah Ross.  It’s never been about Richard Burr.  It’s always been Burr (1) being blessed with a good overall Republican climate, and (2) voters looking at his opponent and saying “Holy Crap!”

Let’s get back to Rob:

[…] But Burr is now on the biggest stage of his career.

As chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Burr has been thrust into the middle of the investigation of Russian meddling in the last presidential election and whether Russia tried to help Donald Trump win the presidency.

As veteran political consultant Walter de Vries of Wrightsville Beach has recently noted, that has placed Burr in a position – similar to the late Sen. Sam Ervin – “to achieve historical greatness in the way he runs his committee’s investigation.”

Ervin, a conservative Democrat and a longtime judge, was chairman of the Senate’s committee on Watergate in 1973-74, which investigated the Watergate scandal, leading to the resignation of Republican President Richard Nixon.[…]

DeVries was George Romney’s political guru.  (Everybody remember the, um, “great” George Romney?)  Isn’t all this hoping in the driveby media that Burr achieve “greatness” interesting?

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Before Watergate, Ervin’s national reputation was mixed. He was admired by many on the left for standing up against McCarthyism and for fighting to defend constitutional rights, and was admired on the right for his fiscal conservatism, strong support for the military and by some for his staunch backing of racial segregation.[…] 

MMM-hmm.  “Admired on the right” for his “staunch backing of racial segregation.”  Rob, this man was a Democrat.  A Democrat — backing racial segregation.  (Democrats OWNED North Carolina during his time.)  

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[…] The Ervin/Watergate analogy gained new resonance this week, when Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, who was investigating the Russian ties. Some drew parallels with Nixon’s firing of independent prosecutor Archibald Cox in the so-called Saturday Night Massacre, creating a political firestorm.

Burr was not happy with Comey’s ouster, who he has said had been more forthcoming with information than any FBI director he had ever dealt with.[…] 

Some drew parallels?  Rob, you and “Sleepy” Morrill down in Charlotte are the ones I’ve seen doing it.   You (and I) were both alive during Watergate.  YOU should know better than to peddle this nonsense. 

Watergate featured an actual crime, actual suspects arrested, and police reports.  What is the crime here?

Any investigation going on is of a counter-intelligence nature.  Not a criminal probe.

Archibald Cox was  a prosecutor.  James Comey was the FBI director.  Prosecutors argue cases in court.  The FBI director is like the sheriff or police chief.  He, or she, investigates. TWO DIFFERENT

THINGS.

SO,  Rob Christensen — most famous for (1) being bodily thrown out of a NCGOP convention, (2) missing Dennis Wicker ordering Domino’s to his spot at the head table at a Democrat Party fundraising dinner in Lumberton, and (3) missing the blonde with the camera following John Edwards around — is heaping praise on our allegedly Republican senator.  Missing some important stuff, and getting thrown out of the building.  Mr. Politics, ladies and gentlemen. 

Richard Burr has caught Lindsey Graham & John McCain disease.  Say what you need to say to keep The NY Times, The N&O and the rest of the press row troglodytes focused on you.  It’s not leadership. It’s selfishness. It’s pettiness.  It’s wrong.