by Quin at the Washington Examiner (links embedded within headlines):
McCabe’s description of Jeff Sessions is vicious nonsense:
Former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe is having his moment in the sun, trying to sell a book making explosive allegations — but he undermines the believability of any of it by his outlandishly embittered descriptions of former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
As a New York Times review of McCabe’s new book describes it, Sessions comes across as “openly racist,” with (now using McCabe’s own words) “trouble focusing” while “lacking basic knowledge.” In sum, reviewer Dwight Garner says that “the portrait of Sessions is of a man for whom merely ordering lunch seems to be above the timberline of his intellect and curiosity.”
This is sheer calumny and utterly unbelievable…. [later in the article:]
….Allow, please, some directly personal observations. I live in Mobile, where Sessions lives. I’ve covered him closely for local and national publications for 21 years. I’ve had numerous in-depth conversations with the man, both on the record and off. The off-the-record ones, including several airport lunches when we found ourselves on the same flights between Mobile and the nation’s capital, were especially illuminating, because they involved Sessions at his most unguarded. They also showed him at his best and most thoughtful…..
Bradley Byrne announced for Sessions’ former Senate seat: Rep. Bradley Byrne, R-Ala., announced his candidacy on Wednesday for what arguably has been the nation’s most-watched Senate seat for the past two years…. [much later in the article:]
…The seat has gone from the controversial Sessions to the placeholder Luther Strange and then to Jones after the nationally reported brouhaha over Moore’s old dating habits. This campaign, finally for a full Senate term, will surely attract major national attention. If Republicans want a candidate who can unite Tea Partiers, the business community, and Trump enthusiasts on at least somewhat common ground, Byrne is the most obvious choice right now.