Some notes:
"Lack of candor" is a term with a specific meaning at the FBI, and it is a violation that justifies dismissal, in large part because someone guilty of it can no longer be trusted eg. as a credible witness, thus jeopardizing everyone's work. If the investigation found compelling evidence that McCabe was guilty of this, his dismissal is not without merit in and of itself (although sice he was planning on retiring it is unlikely that his lack of candor would have any bearing on his future credibility at the FBI).
However, everything else about this is irregular: the issue of McCabe's testimony was broken out of the overall investigation and expedited in order to beat the deadline of his birthday and retirement, with the apparent intention of denying him a sizable chunk of his pension as well as denying his family future healthcare benefits; this was done at the repeated urging of a president who is the subject of an investigation in which McCabe is a witness; it is clear that he was pre-judged and the punishment pre-determined--both Trump and Sessions attempted to pressure officials into doing precisely this, in precisely this manner; the decision to dismiss him was made by a person who was arguably bound to stay out of the matter due to his recusal from everything having to do with the investigation into the election campaign. A number of former FBI & DoJ officials have commented that, while it isn't unheard of for FBI officials close to retiring age being under investigation, it is so rare for them to be fired a couple of days before retirement that it's practically unheard of. So this is a major departure from the norm, and arguably an unfair one as well, regardless of the merits of the dismissal.
If we analyze the various aspects of this event in isolation, sure, the issue of a corrupt executive successfully influencing officials into punishing career civil servants for political and likely criminal reasons, with no meaningful pushback, is def. the most significant problem. But if McCabe hadn't been fired, in this fashion, for these reasons, and with these consequences, the ethical & legal problems would be less concerning: the negative impact on McCabe and his family would be much smaller; the chilling effect on other employees would not be as great, because it would represent a less severe and malicious punishment; the corruption/failure of the DoJ would not appear to be as complete. I think any ethical and strategic calculus that assigns a value of zero to the consequences of the expedited decision for McCabe's pension & benefits is flawed.
With his coming are the dread fires born again.Originally Posted by Hazir
The hills burn, and the land turns sere.
Hazir agrees with RandBlade, and Randblade isn't wrong.
The wall is pierced, and the veil of parting raised.
Storms rumble beyond the horizon, and the fires of heaven purge the earth.
There is no salvation without destruction, no hope this side of death.
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