The Democrat “rebuttal” memo recently came out. Some aspects of it are so laughable that it makes you wonder if Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) is auditioning for a late-night comedy gig. I’m not going to dissect it point-by-point, but there are a few items that stand out.

But first, can we at least agree that government using the enormous power of its intelligence and law enforcement agencies to spy on American citizens of the opposition party in an election year is not only a really bad thing but perhaps the gold medal winner of really bad things? If this is allowed to happen unchecked, it is not an understatement to say that the country is lost. Maybe both sides should be focused on getting to the bottom of what really happened. If it tiptoes into banana republic territory, stop it and make absolutely certain it never happens again. And don’t score political points. Next time, the shoe might be on the other foot.

The two key points seem to be 1) whether the Russian sources of very damaging intel were vetted to assure their bona fides and 2) whether the FISA Court was adequately informed of all pertinent info about the background and sourcing of the intelligence that was vital to the FISA application. It makes a world of difference if the FBI guys responsible for the application preparation were just careless/incompetent or deliberately cooking the books.

Both the GOP and the Democrat memos seem to confirm that the intelligence that came through Christopher Steele was not independently vetted, even though it was the key intel that convinced the court to issue the warrant and was required in every other similar application. The FBI took Steele at his word, primarily because he had produced good intel in the past, and never peeled the onion back to check Steel’s sources directly.

This could be either careless or convenient, since a necessary part of the vetting in such momentous warrant-granting is that the direct sources be confirmed. And an intermediary, no matter how credible, must not be taken as gospel. It’s a puzzle as to why the judge apparently didn’t investigate further. Was he simply relying on the representation of the FBI that had always been accurate before? Or was he in on the scam? We don’t know how the process unfolded.

The claim that four judges subsequently signed off and so adequacy is proven is circular. Once the first domino tips, the rest are far more likely to re-up, assuming nothing changed. As I’ve stated before, we are at a confidence crisis point with our judicial institutions, so can we please just release the full FISA application and the transcripts of the hearings?

As to the second point, the Democrat memo goes to great lengths to try to show that the FISA Court was informed of potential political motivations by the assemblers of the intel. But this is summarized in a bizarre footnote that has all kinds of implications without directly revealing the key salient point — namely, that the origin of the intel was funded by the opposition campaign, making the entire exercise an opposition research program, not a formal FBI intel-gathering exercise.

Maybe the court was expected to be clairvoyant, but if you think it’s necessary to reveal the political motivations of the intermediaries, how is it not necessary to reveal the same about the entities that tipped the first domino?

To be fair, it is possible that the fact Team Hillary paid for the dossier is not as relevant as it may appear. Perhaps the other intel is so verified and compelling that the dossier was not needed. But then why include it in the first place without citing its source? And where is the comment from the number two guy at the FBI that the FISA warrant wouldn’t have even been attempted without the intel in the dossier? Still, maybe the court got it and understood fully what was presented and what was not, so it didn’t matter. The only way to be sure is to release the application and the transcripts.

This is really, really serious stuff. To have public perception of the integrity and competence of the government and its law enforcement and intelligence agencies dependent on dueling partisan memos is, in a word, nuts. Stop the charades and the spin, get the underlying info out, and put this to rest once and for all.

I realize Trump wants to discredit the witch-hunt, and Democrats want to keep alive the credibility of the FBI probe that they believe will form the basis for impeachment. But the country is at stake. If the FBI screwed up, call the folks who are responsible on it, clean house, and move on. For something this impactful, is it too much to ask that both parties put partisan spin aside and get the truth out?