I spend a lot of time trying to convince people that diverting attention away from the subject of criticism at hand to mount an unrelated attack on an ideological opponent is bad argumentation.

For example, on the Michael Cohen office raid, I was told, “If Obama had gotten this type of exam, half of his cabinet would be in jail.” That, I said, is a service to partisan instincts and fails to address the fact that Cohen did something meriting a judge to issue that warrant.

My instinct has been to assign to James Comey a mitigated culpability for his recent media charade, “because Trump…”

Trump being so unsaintly makes defending Comey’s book and ABC interview as an unorthodox but necessary response to a heretical presidency quite tempting.

Tempting though it is, I can’t blame Trump’s erraticism and pettiness for Comey’s self-indulgence and pettiness.

Comey was entirely correct that Trump has changed the “norms” of good tact in politics, norms that he, Comey, could embrace himself in post-bureau life.

The former director has opted instead to embrace the norm change and to talk about the president’s appearance, the lowest of low-hanging fruit.

I’ve been slow to write Comey off because I’ve tried to sympathize with the inherent difficulties of his job. There was no way – no way at all – for him to come out looking honorable as far as the Clinton investigation is concerned, and I’m sure that haunted him, influenced his decision-making, and so forth. I can hardly blame him for that. If you commit your life’s work to the Department of Justice, you want to be fair and to be remembered as fair.

I can even justify the book writing. As I imagine many people are, I am extremely interested in learning about what it’s like to lead the FBI, particularly over the last few years.

But I can’t justify Comey talking about the president’s hair. The only reason he is doing that is vengeance.

Trey Gowdy, who has spent many of the last few weeks defending the Department of Justice against the president’s and others’ criticisms, summed it up in his denouncement of Comey.

“I can’t think of anyone who’s done a better job of politicizing the FBI than he has in the last 36 to 48 hours, by talking about tanning bed goggles and the length of a tie,” Gowdy said on Fox News last week. “That is beneath the dignity of the offices that he held.”

Sadly, he’s right. More than politicizing his former office, Comey has trivialized it.

@jeremywbeaman is a contributing writer for Yellowhammer News