1. It’s a paradox. Last week Democrats – and some Republicans – considered FBI Director James Comey a disgraced public servant, portraying Comey’s high-handed conduct of the Hillary Clinton email scandal a mortal sin times two: an affront to his agency’s supposed tradition of non-partisan investigation, and an instance of unconscionable intervention in a presidential election.

2. Now that President Donald Trump has fired Comey, the vibe among Democrats has evolved. Comey’s transgressions (and make no mistake, they were eye popping) belong in the ledger marked “History Past”. Comey’s direction of the FBI investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and the possibility that there was collusion with some members of the Trump campaign, however, belong in the book “Politics Future”.

3. To function at all in this highly unusual moment, Washington players need to be capable of holding these seemingly contradictory ideas – yesterday’s conduct bad, today’s probe good – in mind simultaneously without their heads exploding. It’s an acquired skill.

4. Commentators as ideologically diverse as progressive Dan Kennedy of Northeastern University (also a WGBH News contributor) and conservative John Podhoretz, editor of Commentary magazine, agree that Comey deserved to be fired.

5. The difference between a dancer and a hoofer is all in the timing. In Trump’s case, he’s a hoofer with two left feet. Comey’s ouster seemingly came out of nowhere, although the New York Times and the Washington Post report that it was apparently in the works for the last several days. But why now? Why with no replacement in place? And why the night before Trump was scheduled to meet with the Russian foreign minister? Whatever one thinks of Comey and Trump’s decision to zots him, it’s not a bright and shining moment for the president.

6. The inexplicable sense of randomness that characterizes the Trump administration arises, too, in the case of Michael Flynn, the national security adviser who was also booted out the door – albeit with a touch more Trump-style TLC. The question that lingers is why did team Trump wait 18 days to oust Flynn for playing footsies with the Russians?

7. The historic analogy many reached for to contextualize Comey’s firing was Richard Nixon’s Saturday Night Massacre. It’s close, but no cigar. To make a long story short, after Special Watergate Prosecutor Archibald Cox subpoenaed White House tape recordings germane to the investigation of the Republican’s secret war against the Democrats, Nixon ordered Cox fired. Attorney General Elliot Richardson refused and resigned. So did Richardson’s second in command, William Ruckelshaus.

8. The difference between Comeygate and the Watergate “massacre” is one of intensity and tone. Three political bodies versus one. But more importantly, Comey is, well, kind of a turkey when compared to Cox, Richardson, and Ruckelshaus. Comey’s virtuous preening and self-satisfied moralizing was of a baser and less convincing magnitude than the stoic resignation demonstrated by the Saturday Night masacarees. Think “Art of the Deal” versus “The Federalist Papers”.