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| "You have a new idea for a scandal? Proceed." |
The IRS scandal is instructive. The most damning moment of the episode was the first day, when the IRS disclosed that it applied one-sided scrutiny to conservative political organizations seeking tax-exempt status.
But then the IRS inspector general, a Republican, reported that the entire program came from within the agency, with no direction at all from Obama or any members of his team. It was just an agency scandal. Subsequent revelations have made the matter look even more benign. Apparently, the agency also targeted liberal groups for possible violations, using terms like progressive to flag political groups. In other words, there may be no scandal here at all. The IRS was looking to make sure political groups weren’t abusing the tax code by pretending to be nonpolitical, and it tried to search for such abuses by using terms like tea party and progressive that would signal partisanship.
Why did we think the agency was targeting only conservatives? Because apparently Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, ordered the agency to audit its treatment of tea-party groups, and only tea-party groups. The IRS dutifully reported it was indeed targeting tea-party groups; everybody assumed it was doing no such thing to liberal groups. The IRS inspector general is defending its probe, but the IRS's flagging of conservative groups seems, at worst, to be marginally stricter than its flagging of liberal groups, not the one-sided political witch hunt potrayed by early reports.
What about the rest of the scandals? Well, there aren’t any, and there never were. Benghazi is a case of a bunch of confused agencies caught up in a fast-moving story trying to coordinate talking points. The ever-shifting third leg of the Obama scandal trifecta — Obama’s prosecution of leaks, or use of the National Security Agency — is not a scandal at all. It’s a policy controversy. One can argue that Obama’s policy stance is wrong, or dangerous, or a threat to democracy. But when the president is carrying out duly passed laws and acting at every stage with judicial approval, then the issue is the laws themselves, not misconduct.
The whole Obama scandal episode is a classic creation of a “narrative” — the stitching together of unrelated data points into a story.
You know I think it must literally drives the Republicans crazy that Obama is so squeaky clean.
No graft, no philandering, no huge gaffes, virtually nothing for the Republicans to work with in order to destroy his credibility or halt the political ground being gained by the Democrats.
Almost makes you wonder if there is a 12 step program for conservatives to help them deal with the withdrawal symptoms they are suffering after coming up empty so many times?
I have a suggestion for them. They could always investigate each other.
After all you KNOW there is no lack of Republican scandals just WAITING to be uncovered.
Perhaps they even could start with Darrell Issa? There is no way that a guy who acts like him, and looks like an extra from "Goodfellas," could be clean. No way!
Update: While we are on this topic, do you remember how Fox News, Right Wing radio, and Teabaggers, like Sarah Palin, claimed that Ambassador Stephens and three others were killed because there was a "stand down" order given preventing them from being rescued?
Yeah, not so much:
The former commander of a four-member Army Special Forces unit in Tripoli, Libya, denied Wednesday that he was told to stand down during last year's deadly assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi.
In a closed-door session with the House Armed Services Committee, Lt. Col. S.E. Gibson said his commanders told him to remain in the capital of Tripoli to defend Americans in the event of additional attacks and to help survivors being evacuated from Benghazi.
"Contrary to news reports, Gibson was not ordered to 'stand down' by higher command authorities in response to his understandable desire to lead a group of three other special forces soldiers to Benghazi," the Republican-led committee said in a summary of its classified briefing with military officials, including Gibson.
So Palin's sing song refrain of "The President lied, and people died" is complete bullshit.
Surprised right?
Personally, I believe these assholes would bitch if they were hanged with a new rope!
ReplyDeleteIt wouldn't be so bad if those on the left weren't so quick to jump on the republican bandwagon and condemn him. The left is more critical of their own than even some of the right.
ReplyDeleteAll this gleeful hand rubbing and gloating from the GOP and associated right wingers is to be expected (until they're proven wrong), but I am very disappointed in all the liberal Obama supporters who are almost as quick to condemn him because he supposedly hasn't lived up to their expectations that he should be the "Magic Negro". He doesn't walk on water, and his enemies are trying very hard to drown him anyway. I'm very proud of how much he is accomplishing in spite of the revolting opposition.
ReplyDeleteEXACTLY. I have been shocked at how quickly some Democrats and nearly ALL the news outlets shrieked in righteous indignation at Obama especially about the supposed IRS scandal. Nobody even waited for additional facts. Shameful.
DeleteAgreed. Its almost in our DNA to get sucked up into the rightwing crazy. Frankly this crap must end. We tend to get so self righteous and worry that we will be called hypocrites just by standing with the President. As far as I'm concerned republicans can all just drop off the planet. I wouldn't believe a word out of their mouths for all the cash in the world.
ReplyDeleteIT's bigger than Watergate! BIGGER THAN WATERGATE I TELL YOU!!
ReplyDeleteLOL Seriously, no one needs to destroy the right, they're doing just fine by themselves. It's amazing to see what happens when people are incapable of learning from their mistakes because they don't believe they've ever made any.
I detest the negative and disrespect shown President Obama. It's really getting old!
ReplyDeleteIt is not warranted and I dare anyone of those 'other' politicians to think they would be able to do an any better job were they in the position and given the exact same situation!.
Voters need to knock the Republicans on their assess in the next election cycle on all levels of government across the nation and especially in the United States Congress.
Kill many birds with one stone.Abolish ALL tax exempt status. If you make money, you pay taxes. Pass a flat tax bill.
ReplyDeleteIncluding churches and other religious institutions. They're already preaching politics, so why not?
DeleteLeland is speaking my kind of language.
DeleteIssa's a slimy little criminal who thinks he's above the law:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rollingstone.com/politics/lists/whos-to-blame-12-politicians-and-execs-blocking-progress-on-global-warming-20110119/rep-darrell-issarepublican-california-19691231
It doesn't matter that it was wrong, they were able to put the thought out there and that's what matters to them. The president's taken a hit in his approval ratings and that was their aim. Assholes in the media let assholes spew lies.0
ReplyDeleteI always know not to watch "Hardball" when stuff like this happens. Chris Matthews is notorious for going over the edge and banging the gong for the other side before the facts come in.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad President Obama is a man of honor and leads a clean life. They've been digging for years and can't even come up with a traffic ticket, it must be chapping their butts!