May 17, 2013

Drudge: "They Knew."



A very dramatic graphic depiction by Drudge now. The link goes to the NYT "Treasury Knew of I.R.S. Inquiry in 2012, Official Says."

UPDATE: The NYT has changed its headline to: "Republicans Expand I.R.S. Inquiry, With Eye on White House."

157 comments:

SteveR said...

Well I'm sure it was under investigation, and before you know it, a long time ago. Move along

Sorun said...

Tim Geithner should say: "What difference at this point does it make?"

avwh said...

Drip, drip, drip. Sure is starting to feel like 1973 &. Watergate all over again...

Brian Brown said...

There is zero difference between Obama & Nixon at this point.

The IRS commissioner "has known for at least a year that this was going on," said Myers, "and that this had happened. And did he share any of that information with the White House? But even more importantly, Congress is going to ask him, why did you mislead us for an entire year? Members of Congress were saying conservatives are being targeted. What's going on here? The IRS denied it. Then when -- after these officials are briefed by the IG that this is going on, they don't disclose it. In fact, the commissioner sent a letter to Congress in September on this subject and did not reveal this. Imagine if we -- if you can -- what would have happened if this fact came out in September 2012, in the middle of a presidential election? The terrain would have looked very different."

Yes, the Obama IRS delayed Tea Party group applications to limit their political activities and covered it up to win an election.

That is obvious, inarguable, and criminal.

Brian Brown said...

People should be seriously talking about burning the IRS to the ground.

Cody Jarrett said...

Jay, Nixon never actually sicced the IRS on anyone, and Nixon's campaign got audited.

There's a lot of difference. Obama is a couple of orders of magnitude more corrupt.

Anonymous said...

Torches and Pitchforks :)

edutcher said...

OK, lessee now...

Justice, State, Defense, Treasury, HHS.

That's five.

Starting to feel like Steve McQueen and Yul Brynner collecting gunfighters.

But they aren't magnificent.

The rot is real and pervasive.

Jay said...

People should be seriously talking about burning the IRS to the ground.

People should be seriously talking about burning DC to the ground.

FIFY

Unknown said...

The only thing more troubling than the story itself is the reader commentary at the NY Times. It all boils down to "Well I want the IRS to harass conservative groups because unlike MoveOn and other liberal groups, they don't deserve 501(c)4 status."

I'm Full of Soup said...

The White House is the people's house right? So we could re-model it a bit if we like?

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

The guy in front is Tim Geithner.

I don't know who the guy in the back is but he looks like Satan.

Nathan Alexander said...

edutcher,
how about the EPA?

edutcher said...

Not a Cabinet level post, but I like the way you think.

Once we get to the regulatory bureaucracies, we're in Ali Baba territory.

Brian Brown said...

The Obama Administration also tried to cover up the motives for the Benghazi attack in order to win an election.

X said...

what did the president know and when did he know it?

carrie said...

Chicago style politics.

Rialby said...

“Yes, the Obama IRS delayed Tea Party group applications to limit their political activities and covered it up to win an election. That is obvious, inarguable, and criminal.”

You say Obama IRS. I say campaign. Nobody with a government job takes this kind of risk on their own. Nobody. My wife works for the government. Every email, conversation and meeting is CYA, CYA, CYA. I cannot believe that some rogue unit within the IRS did this and hid this until after the election without the WH knowing either before the activity or during the coverup.

Paddy O said...

If only we had some field or career that looks into stuff like this and shares it with the rest of us. Someone needs to come up with a way to convey stories to a wider audience. Maybe through printing letters on paper and delivering them to homes or giving short presentations on television during evening hours (or other times).

Then we could have been informed earlier!

SteveR said...

Of course Obama never had to get directly involved in the goings on. He hired people with the same idealogy so they would just do what all people of that idealogy do. Of course they don't have his charm, popularity and Chicago experience for the most part, which is ok if you count on the media to cover for you.

Oh wait

dreams said...

The important thing was to keep it covered up until after the election which is why Miller didn't tell congress even after they ask him about it.

Synova said...

"Sarah Hall Ingram served as commissioner of the office responsible for tax-exempt organizations between 2009 and 2012. But Ingram has since left that part of the IRS and is now the director of the IRS’ Affordable Care Act office, the IRS confirmed to ABC News today."

Rusty said...

Can't wait to read the mental gymnastics that excuses this away.

AllenS said...

Off topic --

Gasoline is $4.19 here. First time it's ever been over $4.

Conspiracy theory time --

They're doing this to get everyone from thinking about Benghazy, IRS and other shit.

X said...

2nd look at Hillary's enemies list/FBI files scandal of 1993?

Synova said...

Better watch what you do if you've got yourself on a list for medical procedures, hum?

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

X said... what did the president know and when did he know it?

5/17/13, 4:52 PM

We already know Obama knew about this. He told us himself at the press conference. A reporter asked Obama when he learned about the problems at the IRS. Obama replied he learned of the IG report last week through the media.

He couldn't answer the question asked without causing more problems. So he decided to answer a different question. He knew.

Cosmic Conservative said...

There is no difference between the Obama White House and the Obama Campaign. There never has been. There never will be. Obama himself is incapable of conceiving of governing as anything but campaigning.

Cody Jarrett said...

Drove past a house today with a simple handmade sign in front of the house.

"Impeach Obama".

And this a house that's never even had a trace of a political sign before.

Synova said...

When Obama accepted the win from the fact that someone got into sealed divorce records of his opponent in his very first election he set the tone forever.

No thinking person would worry that he would disapprove of their independent efforts on his behalf.

We've known this since before 2008. No surprises.

Cody Jarrett said...

AllenS said...

" Off topic --

Gasoline is $4.19 here. First time it's ever been over $4.

Conspiracy theory time --

They're doing this to get everyone from thinking about Benghazy, IRS and other shit."


Oddly enough, consumer confidence has ticked up a little, they say, in part (they say) to the price of gas lowering slightly.

Must be one of those local spikes I guess.

David said...

Of course they knew.

The "White House" also knew. Not through formal channels but someone close to Obama knew. That person then makes the decision when (or whether) to tell the President.

The kind of people who get to high levels around Obama and/or Clinton know--and have demonstrated through action--that their primary duty is political protection of the boss. Their loyalty is not to the people, or to constitutional principles. It is to the leader, who is the dispenser of power and ultimately money.

There is a parallel smaller scandal running with Clinton's buddy Huma (who is like a daughter, etc, etc).

You will look in vain for marching orders from WH or the Obama campaign to the IRS on who to harass and audit and delay. They do not need marching orders. The orders are preprogramed, intrinsic in the kind of people who inhabit these agencies.

The ultimate evil of Big Government is a permanent class of ruling bureaucrats who are loyal to bosses, political ideas and groups and themselves, not to the people or to constitutional government.



Cody Jarrett said...


We've known this since before 2008. No surprises.



I'm betting a few people are surprised.

I'm thinking of people that didn't bother to actually research the man, they just followed their heart to vote for the clean articulated black guy with no hint of a negro dialect.

I won't mention anyone by name...but...you know...I'll look toward the party and whistle.

Or toward the party's blog at any rate.


Icepick said...

There is zero difference between Obama & Nixon at this point.

Oh, bunkum! Nixon actually cared about governing....

edutcher said...

A couple of other things in this vein:

The business of DOJ grabbing AP phone records from the House press gallery, though clarified, isn't going away.

More importantly, it looks like the demos are feeling the heat. 2 Hose Demos are demanding Lois Lerner's resignation.

AllenS said...

Off topic --

Gasoline is $4.19 here. First time it's ever been over $4.

Conspiracy theory time --

They're doing this to get everyone from thinking about Benghazy, IRS and other shit.


I'm wondering if all these scandals are making some important people nervous.

Rabel said...

I'm beginning to believe that the reason republican lawyers go into electoral politics is that they suck at interrogating witnesses.

I swear to Gaia that even with my limited skill set I could have skinned that lying, Horshack Jheri Curl looking bastard Miller alive and nailed his hide to the hearing room wall.

And I shudder to think what a skilled professional like Althouse could have done to the scum-sucking dog if she had whipped out the Mommie Dearest personna she usually saves for edutcher.

Probably would have gutted the lowlife dirtbag alive and strangled him with his own entrails. Metaphorically that is.

OK, maybe I'm watching too much Cinemax, but they caught Miller (and earlier Holder) in obvious lies and let them off the hook as they usually do. It's frustrating.

Cody Jarrett said...

"I'm thinking of people that didn't bother to actually research the man, they just followed their heart to vote for the clean articulated black guy with no hint of a negro dialect."

Heh. Interesting typo.

Michael K said...

"The only thing more troubling than the story itself is the reader commentary at the NY Times. It all boils down to "Well I want the IRS to harass conservative groups because unlike MoveOn and other liberal groups, they don't deserve 501(c)4 status."

Yes, and some of the commenters, like Nancy Pelosi, don't understand the difference between c 4 and c 3.

KCFleming said...

And I move even closer to favoring secession.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Its the answer to "when did he know"... but its irrelevant in this case, because in order for it to be relevant, we would have to assume these people are the same as Nixon... which is where I think we are making a mistake.

Nixon had the decency to resign.

Do not expect that this time around... and btw... I FIND NO EVIDENCE that the IRS did any political dirty work for Nixon.

Alexander resisted attempts by Nixon to use the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to investigate Nixon's political enemies, resulting in a string of attempts by Nixon to fire him. Early on in his tenure as Commissioner, he dismantled the IRS Special Service Staff, which had been used to pursue detractors of the administration and its policies in Vietnam.[1]

If there is I like to see it... as you, I too was under that impression until Rush mentioned yesterday that Nixon using the IRS is a myth.

Rialby said...

"I'm thinking of people that didn't bother to actually research the man, they just followed their heart to vote for the clean articulated black guy with no hint of a negro dialect."

Now now. Let's not start going after Althouse again for her vote.

Michael K said...

"There is a parallel smaller scandal running with Clinton's buddy Huma (who is like a daughter, etc, etc). "

I don't think most mothers do what Hillary does to Huma when Anthony isn't there.

He likes to hang out so they have plenty of opportunity to do that mother-daughter thing.

Drago said...

Garage will be along any minute to inform us that we should wait until we have information from a "credible" source.

X said...

Pogo said...
And I move even closer to favoring secession.


I favor kicking D.C. out of the country. we'd be rid of them and according to their economic theories they'd do just fine having everyone work for the government. win/win. put the new capitol in Manhattan. Kansas.

wGraves said...

Starring Gene Wilder as Barak Obama, Marty Feldman as Tim Geithner, and Peter Boyle as Steven Miller. That leaves Cloris Leachman as Hillary Clinton. I believe I just heard the horses whiney?

KCFleming said...

I'd kick out the parentheses states and Minnesota, the state of Al "sic' em IRS!" Franken.

Chip S. said...

Let's not reach any hasty conclusions here. The fact that "high Treasury officials" knew about this doesn't necessarily mean that Obama knew.

AFAIK Geithner doesn't play golf, so how would the prez have been able to find out anything from him?

Mark said...

Nixon

... extracted us from Vietnam
... was President for every moon landing
... founded the EPA
... normalized relations with China

Nixon may have been a thug, but was undeniably a more effective President than Obama.

KCFleming said...

This is a good time to bring back the word 'defenestration'.

Synova said...

My kids love the word defenestration.

(Because they're weird... or my kids... or something.)

Cedarford said...

This is fast going into special prosecutor ground with the Obama Administration and the IRS. Laws were broken, and higher ups knew and covered it up to not jeopardize the 1972 err excuse me 2012 reelection bid of the President and All The Presidents Men (and women).

The lady that headed the effort was not punished, but given a 150,000 bonus and was put in charge of the IRS Obamacare branch and safeguarding medical provacy.

The people involved, from the lower field people up to Miller, Shulman, Geithner need to be put under oath with it clear they face charges of perjury and criminal obstruction of justice if they lie or fail to remember or use the good ol' "we can't comment because Our Guy Eric Holder is investigating this".

The patsy Steve Miller is the only one "punished" and we now know the guy was slated to retire anyways on the date the Obamites said he would be dismissed..and with full pension. And that guy was a disaster for the Democrats when he testified.

Nixon - looking better every day in comparison to Obama.
A competent president.
Never sicced the IRS on his enemies, never went at journalists like Obama did through Justice Dept.
When things went bad internationally, Nixon was pretty straight with the public about what happened at My Lai, why we went into Cambodia, when those issues came to attention - not "I cannot comment at this time because the matter is under investigation by my loyalist crony Attorney General".

AllenS said...

Chip S. said...
Let's not reach any hasty conclusions here. The fact that "high Treasury officials" knew about this doesn't necessarily mean that Obama knew.

I agree. I don't think Obama knows anything. I don't think he wants to know anything. I don't think that he's ever known anything, nor do I think that he'll ever know anything.


30yearProf said...

This is a CRIME. If the President ordered it or knew of it and don't stop it, his conduct is a impeachable offense (a term I haven't used yet this century).

Chip S. said...

I blame ESPN.

If they'd put a hard news crawl at the bottom of the screen during SportsCenter the prez would've known about all this stuff a lot sooner.

Sorun said...

Obama won't be impeached because black people would riot.

Cedarford said...

Nathan Alexander said...
edutcher,
how about the EPA?

========================
The creation of the EPA was necessary at a Federal, not "let the states do as they wish", level.

Otherwise you would have coal plants getting zero pollution regs in a sympathetic state dumping pollution on 20 states downwind/..

The agency makes sense. What the problem is is the agency has shifted from laws Congress made to a self-important bureaucracy staffed with zealots. Who are not content with enforcing the Fed Congressional law, but making up their own regulations and targeting people in a capricious matter.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

The fact that "high Treasury officials" knew about this doesn't necessarily mean that Obama knew.

Again... I think this idea of focusing too much on what the president knows and when does he know it is akin to loosing the forest for the trees.

It is up to Obama and his people to know what's going on in his administration and if he doesn't know what's going on... that's just not the case... whatever they tell you.

Methadras said...

X said...

what did the president know and when did he know it?


Well, according to Urkel and the rest of his henchmen, they know nothing, never heard of anything before, and only found out when everyone else knew about it. What that is, no one knows since they weren't there and they will go find out what happens when they are done talking about what they don't know and never knew about.

garage mahal said...

Obama is a detached dictator.

Æthelflæd said...

When I teach kids Latin, fenestra is the word I most look forward to sharing the English derivatives. Plus I get to tell the Defenestration of Prague story. Captive audience and all that.

Methadras said...

Sorun said...

Obama won't be impeached because black people would riot.


That and the fact that the senate is democrat controlled.

Methadras said...

Jay said...

People should be seriously talking about burning the IRS to the ground.


With everyone in it.

Roger J. said...

Ethelflaed--as you are a student of the defenestration of prague: was the ambassador saved by angels, or did he land in a pile of dung?

Unknown said...

I also love the word 'defenestration'. And 'hypovehiculation'.

Anthony said...

Wondering whether my local ABC news affiliate will bother with any of this. Ever since it broke they usually give it a 10-second blurb at 18 minutes into the newscast.

Valerie Plame, was, of course, covered at the top of the newscast.

edutcher said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
AllenS said...

I'm in west central Wisconsin.

Cedarford said...

The president is in trouble

Miller talked to Geithner about the IRS scandal in April 2012

The White House Council had the IRS problem in their minutes in July 2012.

Sarah Ingram has gotten a summons to congress for next week.

The White House knew 5 months prior to the election about the IRS auditing practices according to Miller.

Liberals are now talking about the danger of "blacks rioting" if the Republicans overreach and "divide the nation". Similar to how facing up to Islamists will make their supporters angry and more prone to violence.
(While of course the liberals and progressive jewish media puppetteers never tire of saying the Real Threat to America is the mom&pop types in tea parties..Drawn to 'right wing extremism' and having guns that only armed government hero employees really need).

I don't think we should go with right wingers baying to Impeach Obama. Ideally,what you want is a Special Prosecutor taking their sweet lawyerly time investigating the IRS scandal, armed with full subpoena and Grand Jury powers. Let it drip, drip, drip. And charter that Special Prosecutor with the ability to expand the probe if other instances of Abuse of Power and lies on other major matters are found (Benghazi?) that establish a pattern of abuse of power.

edutcher said...

Allen, wrt gas prices, where in the country are you?

Rabel said...

I'm beginning to believe that the reason republican lawyers go into electoral politics is that they suck at interrogating witnesses.

A lot of them aren't lawyers. Kelly and Tom Coburn, f'rinstance, are doctors.

The Demos are mostly lawyers. You really want a Congress of all lawyers?

Really?

And I shudder to think what a skilled professional like Althouse could have done to the scum-sucking dog if she had whipped out the Mommie Dearest personna she usually saves for edutcher.

More schoolmarm, I'd say, and she's nailed people in far worse fashion than me.

Mostly.

Cedarford said...

The creation of the EPA was necessary at a Federal, not "let the states do as they wish", level.

And until he ran for re-election, they were Bucketmouth's counterpart for the IRS.

Think "Ghostbusters".

Walter Peck: Because I'm curious. I wanna know more about what you do here! Frankly, I've heard alot of wild stories in the media and we want to assess any possibility of dangerous and possibly hazardous waste chemicals in your basement.

Now you either *show me* what is down there, or I come back with a court order.

Æthelflæd said...

As a staunch Protestant, of course I say it was a pile of dung. And I call him a legate, so that I can teach that as a derivative, too. My kids learn to play a game called "get Magistra off topic chasing an historical rabbit trail". I fall for it frequently.

Synova said...

I hadn't heard hypovehiculation before. I'm thinking... thrown from a car?

Oh... I see... thrown under a bus.

(Still I think it would properly be... not having *enough* cars... like, every every Iron Man movie Tony Stark suffers hypovehiculation on account of he destroys his garage... again.)

Yu-Ain Gonnano said...

Of course they knew.

Rule #1, don't make your boss look bad. Do you really think that a revelation this explosive would have been released without running it up the chain? The IG investigation didn't happen overnight. They've known for a good long time and waited as long as they possibly could.

Anyone who thinks otherwise simply isn't thinking.

Anonymous said...

The WH is cutting its losses on Benghazi pleading incompetence:

“We’re portrayed by Republicans as either being lying or idiots,” one unnamed Obama administration official told Attkisson. “It’s actually closer to us being idiots.”

According to Attkisson’s report, a FEST team was ready to intervene in the Benghazi attack and was preparing to respond but were never given the approval to engage.


Apparently, as those of us with military experience predicted, the FEST team, heard the news and started packing bags, but nobody called....

Baron Zemo said...

Obama will never be impeached. There is no crime that he could commit that would lead to people like garage or somefeller or A Reasonable Man to agree that he would need to be removed. He could rape, murder, disembowel and eat Honey Boo Boo on national television and they would shrug their shoulders. They would just comment on what a good cook he has become in his second term.

Face it. He is untouchable.

Yu-Ain Gonnano said...

Of course they knew.

Rule #1, don't make your boss look bad. Do you really think that a revelation this explosive would have been released without running it up the chain? The IG investigation didn't happen overnight. They've known for a good long time and waited as long as they possibly could.

Anyone who thinks otherwise simply isn't thinking.

Synova said...

As far as defenestration goes... Buildings should be limited to two stories because... if it saves just one life...

Rusty said...

garage mahal said...
Obama is a detached dictator.
More like an alderman.
Now you're seeing how the governments of the City of Chicago and Cook County work.

Anonymous said...

Obama's not even a ward boss. (below Alderman for those not familiar with Chicago)

Baron Zemo said...


All of these revelations don't really matter. Obama was obviously a corrupt socialist redistributionist Chicago politician from the get go. Anybody that didn't see that are just fooling themselves. I know that some are proposing that we cut him with every new scandal. To weaken him by the "Death by a Thousand Cuts."

They tried that with Clinton. Revelation after revelation, crime after crime, lie after lie. The cattle futures. Whitewater. The FBI enemies list. All of the women.

Paula Jones. Kathleen Willey. Juanita Broderick. Gennifer Flowers. Monica Lewinsky.

They still couldn't get him. That was "Death by a Thousand Cunts."

pm317 said...

Of course, they knew. On a related note, every Obot should be afraid, about how their information is being used in the Big OFA database.. Obama master user of personal information mostly for the worse -- you're being watched!

Anonymous said...

The House had better not even consider anything coming out of the Senate on Immigration until all the Obama administration corruption is sorted out. And we've got a long road and much more to come out.

garage mahal said...

Obama will never be impeache

You could recall Obama? Get your tri- corner hat and revolutionary war outfits on and go beat some drums.

TWM said...

"Face it. He is untouchable."

Like I said in an earlier post, they will never impeach - or even chastise - the first black president. He is made immune because of the color of his skin. And by the purposeful ignorance of rank and file liberals and the corruption of liberal leaders.

The good news is that ten years from now - assuming there is a country left - they will remember him as more incompetent than Carter and more corrupt that Nixon.

So, we got that going for us . . .

chuck said...

what did the president know and when did he know it?

After listening to the president, I think the proper question is, "What didn't the president know and when didn't he know it?"

garage mahal said...

Like I said in an earlier post, they will never impeach - or even chastise - the first black president.

They being Republicans? If Obama is as bad as they make him out to be why wouldn't they impeach?

kcom said...

"It is up to Obama and his people to know what's going on in his administration..."

Yeah, try that "I just heard about it" crap when you're the commander of a nuclear submarine. They're responsible for their command and that includes everything that happens on their ship. If it's good enough for a submarine commander it's good enough for his commander-in-chief boss.

kcom said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Baron Zemo said...

The thing is the Presidency is like Gulliver among the Lilliputians. Obama fell asleep on the beach and now we have to tie him up with as many strings and ropes and investigations and questions and inquires and probes so that he is unable to move.

Because he is a giant monster that could still do even more damage to our world than he already has in the last term. That is about the best we can hope for with the racialist controlling the dialouge.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

The Drill SGT said...

“We’re portrayed by Republicans as either being lying or idiots,”

I reject this false choice between lying or idiots. Let me be clear, this is a falsr choice. I say we are both liars and idiots.

President Obama 05/17/2013

kcom said...

"If only we had some field or career that looks into stuff like this and shares it with the rest of us. Someone needs to come up with a way to convey stories to a wider audience. Maybe through printing letters on paper and delivering them to homes or giving short presentations on television during evening hours (or other times).

Then we could have been informed earlier!"


Yeah, it's a shame about all those Pulitzer Prizes that never got to go home with someone. Just gathering dust. I thought reporters were supposed to care about receiving those things. Or is the Democratic Party more important than a Pulitzer?

Baron Zemo said...

Garage said.....
They being Republicans? If Obama is as bad as they make him out to be why wouldn't they impeach?

Because just asking him a question got you called a racist, impeaching him will taint you forever in the eyes of the racialists like you and the Nutty Perfessor. You couldn't even make a commercial about Moms Mabley with a cellphone and you expect that you can impeach the imaginary black boy friend. Think again buddy.

The Politically Correct Thought Police have won. You can't fight them. I mean make a video that disses the Muslims and they find a way to put you in jail. Use the IRS to attack Tea Party Groups and you get a promotion. That's how it works in Barack Obama's America.

Yu-Ain Gonnano said...

Hypovehiculation?

Perhaps: Compressum Veheculitis

madAsHell said...

I'm starting to think that Obama's agenda is now stuck in the ditch, and nobody is going to help him push it back out.

Stick a fork in him. He's done.

TWM said...

"They being Republicans? If Obama is as bad as they make him out to be why wouldn't they impeach?"

First, he is not as bad but worse than they make him out to be. Secondly, they did it with Clinton and discovered that Impeachment alone means nothing and since the Senate will not follow through they won't do it.

Now if the GOP gets the Senate back that is another thing altogether . . .

Baron Zemo said...

The Republicans lack the guts to do it. They don't have the balls to go for the throat.

The Democrats lack the integrity that the Republicans had when they took down Nixon. No matter what crime Obama might commit, the Democrats will never vote to convict him of high crimes and misdemeanors.

The best we can do is distract and cripple him. Since he is a lazy fuck he will most likely agree to just golf the next three years away. That could work.

jaed said...

They tried that with Clinton.

Clinton's scandals weren't the sort of thing that scared the public. His women only made people roll their eyes; they didn't frighten them. Whitewater was a serious corruption allegation, but it had happened long before he was in the White House and involved personal enrichment. The closest any of them got to use of government as a weapon against political adversaries was the Travel Office thing, and that wasn't really highlighted. The impeachment articles did allege obstruction of justice, but that wasn't the narrative and it wasn't what people focused on.

However: here we have possible use of the IRS to target one's political adversaries *and* to throw the election. People died in Benghazi, enemies of the United States were allowed to get away with the attack while the administration did its damnedest to deflect attention from the said enemies and onto, of all people, someone who posted a video on YouTube. (Who is in jail at this time, just as Hillary Clinton promised.)

That's considerably stronger stuff politically. There is no way any of this can be spun as some sort of personal foible like being a serial horndog. And average Americans might well perceive it as a potential threat to people like themselves.

edutcher said...

The Drill SGT said...

The WH is cutting its losses on Benghazi pleading incompetence:

“We’re portrayed by Republicans as either being lying or idiots,” one unnamed Obama administration official told Attkisson. “It’s actually closer to us being idiots.”

According to Attkisson’s report, a FEST team was ready to intervene in the Benghazi attack and was preparing to respond but were never given the approval to engage.

Apparently, as those of us with military experience predicted, the FEST team, heard the news and started packing bags, but nobody called....


Well, they're trying. Whether they succeed is another matter.

For those interested, Here's the piece Sarge quotes.

I think I love Sharyl Atkisson.

Baron Zemo said...

Obama will never be impeached. There is no crime that he could commit that would lead to people like garage or somefeller or A Reasonable Man to agree that he would need to be removed. He could rape, murder, disembowel and eat Honey Boo Boo on national television and they would shrug their shoulders. They would just comment on what a good cook he has become in his second term.

Those people don't count (well, garage, maybe), but the people who have to be convinced are the John and Jane Q Publics who buy the "he's basically a sweet guy" line. win them and he's toast.

There were people who always said Nixon was had and Nixon had just come off an election where he'd taken every state but the People's Republic.

Face it. He is untouchable.

They ain't a hoss that can't be rode.

They ain't a man that can't be throwed.

A couple of Irish guys named O'Feeney and Morrison said something like that at least once.

You of all people know that.

avwh said...

"Obama himself is incapable of conceiving of governing as anything but campaigning."

Funny, that.

The electorate just never had a clue that a community organizer who had never run anything, just rabble-roused, would turn out to be just be a perpetual campaigner, and not manage or govern anything. And pretend he didn't even KNOW about any of these shenanigans.

Who could have predicted? Answer: anyone who was paying attention, saw how Obama got elected before, and pretty much voted "present" his whole legislative career (except for campaigning to make what Gosnell did perfectly legal).

Gene said...

Among the questions the IRS asked one religious group was the "content of your prayers."

These weren't ordinary staffers just trying to do their jobs. This was an attempt by vindictive people with way too much power trying to diminish and demean their enemies while ensuring that Obama got re-elected. These are people who think their side has been pushed around too long and now that they have their man in office, it's their turn to punish conservatives for their evil racist lying ways.

I heard someone used the term "American Stasi." They hit the nail on the head. The notion that anyone has the right to know the content of my prayers is unimaginable outside of a totalitarian state such as East Germany (and now under Obama's constitutionally impaired co-conspirators the United States too.)

garage mahal said...

Because just asking him a question got you called a racist, impeaching him will taint you forever in the eyes of the racialists like you and the Nutty Perfessor?

Really? When's the last time you were called a racist? And if you're not a racist, why would you worry about that anyway?

Anonymous said...

An administration subverting the lawful function of a Federal agency for partisan purposes is one thing.

Doing so in order to affect the outcome of elections is another.

Knowingly hiding it all until after the elections is beyond the pale.

Forget a special prosecutor, this isn't an ordinary Executive branch scandal. This is the lifeblood of leviathan. What we need is a truth commission.

Everyone involved is called to testify, they are each granted provisional immunity - truthfully tell everything you know and you will be immune from prosecution for whatever you cop to. Lie or withhold relevant facts and go to prison.

Then start testimony with those at the bottom, then work up the food chain.

TWM said...

"Really? When's the last time you were called a racist? And if you're not a racist, why would you worry about that anyway?"

Not directed at me, but damn this deserves a response. Since when was any conservative NOT called - or at least considered - a racist by a liberal? No matter what they said or how they said it. And as to worrying about it, well, we worry about it less and less as its sting lessens with every "boy cries wolf" instance and every "conspiracy theory" that is ultimately proven true.

Baron Zemo said...

The free expression of religion has been under attack by Barack Obama and his minions.

The attempt to force Catholic institutions to provide birth control and abortion services in direct conflict with their religious doctrine is not the only thing they will try to do. In time they will use the taxing authority of the IRS to demand that religions follow the politically correct rules regarding abortion, birth control, same sex marriage, trans-gender bathrooms and even put flouride in our water to control our brain waives....err...wait a minute cross off the last one...but the rest still stands.

I would hope the IRS attack on Billy Graham will wake up all the Protestants so they can understand that is not only the bead squeezers who have skin in the game.

Cedarford said...

The good news is that ten years from now - assuming there is a country left - they will remember him as more incompetent than Carter and more corrupt that Nixon.

=============
The more we learn about Administrations before and after Nixon, the more competent and less corrupt Nixon seems.
Nixon can't hold a candle to the corruption in the Pierce, Buchanan, Johnson, Grant, Hayes, Harding, Truman, and perhaps LBJ & Obama Administrations.
His people's corruption was more on a par with Clinton's "pay to play" and Dubya's "K-streeter Delay/Tausin Republicans and defense contractors" .

And looking at the Administrations post-Nixon, he was more competent than the time of Ford, Carter, Dubya, and Obama Administration.

The only debate is if affirmative action will stop Obama from joining the list of Buchanan and Carter as disastrous Presidents.

That and future women that may be unwilling to call past women stupid twats for falling for Boyfriend! Obama in 2012. (Hard to extend that to 2008 when a large part of the country recoiled from McCain and his long list of new neocon dream wars he wanted to start.)

furious_a said...

Get. In. Their. Faces.

Punch. Back. Twice. As. Hard.

There is zero difference between Obama & Nixon at this point.

Nixon didn't need a teleprompter to utter "I am not a crook."

garage mahal said...

. Since when was any conservative NOT called - or at least considered - a racist by a liberal? No matter what they said or how they said i

When was the last time you were called a racist on Althouse? Or off line?

Chip S. said...

And if you're not a racist, why would you worry about that anyway?

Good question.

Aversion to an IRS audit, perhaps?

cf said...

I am sorry but I am starting to get really scared now. Some new order of magnitude has been reached.

I am accustomed to hearing the chirpy management-control of stories by NPR, and reading the breezily righteous assumptions of NYT readers, but this news avalanche of abuses should have brought on SOME pause, even from them. 

Call me paranoid, but I fear we have been led into some terrible trap. Why has all this unflattering information sprung loose so effortlessly, from halls that have proven to be loathe to self-disclose?

I fear a calculated bloodbath ahead -- our own. The amygdulas of very many folks  have been so finely conditioned by leftist demagoguery that they are truly inflamed now by even the mildest expression of a dissimilarity. Creepy.

Besides that portentous shadow, I wonder What apparatus now, really, will the nation allow and trust to restore our system's integrity? 

Be careful out there now. Like never before, we must keep our wits now.

Chip S. said...

I mean, really. Don't racists deserve special scrutiny by the IRS?

Anonymous said...

Ladies and Gentleman: Our local representative of the "American Stasi", Garage Mahal!

(It's impossible for me to understand Garage's comments as good faith efforts. Like his master, he is campaigning and politicking all the time.

Principles, facts, integrity, whatever -- those are mere impediments to his work here. It's just attack, attack and counter-attack all of the time.)

yashu said...

Bam. On the mark, Chip.

I hope that link starts to answer gm's question.

bagoh20 said...

Even Chris Mathews became an administration criticising racist today. He has the amazing ability to be an anti-white bigot one day and an anti-black one the next. Tomorrow he's gonna discuss Asian drivers.

garage mahal said...

I mean, really. Don't racists deserve special scrutiny by the IRS?

The NAACP probably remembers righties calling for an audit of them. The NAACP is certainly knows what it feels like to be called racists.

Baron Zemo said...

I have been called a racist but I could care less because I know I am not. That doesn't mean I won't make racial jokes and laugh about the fobiles of all groups...including my own.

Most conservatives have learned to keep our mouths shut in New York City and fly under the radar. When you are living in the Borg collective you can not let them know you are not part of the hive.

The deeper problem is the attack on the religious groups. Even if you are an ultra-liberal that should get you outraged. But it doesn't. That's sad.

garage mahal said...

"Being called a racist all the time" has about as much evidence behind it as the Obama "scandals" have behind them.

Chip S. said...

It's impossible for me to understand Garage's comments as good faith efforts

I've come to view garage as a Manichean. Given his premise that Repubs are part of the forces of evil, everything he posts can be construed as a good-faith comment.

Of course, that's why I also view him as a crackpot.

TWM said...

"When was the last time you were called a racist on Althouse? Or off line?"

Again I believe I said "called or at least considered" as a conservative. As to it happening to me I can say at least twice in the last few months when I argued that Obama was a socialist, which clearly he is. Granted they didn't say I was a racist, but rather that was just racist thinking. Still it's the same thing.

As an aside, you seem rather subdued garage. I think even you are seeing the problems inherent in the system . . .

bagoh20 said...

"The NAACP is certainly knows what it feels like to be called racists.".

Well it is right there in the name.

I'm sure we would assume no racists populate a National Association of White People

Chip S. said...

The NAACP is certainly knows what it feels like to be called racists.

Whaaaa???

Anyway, I believe that Julian Bond's quote answers your question satisfactorily:

“Here are a group of people who are admittedly racist, who are overtly political, who’ve tried as best they can to harm President Obama in every way they can.”

"Admittedly racist." I used to find that shit funny.

Not any more.

mrkwong said...

Nixon's White House had 20 names on its enemies list.

Obama's has 47% of the American public.

I guess that's progress.

yashu said...

Agreed, creeley. Hard to see any good faith there.

Even Chris Matthews (!!!!) evinces more of a clue.

Chip S. said...

Oh hi, yashu! Nice to see you back here.

TWM said...

"Being called a racist all the time" has about as much evidence behind it as the Obama "scandals" have behind them."

Jesus fricken Christ, garage, you damn well know that these are scandals with tons of evidence - much of which is yet to be discovered. It's down right embarrassing that you won't admit it.

As to being called a racist - you evidently never watch MSNBC or listen to any liberal talking head to know how much that is bandied about.

Quit embarrassing yourself, dude.

furious_a said...

"At no point was this Administration aware...

...of what this administration was doing."
-- Jay Carney.

garage mahal said...

Whaaaa???

Do a search on just this site. I just did. Pretty funny.

yashu said...

Hi Chip! Good to see (and read) you too.

Bryan C said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Cody Jarrett said...

"Do a search on just this site. I just did. Pretty funny. "

It's about the future of the country and garage would still rather play these little games.

I really had thought better of him.

I was wrong.

BaltoHvar said...

It isn't because he is "black", it is because:

"I, Joseph R. Biden do solemnly swear..." and then "I Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi do solemnly swear..."

So let us ALL be careful what we wish for...

Cody Jarrett said...

You are aware that Pelosi isn't actually in the line of succession, yeah?

I mean--Biden is bad enough I grant.

Boehnor is no prize.

But it's still not Pelosi.


furious_a said...

You are aware that Pelosi isn't actually in the line of succession, yeah?

For four years she was shudder.

BaltoHvar said...

I know that!

Joe gets to CHOOSE his VEEP!

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

garage mahal said...
"Being called a racist all the time" has about as much evidence behind it as the Obama "scandals" have behind them.

5/17/13, 7:29 PM

Huge concession there Garage. Glad to see you coming around to reality. So you going to call for impeachment of Obama?

AllenS said...

At this point in time, I'd rather see Biden running the ship. Oh, sure, we'd laugh at him. For a while anyway. Maybe every day for a while, then it would slowly, ever so slowly turn to tears, but this Obama character is incompetent.

Cody Jarrett said...

And he'd never choose Pelosi.

He'll choose someone somewhat normal and younger.

Anonymous said...

Seems an appropriate/safe time to do something meaningful:

Pardon Irwin Schiff (born 1928) sentenced to 13y for tax conviction

http://wh.gov/SYwB

I posted this WH petition last night.

Sheridan said...

Steve R's comment at 4:55 PM was intriguing:

"Of course Obama never had to get directly involved in the goings on. He hired people with the same idealogy so they would just do what all people of that idealogy do. Of course they don't have his charm, popularity and Chicago experience for the most part, which is ok if you count on the media to cover for you."

It reminded me of the work of the British historian Ian Kershaw who developed the concept of "Working Towards the Fuhrer as a means to explain the "charismatic authority" of Hitler.

All the following quotes are drawn from the Wikipedia entry about Ian Kershaw.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Kershaw

" ...Hitler whose involvement in day-to-day decision making was limited, infrequent and capricious"

"...it was German officials themselves who for the most part, in attempting to win the Führer's approval, carried out on their own initiative increasingly "radical" solutions to perceived problems..."

"... Hitler as a distant and remote leader standing in many ways above his own system, whose charisma and ideas served to set the general tone of politics."

"...Hitler held absolute power but did not choose to exercise it very much; the rival fiefdoms of the Nazi state fought each other and attempted to carry out Hitler's vaguely worded wishes and dimly defined orders by "Working Towards the Führer".

Please don't jump me for bringing in the "Hitler" narrative. I'm not claiming that Obama is the new Fuhrer. But it is fascinating how bureaucratic systems, regardless of their "democratic traditions" can devolve into competing fiefdoms all of whom wish to please the "Leader" and acquire his/her recognition.

I'm not sure which condition is more terrifying - that our charismatic president is able to fool 51% of the people and nearly all of the press or that our federal "civil servants" and their department masters are willing to set aside all precepts of limited and representative government and do that which "moves them toward the Leader".

edutcher said...

BaltoHvar said...

I know that!

Joe gets to CHOOSE his VEEP!


If he lasts that long. I give him a week before he's declared incompetent.

Also, his choice would have to be approved by Congress.

That could be fun.

Synova said...

I doubt anyone on Althouse has called those who oppose Obama racist *lately* but only because it doesn't work any more.

But those who have opposed him have been called racist or bigots ever since Obama himself explained that he would be opposed because he didn't look like the guys on the money. The Tea Party has been called racist and racially motivated from day one by television pundits and columnists. Race is frequently given as the reason that Obama's policies are opposed because before we had a black president no Republican ever opposed a Democrat policy.

And garage is going to say this isn't true?

Cody Jarrett said...

I doubt anyone on Althouse has called those who oppose Obama racist *lately* but only because it doesn't work any more.

You don't read the stuff Inga, phx and Ritmo, for instance, say to people that don't agree with them do you?

Synova said...

I'll admit to not reading much of anything from Ritmo. Who has the time?

Cody Jarrett said...

I'll admit to not reading much of anything from Ritmo. Who has the time?

You're smarter than I am.

The Sanity Inspector said...

Does "Jesus H. Christ!" count as a prayer, to IRS?

garage mahal said...

And garage is going to say this isn't true?

I think a lot of it is in your head.

Unknown said...

Leftists believe that W was the dumbest dumb that ever dumbed, but at the same time he *knew* that Iraq had no operational WMDS. At the same time, Leftists believe that Obama is the smartest smart that ever smarted, yet was totally ignorant of the IRS, AP, Benghazi, Fast & Furious, EPA, NLRB happenings.

It really is amazing ... ...

Mark said...

That's considerably stronger stuff politically. There is no way any of this can be spun as some sort of personal foible like being a serial horndog. And average Americans might well perceive it as a potential threat to people like themselves.

You're a conservative and need state-of-the-art chemo or you're definitely going to die? Let me run it by the boss lady.

Mark said...

We'll know Obama is really on greased skids when Biden decides to resign and Tricky Barry nominates Harry Reid as Joe's replacement.

Unknown said...

“We’re portrayed by Republicans as either being lying or idiots,” one unnamed Obama administration official told Attkisson. “It’s actually closer to us being idiots.”

Difficult to see how this could be viewed as anything but pitiful.

Of course, there's always the newly popular "It's Romney's fault for running a poor campaign."

Bush must be relieved.

edutcher said...

The trolls are awfully quiet out there.

Too quiet.

The Sanity Inspector said...

Does "Jesus H. Christ!" count as a prayer, to IRS?

Only if it will make you look guilty.

Mark said...

We'll know Obama is really on greased skids when Biden decides to resign and Tricky Barry nominates Harry Reid as Joe's replacement.

Excellent point.

edutcher said...

wyo sis said...

We’re portrayed by Republicans as either being lying or idiots,” one unnamed Obama administration official told Attkisson. “It’s actually closer to us being idiots.”

Difficult to see how this could be viewed as anything but pitiful.

Of course, there's always the newly popular "It's Romney's fault for running a poor campaign."


That's just the Libertarians trying to make themselves look better.

The Romster was winning.

That's why the vote stealing machine swung into gear.

KCFleming said...

I only read Ritmo yesterday because he changed his name. Again.
Definitely scroll-pastable.

J said...

Bureaucrats thinking up new and inventive ways to please the emperor.Ithink they call that "currying favor".Obama does not want to know anything and his minions know that.A loyal minion justs knows stuff and runs alongs whispering it so nobody has to say that "he " told me.It is a very amorphous thing.Seems to be the way this admin operates.Ands it works beyond the White House too. Geithner exuded that puppy dog "pet me Master" feel and communicated to Treasury.EPA just acts and nobody notices.State just says "let me change those points there".CIA was on autopilot for years hunting Osama.Big Sis targets the right people and misses the radical Islamists.Big government is chiefly unaccountable because Noone is accountable.Shades of Odysseus in Polyphemus' cave.BTW Weber described the bureaucracy by looking at Bismarck's Deutschland.Godwin alert.Deutschland plus sixty years=?

Ruth Anne Adams said...

Whenever I get a bill that has Timothy Geithner on it, I write "TAX CHEAT" above it.

It's my own little protest. What difference, at this point, does it make?

Anonymous said...

The Tea Party has been called racist and racially motivated from day one by television pundits and columnists.

Synova: And let's not forget the Congressional Black Caucus lying that Tea Partiers shouted the N-word and obscenities at them, and saying that the Tea Party wants to "lynch blacks."

That's something I'm not going to forget.

test said...

TWM said...
Not directed at me, but damn this deserves a response.


This is exactly the wrong reaction. Garage is a troll. His comments have literally zero relationship to reality and are only intended to draw the discussion away from subjects damaging to Democrats to those damaging to others. By engaging the discussion of whether or not non-leftists are racists you've assisted his victory.

The only correct response to garage is : "".

President-Mom-Jeans said...

I disagree Marshal, the proper response to Bitchtits is to point out his failed marriage, lack of education, and obesity. All of these he has admitted on this site.

gerry said...

The beauty of this, when considering Progressivism, is that the first black president was a Progressive, a liar, a cheat, dishonest, and lazy (Bush stopped playing golf at his 24th game, because, he said, it was unseemly after the Iraq war erupted. Obama was up to #100 early in May).

The sad thing, when considering role models for young blacks, is that the first black president was a Progressive, a liar, a cheat, dishonest, and lazy.

Anonymous said...

Of course they knew. They knew exactly the same way I know that the people I'm supervising are doing exactly what I want them to get done. I know because I'm watching to see if it gets done.

As soon as they heard the grief coming up through Congress they knew it was mission accomplished. At that point the only trick was delaying acknowledgement until after the elections were safely in the bag.