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[Black Mamba]

Which is obviously false, like I pointed out.

No, it is extremely accurate. Obama is not responsible for every federal employee who breaks the law. Only the ones he orders to law break, the ones he personally puts in power that law break, or the ones who he or his people put in power by him know law break but do nothing to stop it.

He is not connected to a bunch of IRS agents going against IRS policy.

 

[Carpe Libertatem]

Why would that be the result since this was about IRS scrutinizing specific voter groups unfairly - it would be a big scandal over here as well. Isn't this the same logic that certain factions use when racial profiling is critiqued? "Oh great job, now the police will not be able to touch certain demographics in order to prevent crime"

Everyone is supposed to get equal treatment regardless of who they are about to vote in an election.

It would only be the same argument as racial profiling if instead of the police not being able to touch certain demographics, they would not be able to touch anyone. Or at least choose not to. Like, using political terms to search for political organizations is not racial profiling at all. That's called being efficient at doing what you're supposed to do. It just needs to be done in an equal way.

And really, that's probably the goal of big donors (liberal or conservative).

Also, apparently the IRS is targeting everyone now, including a local news anchorman and Billy Graham's son. Gotta get on the gravy train while it's still in the station!

 

[empty vessel]

I guess you can be skeptical of conservative allegations of impropriety, but what do you make of the allegations of impropriety coming from:

• Lois Lerner, director of the IRS' exempt organization division?
• The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration?
• Eric Holder, who, in announcing that a criminal investigation was being launched, called the actions "outrageous and unacceptable"?
• Barack Obama, who also called the alleged actions "outrageous"?

Well, I could just repeat exactly what I said earlier: "I am skeptical of conservative allegations about the impropriety of the IRS's actions."

Dismissing this scandal as nothing more than "conservative allegations of impropriety" ignores the fact that everyone believes the IRS conduct was improper, aside from staunch Obama apologists who can't stand the thought of a single stain on Obama's administration (regardless of whether responsibility can be traced to Obama himself).

I'm on record on GAF as supporting the impeachment of Obama over his assassination program and the abuse of law to provide legal cover for it. So there goes your theory about that. I criticize the Obama Administration about meaningful things like killing American citizens without due process, not because inadequate staffing due to conservative objections to tax enforcement by the IRS led to crude attempts and shortcuts to enforce a law Congress passed limiting the political activities of privileged tax exempt entities.

 

[Blergmeister]

I guess you can be skeptical of conservative allegations of impropriety, but what do you make of the allegations of impropriety coming from:

• Lois Lerner, director of the IRS' exempt organization division?
• The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration?
• Eric Holder, who, in announcing that a criminal investigation was being launched, called the actions "outrageous and unacceptable"?
• Barack Obama, who also called the alleged actions "outrageous"?

Dismissing this scandal as nothing more than "conservative allegations of impropriety" ignores the fact that everyone believes the IRS conduct was improper, aside from staunch Obama apologists who can't stand the thought of a single stain on Obama's administration (regardless of whether responsibility can be traced to Obama himself).

I don't often agree with you but in this post you are right. I just want to add that it is imporant to remember that the problem is that the profile for scrutiny was a list of keywords that overemphasised a political group, in this case Conservative ones. The solution is to instead use a non-partisan selection for extra scrutiny, whatever that end up being. The sad fact is that it was setup in the past but was the unfortunate target of budget cuts. What must NOT be done is that the IRS gives up applying scrutiny to what is, in effect, political groups, or groups ineligible for the tax exempt status.

 

[Metaphoreus]

Well, I could just repeat exactly what I said earlier: "I am skeptical of conservative allegations about the impropriety of the IRS's actions."

I'm on record on GAF as supporting the impeachment of Obama over his assassination program and the abuse of law to provide legal cover for it. So there goes your theory about that. I criticize the Obama Administration about meaningful things like killing American citizens without due process, not because inadequate staffing due to conservative objections to tax enforcement by the IRS led to crude attempts and shortcuts to enforce a law Congress passed limiting the political activities of privileged tax exempt entities.

I'm not sure what "theory about that" you're referring to. I'm just pointing out that your theory, where the IRS did nothing wrong and only conservatives think they did, is contradicted by the evidence. You can say, "Barack Obama and Eric Holder are conservatives. Oh and also the nonpartisan TIGTA is conservative. And Lois Lerner," but I'm not sure why you'd want to impugn your credibility in that way.

Mamba, I'll respond more fully to you later, since I can only make quick comments right now.

 

[Link]

You know, the idea that liberals - regardless of how intelligent or balanced they may be - generally want to shape society in ways that.....

I'm very curious as to how this thought ends.

 

[The Librarian]

I'm very curious as to how this thought ends.

"...will bring about the destruction of civilization as we know it."

 

[empty vessel]

I'm not sure what "theory about that" you're referring to. I'm just pointing out that your theory, where the IRS did nothing wrong and only conservatives think they did, is contradicted by the evidence. You can say, "Barack Obama and Eric Holder are conservatives. Oh and also the nonpartisan TIGTA is conservative. And Lois Lerner," but I'm not sure why you'd want to impugn your credibility in that way.

Mamba, I'll respond more fully to you later, since I can only make quick comments right now.

Your theory that everyone believes the IRS conduct was improper except staunch Obama apologists who can't stand the thought of a single stain on Obama's administration. I have yet to see any evidence of wrongdoing. I have seen evidence of crude attempts to enforce a law passed by Congress largely brought on by successful conservative efforts over many years to reduce the budget, size and effectiveness of the IRS.

Is it also worth pointing out that the current TIGTA is a Bush appointee?

 

[Black Mamba]

"...will bring about the destruction of civilization as we know it."

You'd think conservatives would be pushing for that. End of Days and all that jazz.

 

[Link]

"...will bring about the destruction of civilization as we know it."

#genderlessdystopia?

 

[ICKE]

I'm very curious as to how this thought ends.

It was an answer to an earlier post - just switched one word in the sentence to point out how one should not have such rigid views regarding people who vote other parties.

I live in Scandinavia and my views in general are more progressive than anything in the United States government.

At the same time I share certain views with my conservative relatives who live in the US. I believe in grassroots democracy instead of handling these huge programs on a federal level and empowering the individual via removing unnecessary regulations - the kind of bureaucracy that kills small businesses and indirectly helps huge corporations.

 

[The Librarian]

#genderlessdystopia?

nooooooooooooo

 

[B-Dubs]

#genderlessdystopia?

But....

 

[The Librarian]

Only the prelude to 1000 years of liberal darkness due to stolen copper wiring.

Thanks Obama.

But I like being a girl! Dammit, I should've voted for Romney!

 

[B-Dubs]

But I like being a girl! Dammit, I should've voted for Romney!

You never stood a chance...

 

[TacticalFox88]

"When it all went down in Benghazi, the administration facing the election, went in to panic mode. Wanted to contain it. 'Don't send in the military, don't blow this into a bigger thing then it's gonna be.' And they put politics above the security of our diplomatic personal....

The Obama administration in this case was cowardly, duplicitous and they sacrificed American lives for politics and the American people need to understand that, despite the fact that the establishment media would cover for Obama no matter what he did."

Some Fox News asshole.

 

[mightynine]

....not because inadequate staffing due to conservative objections to tax enforcement by the IRS led to crude attempts and shortcuts to enforce a law Congress passed limiting the political activities of privileged tax exempt entities.

Probably the best in-a-nutshell description of this I've ever seen.

 

[Link]

Some Fox News asshole.

I always love the "Everybody is lying to you but us!" handwaving Fox News does. Even more amazing is how well it works.

 

[Tamanon]

I'm sure sending the military into the Benghazi situation would've really worked out gangbusters.

 

[Diablos]

Hillary's coattails will give Democrats a House majority.

Unless she's still tainted by Benghazi lolololololafielgrlrfewbger;w34 at234

It could happen at this rate. The GOP will be talking about this from now until 2016

 

[Link]

It could happen at this rate. The GOP will be talking about this from now until 2016

No one that was going to vote for her cares now, even less will care then.

 

[The Librarian]

You never stood a chance...

Womp

 

[el retorno]

Hey guys another article about how there is no leadership™ from this white house by politico. I've never read this before.

Republicans have waited five years for the moment to put the screws to Obama — and they have one-third of all congressional committees on the case now. Establishment Democrats, never big fans of this president to begin with, are starting to speak out. And reporters are tripping over themselves to condemn lies, bullying and shadiness in the Obama administration.

Jordan says Obama needs to do something dramatic on the IRS, and quick: “He needs to fire somebody. He needs action, not conversation.”

One Democrat who likes Obama and has been around town for many years said elected officials in his own party are no different than Republicans: They think the president is distant and unapproachable.

“He has never taken the Democratic chairs up to Camp David to have a drink or to have a discussion,” the longtime Washingtonian said. “You gotta stroke people and talk to them. It’s like courting: You have to send flowers and candy and have surprises. It’s a constant process. Now they’re saying, ‘He never talked to me in the good times.’”

I think the DC press is just bored at this point and going to recycle this for the next 3 years, mathews was saying the same thing "Obama needs to be strong like Reagan when he fired the Union Workers, the soviets knew he was a strong president then!". None of them can explain what this would do other than stroke their egos, that's what this is about. They don't feel like "important people" when the president doesn't call.

And bonus, more political opportunism!

None of this is going away. Top Republicans tell us the Benghazi investigations will last at least months, and probably until the midterms of 2014 and beyond. Same for the IRS scandal — and new scrutiny of how the Obama White House clamps down on its critics. Republicans are also working up plans to use the backdrop of government incompetence and over-reach to try to further undermine implementation of the new health care law.

BENGHAZI BENGHAZI BENGHAZI!

 

[Black Mamba]

The GOP answer to Obama is to make the federal gov't as useless as humanly possible.

And they're getting away with it.

 

[Wilsongt]

BENGHAZIBENGHAZIBENGHAZI

The White House released more than 100 pages of e-mails on Wednesday in a bid to quell critics who say President Barack Obama and his aides played politics with national security following the deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.

The exchanges detailing discussions between top Obama administration officials from multiple agencies suggest the CIA took the lead in developing talking points to describe the attack last September 11 that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.

IRSIRSIRISIRSIRSIRSIRSIRSIRS

Washington (CNN) -- The Internal Revenue Service has identified two "rogue" employees in the agency's Cincinnati office as being principally responsible for "overly aggressive" handling of requests by conservative groups for tax-exempt status, a congressional source told CNN.

In a meeting on Capitol Hill, acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller described the employees as being "off the reservation," according to the source. It was not clear precisely what the alleged behavior involved.

APAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPA

(Reuters) - Lawmakers pounded U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday with questions about the Justice Department's secret seizure of Associated Press telephone records, and grew frustrated when he said he had limited answers.

Holder noted to the House Judiciary Committee that he had recused himself from the leak investigation that prompted the phone records seizure, so the decision was not his.

But lawmakers still pushed him on why the subpoena for the two months of phone records last year was so broad and why the Justice Department did not first try to negotiate with AP to obtain information.

 

[speculawyer]

Benghazi: I'm really starting to get annoyed with the "bigger than Watergate" shit. 40+ people went to prison from Watergate.

They still can't even name a single crime. What . . . you got lied to for 5 days? OK . . . so what? Get over it.

AP: Maddow had some devastating footage the other days of several GOPers demand a thorough investigation to see where the leaks are coming from when that story about the bomber came out. So now DOJ did such an investigation and they are made that it was done? LOL, make up your mind.

 

[TacticalFox88]

Obama just needs to shut this shit down and go ham on some fools.

Playing nice does not work with these fucktards.

They need a good ol' fashioned bitch slap

 

[The Librarian]

Hmmmmmm?

 

[Black Mamba]

Hmmmmmm?

this explains why he recused himself.

AP: Maddow had some devastating footage the other days of several GOPers demand a thorough investigation to see where the leaks are coming from when that story about the bomber came out. So now DOJ did such an investigation and they are made that it was done? LOL, make up your mind.

Yup, they were the ones who demanded it. It's pure lunacy.

GOP: Investigate how this leaked.
Justice Department: Okay
GOP: You investigated the leak. RESIGN! Impeach!

 

[B-Dubs]

Hmmmmmm?

Well shit, I can honestly say I never saw that coming. If nothing else they were pretty through.

 

[Wilsongt]

Hmmmmmm?

Looks like the news story I just posted from Rueters was pretty timely, then.

 

[The Librarian]

I want the numbers and the duration of each call of every single regular member of PoliGAF for the last twenty days this instant!

 

[Wilsongt]

I want the numbers and the duration of each call of every single regular member of PoliGAF for the last twenty days this instant!

You'd get a pretty boring call record out of me.

 

[B-Dubs]

At least she isn't asking for internet history, mine is all GAF and sideboob related sites.

 

[Link]

Yup, they were the ones who demanded it. It's pure lunacy.

GOP: Investigate how this leaked.
Justice Department: Okay
GOP: You investigated the leak. RESIGN! Impeach!

It really is ridiculous. Unfortunately, Democrats do such a poor job of pushing back.

 

[Owzers]

Bolling is not satisfied, he wants 10,000 pages of emails ( not exaggerating)

Get on it White House.

 

[el retorno]

Bolling is not satisfied, he wants 10,000 pages of emails ( not exaggerating)

Get on it White House.

Lol "if they're not in the emails they release they need to make emails that say what I want them to say"

 

[Incognito]

an admittedly cursory review of the white house emails shows an administration inept at corralling state and cia to coalesce around truthful talking points in a timely manner. Big suprise, then, that doj and irs are running borderline illegal operations under the nose of the wh.

 

[el retorno]

an admittedly cursory review of the white house emails shows an administration inept at corralling state and cia to coalesce around truthful talking points in a timely manner. Big suprise, then, that doj and irs are running borderline illegal operations under the nose of the wh.

The first sentence in this post reads like a Jackson50 post.

Edit: Surprise Krauthammer says Obama's actions (firing the IRS head) aren't enough, "the bare minimum"

 

[Tamanon]

I dunno, Jackson50 uses proper capitalization.

 

[Tamanon]

ABCNews apparently is still trying to stand by Jonathan Karl's misreporting of the Benghazi emails.

 

[mightynine]

I want the numbers and the duration of each call of every single regular member of PoliGAF for the last twenty days this instant!

I called my mom this morning. She picked up right as I was dropping a f-bomb to another driver for damn near rear-ending me. Did I leak sensitive info?

 

[Tamanon]

I called my fiance like 3 times in the past 2 weeks. For about 5 minutes each.

Oh and I called Banfield Pet Hospital to reschedule my cat's appointment.

I don't use the phone part of my smart phone much.

 

[Oblivion]

That AP wiretapping thing has a lot of potential for entertainment. Republicans are making a big deal that Obama is infringing on the rights of the liberal media, but Obama agrees he shouldn't be able to do have that power and is suggesting passing a law making sure that doesn't happen again, which if it does pass Republicans wouldn't have anything to bitch about anymore.

 

[B-Dubs]

ABCNews apparently is still trying to stand by Jonathan Karl's misreporting of the Benghazi emails.

They'll stand by him until the last possible moment. They'd look really dumb if he gets ditched this early.

That AP wiretapping thing has a lot of potential for entertainment. Republicans are making a big deal that Obama is infringing on the rights of the liberal media, but Obama agrees he shouldn't be able to do have that power and is suggesting passing a law making sure that doesn't happen again, which if it does pass Republicans wouldn't have anything to bitch about anymore.

That'll be fun to watch. They'll filibuster a bill to stop the exact thing they are complaining about.

 

[Mario]

They still can't even name a single crime. What . . . you got lied to for 5 days? OK . . . so what? Get over it.

As best I can tell, the positioning here is "Obama lied so he could win the election" with the implication Romney that would have been voted in had the "truth" been known about Benghazi which would have implied that the terrorist threat had not been eliminated as (supposedly) suggested by the Obama Administration i.e. "He was running on having killed Bin Laden!".

So, they are trying to work some sort of "election fraud" angle.

That's about the best it will get I think.

 

[CyclopsRock]

I think that, perhaps, for some people, the idea that they were lied to by the government, even if it were only for 5 days and on an issue that's basically not important, isn't someone one simply "gets over". The idea that you have leaders comfortable with lying when it's convenient for them to do so is not one that sits well with a lot of people, even if they would - or have - done the same.

 

[Mario]

I think that, perhaps, for some people, the idea that they were lied to by the government, even if it were only for 5 days and on an issue that's basically not important, isn't someone one simply "gets over". The idea that you have leaders comfortable with lying when it's convenient for them to do so is not one that sits well with a lot of people, even if they would - or have - done the same.

If Benghazi sets the bar for impeachment on grounds of actual obfuscation of the truth or simply a confused message, then I imagine the likes of Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld face the death penalty.

 

[el retorno]

I think that, perhaps, for some people, the idea that they were lied to by the government, even if it were only for 5 days and on an issue that's basically not important, isn't someone one simply "gets over". The idea that you have leaders comfortable with lying when it's convenient for them to do so is not one that sits well with a lot of people, even if they would - or have - done the same.

Who lied? they openly talked about the fact this was a possibly a terrorist attack.

 

[CyclopsRock]

If Benghazi sets the bar for impeachment on grounds of actual obfuscation of the truth or simply a confused message, then I imagine the likes of Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld face the death penalty.

Who lied? they openly talked about the fact this was a possibly a terrorist attack.

Sorry, I should have quoted. It was a response to Speculawyer saying...

you got lied to for 5 days? OK . . . so what? Get over it.