Obama tries to swat down 2 swirling controversies

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Yahoo News:

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama tried to swat down a pair of brewing controversies Monday, denouncing as "outrageous" the targeting of conservative political groups by the federal IRS but angrily denying any administration cover-up after last year's deadly attacks in Benghazi, Libya.

Simultaneous investigations — and demands by Republicans for more — have put the White House on the defensive, emboldened GOP lawmakers and threatened to overtake a second-term Obama agenda already off to a rocky start.

During a joint news conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron, the normally even-keeled Obama appeared agitated over the resurgent investigation into the September attack at a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi. He dismissed the Republican-driven effort as a "sideshow" that dishonors the four Americans who were killed, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens.

"There's no there there," Obama declared in his first public comments since GOP lawmakers launched new hearings on the matter. "The fact that this keeps on getting churned up, frankly, has a whole lot to do with political motivations."

Seeking to keep another controversy from spinning out of control, the president rebuked the IRS for scrutinizing the tax-exempt status of groups with conservative titles such as "Tea Party" or "Patriot" in their names. Those responsible, Obama said, must be held "fully accountable."

"I've got no patience with it," he added. "I will not tolerate it and we will find out exactly what happened."

________

 

The AP now makes three...

[Valin]

[Valin]

http://youtu.be/B883IJhv_Nc

[nickydog]

"I'm not good at math."

 

I don't watch Jon Stewart, but this segment made me laugh.

[Valin]

Drip...Drip...Drip

 

Report: EPA followed double standard for conservative groups too?

Allahpundit

5/14/13

 

Don’t worry. The media will be all over this two years from now, when the head of the EPA finally comes clean.

 

Time to add one more to the scandal scorecard?

 

FOIA is clear that public interest groups who, by trade, obtain and broadly disseminate “government” information to the public are the intended beneficiaries of its provision for waiving fees. EPA routinely grants such fee waivers to its favored left-wing groups who demand a more intrusive and powerful EPA, but systematically denies waivers for groups on the right, according to research compiled by CEI Senior Fellow Christopher Horner, author of “The Liberal War on Transparency.”

 

In a review of letters granting or denying fee waivers granted at the “initial determination” stage from January 2012 to this Spring, Horner found green groups, such as the National Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and EarthJustice, had their fees waived in 75 out of 82 cases. Meanwhile, EPA effectively or expressly denied Horner’s request for fee waivers in 14 of 15 FOIA requests over this same time.1

 

Moreover, every denial Horner appealed was overturned. “That these denials are ritually overturned on appeal, not after I presented any new evidence or made any new point, but simply restated what was a detailed and heavily sourced legal document to begin with, reaffirms the illegitimacy of these hurdles EPA places in the way of those who cause it problems.” Horner said. “EPA’s practice is to take care of its friends and impose ridiculous obstacles to deny problematic parties’ requests for information.”

 

Green groups had their FOIA fees waived 92 percent of the time, CEI had its waiver requests denied 93 percent of the time.....(Snip)

[Valin]

[Valin]

Scandals may shut the door on Obama’s progressive experiment

James Pethokoukis

May 14, 2013

 

Democrats and left-wing pundits have long argued that Barack Obama would be their Ronald Reagan, a president who significantly shifted the nation’s political and economic landscape. With reelection and a second term, as Andrew Sullivan wrote last September, Obama would become ”an iconic figure who struggled through a recession and a terrorized world, reshaping the economy within it, passing universal health care, strafing the ranks of al-Qaeda, presiding over a civil-rights revolution, and then enjoying the fruits of the recovery.”

 

Forward!

 

Republicans and conservatives, on the other hand, have tended to see Obama as Jimmy Carter: The Sequel — an inexperienced naif with delusions of grandeur who presided over a collapsing economy at home and retreat abroad. But for about 15 minutes after Obama’s reelection, many on the right may have harbored fears Obama would indeed be the anti-Reagan, launching a generational turn toward progressivism built on the economic and foreign policy failures of the Bush administration. Obama’s aggressive election night and inaugural speeches didn’t help.

 

But the defining mission of the Obama presidency, to usher in a new Progressive Era, is foundering.

 

(Snip)

 

Bottom line: At least Americans thought Carter was honest. But in the public’s eyes, the Obama administration now risks combining Carter-level incompetence with Richard Nixon’s untrustworthiness. Hardly a formula for a political revolution, much less a modestly successful presidency.

[Draggingtree]

D.C. turns on Obama

By MIKE ALLEN and JIM VANDEHEI | 5/14/13 9:10 PM EDT

The town is turning on President Obama — and this is very bad news for this White House.

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.

Buy-in from all three D.C. stakeholders is an essential ingredient for a good old-fashioned Washington pile-on — so get ready for bad stories and public scolding to pile up.

 

Vernon Jordan, a close adviser to President Bill Clinton through his darkest days, told us: “It’s never all right if you’re the president. There is no smooth sailing. So now he has the turbulence, and this is the ultimate test of his leadership.” Jordan says Obama needs

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/05/dc-turns-on-obama-91386.html?hp=t1_3

[Valin]

http://youtu.be/B883IJhv_Nc

 

http://youtu.be/moEjv3CQ0m0

 

H/T Hot Air

[Valin]

D.C. turns on Obama

By MIKE ALLEN and JIM VANDEHEI | 5/14/13 9:10 PM EDT

The town is turning on President Obama — and this is very bad news for this White House.

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.

Buy-in from all three D.C. stakeholders is an essential ingredient for a good old-fashioned Washington pile-on — so get ready for bad stories and public scolding to pile up.

 

Vernon Jordan, a close adviser to President Bill Clinton through his darkest days, told us: “It’s never all right if you’re the president. There is no smooth sailing. So now he has the turbulence, and this is the ultimate test of his leadership.” Jordan says Obama needs

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/05/dc-turns-on-obama-91386.html?hp=t1_3

 

 

Oh Good Lord!!!

I don't know where to start with deconstrusting this.

 

"D.C. turns on Obama"

Talk to me next month

 

"Republicans have waited five years for the moment to put the screws to Obama"

5 years? Put The Screws? "Establishment Democrats, never big fans of this president to begin with"!

 

 

I repete...Good Lord!

Typical Politico spin

[Valin]

http://youtu.be/YD9ON91gjtg

[Valin]