I'm as little ashamed of myself for calling the last three controversies… scandals. I didn't go as far as Miki Brzezinski, David Gregory, Chris Matthews or Andrea Mitchell by saying the president has to get out in front of this, or it will derail his presidency. Yesterday was one of those days where Chris Matthews was hyperventilating so much that he wouldn't let his guest get in a word in edgewise. He kept saying that the president needed a James Baker type to keep the media and Republicans in check. As David Axelrod reminded us yesterday, the same people got all upset because they thought the president looked weak during the BP oil leak. David Axelrod said the president came back and won another election. The pundits are not accustomed to the managerial style of President Obama. He's a cautious person, who's not warm and fuzzy or superficial, so he's not prone to "hair on fire" decisions. He doesn't really care what the media or his enemies think.
You can throw out the history books when you talk about President Obama because he's not an arm- twister like Lyndon Johnson, a political animal-like Bill Clinton or a charmer like Jack Kennedy. He does like to campaign, and he's more about big policy that he is about trivia matters. The fact that he doesn't play the normal belt way politics came back to haunt him because he could not get background checks passed, although it had 90% backing from the American people. He doesn't care if he angers his base in order to cut a deal but by now he ought to know that the GOP will never make a deal if they think it will help his presidency. Yesterday Jon Stewart asked former Republican Senator Olympia Snowe if anyone objected when Mitch McConnell said that the GOP would oppose anything Obama wants. She said no, but she did vote for his stimulus package.
Since the 100 emails prove the administration was not covering up anything in Benghazi, people like Karl Rowe are now trying to say that the president is disengaged. Republicans like to point to the testimony of the whistle blowers as proof that the four Americans didn't have to die but that is shameful and disingenuous. It might've been a planned attack for the terrorist, but the consulate was not prepared nor did they have a military force that could reach them in time. There was plenty of blame to go around between the State Department and the CIA, but the talking points should never have been the primary focus because, as Hillary Clinton famously said, " what difference does it make?" This issue will not go away for the Republicans because they think they can use this against Hillary Clinton in 2016.
This morning Willie Geist of MSNBC " Morning Joe," said that we don't know what the White House's involvement is in the IRS controversy or how high this went up the ladder. That's right but why is he assuming that it does. The GOP said that they lost the 2012 election because the president gave out free stuff, so now is it because 298 501(c) (4)applications were held up? The Usa Today had a headline that Joe Scarborough kept raising for all to see yesterday that read" IRS gave liberals a pass" but two liberal groups were denied tax-exempt status.
The media has a legitimate complaint about the actions of the Justice Department, but they get an "F" for their reporting this week. For one, ABC thought they had the goods on the administration but Jonathan Karl didn't do his due diligence because he didn't read the emails he received from a source before he said that he had the "smoking gun." This afternoon Jack Trapper of CNN was visibly angry because the president didn't apologize for the actions of the Justice Department and Atty. General Eric Holder ‘s" non answers." Reporters need to report the news and not be part of it. We certainly don't want the government to suppress the news but if reporters want support from public, then they have to remain professional and just the report vetted news.
How ironic, the IRS, the government and the media could never win a popularity contest but right now their credibility is at stake.
5 comments:
In the meantime the good news that the government is receiving more tax revenues and the deficit is coming down as are health care costs.
Another GOP myth has been debunked as the house is set to repel the Affordable Care Act for the 37th time.
The health care law's requirement that companies with at least 50 employees provide affordable health benefits is the chief reason most firms expect their spending on health insurance to rise in 2014, according to a poll conducted by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, an organization of human resources professionals. Nevertheless, more than two-thirds of companies definitely plan to offer health benefits to full-time workers, and just 0.5 percent said they definitely will discontinue coverage. More than 90 percent of companies surveyed currently offer health benefits to full-time workers.
Based on the findings of the survey, these negative outcomes won't be seen in the near future, despite protestations from Republicans and some business owners that Obamacare would force many companies to cancel job-based health insurance. Fewer than 3 percent of companies surveyed reported they were at least somewhat unlikely to continue coverage of full-time employees.
http://tinyurl.com/bbgg8wy
I knew it wouldn't take long for the RW wing-nuts to tie the IRS troubles to healthcare.....Sad thing is,some will believe them.
"WASHINGTON – On Thursday morning, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann questioned whether Internal Revenue Service could be trusted to oversee implementation of the health care law, suggesting it could inappropriately use records to deny people health care.
Paul and Bachmann made the comments at a press conference with several members of Congress and members of tea party groups from across the country,
“With the implementation of Obamacare at hand, and knowing that it is the IRS … that will be the enforcing mechanism for this new entitlement program of Obamacare, it’s very important to ask, and now it is reasonable to ask, could there potential be political implications regarding health care – access to health care, denial of health care,” Bachmann said.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/16/rand-paul-bachmann-irs-could-play-politics-with-obamacare-oversight/#ixzz2TUqvODqz
Strange they should even mention denial of healthcare when it is their party that wants to deny healthcare to a whole lot of people.
That's so true "Repeal and Replace" is no longer their goal.
Another thing. The GOP is doing all of this to keep their base in line, but I guess they haven't noticed that their base hasn't gotten them elected in how long?
There are more "little people" that get all riled up and make sure they make it to the polls when their livelihood is threatened. But hey, it's been working for us so far. They just haven't figured it out yet.
Post a Comment