A Weekend Roundup of the Sunday Talk Shows

David Gregory host of "Meet the Press" did his homework and it showed.  He blindsided Mitch McConnell  by producing  a tape from 25 years ago that showed that early in his career the senator believed that such groups -- on the left and the right -- should be subjected to tougher scrutiny. these were his words back then “ Early in his Senate career, however, the Kentucky Republican seemed to believe that such groups -- on the left and the right -- should be subjected to tougher scrutiny"There are restrictions now on the kinds of activities that, for example, 50(c)(3) and (4) organizations,charitable organizations, can engage in that are being abused -- not just people on the right, but most of the so-called charitable organizations who are involved in political activity in this country, who are, in my judgment, involved in arguable violations of their tax-free status and violations of the campaign laws, happen to be groups on the left." Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell was over matched and visibly angry that he was ambushed like that. I was surprised when Mitch McConnell agreed with the actions the Justice Department took to go after leakers.

David Gregory was not through, he then challenge the words of Peggy Noonan by saying “Peggy Noonan, you wrote something that struck me in your column on Friday. I want to ask you about it. "We are in the midst of the worst Washington scandal since Watergate. The reputation of the Obama White House has gone from sketchy to sinister. They don't look jerky now, they look dirty. The patina of high-mindedness the President enjoyed is gone." I have to say, Peggy, what you don't talk about here is an administration for a man that you worked for, who led the Iran-Contra scandal with Iran, the secret war, and lied to Congress and all the rest. Overstatement here?” She was dumfounded and squinched  looking for an answer and then he asked the same of Bob Woodward, who continues to play both sides of the fence depending on what network he is on. Bob Woodward is showing his age and his  Watergate claim to fame is quickly vanishing.

Fox News Sunday was just an extension of a GOP strategy meeting.  Chris Wallace did his part by asking White House spokesman Dan Pfeiffer questions about the president's whereabouts when  Benghazi was being attacked.  I did notice that not one question was asked  about the role that President Bush appointee ,Doug Shulman,played in all of this.  In fact I didn’t  hear any republican mention Doug Shulman. They were on message by saying that" how can you trust the IRS to manage its function in Obamacare  when they can't even manage the nonprofits? "

When someone is locked into their frame of mind, logic doesn't stand a chance.  People like Chris Wallace, Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, Bob Woodward, Peggy Noonan, are hung up on when the president knew the details of the events that transpired.  The obvious answer is that there is no correct answer because when the president said he learned about them by reading the newspaper, it gave fodder to his enemies.  They can say that he's lying, disengaged, or incompetent.  After Watergate,  Congress made sure that the Internal Revenue and the Justice Dept. would operate without input from the White House.  If the president said  that he learned about it during the political campaign; his enemies would have accused him of using his influence to get the outcome he wanted or to postpone the findings until after the elections.  Darryl Issa, knew that the Inspector General was in the process of auditing the IRS and decided to wait on the results before responding, as did the White House.

I think the IRS could solve the abuse of the 501(c ) (4 ) by using the structure that’s used for deducting contributions, and the criteria used on other forms  where income phase outs are used. Let’s set the social welfare requirement at 90% and ask the applicants to report their total income and percentage used for social welfare, naming the organization, address, the amount donated, dates and require a receipt.  The receipt doesn't have to be presented unless audited.  That puts the onus on the applicant and not the Internal Revenue.





This is picture is Hillary pictured with her dear friend, the late Ambassador Stevens .....,Mr. Bankston.Your words were irresponsible,political, and stupid  “Perhaps if Clinton's daughter decided to follow mom's footsteps and become a foreign service agent and was posted in an unfriendly country, Hillary would understand exactly how it matters. Nah, that won't happen."
Carl Bankston, Victoria