Surprise: Obama Promotes Another Benghazi Scandal Player (What Did You Expect?)

Hey, if Susan Rice qualifies for a big promotion, why not Victoria Nuland?  She’s the State Department spokeswoman at the center of the firestorm over the administration’s Benghazi talking points — and if the president has his way, she’ll be movin’ on up to Assistant Secretary of State:

The State Department spokeswoman who earlier this month found herself in the middle of the controversy surrounding key revisions to the Benghazi talking points appears to be in line for a promotion. The White House announced Thursday that President Barack Obama intends to nominate Victoria Nuland as assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs, a position that requires Senate confirmation…Nuland, who has served as the State Department spokesperson from 2011 until earlier this spring, came under fire from Obama administration critics last week after leaked e-mails revealed she raised concerns with the CIA-prepared talking points on the deadly terror attack last September 11. Specifically, Nuland asked that references to al Qaeda and previous CIA warnings about threats posed to U.S. diplomats in Libya be scrubbed from the document that was used by U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice on news talk shows to explain the administration’s understanding of events in Libya.

Heck all she did was lie to the American people. So what….

 

Jake Tapper Warns Obama Supporters To ‘Remember The Precedent’ He’s Setting When A GOP’er Is In WH

Your turn is coming …

On Wednesday, CNN anchor Jake Tapper dug into the controversial way in which members of President Barack Obama’s administration have apparently tried to intimidate whistleblowers in the government and the journalists that would investigate their stories. Tapper said that some, including the New York Times editorial board, have described the administration’s actions as “threatening fundamental freedoms of the press.” He warned Obama’s supporters to remember the precedent his administration is setting when a Republican next occupies the Oval Office.

Tapper noted that the scandal surrounding the subpoenaing of Fox News reporter James Rosen’s personal telephone and email records is sarcastically being referred to as a “conspiracy to commit journalism.”

“Keep in mind, there’s no allegation that James Rosen bribed, threatened, coerced anyone to get the information, which is what journalists do,” Tapper said. “We try to get information, especially information that the government doesn’t want us to share with you.”

He noted that the Times editorial page, normally supportive of Obama, accused his administration of going “overboard” in the effort to intimidate leakers and journalists.

“I’m a journalist,” Tapper confessed. “Obviously, I have a bias here. But even if you side with this president over those of us in the media who challenge his administration, it is important to remember the precedent these actions set going forward. Perhaps, when it’s not your guy in the White House.”

 

IRS Misses Filing Deadline: Fails to Comply With Congressional Demand for All Communications With WH About Targeting Conservatives

What did the White House know about the IRS targeting conservative groups and when did it know it?

Crucial evidence needed to develop an accurate answer to that question would include the records of any communications that went back and forth between the IRS and the White House on the topic.

Surprise anybody???

REPORT: DOJ SEIZED RECORDS OF FIVE FOX NEWS PHONE NUMBERS

Is Holder too big to fit under the Bus? The circle of criminal reporters widens … Making reporters into terrorists. That should wake them out of their Obama trance.

The Obama Justice Department has seized the phone records of numbers that are associated with White House staffers and, apparently, with Fox News reporters, according to a document filed on October 13, 2011, in the case of Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, a former State Department contractor accused of violating the Espionage Act for allegedly leaking classified information to James Rosen, a Fox News reporter. Ronald C. Machen, Jr., the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, who is prosecuting the case, has seized records associated with two phone numbers at the White House, at least five numbers associated with Fox News, and one that has the same area code and exchange as Rosen’s personal-cell-phone number (the last four numbers are redacted).

In all, Ronald C. Machen, Jr., the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, has seized records associated with over thirty different phone numbers.

Full story here.

Maybe …

 

Wake Up America

Making journalism into to terrorism …

COLUMBUS DISPATCH writes …..

Wake Up, Watchdog: White House probes of reporters should shake complacency.

“After treating President Barack Obama with uncommon deference throughout his first term, many members of the press finally may be realizing that this is a one-way street.”

Media types still boast of having been on President Richard Nixon’s infamous “enemies list.”

With ongoing revelations that the Department of Justice repeatedly has obtained phone records, emails and other information from journalists working on sensitive stories, perhaps being on the Obama administration’s watch list will become a similar badge of honor.

After treating President Barack Obama with uncommon deference throughout his first term, many members of the press finally may be realizing that this is a one-way street.

On Sunday, the Washington Post reported that the Department of Justice probed possible press leaks about North Korea in 2009 by obtaining information about the phone calls and emails of James Rosen, chief Washington correspondent for Fox News. Rosen is suspected to have received classified information from Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, then a security adviser at the State Department.

More here …

 

Carney Dodges, Dives And Ducks More Questions on IRS Scandal

So you say Carney is just Obama’s paid liar. So why bother? It’s entertaining.

White House spokesman Jay Carney Tuesday evaded more media questions about the IRS scandal by professing widespread White House ignorance about the misconduct, by proclaiming the president’s virtue and by promising future action.

“We were ultimately not aware of what led to the first [media] reporting on this,” Carney said, when asked how the Internal Revenue Service revealed May 10 that its employees were targeting conservative political groups.

“I think you should ask other [agencies] about that question,” he said.

However, he also admitted that the White House’s chief counsel, Kathy Ruemmler, talked with Denis McDonough, Obama’s chief of staff, after she learned April 24 about the pending report, which described widespread IRS discrimination against conservative citizens.

Read more: 

Krauthammer on IRS Scandal: “This Thing Will Go On and It Could Be Fatal”

Charles Krauthammer weighed in on the IRS targeting scandal Tuesday on Special Report after another day of IRS targeting the Tea Party hearings.

Sir Charles issued this warning to Democrats.

“Yes, the Republicans are up in arms but the Democrats are too. This thing will go on and it could be fatal.”

Charles Krauthammer weighed in on the IRS targeting scandal Tuesday on Special Report after another day of hearings. He issued a warning to Democrats.
“Yes, the Republicans are up in arms but the Democrats are too. This thing will go on and it could be fatal.”

 

Washington Times Writer: Fox News Scandal Goes ‘Much Deeper,’ W.H. Sitting on Something Top Obama Aides ‘Terrified’ About

Washington Times columnist Joseph Curl on Monday said the Obama administration’s developing scandal involving the monitoring of Fox News reporter James Rosen’s email accounts goes “much deeper.”

Citing a “CIA source,” Curl claimed via his official Twitter account that the Fox News scandal was the “4th Shoe” and the White House is sitting on “something” that has top White House aides “terrified.”

This a lready bad enough …But who knows what else the Obama can do to us.

 

LENO Takes Some Shots

President Obama was down in Texas on his “Middle-class jobs and opportunity tour.” Don’t confuse that with his first term. That was the “Middle-class jobs and MISSED opportunity tour.”

While President Obama was in Texas, he told people to “Remember the Alamo and forget about Benghazi.”

I was going to start off tonight with an Obama joke, but I don’t want to get audited by the IRS, so forget that.

The IRS has admitted that they targeted conservative groups for extra scrutiny. That’s why Mitt Romney wanted to be president so bad — to keep the IRS off his back.

The heat wave is continuing. There are warnings this could be a long, hot summer and they are telling everyone to cover up. Believe me. You don’t have to tell the Obama White House twice. They know all about covering up.

Today the White House unveiled its latest high-tech weapon: the IRS audit.

I love what IRS commissioner Steve Miller said today about this whole targeting conservative groups thing. He said, “Mistakes were made, but they were in no way made with a political or partisan motivation.” Yeah, “Mistakes were made” — try saying THAT during your next IRS audit.

First it was Benghazi, then the IRS scandal, and now this phone records scandal. Remember the old days when President Obama’s biggest embarrassment was Joe Biden? What happened to those days?

This week marks the 40th anniversary of the Watergate hearings. For those of you too young to remember, back then the administration had an enemies list. They were spying on reporters, and they used the IRS to harass groups they didn’t like. Thank God those days are gone forever.

A lot of critics are comparing President Obama to President Richard Nixon, which is unfair. Nixon’s unemployment rate was only 5 percent.

This whole IRS thing has become a huge story. They apparently were targeting conservative groups like the tea party. You know it’s bad when President Obama says, “Hey, why don’t we talk about Benghazi?”

The National Aquarium in Washington is going to close. But don’t worry. If you’re in D.C. and you still want to smell something fishy, stop by the White House. They’ve gone from “Change you can believe in” to “Changing the story until you believe it.”

This week will mark the 37th time House Republicans have tried to repeal Obamacare. If Republicans really wanted to do away with Obamacare they should just endorse it as a conservative non-profit and let the IRS take it down.

President Obama announced the appointment of a new acting commissioner of the IRS — the other guy was fired. See, they’re called “acting commissioner” because you have to act like the scandal doesn’t involve the White House.

A lot of critics are now comparing President Obama to President Nixon. The good news for Obama? At least he’s no longer being compared to President Carter.

It has not been a good week for President Obama. You’ve got Benghazi, the IRS scandal, this AP records scandal, and, worst of all, his Chicago Bulls got eliminated by the Miami Heat. Do you know what that means? LeBron James is going to get audited by the IRS.

– Leno

White House Damage Control Script Jeopardized By New Disclosures

It has been a tough weekend for the President. First, the CEO of the Associated Press states the government’s seizure of AP phone records was “so broad and so secret,” among other factors, “that it was an unconstitutional act,” adding that it had already had a chilling effect on newsgathering and press freedom. Add to that James Goodale’s comments (the leading force behind the release of the Pentagon Papers and first amendment lawyer), thatPresident Obama is ”worse for press freedom than Nixon” and things are not going well. But, the problems did not stop there as the Wall Street Journal reports that while President Obama claims not to have been made aware of the IRS indiscretions until May 10th it seems the White House’s chief lawyer learned weeks ago that an audit of the IRS likely would show that agency employees inappropriately targeted conservative groups. The President’s response so far is that “we’re not going to participate in is a partisan fishing expedition.”

But, the problems did not stop there as the Wall Street Journal reports that while President Obama claims not to have been made aware of the IRS indiscretions until May 10th it seems the White House’s chief lawyer learned weeks ago that an audit of the IRS likely would show that agency employees inappropriately targeted conservative groups.

Via The Wall Street Journal,

In the week of April 22, the Office of the White House Counsel and its head, Kathryn Ruemmler, were told by Treasury Department attorneys that an inspector general’s report was nearing completion, the White House official said. In that conversation, Ms. Ruemmler learned that “a small number of line IRS employees had improperly scrutinized certain…organizations by using words like ‘tea party’ and ‘patriot,’ ” the official said.

…

The White House, which declined to make Ms. Ruemmler available for comment Sunday, wouldn’t say whether she shared the information with anyone else in the senior administration staff.

…

When findings are so potentially damaging, the president should immediately be informed, said Lanny Davis, who served as a special counsel to President Bill Clinton.

Of the controversies dogging Mr. Obama, including the terrorist assault in Benghazi, Libya, and the Justice Department’s seizure of phone records of Associated Press journalists, the IRS case “is the most nuclear issue of all,” Mr. Davis said. It involves the “misuse of the IRS” and “anyone who knew about this a few weeks ago and didn’t tell the president shouldn’t be in the White House,”

…

Republican lawmakers on House oversight committees are pressing the investigation, with more hearings set for this week.

“Exactly who in the administration knew what about the IRS targeting is one of the key outstanding questions,” said Rep. Darrell Issa

…

“… President Obama and his administration seem more preoccupied with having deniability than quickly addressing serious wrongdoing…”

The President’s response so far is that “we’re not going to participate in is a partisan fishing expedition.”