Some thoughts about the various 'scandals'

[markpkessinger]

I posted this earlier today as a Facebook status update.

Mark Kessinger
2 hours ago

Let's keep a bit of perspective on the three oh-my-God-this-is-worse-than-Watergate 'scandals' that have Republicans and the media clutching their pearls, shall we?

First, Benghazi. No legs. Nor arms, torso or head for that matter. To borrow a phrase from Gertrude Stein, there is no 'there' there.

Second, IRS. It was certainly wrong and indefensible for the IRS to flag for special scrutiny the applications for tax exempt status of groups with the words "Tea Party" or "Patriot" in their names. Appropriate disciplinary action should be taken, and whatever necessary policy changes should be implemented. But beyond that, there has been no evidence whatsoever that this was anything other than inept management at the IRS. When and if there is any evidence that clearly establishes that this targeting policy occurred at the direction of the President, his administration or his campaign, then talk to us about a "culture of corruption" or "culture of intimidation" (or any olf the other ridiculously overblown talking points Republicans have been using). Until then, spare us.

Also, it is worth pointing out that NOT ONE of the organizations whose applications were targeted for such special scrutiny was ultimately denied tax exempt status. Further, it is a myth to suggest that this kind of thing never happened before. The IRS was notorious during the Bush administration for going after groups to which the administration was ideologically opposed. The NAACP was one such group. Another was All Saints' Episcopal Church in Pasadena, CA. whose tax exempt status the IRS tried to revoke after the rector emeritus preached a sermon questioning the morality of the war in Iraq a few days before the 2004 election. So again, spare me the hyperventilating bluster.

Finally, there is the Justice Department's monitoring of telephone and email correspondence of AP reporters. Of the three 'scandals,' this is the one that actually merits a closer look. The Justice Department was investigating a very serious CIA leak. But in doing so, it cast much too wide a net. This kind of action by the Justice Department could potentially hamper the ability of the press to gather information anonymously -- something that is utterly critical to the functioning of a free press. But I fail to see a grand conspiracy here. What I see is well-intended overreach by a law enforcement agency. It needs to be reigned in, to be sure, but don't make more of it than it in fact was. (And ironically, this will likely be the one out of the three 'scandals' that Republicans pay the least attention to.)

It should be more than obvious what is going on here. Republicans, who cannot seem to find among themselves any agenda they can agree upon that appeals to voters, are desperate to drum up a scandal -- any scandal -- to try to smear the President and Democrats. The thing is, there IS room for some serious criticism of this administration -- its continued misguided focus on deficit reduction, the drones policy and the war on whistleblowers to name a few of those areas. But of course, Republicans aren't interested in those at all.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

1. The GOP is trying to make you think government is corrupt and big brother-like