What Boehner considers 'inconceivable'

[ProSense]

What Boehner considers 'inconceivable'

By Steve Benen

In "The Princess Bride," there's one word that Vizzini uses repeatedly and inappropriately: "inconceivable." The problem, of course, that the circumstances that he describes as "inconceivable" are actually quite predictable, leading Inigo Montoya to eventually respond, "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

Likewise, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) may be equally confused.

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Wednesday said he believed it was "inconceivable" that President Obama did not learn sooner about the Internal Revenue Service's political targeting of Tea Party groups.

"It's pretty inconceivable to me that the president wouldn't know," Boehner told Fox News's Greta Van Susteren.... "[W]ith as many people that were involved in the audit, the number of people involved in the investigation, somebody -- and the number of people in the White House that knew -- it really is inconceivable that he wouldn't have known about it," he added.

He keeps using that word, but I do not think it means what he thinks it means.

It really isn't inconceivable at all. The president is the chief executive of a very large federal bureaucracy, filled with all kinds of departments and agencies. He's also the president during a time of war and economic crises, so it stands to reason that Obama doesn't have a lot of time to micromanage a division of an IRS office in Cincinnati.

But maybe he knew of allegations that the division of an IRS office in Cincinnati was accused of using ill-advised standards when scrutinizing organizations seeking tax-exempt status? Boehner thinks it's "inconceivable" Obama wasn't aware of this; I think it's "inconceivable" that the Speaker of the House could seriously believe something so deeply silly -- why inform the president and raise the prospect of undermining the Inspector General's investigation? What would be the point?

Boehner believes it's significant that some White House officials were made aware of the probe -- why this is important remains a mystery to me -- but even these GOP talking points keep pushing Obama's critics further from their original goal of connecting the president to the controversy itself. As Jeffrey Toobin explained, "White House officials seem to have engaged in the opposite of a cover-up. They let the investigation proceed, and let the Inspector General do his job. They let the process play out. They played by the rules, which is what lawyers are supposed to do."

Which then leads us to the latest missive from a certain former half-term Alaska governor.

- more -

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/05/23/18442865-what-boehner-considers-inconceivable

Apparently, Boehner and Republicans also don't know the meaning of the term "cover-up."

Looks like they found the source of the IRS cover-up: Darrell Issa
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022878900

Boehner seems to be developing a pattern of spewing talking points to distract from economic news. A couple of weeks ago it was Benghazi: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022820110 (Will Republicans be held accountable for the doctored email http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022868542)

Today news:

Jobless claims show sharp improvement
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022889566

[FSogol]

1. K & R. n/t

[no_hypocrisy]

2. More credible if he had used "improbable" or "unlikely".

Leaves room for possibility of Boehner being wrong. "Inconceivable" makes him look impervious to rebuttal.

[1-Old-Man]

3. Never the less, the President is still responsible for the activities of the Executive Agencies

[ProSense]

4. Sure

"Never the less, the President is still responsible for the activities of the Executive Agencies"

...he is, but he can't know everything and doesn't have everyone on a leash. Acting Commissioner Miller was held accountable.

Interesting: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022889923

[Enrique]

5. and if he did know

so what? People are exaggerating what this is about. The question posed to Boehner contained an implied exaggeration, and of course Boehner's answer, but also including Benen by accepting that exaggerated assumption, and including Obama by some of his statements.

[ProSense]

6. The fact is

"The question posed to Boehner contained an implied exaggeration, and of course Boehner's answer, but also including Benen by accepting that exaggerated assumption, and including Obama by some of his statements."

...that the reference to anyone in the WH learning about this relates to the WH lawyer being informed of the impending release of the report on April 24, 2013. As Toobin points out, they did their job after being informed.

The fact that Issa knew about this in July 2012 defies the claim of a cover-up.

Benen knows this.

April 2013, not April 2012
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/05/20/18380257-april-2013-not-april-2012

I'm curious about why the RW/media are suddenly trying to debunk the claim of a WH cover-up.

WaPo:

<...>

The notice Ruemmler saw on April 24 gave her a thumbnail sketch of a disturbing finding: that the IRS had improperly targeted tea party and other conservative groups. She shared the news with White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and other senior White House aides, who all recognized the danger of the findings.

<...>

But Ruemmler and McDonough’s careful plan for the IRS was upended on May 10, when Lois Lerner, a senior official at the agency, broke the news by admitting that the IRS had given extra scrutiny to conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status.

<...>

In addition, one senior administration official said, Ruemmler at the time did not know key facts: How extensive was the IRS’s targeting? How many and which employees were involved? Did they target only conservative groups and was the effort politically motivated? And were those groups’ applications for tax-exempt status denied or delayed?

To keep from intervening in the audit, Ruemmler could not seek answers, the official said.

“The single most important thing the White House counsel can do at that point is make sure no one in the White House does anything to interfere with or anything that may obstruct the conclusions from being finished and rolled out,” said Jack Quinn, who served as White House counsel under Bill Clinton.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/on-irs-issue-senior-white-house-aides-were-focused-on-shielding-obama/2013/05/22/9183902c-c228-11e2-914f-a7aba60512a7_story.html

MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe’ Slams GOP Chair For Insinuating Obama Is Involved In IRS Scandal
http://thinkprogress.org/media/2013/05/23/2052631/morning-joe-irs-priebus/

Internal Emails Indicate IRS Targeting Designed By Low-Level Staffers
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022889923