Another Obama Official Resigns After Ginned Up Conservative Outrage: A Timeline

[deminks]

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/05/epa_white_house_armendariz_oil_limbaugh.php

From the moment President Obama took office, conservatives have made a small sport of attacking obscure functionaries within his administration — surfacing old, often out-of-context statements and actions that make his political appointees appear extreme. Over the past three years, they’ve taken aim at a handful officials, and almost without exception, they’ve felled their targets. The goal isn’t really to root bad actors out of the executive branch, but rather to amass a pile of scalps and contend that Obama is radicalizing the government.

Al Armendariz is the latest victim. He resigned from the EPA on Sunday after conservative media latched on to comments he made years ago about deterring bad actors in fossil fuel industries by making examples of — or ‘crucifying’ — those that get caught breaking the law. In context, his remarks were harmless, if a bit hyperbolic. Most reports ignored the context — he said the word “crucify,” after all.

His undoing differs from the Shirley Sherrod fiasco in two key respects: Armendariz insists he was not pressured to step down by the administration, and despite the harmless nature of his comments, he never proffered a defense of himself — he apologized for his remarks, and insisted they ran counter to the spirit of the EPA’s mission. But the timeline of events leading up to his resignation follows a pattern that will be familiar to anybody who watched Sherrod or Van Jones lose their jobs.

(end snip)

Sigh.

[newfie11]

1. Why leave

The repugs win again.

[KharmaTrain]

2. Once The Mighty Wurlitzer Latches On...

I really hadn't heard about this story but I see the pattern...one that is modus operendi for hate radio and faux noise. They echo each other and can amp up a phony story out of obscurity into a "national scandal" in a matter of hours or days. There doesn't need to be any fact...all that's needed is someone to amp up the faux outrage and the right wing "media" takes it from there.

Keeping someone around that the rushpublican can use as a punching bag is what they want...and the longer they can use him the better. This is hardball politics that is part of a general election and the rushpublicans are desperate to find anything to glam onto...be it Solyndra or "Fast and Furious" or this latest "poutrage". Ignore and let it fester and watch how a phony issue become the rage of the cables and a bigger headache for the Obama campaign to counter.