May 20, 2013
The Stumbling Presidency
FROM NORTH AMERICA SYNDICATE, 300 W 57th STREET, 15th FLOOR, NEW YORK, NY 10019
CUSTOMER SERVICE: (800) 708-7311 EXT. 236
BOB FRANKEN
FOR RELEASE TUESDAY, MAY 14, 2013
THE STUMBLING PRESIDENCY
BY BOB FRANKEN
The word “doofus” is in the dictionary. In mine, it’s defined as “a foolish or inept person.” There are apparently some doofuses (doofi?) in the Internal Revenue Service. At least we hope that the agents were only foolish or inept and nothing more sinister when they targeted conservative 501(c)(4)s, as they’re called. That’s the section of the regulations that grants “social welfare” groups tax-exempt status as long as their primary mission is not politics.
After denying anything was amiss, the IRS now has admitted that its agents took “absolutely inappropriate” actions to investigate 501(c)(4)s on the right after receiving a flood of applications for the tax-exempt status and after Democrats complained that the organizations were flouting the rules. That’s when the Keystone bureaucrats went into a frenzy. They turned to their computers and plugged in key words like “patriot” and “tea party.” And, gee, guess what? Up popped groups like the Tea Party Patriots.
Not surprisingly, the Tea Party Patriots aren’t buying the IRS apology. Jenny Beth Martin, the organization’s national coordinator calls it “the most disturbing, illegal and outrageous abuse of government power.” It hasn’t helped that an inspector general report charges that senior officials knew aboutthis nine months before they were assuring Congress there was no targeting.
Everybody and his uncle is demanding an investigation. President Obama joined Republican in sight calling the actions "outrageous" "And they have to be held fully accountable" The big problem for the White House will be those who will be relentlessly trying to make the entire administration accountable, attempting to create a narrative that this was more than just another blunder.
It was a lousy week for the Obama peeps. The uproar over harassment by the revenooers came just as emails surfaced giving renewed credence to the GOP’s campaign to fan suspicions of an attempted whitewash in the aftermath of Sept. 11 attacks in Benghazi. The ferocious assault left Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans dead. Republicans have been hammering away at the talking points — developed after excruciating negotiations between several agencies — that led U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice to go on the Sunday talk shows and declare that the lethal violence was “spontaneously inspired.”In fact, the White House had to acknowledge that there was nothing “spontaneous” about it, that it was planned and carried out by extremists. The opposition has been screaming “cover-up” ever since, and the charges were given new fury by both testimony that a Stevens deputy was demoted after complaining and internal emails released by ABC News that suggest the talking points were massaged to deflect political damage in the heated election campaign.
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May 17, 2013
Sunday on MSNBC
I'll be trading some politics trash talk on MSNBC Sunday afternoon at 4:30 Eastern.
Think there's anything to discuss?
May 16, 2013
It Can't Be
FROM NORTH AMERICA SYNDICATE, 300 W 57th STREET, 15th FLOOR, NEW YORK, NY 10019
CUSTOMER SERVICE: (800) 708-7311 EXT. 236
BOB FRANKEN
FOR RELEASE FRIDAY, MAY 10, 2013
IT CAN’T BE
BY BOB FRANKEN
Sometimes the reporter -- who, after all, is supposed to be skeptical -- runs across a story that seems simply too bizarre to be true. The arrest of Lt. Col. Jeffery Krusinski is certainly one of those. Lt. Col. Krusinski is charged with grabbing a woman in a parking lot outside the Pentagon by her breasts and buttocks and is now accused of sexual battery. By now, we probably all know that Krusinski is the man in charge of the Air Force Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Program. Or he was. He’s been removed from the job. Probably a smart move. That still won’t stop higher-ups from having to explain how he got the position in the first place.
What makes this even more galling is its timing. The alleged groping occurred just as the Pentagon released a report that shows sexual assaults in the military have increased by 35 percent in the past two years. It shouldn’t be startling, given all the news of misconduct by boot-camp trainers with their trainees, and celebrated cases where commanding generals have unilaterally overturned sex-related convictions against subordinate officers.
The commander in chief has weighed in, demanding reform: “If we find out somebody’s engaging in this stuff, they’ve got to be held accountable, prosecuted, stripped of their positions, court-martialed, fired, dishonorably discharged -- period.” But he might want to focus on his top generals. He can start with Air Force Chief of Staff Mark Welsh, who told a Senate hearing that much of the blame rests with the “hookup” culture of the young generation. Whatever one thinks of the choice of some kids to get it on without emotional attachment, Gen. Welsh still seems to miss the point that this hooking up is consensual, while forcible assault obviously is not. “Obviously,” sputtered New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, “there’s a failing in training and understanding of what sexual assault is and how corrosive it is.” Ya think?
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May 15, 2013
The Ungodly Hour
A 5:15 AM Eastern Thursday start on MSNBC. I'll be trying to make sense of the chaotic politics. Actually I'll just be trying to make sense.
