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  • 19:59 - 19.05.2013 News >> Latest

    The Republican wolves are out for Obama but they are yet to draw blood Gary Younge Beset by scandal at home and abroad, Obama's only luck has been in his opponents' tin ear for the public mood The problems for Obama are twofold. First, each scandal, in its own way, has meaning beyond itself. Accusations about him being a communist, Kenyan-born Muslim did not resonate beyond those who wished to believe them in the first place because they didn't fit with anything most people knew, saw or heard of Obama. There was no market for their plausibility. These are different. Almost every substantial political discussion since his first election – be it about healthcare, the economy, taxation, guns, immigration or drone strikes and kill lists – has, at its root, been a debate about either the size, competency, secrecy, efficiency or intrusiveness of government. Together, these incidents illustrate precisely those issues, creating a framework of credibility for broad assaults on the legitimacy of government. Public trust in government is already at historic lows. This won't do it any good.Second, while comparisons to Nixon are wide of the mark, things are beginning to look wearily familiar. It is about this time in a second term that administrations display the malaise of having been in office long enough for that mixture of paperwork, arse-covering bureaucracy and hubris to come to light. Obama was only re-elected six months ago, but this is the first sign of lame duck disease. From now until 2016 will be hearings, inquiries, firings, depositions and subpoenas aplenty. Obama insists there is plenty he still wants to do, but he'll spend a large amount of his time dealing with this.

    Read more...
  • 19:47 - 19.05.2013 News >> Latest

    Four key Hillary Clinton staffers from 2008 unlikely to sign on for 2016 bid Jason Horowitz  They still support her, but Wolfson, Tanden, Penn and Solis Doyle have forged their own career paths.

    Read more...
  • 19:38 - 19.05.2013 News >> Latest

    Banks slow to pay out mortgage relief funds Danielle Douglas Less than half of the money due U.S. homeowners in settlements brokered by the government has been paid, delaying help to victims of the discrimination and shoddy lending that epitomized the crisis.

    Read more...
  • 17:39 - 19.05.2013 News >> Latest

    CBS' Bob Schieffer unleashes on White House official: 'Why are you here today?' “I don’t want to compare this in any way to Watergate … but I have to tell you, that is exactly the approach the Nixon administration took. You’re taking exactly the same line” 

    Read more...
  • 17:20 - 19.05.2013 News >> Latest

    Rubio blames Obama for the latest scandals Sen. Marco Rubio’s efforts to reform immigration may be drawing skepticism from many conservatives. But scandals facing the White House have allowed him to shift his message back to the one that made him a star in the first place: The threat to America posed by excessive government. "What we’ve seen in the last seven or eight days have really shaken me," Rubio said. "History teaches us that when government is too large and too powerful, no matter who’s in charge, it will lead to abuses."
    Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/05/18/3404877/rubio-blames-obama-for-latest.html#storylink=cp

    Read more...
  • 14:20 - 19.05.2013 News >> Latest

    What's Behind the Benghazi Hearings? Barbra StreisandSinger; Actress; Director; Composer; ActivistSometimes in the face of national tragedy, politics should take a backseat. The hypocrisy of turning Benghazi into a deliberate cover-up scandal is preposterous at a time when the nation faces so many serious problems.Remember Whitewater and the "travel office" non-scandals of the 1990s? The Republicans and certain media outlets wasted the nation's time and millions of dollars in pursuit of alleged wrongdoing by First Lady Hillary Clinton. It was all sound and fury signifying nothing. Two decades later, the same script is being revisited about the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, which the president and Secretary Clinton clearly labeled a "terrorist act."

    Read more...
  • 13:27 - 19.05.2013 News >> Latest

    Why IRS investigation is already Obama's Watergate – and Benghazi, too Since Watergate, every two-term president has had a second-term scandal. First-term mistakes and hyperpartisanship make probes – like those into Benghazi and the IRS – almost inevitable.

    Read more...
  • 12:38 - 19.05.2013 News >> Latest

    The prospect of al-Qaeda getting chemical weapons is drawing closer For all the agonising in Western capitals about whether to channel weapons to “moderate” rebel militias in Syria and the renewed attempts to find a diplomatic solution to the civil war, one issue above all others is dominating the thinking of military planners, intelligence agencies and their political masters: the increasing danger of the regime’s vast stock of chemical weapons getting into the hands of groups with links to al-Qaeda.Mr Obama’s other red line—the passing of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) into the hands of jihadist terrorists—is, according to intelligence sources, in real and possibly imminent danger of being breached. According to these sources, the past few weeks has seen a flurry of nervous activity that could result in intervention of some kind but which is also giving new urgency to diplomatic efforts to end the conflict. However great Vladimir Putin’s distaste for doing anything to help the West over Syria, the Russian president should in theory be no keener on seeing chemical weapons in jihadist hands than Mr Obama. Though the regime is believed to have tried desperately to consolidate its stocks of chemical weapons in areas it still controls, it has so much of the stuff—around 1,000 tonnes of mustard gas, sarin and the even more lethal VX held at about 12 sites—that in the chaos engulfing the country some will almost inevitably fall into rebel hands sooner rather than later unless something is done. Indeed, Jabhat al-Nusra, the most powerful rebel faction and the one with closest links to al-Qaeda, reportedly came very close to capturing a stockpile near Aleppo earlier this year. A senior NATO official argues that, whereas it is premature to talk about al-Qaeda getting hold of chemical weapons, conditions on the…

    Read more...
  • 12:24 - 19.05.2013 News >> Latest

    President faces a gulf between two Americas Chris Cillizza  Have the past 10 days been the inevitable result of government run amok? Or much ado about nothing?In one America, the events of the past 10 days have exposed the true colors of President Obama and his administration. From edited talking points about the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, to the secret seizure of phone records of Associated Press reporters to the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups, a single message has emerged: This is the inevitable result of government run amok.

    Read more...
  • 10:56 - 19.05.2013 News >> Latest

    Politicians who cross the NRA soon feel the wrath of gun-rights group Scott Higham and Sari Horwitz Even conservative lawmakers who go against the NRA are labeled as traitors and face negative ads.

    Read more...
Syndicate
"Republican wolves are out for Obama"

Barack Obama

The Republican wolves are out for Obama but they are yet to draw blood

  • Gary Younge

Beset by scandal at home and abroad, Obama's only luck has been in his opponents' tin ear for the public mood

The problems for Obama are twofold. First, each scandal, in its own way, has meaning beyond itself. Accusations about him being a communist, Kenyan-born Muslim did not resonate beyond those who wished to believe them in the first place because they didn't fit with anything most people knew, saw or heard of Obama. There was no market for their plausibility. These are different. Almost every substantial political discussion since his first election – be it about healthcare, the economy, taxation, guns, immigration or drone strikes and kill lists – has, at its root, been a debate about either the size, competency, secrecy, efficiency or intrusiveness of government. Together, these incidents illustrate precisely those issues, creating a framework of credibility for broad assaults on the legitimacy of government. Public trust in government is already at historic lows. This won't do it any good.

Second, while comparisons to Nixon are wide of the mark, things are beginning to look wearily familiar. It is about this time in a second term that administrations display the malaise of having been in office long enough for that mixture of paperwork, arse-covering bureaucracy and hubris to come to light. Obama was only re-elected six months ago, but this is the first sign of lame duck disease. From now until 2016 will be hearings, inquiries, firings, depositions and subpoenas aplenty. Obama insists there is plenty he still wants to do, but he'll spend a large amount of his time dealing with this.

 
Four key Hillary Clinton staffers from 2008 unlikely to sign on for 2016 bid

Four key Hillary Clinton staffers from 2008 unlikely to sign on for 2016 bid

Four key Hillary Clinton staffers from 2008 unlikely to sign on for 2016 bid

Jason Horowitz 

They still support her, but Wolfson, Tanden, Penn and Solis Doyle have forged their own career paths.

 
Banks slow to pay out mortgage relief funds

Banks slow to pay out mortgage relief funds

Danielle Douglas 

Less than half of the money due U.S. homeowners in settlements brokered by the government has been paid, delaying help to victims of the discrimination and shoddy lending that epitomized the crisis.

 
Bob Schieffer: 'Why are you here today?'

Bob Schieffer (AP Photo/Evan Agostini)

CBS' Bob Schieffer unleashes on White House official: 'Why are you here today?'

“I don’t want to compare this in any way to Watergate … but I have to tell you, that is exactly the approach the Nixon administration took. You’re taking exactly the same line” 

 
Rubio blames Obama for the latest scandals

   In this photo taken Monday, May 6, 2013, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., arrives at the Senate chamber for a vote, on Capitol Hill in Washington.

Rubio blames Obama for the latest scandals

Sen. Marco Rubio’s efforts to reform immigration may be drawing skepticism from many conservatives. But scandals facing the White House have allowed him to shift his message back to the one that made him a star in the first place: The threat to America posed by excessive government.

"What we’ve seen in the last seven or eight days have really shaken me," Rubio said. "History teaches us that when government is too large and too powerful, no matter who’s in charge, it will lead to abuses."


Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/05/18/3404877/rubio-blames-obama-for-latest.html#storylink=cp
 
Barbra Streisand makes it simple for us....

What's Behind the Benghazi Hearings?

Barbra Streisand

Singer; Actress; Director; Composer; Activist

Sometimes in the face of national tragedy, politics should take a backseat. The hypocrisy of turning Benghazi into a deliberate cover-up scandal is preposterous at a time when the nation faces so many serious problems.

Remember Whitewater and the "travel office" non-scandals of the 1990s? The Republicans and certain media outlets wasted the nation's time and millions of dollars in pursuit of alleged wrongdoing by First Lady Hillary Clinton. It was all sound and fury signifying nothing. Two decades later, the same script is being revisited about the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, which the president and Secretary Clinton clearly labeled a "terrorist act."

 
Why IRS investigation is already Obama's Watergate – and Benghazi, too

Why IRS investigation is already Obama's Watergate – and Benghazi, too

Since Watergate, every two-term president has had a second-term scandal. First-term mistakes and hyperpartisanship make probes – like those into Benghazi and the IRS – almost inevitable.

 
The prospect of al-Qaeda getting chemical weapons is drawing closer

The prospect of al-Qaeda getting chemical weapons is drawing closer

For all the agonising in Western capitals about whether to channel weapons to “moderate” rebel militias in Syria and the renewed attempts to find a diplomatic solution to the civil war, one issue above all others is dominating the thinking of military planners, intelligence agencies and their political masters: the increasing danger of the regime’s vast stock of chemical weapons getting into the hands of groups with links to al-Qaeda.

Mr Obama’s other red line—the passing of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) into the hands of jihadist terrorists—is, according to intelligence sources, in real and possibly imminent danger of being breached. According to these sources, the past few weeks has seen a flurry of nervous activity that could result in intervention of some kind but which is also giving new urgency to diplomatic efforts to end the conflict. However great Vladimir Putin’s distaste for doing anything to help the West over Syria, the Russian president should in theory be no keener on seeing chemical weapons in jihadist hands than Mr Obama.

Though the regime is believed to have tried desperately to consolidate its stocks of chemical weapons in areas it still controls, it has so much of the stuff—around 1,000 tonnes of mustard gas, sarin and the even more lethal VX held at about 12 sites—that in the chaos engulfing the country some will almost inevitably fall into rebel hands sooner rather than later unless something is done. Indeed, Jabhat al-Nusra, the most powerful rebel faction and the one with closest links to al-Qaeda, reportedly came very close to capturing a stockpile near Aleppo earlier this year. A senior NATO official argues that, whereas it is premature to talk about al-Qaeda getting hold of chemical weapons, conditions on the ground make it increasingly likely.

 
President faces a gulf between two Americas

President faces a gulf between two Americas

 Have the past 10 days been the inevitable result of government run amok? Or much ado about nothing?

In one America, the events of the past 10 days have exposed the true colors of President Obama and his administration. From edited talking points about the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, to the secret seizure of phone records of Associated Press reporters to the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups, a single message has emerged: This is the inevitable result of government run amok.

 
NRA tactics: Take no prisoners

Politicians who cross the NRA soon feel the wrath of gun-rights group

Scott Higham and Sari Horwitz

Even conservative lawmakers who go against the NRA are labeled as traitors and face negative ads.

 
White House aide: IRS scandal will not distract from policy agenda

White House aide: IRS scandal will not distract from policy agenda 

White House aide: IRS scandal will not distract from policy agenda

White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer defends administration's handling of recent controversies, says "partisan fishing expeditions" won't distract the White House from pushing President Obama's policy agenda.

 
US's escape from an economic mess

US depression-era soup kitchen

US's escape from an economic mess

Larry Elliott

America's economic structure, its leaders' ability to make rapid political decisions and cultural memories of the Great Depression have been the engine of its recovery.

From a European perspective, the world's biggest economy looks in reasonable shape. It may not be firing on all cylinders but the economy is expanding and jobs are being created. That cannot be said of the eurozone, where unemployment has risen to a record one in eight of the workforce and the economy has contracted for the past 18 months.

 
McConnell Bashes 'Culture of Intimidation'

McConnell Bashes 'Culture of Intimidation'

McConnell Bashes 'Culture of Intimidation'

On Sunday's 'Meet the Press,' Senator Mitch McConnell didn't mince words when criticizing President Obama's administration for the IRS scandal. 'The president demonizes his opponents,' said McConnell. 'The nanny state is here to tell us all what to do, and if we start criticizing, you get targeted.'

 
White House insists Obama was not involved in IRS targeting scandal

White House insists Obama was not involved in IRS targeting scandal

 	President Obama and White House Senior Advisor Dan Pfeiffer react to a reporter's question as they leave the Treasury Department in Washington.

A top White House adviser insisted President Barack Obama learned the Internal Revenue Service had targeted tea party groups only “when it came out in the news” while Republicans continued to press the administration for answers on Sunday.

“The activity was outrageous and inexcusable, and it was stopped and it needs to be fixed to ensure it never happens again,” White House Senior Adviser Dan Pfeiffer said of accusations that IRS employees applied special scrutiny to conservative groups.

 
McConnell predicts Obamacare will be 'biggest issue' of 2014 election

McConnell predicts Obamacare will be 'biggest issue' of 2014 election

Mitch McConnell (Alex Brandon/Associated Press)

Sean Sullivan

The Senate's top Republican predicted Sunday morning that President Obama's health care law will be the biggest issue of the 2014 midterm elections.

“I don’t know what the issues will be next year. If I were predicting what’s likely to be the biggest issue in the 2014 election, I think it would be Obamacare,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on NBC News’s “Meet The Press.” “I think it’s coming back big-time.”

 
Jihadist groups seize Syrian oil wells

Jihadist groups seize Syrian oil wells

A man walks at a makeshift oil refinery site

The EU decision to lift Syrian oil sanctions to aid the opposition has accelerated a scramble for control over wells and pipelines in rebel-held areas and helped consolidate the grip of jihadist groups over the country's key resources.

Jabhat al-Nusra, an al-Qaida affiliate, consolidates position as scramble for control of wells accelerates

Syria oil fire map

As opposition groups have turned their guns on each other in the battle over oil, water and agricultural land, military pressure on Bashar al-Assad's government from the north and east has eased off. In some areas, al-Nusra has struck deals with government forces to allow the transfer of crude across the front lines to the Mediterranean coast.

 
Conservative Anti-Immigration Paper by Controversial Scholar Had Basic Errors

Jason Richwine's Heritage Foundation study on the costs of immigration reform had far-reaching problems, a new study finds.

 
Six ways the GOP could screw up the Obama administration's scandals
  • Michele Bachmann

  • Republicans could waste the White House's 'worst weeks ever' to a lack of strategy and rogue members of their own party

  • Rep Louie Gohmert (TX)
  • 4. Similarly, Rep Louie Gohmert (TX) is a GOP nut just waiting to pop out of the can. He blipped into national consciousness this week for a delightful malapropism, which he made during the interrogation of Attorney General Eric Holder over the FBI investigation of the Boston Marathon bombing: He decried that Holder "will not cast aspersions on my asparagus".
 
A bad week for Obama is revealing of what really irks voters

A bad week for the president is revealing of what really irks voters

Mr Obama has admitted that American officials died in Benghazi because they were not properly protected and has taken responsibility for those lapses. For proof that Republicans know they do not have enough to hang the president, consider the efforts by members of Congress to improve the scandal. At hearings on the matter in Congress, Republicans have repeatedly asked whether fighter jets or special forces could have been scrambled in time to save lives in Benghazi, but were grounded by faint-hearted superiors. If true, that would indeed be scandalous, but each time the evidence has pointed the other way, leaving Mr Obama’s foes grumbling about “unanswered questions”.

More broadly, calling Democrats weak on national security used to be a vote-winner. Two costly wars have altered that. This may be the first lesson of the scandals now lapping at the White House door. Spend months attacking Mr Obama for using America’s might too cautiously, as in Libya, and he shrugs it off. Attack him for government overreach, and he is on the defensive. For supporters of an activist government, these are perilous times.

 
Obama faces a deficit in trust in government

Obama faces a deficit in trust in government

Obama faces a deficit in trust in government

Dan Balz

 The president said he would make government smarter, but current controversies say otherwise.

What has happened since Obama laid down that challenge for his administration? More Americans favor smaller government over bigger government than when he was first elected, according to exit polls from last November. Public confidence in the federal government is as low as it has ever been, according to a Pew Research Center survey released this spring.

 
How Obama Has Contributed to His Own Aura of Scandal
  • Probably Not the Best Way to Handle a Scandal

  • David Rohde 
  • In the midst of multiple uproars, the president is remaining aloof and disengaged.

  • Obama rohde banner.png
  • Obama's woes. Some of his wounds are self-inflicted. For five years the Obama administration has displayed a destructive tendency to try to have it both ways. In a press conference Thursday, the president did so again. In lawyerly responses, Obama said he supported journalists' constitutional right to report but stood by the fact that his administration has carried out more criminal leak investigations than all previous administrations combined . He called for the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad but prevaricated on how the United States would respond to apparent Syrian government chemical weapons attacks.
 
The IRS Scandal Started at the Top

image

The IRS Scandal Started at the Top

The bureaucrats at the Internal Revenue Service did exactly what the president said was the right and honorable thing to do.

Was the White House involved in the IRS's targeting of conservatives? No investigation needed to answer that one. Of course it was. But that's not how things work in post-Watergate Washington. Mr. Obama didn't need to pick up the phone. All he needed to do was exactly what he did do, in full view, for three years: Publicly suggest that conservative political groups were engaged in nefarious deeds; publicly call out by name political opponents whom he'd like to see harassed; and publicly have his party pressure the IRS to take action.

 
Controversies show paradox of Obama’s style

Controversies show paradox of Obama’s style

Philip Rucker and Peter Wallsten

His sometimes-bold, sometimes-timid approach to executive clout was on display in recent controversies over IRS actions and the Justice Department’s surveillance of AP journalists.

Obama has been willing to push the bounds of executive power when it comes to making life-and-death decisions about drone strikes on suspected terrorists or instituting new greenhouse gas emission standards for cars. But at other times he has been skittish. When immigration activists first urged him to halt deportations of many illegal immigrants, for instance, Obama said he didn’t have the authority to do so. He eventually gave in after months of public protest and private pressure from immigrant and Hispanic advocates, granting relief to certain people who had been brought to the United States as children.

 
As Immigrants Take On American Habits, Their Health Suffers

As Immigrants Take On American Habits, Their Health Suffers

A growing body of mortality research on immigrants has shown that the longer they live in this country, the worse their rates of heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. And while their American-born children may have more money, they tend to live shorter lives than the parents.

“There’s something about life in the United States that is not conducive to good health across generations” 

 
Did the Associated Press blow an Al Qaeda informant's cover?

Some officials say the Associated Press scoop on a thwarted terrorist plot by an Al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen harmed the effort to neutralize a master bomb-builder. Does that excuse the Obama administration's aggressive crackdown on national security leaks?

 
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