June 2, 2013

George Bush "demanded a level of accountability and candor that this president has not."

Jennifer Rubin, on today's "Fox News Sunday":
I think the question is whether the president is ever going to order his people to cooperate. Lois Lerner took the Fifth and was then put on [administrative leave].... But [Obama] has not sent out an order as George Bush did, in the Valerie Plame decision, I do not want anyone in this administration to refuse to cooperate. That cost some people in his administration dearly. But no one took the Fifth in that case. Karl Rove testified, Scooter Libby testified. He demanded a level of accountability and candor that this president has not. And I think that whole hide the ball mentality, and the president's unwillingness to push his people forward to give a complete story is going to hurt him as well.

64 comments:

Gahrie said...

the president's unwillingness to push his people forward to give a complete story is going to hurt him as well.

Maybe by history.

But low information voters and the cruely neutral will give him a pass today.

SomeoneHasToSayIt said...

George Bush "demanded a level of accountability and candor that this president has not." - Jennifer Rubin, on today's "Fox News Sunday"

Yeah, but Bush is stupid, remember?

edutcher said...

As always, Dubya was a class act.

Choom, not so much.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...
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pm317 said...

Oh, it is obvious, why he does not ask let alone demand for accountability..

Anonymous said...

The entire Obama train was built upon a thin veneer touting Obama's brilliance and competence.

A veneer - in other words - a lie.

Now that very veneer is wearing thin.

So does anyone really expect Obama, the king of false fronts, to order the fronts to be taken down?

Never! He will never do it!

He's lived his entire life with a false front and he's not about to disavow his only well developed still.

SteveR said...

Gahrie is right, Obama won't be hurt by this while in office, the entire focus is on winning elections in 14 and 16. Even though by now they can't claim no big deal, they will hide.

SteveR said...

Gahrie is right, Obama won't be hurt by this while in office, the entire focus is on winning elections in 14 and 16. Even though by now they can't claim no big deal, they will hide.

rcocean said...

Jennifer Rubin - the Amnesty Queen? She's now some sorta Conservative, because she dislikes Obama?

Sorry, no sale.

pm317 said...
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Carl said...

Everyone knew this about Oprompta from day one. That's why they hyperventilated about his intelligence.

Think about it. If someone's top characteristic is his character -- his compassion, self-discipline, integrity, good sense -- then that's always what you praise above all. Character is something everybody appreciates, under all circumstances.

You're only forced to praise someone's intelligence above all when you know his character is lacking. Sure, he's a lying weasel, but fucking brilliant! We can overlook the former, with judicious caution, because of all the Really Smart Things he'll do.

That's also why the really damaging criticism against The One now (for those not his natural groupies, e.g. the intellectual white women) is that he hasn't gotten things done. The criticism of him being an aloof snotty and bigoted college professor doesn't stick, because we all knew that's what he was from the get-go. But if he's also stooopid -- well, that means it was a real Faustian bargain, the kind where the devil reneges even on your consolation prize.

pm317 said...

The entire Obama train was built upon a thin veneer touting Obama's brilliance and competence.


The entire Obama train was built on a thing called Obama brand. Even Ann would not dare to confront it, despite her proclamations of cruel neutrality. There is not much neutrality and certainly not cruel enough.

Carl said...

Of course, that won't stop his former partisans from being shocked, shocked to discover the idol has clay feet. If we'd only known then...!

You did know. But pretending you didn't, and "discovering" that fact now, saves you from the much more humiliating admission that you were totally conned about his brilliance -- that you were taken in by a bullshit artist.

edutcher said...

Gahrie said...

the president's unwillingness to push his people forward to give a complete story is going to hurt him as well.

Maybe by history.

But low information voters and the cruely neutral will give him a pass today.


Sorry, but his numbers are going down while more and more revelations come out.

Sooner or later (and I think sooner), we'll hit critical mass.

Especially if the economy goes south again. retread and some of his friends are making all manner of Recovery Summer noises while everybody else is worried.

traditionalguy said...

But Obama has to hide what he is doing. It is all anti-American sabotage of the institutions he has under his command. It is a scorched earth policy that he intends to leave nothing behind him standing.

cubanbob said...

Hmmm given a choice between "high" intelligence and character I'll take character for $2,000.

Diogenes of Sinope said...

We do not know the facts, but Obama and his team are making it look as though they have something to hide. Obama actions and lack of actions are making me it is possible he is directly involved in some of these scandals. Get all the facts out.

edutcher said...

Diogenes has it.

Remember what Joseph Curl said, there's a very big shoe to drop yet.

Carnifex said...

Nothing...I repeat NOTHING, will be done to the First !/2 Black President of the United States. Anyone who thinks otherwise is delusional.

1) Blacks would riot in masses that make the OJ and Rodney King verdicts look like raindrops in Oklahoma.

2) Libtards would screech in our ears till we died an unquiet death, dig us up, and screech in our ears some more about how racist we are to expect actual moral character from a black person.

Which is always the basic flaw in the liberal mindset...that blacks are incapable of actually behaving in a civilized rational behavior.

Some useful idiots, also known as college professors were polled about putting Super Choom up on Mt. Rushmore, and some were dumb enough to think that was a good idea. A few because of the utterly irrelevant information that he is 1/2 black.

You can't fix stupid. You can only shoot it in the head so it doesn't breed more.

YoungHegelian said...

Bush could demand accountability, because the Plame affair really was tangential. In fact, once the dust had all settled, it really was much ado over nothing. It was, after all, Richard Armitage who did the "leaking".

The scandals now besetting the Obama administration are not tangential. Benghazi has the potential to ruin the the presidential hopes of the leading Democratic presidential contender for 2016. The IRS affair has the capability, not just to energize the Right in its struggle to maintain the House & capture the Senate, but also to give a majority of the populace a concrete, terrifying, example of government overreach: the Dems routinely used the IRS to intimidate Americans in the exercise of their 1st Amendment Rights.

If the Obama administration tells the truth, it will likely as not fall apart.

Bender said...

Of course Obama is not going to demand cooperation and accountability. From the very top, Obama has built up a culture of FU. His henchmen are only following his lead.

Bob Ellison said...

I asked my father, "is Obama Nixon?" He said, "no, he's Chavez." That seems about right. Nothing so far shown seems like a crime on Obama's part, but he runs a machine that uses government power to fund that machine.

MathMom said...

If you read "his" book, you will learn that he is a damaged, abused, poorly-parented child, now grown up and empty, bearing an emotional and spiritual vacuum with the strength of a black hole, sucking everything good into himself without being nourished by it, and leaving only destruction in his wake.

James said...

Did anyone read the profile on Eric Holder in today's New York Times? It's good for a laugh, especially the two paragraphs where Holder's integrity is mentioned.

Seeking a Fresh Start, Holder Finds a Fresh Set of Troubles

rcocean said...

Obama Bad, Bush Good.

Bush Bad, Obama Good.

Both are boring. But they get a lot of comments.

Astro said...

I am reminded of the Chris Hitchens book 'No One Left To Lie To" about the Clinton presidency.

Which makes me wonder if there is someone who can speak with the same authority as Hitchens and write 'No Lies Left To Tell" about the Obama presidency.

ricpic said...

Hey Jennie, hard radicals don't give a rat's ass about accountability or candor. The law is a nuisance. Your dreamboat has put a complete shadow government in place. What about fundamental transformation hasn't sunk in yet? Here's a hint: the suburbs (white) will soon be incorporated in greater "regions" and their wealth drained from them for "the greater good." It will be the vampirization of America by the same guy who masquerades as the protector of the middle class. But you have so much invested in him, it felt so good to vote for him, twice, that it simply can't be. Anyway, you're safe. Fuck the suburbs. YOU don't live in them.

YoungHegelian said...

@James,

I'm starting to suspect that Holder can perform jedi mind tricks on reporters: "This isn't the AG we are looking for...."

Late in 2012 I heard an NPR interview that had me asking at the end of it: "Jeeez, lady, just how far up your ass did Holder stick it?"

I know that's rude & sexist, but you really got the idea from the interview that the reporter had a crush on Holder.

Anonymous said...

"...the president's unwillingness to push his people forward to give a complete story is going to hurt him as well."

Nah, he is waiting for scandals fatigue from the people and enough time to pass for his tingle-up-the-legs MSM enablers to surface from deep in the tank to defend him and ridicule the right wingers who refuse to move FORWARD!

Every MSM journolista knows that all scandals, whatever that may be, are Bush's faults (Fast & Furious, Benghazi), the Tea Baggers' faults to be snooped by the IRS: the sl*ts asked for it, and that so-called news outfit Fox news's faults, their head honcho worked for Nixon, you know.

pm317 said...



I asked my father, "is Obama Nixon?" He said, "no, he's Chavez."


Haha.. Nixon was a First world crook; Obama is a Third world crook.

Michael Haz said...

Good of the mainstream media, most of 'em, to remain totally loyal to the Obama administration, just like they were trained to do in J-school. Useless idiots. Tip of the hat to Jennifer Rubin for saying what little she did. It's a start.

edutcher said...

Carnifex said...

Nothing...I repeat NOTHING, will be done to the First !/2 Black President of the United States. Anyone who thinks otherwise is delusional.

1) Blacks would riot in masses that make the OJ and Rodney King verdicts look like raindrops in Oklahoma.


We've seen worse riots than Rodney king (OJ was cause for celebration IIRC) in this country. The issue was about a perceived injustice. But, again, if things get bad enough, he'll be tossed under the bus in the name of protecting Glorious World Socialist Workers Revolution. He doesn't have many friends, especially in the black establishment, so they wouldn't have any trouble giving him a little push.

Before Barry, Jessuh Jackson was leader of all things black and he went down without a whimper. It just depends how it happens.

Remember the Gospel According to Edwin Edwards = "Th' only way they gonna get me is ketch me in bad with a live boy or a dead girl".

2) Libtards would screech in our ears till we died an unquiet death, dig us up, and screech in our ears some more about how racist we are to expect actual moral character from a black person.

No, that would cause massive riots in the black enclaves. That would be a betrayal so blatant they couldn't explain it away.

Bob Ellison said...

I asked my father, "is Obama Nixon?" He said, "no, he's Chavez." That seems about right. Nothing so far shown seems like a crime on Obama's part, but he runs a machine that uses government power to fund that machine.

Not doing anything about that machine if it's doing wrong is a crime.

Nixon did less.

chuck said...

It's OK to cheat, lie, and break the law as long as you use it to screw the bad guys. Which in this case are all the folks who don't cheat, lie, and break the law and suffer from the illusion that the Constitution means something.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

What did Obama write in the sand?

Obama had just been teaching some people, and the conservatives and the Republicans, looking for a way to trip him up — they wanted to bring charges against him — present Obama with a woman who had been caught in the act of bearing false witness and remind him that the Law of Washington and the founders commanded that she should be ordered to testify. "So what do you say?" Instead of answering, Obama bends over and writes in the dirt... and then when it starts to rain he orders a marine to cover him with an umbrella.

gk1 said...

Obama will save his own sorry ass but destroy the whole myth you can have a large, effective and above all FAIR government. The damage will be lasting and enduring. Talk about being short sighted.

Sam L. said...

" edutcher said...

As always, Dubya was a class act.

Choom, not so much.

6/2/13, 3:46 PM"

That's "Choom, Not At All."

edutcher said...

I stand corrected.

Anonymous said...

gk1 said...
"Obama will...destroy the whole myth you can have a large, effective and above all FAIR government...Talk about being short sighted."

No, talk about Obama keeping his campaign promises. He keeps the change part of his Hope-and-Change.

He ridicules "American Exceptionism", he changes us into a banana republic in which he presides as a tin pot dictator wannabe. He succeeds spectacularly in a little more than four years turning the most powerful bureaucracy into a spy machine to hunt for his domestic enemies, abort them before they were born; making the MSM his propaganda machine that rivals Stalin's Pravda and Mao's People's Daily.

Anonymous said...

The MSM might start beating the drum for such a statement by The Won, after the first hundred or so of the couple of low level IRS staff take the fifth...

Michael K said...

I wish I could believe that the public, the 50.1% that voted for Obama, would notice what is going on but they won't. It's not just the dummies. I have two kids with law degrees, both successful, who are ardent Obama supporters. They are not interested in any of this stuff. I heard my daughter arguing with another of my sons about how federal court was far better for trying terrorists than Gitmo.

They are true believers.

Joe said...

One characteristic of Narcissists, and cluster 'B's in general, is that they hate being held accountable.

edutcher said...

elkh1 said...
gk1 said...

Obama will...destroy the whole myth you can have a large, effective and above all FAIR government...Talk about being short sighted.

No, talk about Obama keeping his campaign promises. He keeps the change part of his Hope-and-Change.

He ridicules "American Exceptionism", he changes us into a banana republic in which he presides as a tin pot dictator wannabe. He succeeds spectacularly in a little more than four years turning the most powerful bureaucracy into a spy machine to hunt for his domestic enemies, abort them before they were born; making the MSM his propaganda machine that rivals Stalin's Pravda and Mao's People's Daily.


Read about Woody Wilson. A lot of this has happened before.

Michael K said...

I wish I could believe that the public, the 50.1% that voted for Obama, would notice what is going on but they won't.

Does that include the 20% of OH voters that were ineligible or bogus?

Brian Brown said...

Look, the Dems don't do "accountability" and I think the right needs to stop pretending that the left honestly cares about what happened at the IRS or that the Ambassador was killed. They got their bundlers green energy loans, paid off the unions via GM & Chrysler bailouts, and are spying on and jailing people who disagree with them.

Example:
The president is also said to appreciate Mr. Holder’s integrity and his positions during some of the big debates over antiterrorism policies and other volatile issues.

So let's stop the charade, ok?


edutcher said...

Hmmm, if we assumed the voter rolls of every swing state (or just every state) were off by 20%, and, assuming that the 20% inflation was in Choom's favor (no big leap there), by how many states would he have lost?

Robert Cook said...

She's now some sorta Conservative, because she dislikes Obama?"

One doesn't have to be a conservative to dislike Obama. In fact, given that Obama is Bush redux, conservatives should applaud him.

"I asked my father, 'is Obama Nixon?' He said, 'no, he's Chavez.'"

Hardly. Chavez actually did something for the people of Argentina who are not part of the wealthy elites.


"He ridicules 'American Exceptionism'"

There's no such thing.

Rusty said...

Hardly. Chavez actually did something for the people of Argentina who are not part of the wealthy elites.

As if you're not absurd enough......Venezuela



"He ridicules 'American Exceptionism'"

There's no such thing.

Well.
We know you're not.

But the I am.

Dr Weevil said...

Hahahaha! Robert Cook doesn't know the difference between Venezuela and Argentina.

Robert Cook said...

I know Chavez was in Venezuela. I just had a brain fart. My point still stands.

Hagar said...

No, Cookie, Chavez did not "do" anything for the poor. He was just an old-fashioned caudillo, using socialism for his shtick.

test said...

Robert Cook said...
Chavez actually did something for the people of Argentina who are not part of the wealthy elites.


Yes, he condemned them to two generations of economic stagnation. And Cook is cheering it on, so sad.

Gahrie said...

"He ridicules 'American Exceptionism'"

There's no such thing.


This is the true sin of the lefties, the real tragedy of multiculturalism and realitism.

People are actually trying to deny the evidence before their eyes, the evidence that has been acculating for at least the last 100 years.

I'll leave with just one example of American exceptionalism, one that is simply irrufutable.

When ever there is a disaster in this world, where ever people are in danger or need...whpo are the first people on the scene, risking life and wealth to help total strangers with no expectation of personal or national gain?

Which culture has produced a people that can rival the charity and empathy of the American people?

Gary Rosen said...

"Jennifer Rubin - the Amnesty Queen?"

Totally irrelevant to the post but then you have always been a confused little catamite.

"Both are boring. But they get a lot of comments."

Two of them from you. Get a life. Oh what am I saying?

Lyle said...

Political machines don't suffer for stuff like this. They've got the media and imbecile public to protect themselves.

Steve Koch said...

Cook said:
"Hardly. Chavez actually did something for the people of Argentina who are not part of the wealthy elites."

Chavez stole $2 billion from the Venezuelan people for him and his extended family. He destroyed democracy in Venezuela. He jailed opposition if they did not vote the right way. He destroyed the economy and nearly all private industry in Venezuela. Crime exploded by several 100% under Chavez who was soft on criminals. He destroyed the free press, both print and TV. Chavez let Castro have enormous influence on gov policy in Venezuela (Chavez's replacement, Maduro, was trained in Cuba and selected by Castro). It is now very difficult and time consuming to buy food in Venezuela even though Venezuela is sitting on top of an ocean of oil. He ruined the Venezuelan national oil company when he politicized it and drove out the vast majority of competent professionals from that company.

You know next to nothing about Chavez or Venezuela.

Steve Koch said...

From the great Instapundit, here is what Pangea looks like mapped with modern political borders:

http://io9.com/heres-what-pangea-looks-like-mapped-with-modern-politi-509812695

Unknown said...

My niece was visiting a couple of weeks ago and said she's not proud of her country. She doesn't believe in American exceptionalism.
My husband and I both questioned her about it. She said she thinks America was great in the past, but as it is now it's nothing to be proud of.
I almost agree with her.

Rusty said...

Venezuela- a whole country without toilet paper.

I guess the Costco in Bolivia was closed.

Diogenes of Sinope said...

Obama is the charismatic leader of a personality cult.

ilvuszq said...

He can't manage, he can't 'do', he hides his college record, he can't throw a football or baseball, he hides his golf scores, and he reads his speeches from a teleprompter.
He is an insecure, lying, skinny, little creep.

ilvuszq said...

He can't manage, he can't 'do', he hides his college record, he can't throw a football or baseball, he hides his golf scores, and he reads his speeches from a teleprompter.
He is an insecure, lying, skinny, little creep.

gerry said...

The clown car inhabitants in this administration are not clowns because they are funny. They are clowns because they are exposing contemporary liberalism for what it is: postmodern amoral flotsam aimlessly adrift in a sea filled with its own septic secretions. Contemporary liberalism has abandoned civilization to adopt chaos, and will be destroyed by cultural forces having convictions it will worship as salvific, but which will drown it.

Robert Cook said...

Gerry,

What you say about "contemporary liberalism" may or may not be true, but it's curious that you would reference the Obama administration to illustrate your point, as the Obama administrtion is most assuredly not a "liberal" administration.

Rather, they are creatures of Wall Street, bought and paid for, and are mere lackeys to the prerogatives of the financial elites.

Michael The Magnificent said...

The press demanded a level of accountability and transparency of the Bush administration that it has not of this administration.