Althouse: "President Passerby needs urgently to become a participant in his presidency."

May 14, 2013

"President Passerby needs urgently to become a participant in his presidency."

Liberals like Dana Milbank pick up a longstanding conservative theme.

115 comments:

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: I'm so sick of the pro-democrat hack media. Shut up, please.
It's over. Obama is a disaster and there's no turning back.; 5/14/13, 9:19 PM
Palladian said...: As a kitten once said to me: sometimes it's wonderful to watch everything unravel.; 5/14/13, 9:20 PM
Drago said...: Dana Milbank is really Johnny on the Spot.

Cutting edge.

Tip of the spear.

Yawn.

The boat actually sailed about 3 years ago.; 5/14/13, 9:29 PM
YoungHegelian said...: “Other than press reports, we have no knowledge of any attempt by the Justice Department to seek phone records of the Associated Press,” Carney announced.

The president “found out about the news reports yesterday on the road,” he added.

Now that it's press' ox getting gored, they admit what everyone who's in government in DC knows about this administration (even if they're too true blue to speak for the record): There's no leadership at the top. The third & second tier appointees are running wild with their own agendas (especially at DOJ) because no one is giving them any direction as to what to do otherwise.

I mean, do you think that a guy like Obama, who let Pelosi & Reid work his signature piece of legislation (Obamacare) through Congress with precious little input from him, has any clue as to how to lead?
Political machines abhor a vacuum.; 5/14/13, 9:31 PM
Paul said...: So where was Dana Milbank the last FIVE YEARS? Under some rock?

Obama has voted 'present' since he was in diapers. Never took responsibility, never took charge, never lead from the front.

And now Milbank just noticed?

I hope at mid-term the democrats lose the senate and even more seats in the house. This lame duck president needs to be made a eunuch so he can do no more damage to this country.

And say, IRS, if you wanna audit me over these remarks, go right ahead. And the DHS can spy on me and see how 'loyal' I am to this third world regime we have for an administration.; 5/14/13, 9:31 PM
KCFleming said...: One week ago, Dana Milbank discovered the secret of fire.; 5/14/13, 9:33 PM
KCFleming said...: Once seen, you can't un-see the emperor naked.; 5/14/13, 9:35 PM
Drago said...: Rip Van Milbank.; 5/14/13, 9:36 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: C'mon. Even though I am sure Obama and his minions check Drudge every 15 minutes, they act like they heard it from Drudge like we did! Hell if that is true, they are even more incompetent than I thought.; 5/14/13, 9:36 PM
Mark said...: I expect the trickle turns into a flood soon. There's the Massachusetts Senate seat to think about, and 2014 beyond that.

And Barry really doesn't have any friends outside the Whitehouse.; 5/14/13, 9:37 PM
traditionalguy said...: Nixon was manipulative. But his goals were pro-American. He ended the Draft. He stopped the Viet Nam disaster that LBJ's cadre of fools had started. He opened Red China to a normalized USA relationship.

Obama is a slick Anti-American who believes he is getting away with it since only Fox News will mention a small part of the truth about his Redistribution of American power and his surrender of allies to enemies and leading the earned USA's influence into oblivion, ASAP.; 5/14/13, 9:38 PM
Roger J. said...: Milbank (and, of course, Jay Carney) are the products of J-Schools--we need to understand just how bad j-schools are.; 5/14/13, 9:38 PM
Anonymous said...: Don't worry, the journolist's got this.; 5/14/13, 9:38 PM
edutcher said...: Paul took my thought.

He's always been safest when he voted Present.

Taking a stand, unless the odds were stacked way in his favor, is not his thing. And we're talking about what's been at the base of his sociopathic personality, if anything in "Dreams" is real. Just stand there, and let people see in you what they want to see.

It's going to be interesting to see if he turns into Barry Bush as all this accumulates. Even before the "election", blaming it on anybody else was wearing thin.; 5/14/13, 9:38 PM
The Godfather said...: I'm sure he's going to get to the bottom of it and see that the perpetrators are brought to justice. Right after he gets the ones responsible for killing four Americans in Benghazi.; 5/14/13, 9:40 PM
KCFleming said...: Shit, where's a hungry bear when you really need one?

Nowhere.; 5/14/13, 9:40 PM
KCFleming said...: Can we expect Obama to try to flee to Mexico in a white Bronco?; 5/14/13, 9:42 PM
edutcher said...: The Godfather said...

I'm sure he's going to get to the bottom of it and see that the perpetrators are brought to justice. Right after he gets the ones responsible for killing four Americans in Benghazi.

Then he's going to help OJ find Nicole's real killer.; 5/14/13, 9:42 PM
Palladian said...: Shit, where's a hungry bear when you really need one?

"There is a bear in the woods. For some people, the bear is easy to see. Others don't see it at all..."; 5/14/13, 9:42 PM
edutcher said...: Did the first rat just ask for a seat on a lifeboat?; 5/14/13, 9:44 PM
wildswan said...: When Bush stopped doing it, then low level people in Cincinnati started doing it. Life is so unfair.; 5/14/13, 9:46 PM
Mark said...: First squirrel sighting of the thread.

They're so cute.; 5/14/13, 9:50 PM
Mark said...: Who's the next Journolister to go into full cover-his-ass mode?; 5/14/13, 9:51 PM
ndspinelli said...: The Obama administration is akin to a poor immune system. If you keep your kids bacteria free, their immune system doesn't know how to handle an infection when it hits. Obama has been the media darling and has had no scandals. He just got hit w/ flu, pneumonia, and maybe cancer. And, he and his errand boys are clueless on how to handle a scandal. He better put in a 2 am call to the Clintons.; 5/14/13, 9:52 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Let me defend Obama here. The Leftist media think Obama has been ineffective because they think The West Wing TV show is the model for a Dem president. But real life I not a liberal wet dream disguised as a TV show.; 5/14/13, 9:55 PM
Mark said...: AJ, while I agree with the theme of your comment, I also have to question it as a defense of Obama. There is no indication at all that Obama has ever given any effort in actually performing as an executive. (Other than of course in a purely theatrical sense, which comes back to Left Wing fantasies.)

There isn't a buck that's stopped at his desk, there isn't a can he hasn't kicked down the road. To his sycophants he's a symbol (and they need nothing else), to the climbers he is a useful tool.

When the symbol is sufficiently tarnished, when the tool proves more of a liability than an asset, Obama will wish he were as well-loved as Nixon.; 5/14/13, 10:03 PM
edutcher said...: A bit OT, but something to explain why Choom is acting just a tad poleaxed:

Soon to be retired Max Baucus isn't the only Demo Senator who wanted the IRS to investigate the Tea Party. Among the less-than-maginficent 7 - Chuckie Schumer, Michael Bennet, Sheldon Whitehouse, Jeff Merkley, Tom Udall, Jeanne Shaheen and Al Franken.

What did they know and when did they know it?; 5/14/13, 10:03 PM
Chef Mojo said...: Then he's going to help OJ find Nicole's real killer.

Well, first he'd have to pardon OJ.

What? You think that won't happen?; 5/14/13, 10:04 PM
Saint Croix said...: Now that it's press' ox getting gored

Exactly! Politically speaking, the AP scandal is the biggest disaster for the Obama administration. The timing is awful, on top of the IRS scandal and the Benghazi scandal. But the AP scandal actually pisses off the journalists because it's an attack on them.

Benghazi makes them yawn.

The IRS scandal makes them write a letter to the editor.

But the AP scandal makes them jump up and down and scream bloody murder. They are going after Jay Carney tooth and nail.

I love it!; 5/14/13, 10:06 PM
Mark said...: Yep, Holder's DOJ was snooping not only on company phones, but individual reporters' home and cell phones.

Stupid stupid stupid.

Holder must have Obama's balls in his golf bag.; 5/14/13, 10:11 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Mark: I agree Obama is unqualified to even be mayor of a small town. But the libs have been whining for a couple years that Obama has not used the power of the presidency and its bully pulpit to get more done. As if it wee that simple. The libs discount the fact that the country is divided 50-50 basically and the issues the libs want addressed are huge issues that Repubs are fighting against tooth and nail. Plus Obama is sorta lazy and very incompetent as you suggested and I concur.; 5/14/13, 10:12 PM
Mark said...: "Let's see if I can carry that water hazard, eh Barry?"; 5/14/13, 10:12 PM
Mark said...: "Oh, the aerodynamics on that ball were not good. But hey, I have another one."

"You okay Barry?"; 5/14/13, 10:18 PM
Anonymous said...: if, if if, if

could not wait to opine about the Trayvon Martin investigation, but about the IRS that admitted and apologized for evil deeds? got to wait and see...; 5/14/13, 10:26 PM
jacksonjay said...: traditionalguy forgot to mention affirmative action and the EPA as Nixon accomplishments.

Ahhh, the Washington Post, again.; 5/14/13, 10:26 PM
MadisonMan said...: "IRS on Line 2, Mr. Milbank"; 5/14/13, 10:28 PM
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/14/13, 10:34 PM
Saint Croix said...: traditionalguy forgot to mention affirmative action and the EPA as Nixon accomplishments.

and price-fixing and Commie-kissing...; 5/14/13, 10:53 PM
Mark said...: Croix, it really does seem like Tricky Dick was the Left's ideal all along.; 5/14/13, 10:56 PM
jacksonjay said...: It really should be love-hate for the Lefties when it comes to Nixon instead of hate-hate!; 5/14/13, 11:03 PM
Unknown said...: reminds me of the scene in "Office Space", when "one of the "Bobs", asks--- What exactly is it that you Do here ?; 5/14/13, 11:07 PM
Michael K said...: The left will never forgive Nixon for Hiss.

Whether Obama will retain their love is still to be seen.; 5/14/13, 11:08 PM
Tim said...: Americans, as a group, being stupid enough to elect, and then re-elect Obama, will buy the press's distancing and disavowal of Obama.

Stupid people buy into the most transparent lies.

Stupid is hard to fix.

Willfully stupid? Impossible.

The media will get away with this.

No accountability.; 5/14/13, 11:11 PM
Tim said...: Michael K said...

"The left will never forgive Nixon for Hiss."

So, so true.; 5/14/13, 11:12 PM
dreams said...: Dana Milbank is an especially sorry liberal hack.; 5/14/13, 11:37 PM
Richard Dolan said...: Odd that the only un-scandal of the week would get Milbank's attention, and cause him to snap out of his Dreams of My O. Reporters' phone records enjoy no more special protection than yours or mine, and ours have been fair subpoena-bait forever. And Milbank is a cheerleader for ever bigger gov't. What did he think that gov't would do with its increasing power? We learned only a year ago that it can use its taxing power to force us to buy broccoli. If that's so, and surely Milbank was a loud voice in the amen chorus then, what's the big deal about a perfectly legitimate subpoena?; 5/14/13, 11:38 PM
Darleen said...: I'm sorry .. The new Left-Liberal talking point is that Obama really, truly, most sincerely NEVER KNEW?

Yeah, right, just like Sgt Schultz from Hogan's Heroes.; 5/14/13, 11:43 PM
Sorun said...: The black WaPo readers don't get it -- Obama is totally awesome. Dana Milbank is probably a racist.; 5/14/13, 11:57 PM
kcom said...: President "I have no idea what's going on around me" really ought to talk to a nuclear submarine commander (of whom he's commander-in-chief) and ask him how far that excuse would play in the Navy. It's another telling example of the fact that he has no idea what it is to be a leader. "The only thing I know is what I read in the newspaper" is neither acceptable nor comforting.

+1, though, to Dana Milbank for President Passerby. Excellent word play, my man!; 5/14/13, 11:58 PM
Bob Loblaw said...: Now that it's press' ox getting gored, they admit what everyone who's in government in DC knows about this administration (even if they're too true blue to speak for the record): There's no leadership at the top.

What would you expect? He was elected to the job with no administrative experience (and almost no legislative experience). He has no clue how to manage a small company, let alone the largest organization in the world.

He's surrounded himself with people he understands - political hacks with no better idea than he what do do when that proverbial phone rings at 3:00 AM.; 5/15/13, 12:00 AM
Bob Loblaw said...: But the AP scandal makes them jump up and down and scream bloody murder. They are going after Jay Carney tooth and nail.

And that's the only one that isn't really even a scandal. Leaking classified information is illegal, and the Justice Dept. has every reason to track down leakers within the bounds of the law.; 5/15/13, 12:02 AM
Chip S. said...: The most interesting aspect of the whole article was that a Fox correspondent was quoted right along w the rest of the WH press corps, w/o any sneering from Milbank. We're all in this together!

Oh, and I know it's not alliterative like what Dana wrote, but shouldn't that be President Bystander?; 5/15/13, 1:03 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: In the vowels of mean sequestering republicans wildest fantasy... this would not have ever been dreamed up as a remote possibility.

I mean... this is so fucked up, for Obama, I'm conjuring last nights Gosnell commenter's purported catch 22 when he said...

I'm torn:
On one hand, he was murdering children.
On the other, he got rid of a lot of black people legally, and was even cheered by them for it.
What's a racist hatemonger who understands justice and innocence to do?

I say I'm also torn...

On the one hand, Obama is responsible for a series of law breaking the likes of which historians don't need time to tell how they pan out... this shit makes Nixon Watergate look like a parking ticket and for once that cliché has absolutely and irrefutably come to fruition.

On the other, should Obama remain a figure head... impeached in the conscience only... he will be the easiest legitimate target of the most belittled conservatives that was ever condemned by all of Obamas admirers.

What's an Obama hatemonger who understands karma and holding those I power accountable to do?

I mean, Jihadis speak of dozens of virgins once they reach paradise, but usually that comes after they blow themselves up... we are still here... despite Obamas objections.

Are we in heaven?; 5/15/13, 1:40 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Its like we were... actually, is not 'like' we were given up for dead... we conservatives was as dead as eight track.

And now, suddenly and precipitously, we, who been "dead" for more than 4 years, have been brought back to life by an Obama Self-Destruct mechanism.

And yet... I'm not feeling any euphoria over it... I'm in no celebratory mood... I mean, don't get me wrong, there is a measure of satisfaction in seeing our tormenters get theirs for once...
But, at what price?

This is no way to win.; 5/15/13, 2:00 AM
Seeing Red said...: Remember, #41 was out of touch cos of the grocery scanner.

He doesn't know what's going on?

Time to hit the links!; 5/15/13, 2:17 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: George Will gold.

Liberals, whose unvarying agenda is enlargement of government, suggest, with no sense of cognitive dissonance, that this IRS scandal is nothing more sinister than typical government incompetence. Five days before the IRS story broke, Obama, sermonizing 109 miles northeast of Cincinnati, warned Ohio State graduates about “creeping cynicism” and “voices” that “warn that tyranny is . . . around the corner.” Well.

He [Obama] stigmatizes as the vice of cynicism what actually is the virtue of skepticism about the myth that the tentacles of the regulatory state are administered by disinterested operatives. And the voices that annoy him are those of the Founders.; 5/15/13, 2:48 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: There are some Gosnell parallels to the Obama scandals...

A house horrors operating in what can dubiously be called "broad daylight"... no?

Both could not do what they did alone... the was an enabling structure and the people necessary to carry things out.

In order for Gosnell to get what was coming to him it had to get really bad... How bad does it have to get for Obama for this house of cards to come down remains to be seen.

With the exception of the whistleblowers, everybody seem to be willing to continue covering for him... so far.; 5/15/13, 3:19 AM
rhhardin said...: Dilbert says that leadership is sociopathic tendencies plus luck.; 5/15/13, 4:10 AM
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FleetUSA said...: Sadly leadership is not in his DNA. Look at his career up until the Presidency - voting present mostly or quietly voicing ultra left positions.

Once in the job he deferred to Pelosi/Reid for the legislation - not dirtying his paws.

He just likes to give "high minded" speeches and let his lieutenants do the hard lifting and sling the mud, i.e Valerie Jarrett (his Rasputin), E. Holder (keeping the law from complicating life- his Janet Reno), and K. Sibelius doing the heavy lifting on Ocare.; 5/15/13, 5:23 AM
Joe Schmoe said...: There's no dudgeon like the high dudgeon exhibited by the press when they feel like they're under attack.

Reminds me of the Wrinkly Wall, those brave librarians willing to stand firm and stare down any government agent who asked to see someone's book-borrowing record.; 5/15/13, 5:24 AM
Joe Schmoe said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/15/13, 5:28 AM
Unknown said...: Liberals suddenly have their panties in a twist over the AP scandal. But nobody was killed in the AP scandal, unlike Fast and Furious or Benghazi. I won't even bother mentioning the handful of other Obama administration scandals in which nobody (that we know of) was killed.

Hundreds of dead Mexicans and at least one border patrol agent? Yawn. An American ambassador and 3 others killed by Al Qaeda linked militia on the anniversary of 9/11? Ho hum. But all hell breaks loose when the DOJ seizes AP's phone records? WTF?; 5/15/13, 5:34 AM
edutcher said...: To continue that theme, consider this:

ABC News reporter is now speculating the IRS snooping originated in the West Wing.

What would President Bartlett do?; 5/15/13, 5:51 AM
Anonymous said...: Obama is Forrest Gump. Floating through life like a feather in the breeze. He's stumbled into his good fortune, but just like guessing doesn't always product the right answer, stumbling doesn't always work out well.

Obama. Stumbling, guessing and making things up as he goes along.; 5/15/13, 5:53 AM
Brian Brown said...: The president “found out about the news reports yesterday on the road"

Truly an affirmative action hire...; 5/15/13, 6:15 AM
Big Mike said...: Dana Milbank finally figured it out? I hadn't been aware he was that intelligent.; 5/15/13, 6:28 AM
viator said...: Washington election attorney Cleta Mitchell:

"I've thought for some time that this is politically motivated and that's the reason it was happening. And, as I said, I've been doing this for more than 20 years and I've never seen anything like this until 2009, 2010. And the only thing that changed was we had a different administration," she said."

2009 - So the timeline on the IRS unconstitutional harassment of political enemies now extends to the beginning of the first term of the Obama Administration.

People and organizations are coming out of the woodwork reporting their sad tales of IRS harassment and intimidation.

Looks like this one has got legs.; 5/15/13, 6:31 AM
Robert Cook said...: "C'mon. Even though I am sure Obama and his minions check Drudge every 15 minutes...."

Do you really think so? Really?

Despite his notoriety, I've never once had the slightest temptation to check out his site, as he seems like a bottom feeding hype to me, one of those anomalous freaks of American pop culture whose appeal is unfathomable and import negligible. I'm sure Obama and his people take him even less seriously than I.; 5/15/13, 6:33 AM
KCFleming said...: Obama ain't a doofus or patsy here. He's not very bright, but he knows who can get things done without having to say so in a memo.

Lincoln had his Team of Rivals.
Obama has his Team of Evils.; 5/15/13, 6:40 AM
KCFleming said...: "Do you really think so? Really?"

His people read him. Drudge prints every time they make a derogatory comment about his site, and I've seen many, so they read clearly read him.; 5/15/13, 6:41 AM
viator said...: "Forbes’s integrity does not demean Matt Drudge, who is the Walter Winchell of this era. (Drudge’s famous fedora suggested a subtle homage to Winchell.)

Winchell was read by 50 million people a day, and 20 million listened to his radio show: “Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. America from border to border and coast to coast and all the ships at sea. Let’s go to press.” The Drudge Report self-reportedly received over (a characteristic) 1 billion pageviews in the past 31 days."

Forbes; 5/15/13, 6:54 AM
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Drago said...: Palladian: ""There is a bear in the woods. For some people, the bear is easy to see. Others don't see it at all..."

One of the best political ads ever made.

Subtle.

And Powerful.; 5/15/13, 6:58 AM
Drago said...: Blogger Michael K said...
The left will never forgive Nixon for Hiss.

Or Helen Gahagan Douglas.; 5/15/13, 7:01 AM
Matt Sablan said...: Come to the dark side Dana. We have cookies.; 5/15/13, 7:03 AM
Matt Sablan said...: "What did he think that gov't would do with its increasing power?"

-- He didn't expect them to use it against -him.- He's an -elite.- He's one of the -good guys.-; 5/15/13, 7:08 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: I take it that from now on it will NOT be racist to say Obama and Chicago in the same breath.; 5/15/13, 7:08 AM
Clyde said...: Who could have guessed that Barack Obama would follow up Jimmy Carter's second term with Richard Nixon's third?; 5/15/13, 7:08 AM
Drago said...: Cookie: "Despite his notoriety, I've never once had the slightest temptation to check out his site, as he seems like a bottom feeding hype to me,..."

Well, gee, I guess anyone who provides links to every standard media organization in the world might be considered a bottom feeding type. I mean, wouldn't you have to be to link to stories in the NYT and Wash Post?

lOL

Cookie continues: "... one of those anomalous freaks of American pop culture whose appeal is unfathomable and import negligible."

One of the funnier stats on accessing Drudge were the Clinton staffers whose IP addresses and visitor frequency showed that Clinton admin folks were accessing drudge by the hundreds just about every minute during the Clinton scandals.

That hasn't changed at since then.

Drudge's "gift" was to be the first aggregator site where the way in which he aggregated the potential universe of published content made it easier for visitors to see themes/connections that were not necessarily easy to see prior to that.

Oh, and unlike the other leftists, Drudge didn't filter in favor of the left.

Perhaps that's your problem cookie.

Cookie continues: "... I'm sure Obama and his people take him even less seriously than I."

Obama and his people are clearly the thinnest skinned group of people ever to occupy the halls of power in DC. Like all cult leaders and their followers, they are acutely aware of any criticism from any quarter at any time.

Hence, we now know that the IRS has engaged in even more unseemly behavior than we knew yesterday afternoon.

And how do we know it?

Because it's a blazing headline on Drudge which links to the article from Politico and is aggregated with lots of other content related to the same storyline.

You see cookie, I can understand why an unreconstructed Marxist such as yourself would be bothered by such a thing.

It makes perfect sense.; 5/15/13, 7:09 AM
Matt Sablan said...: "What would President Bartlett do?"

-- Give a long-winded speech and convert a token Republican to his way of thinking.; 5/15/13, 7:11 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Suddenly, Community Organizing beguines to look like something worth pursuing as a career move.

College kids pay attention.; 5/15/13, 7:13 AM
gerry said...: “I wouldn’t be surprised if President Obama learned Osama bin Laden had been killed when he saw himself announce it on television.”; 5/15/13, 7:14 AM
pm317 said...: Liberals like Dana Milbank pick up a longstanding conservative theme.
..

Clever.; 5/15/13, 7:24 AM
pm317 said...: gerry said...
---------

Good one from Jon Stewart.. may be that will seep slowly into some Obot and lefty fools.; 5/15/13, 7:32 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Clint Eastwood now looks like a genius.; 5/15/13, 7:32 AM
X said...: if only Comrade Obama knew!; 5/15/13, 7:35 AM
George M. Spencer said...: If Obama knew and if Biden knew, then we're looking at President Boehner.; 5/15/13, 7:36 AM
Renee said...: "I'm so sick of the pro-democrat hack media. Shut up, please.
It's over. Obama is a disaster and there's no turning back."

If Obama is a disaster, then America is a disaster. Not sure what we will do for the remainder of his Presidency.

He needs to finish his term.; 5/15/13, 7:44 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: The presidency of blame others. The mob is never to blame.; 5/15/13, 7:50 AM
Just asking questions (Jaq) said...: I used to work in this industry and I can tell you that depending on the carrier, the full content of texts for Blackberries will be available. If you are using regular text service, almost every carrier will have the contents of those stored, as they are sent unencrypted on the same signalling channels that are considered "envelope reading" for voice communications.

It is highly, highly unlikely, all but impossible that voice conversations are recorded without a court order in advance, however.; 5/15/13, 7:51 AM
rhhardin said...: Community organizers don't do solutions. They do agitation.; 5/15/13, 7:58 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/15/13, 8:06 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Milbank: Please stop behaving like a corrupt dictator. We liberal media hacks still love and worship you! Please, I am begging you... show up and act like our beloved president!

Begging!; 5/15/13, 8:07 AM
Brennan said...: Cheney was right. President Dithers would rather golf and smoke. Let him golf and smoke in somebody else's house.; 5/15/13, 8:26 AM
Brennan said...: It is highly, highly unlikely, all but impossible that voice conversations are recorded without a court order in advance, however.

Nope. The Federal Government has encrypted lines for a reason.

Modern information systems are too easy to crack. Protect yourself. If you think the Feds might be listening, what about other foreign governments?; 5/15/13, 8:28 AM
SeanF said...: Shamelessly stolen from the Big Lizard: Barack Obama is the most Nixonian president since FDR.; 5/15/13, 8:36 AM
Just asking questions (Jaq) said...: Bremen,
The reason is that there is just too much data to keep in that case.

Blackberry encryption has been cracked, so if the govt wants to listen, I suppose they will, but the carriers can't be bothered with keeping the equivalent of an mp3 for every phone conversation that happens.; 5/15/13, 8:39 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: Another Dana yesterday, Dara Perino, fomer Bush (43) press secretary and 2nd from the viewer's right on The Five on FNC (next to Greg Gutfeld) had a good point. The Obama Administration has horrible scandal-dar. Jay Carney, et al., should have been on the phone to these agencies when the scandals first surfaced, long ago, and required clarification. That was part of her job, and that of her staff, when she worked in the WH. The obvious difference is that the press corps would have pounced on her if something like these scandals slid through their scandal-dar, and they didn't know what was happening, while they have, until very recently, steadfastly refused to ask embarassing questions of Carney, et al.

I have been saying for quite awhile now that Obama looks more and more like he is just window dressing. His goals are to look Presidential, raise money, and enjoy the perks of office. Control of the government seems split between powerful department secretaries and agency chiefs, and his (mostly West Wing) minions. He is out playing golf or basketball, traveling around the country in one of his private 747s, etc., while they squabble over the details. He is supremely indifferent, as we saw so clearly on the night of 9/11/12. Looking more and more like that photoshopped picture of him as Louis XVI.

The problem with their defense that it was low level staffers out at that IRS site in Ohio, or somewhere in the chain of command with Benghazi, is that they are the people who came to office promising better management of big government. Sure, the government was too big to run very well already, but that was because the Republcans were in charge. Just let the Dems back into the White House, and with all their expertise, will unleash all the power of centralized planning, utiizing the best and the brightest, etc. But, what is becoming ever more obvious is that they have significantly less education, training, and experience in this area than did their predecessors, and have made almost no attempts at getting the government under control and accountable. A Republican could just say "I tried, the government is too big, and this is just one more reason we need to downsize". Doesn't work with Obama and the Dems. They are the party who claim expertise in running government, and why the bigger the better.

Obama has no education, training, or experience in running even a moderate sized organization, and is apparently clueless when it comes to something the size of our federal government, with millions of employees, and trillions of dollars in spending every year. I don't think that he had any idea of what goes into running such when he was running for President in 2008, and maybe not even in 2012. These scandals are happening because he has little control over those millions working for him, and no real knowledge of how to get it. Sure, it was invariably low level employees or functionaries. BFD. It almost aways is (except in cases like Benghazi, when it was high level employees and functionaries). They have led from the back from day one, and shown that greed and political opportunism, is the expected norm, from the top from day one (maybe from the appointment of tax cheat Tim Geitner to run Treasury, to which the IRS reports). News has been full of scandal after scandal, where the left makes billions, and the right gets the full weight of the government thrown against it, and in an environment like that, they are surprised that mid-level bureaucrats pick up on those signals, and join in?; 5/15/13, 8:50 AM
SteveR said...: Republicans have to be careful not to overreact to this issue.

Oh wait..

Republicans have to be careful not to overreact to these issues.

Oh wait...

Republicans have to be careful not to confuse people with all these issues; 5/15/13, 8:52 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: Let me add that the AP scandal seems less and less nefarious. Sure, the MSM got butt hurt when the government legally tried to do its job at plugging leaks. But, by all indications, what they did was completely legal. Sure, they violated DoJ guidelines, but they do that all the time. What we are talking about here is using call information that they collect to try to identify sources of leaks of highly classified information that they believe is important to national security. Because the MSM has been so good at protecting Obama and the Dems from their scandals, they are supposed to get special handling. The feds are only supposed to use those records when they have no other really viable alternatives, and have consulted with the MSM organization in question first. Something like that. Silly really, because the AP wasn't about to turn over their sources, and this is arguably probably better for them - they can claim the moral high ground in not giving up their sources, and the government can claim vigilance in national security.

Not complaining though, since getting a bunch of the MSM sycophants on our side is better than having them on the other side, which is where they usually are, protecting, and not investigating, the Administration. But, for me, this is the most benign of the scandals now facing that Administration, because they were arguably doing it for the right reasons, and did not really apparently violate any laws in doing so, but rather, just hit their friendly MSM partners where it hurt.; 5/15/13, 9:02 AM
Drago said...: St. George said..."If Obama knew and if Biden knew, then we're looking at President Boehner."

Not a chance.

I want biden and Obama right where they are so they and their cult followers have no where else to point when we all end up reaping what they have sown.

Not saying they won't point elsewhere.

But, lets face it, only about 41% of the folks are going to buy it.

Yes, it is a tragedy that 41% will always buy it.

That's just where we are as a nation right now.

BTW, France has just passed into recession, leaving only Germany as the only nation with their economic heads above water, barely.; 5/15/13, 10:47 AM
Icepick said...: Look, the press is covering this stuff reflexively at the moment. By mid-summer they will start to get a-hold of themselves. And then Plouffe and Axelrod will make the calls, and tell the journolists to back off, it is their duty to the state to get butt-fucked any way the Administration sees fit, and to start carrying water again. And they'll do it. Because the press has all the character of child pornographers.; 5/15/13, 11:20 AM
Rich B said...: And not a single sarcastic comment by Garage Mahal?

Somebody should form a committee to run Clint Eastwood's piece from the Republican Convention. Run it on all the shows that the low-information voters watch.; 5/15/13, 11:34 AM
Anthony said...: Sadly, icepick nailed it at 11:20.; 5/15/13, 12:15 PM
furious_a said...: Someone tell the White House that George Orwell intended '1984' to be a cautionary tale, not a user's manual.; 5/15/13, 12:53 PM
furious_a said...: The bumper stickers print themselves:

Sinn Fein: the political wing of the IRA.
White House: the political wing of the IRS.; 5/15/13, 12:58 PM
Bob Loblaw said...: Despite his notoriety, I've never once had the slightest temptation to check out his site, as he seems like a bottom feeding hype to me, one of those anomalous freaks of American pop culture whose appeal is unfathomable and import negligible. I'm sure Obama and his people take him even less seriously than I.

I'm pretty sure you're wrong about that, because they're professionals and not just normal people arguing over politics. They don't care about the same things you care about - you want policies enacted, while they're mostly interested in winning.

I'd bet my last dollar they're checking out Drudge and a hundred other conservative sites because they want to make sure they have a little extra time to react if a damaging story is about to break in the mainstream media. Don't forget Drudge rose to prominence by forcing the Lewinsky scandal into the open.; 5/15/13, 1:15 PM
Bob Loblaw said...: And not a single sarcastic comment by Garage Mahal?

The funny thing is they're not even sarcastic any more. He has so little to work with here it comes across more like free verse poetry from an autistic child.; 5/15/13, 1:16 PM
LTMG said...: The Lost Presidency.; 5/15/13, 2:17 PM
LTMG said...: The Lost Presidency.; 5/15/13, 2:18 PM
Doug said...: Milbank is adopting the role of a presidential critic so that he can help lay the groundwork for the notion (sure to be acted upon) that Obama CAN'T be impeached because he was so DARNED UNINVOLVED in those bad shenanigans that his underlings undertook in his name.; 5/15/13, 4:30 PM
JAL said...: @ Pogo Once seen, you can't un-see the emperor naked.

Please. Pogo. Did you have to do that?; 5/15/13, 9:56 PM
JAL said...: @ Pogo Can we expect Obama to try to flee to Mexico in a white Bronco?

Hopefully the LAPD and the SDPD and everyone in between will clear the highways so no one gets in his way.

Unlike O.J.; 5/15/13, 10:02 PM
JAL said...: Barack O.J. Obama; 5/15/13, 10:04 PM