May 22, 2013 — Scott Johnson

NR on Watergate

Featured image Writing from memory yesterday morning, I recalled the role George Will had played as National Review’s Washington columnist during Watergate. I was faithfully reading the magazine in 1973 and 1974, and I think I was remembering Will’s NR columns accurately, but I was also recalling an inside account written, I thought, by William Buckley or NR senior editor Jeffrey Hart. I couldn’t find what I was thinking of in Buckley’s »
May 21, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff

Media alert

Featured imageI will be on the nationally syndicated radio show “Chuck Morse Speaks” tomorrow morning at 10:00 Eastern Time. I am scheduled to be on for an hour. We will discuss Ted Cruz as a possible presidential candidate and, to the extent I can do so intelligently, whatever else the host wants to talk about. »
May 21, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff

Community organizing, Obamacare style

Featured imageA subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform held a hearing today on the government’s Obamacare “outreach” program. Obamacare authorizes the government to provide information to the uninsured, and to assist them in obtaining insurance, through the use of “navigators.” Today’s hearing addressed concerns of Republican committee members about how this process will work in practice. The only witness was Gary Cohen, deputy administrator of the Department »
May 21, 2013 — John Hinderaker

A Crack in the IRS Dam

Featured imageThe dam protecting the IRS scandal began to crack today when Lois Lerner, the IRS official who announced, and apologized for, the improper singling out of conservative-leaning organizations by IRS employees under her command, announced through her criminal defense lawyer that she will not testify as scheduled tomorrow before the House Oversight Committee. Rather, she will assert her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. This marks a milestone in the IRS »
May 21, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff

The common thread in the Obama adminstration scandals

Featured imageJohn Yoo identifies the common thread in the major Obama administration scandals: Add up all the recent scandals and the message is clear: the Obama administration is showing that it cannot be trusted with the basic functions of government: law enforcement (surveillance of reporters), taxation (IRS scandals), and national security (Benghazi). How, then, can we trust the administration when it comes to immigration — an area in which it already »
May 21, 2013 — John Hinderaker

A New Front in the Administration’s War on Journalism?

Featured imageThe two most honest and independent reporters in Washington are, I think, Jake Tapper, now of CNN, and CBS’s Sharyl Attkisson. I’m probably forgetting someone, but those are the two that come to mind. Ms. Attkisson reported on Fast and Furious more fearlessly and effectively than any other reporter. Today she disclosed that her personal and work computers have been “compromised.” The circumstances are being investigated: “I can confirm that »
May 21, 2013 — Scott Johnson

Live from the Upper Midwest Employment Law Institute

Featured imageAt the moment I am listening to the ostentatiously liberal Judge Mark Bennett of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa summarize the Supreme Court’s employment law decisions of the past year. Judge Bennett wants us to know that he has got his mind right (i.e., left), and how. I understood that from his disparagement of the conservative Supreme Court justices as “the usual suspects.” That »
May 21, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff

Will Team Amnesty prevail?

Featured imageWhile attention is focused on various Obama administration scandals, the Schumer-Rubio immigration reform legislation keeps chugging along in the Senate. What are the prospects for enacting this law, or some similar version? I believe the Senate is likely to pass Schumer-Rubio. All or nearly all of the Senate Democrats will vote for it. That’s 55 votes or close to it. The four Republican members of the Gang of Eight – »
May 20, 2013 — John Hinderaker

Senate Committee Poised to Beat Up On Apple

Featured imageSteve wrote this morning about a hearing being held this week by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, in which Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, will testify tomorrow. The subcommittee apparently is trying to highlight supposed tax avoidance on the part of American companies, as the Associated Press reports: Apple Inc. employs a group of affiliate companies located outside the United States to avoid paying billions of dollars in U.S. income »
May 20, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff

Hillary Clinton’s designated Benghazi scapegoat speaks out

Featured imageA few days ago, we posted a poem written by Raymond Maxwell, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Maghreb (North Africa) Affairs at the State Department’s Bureau of Near East Affairs, whom Hillary Clinton placed on “administrative leave” (months of it, with no end in sight) in response to the Benghazi attack. Maxwell has now written a second poem which I will print below. Maxwell has also responded to his removal »
May 20, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff

GOP’s emerging IRS scandal narrative isn’t compelling

Featured imageEliana Johnson correctly identifies the emerging GOP narrative about President Obama’s relationship to the IRS scandal. The president, we are told, has fostered a “culture of intimidation” that encourages the vilification of one’s political opponents, thus inducing bureaucrats to target those whom the president has demonized. I understand why the GOP is pressing this line. So far, it lacks evidence of White House involvement in the scandal, but wants to »
May 21, 2013 — John Hinderaker

Rand Paul Stands Up Against Government Greed

Featured imageThe Senate Subcommittee on Investigations is holding a hearing this morning on Apple’s tax avoidance strategies. Rand Paul set the ringmasters back on their heels with an opening statement that questioned the whole rationale for the hearing. Here is Paul’s opening statement: For those who lack the patience to watch it (that often describes me when it comes to videos), here is the transcript, supplied by Paul’s office: I am »
May 21, 2013 — Steven Hayward

Waiting for a Tornado of Speculation

Featured imageThe news broadcasts of the Oklahoma tornado disaster that I saw last night and this morning were thankfully free of speculation that this tornado is proof of—wait for it—global warming, and therefore one more reason to hand over control of our energy sector to environmentalists.  I am certain this will come from the usual people starting today, but for now, note the New York Times’ Andrew Revkin discounting the thesis: »
May 21, 2013 — Scott Johnson

In search of an honest liberal journalist

Featured imageHaving lived through the Watergate scandal and the impeachment of President Nixon, I recall that one conservative journalist stood out from the pack. As the Washington columnist for National Review, George Will regularly exposed the Nixon administration’s lines of defense as the lies that they were. He distinguished himself both for his merciless analytical rigor and his skills as an anatomist. Will was in the infancy of his now long »
May 20, 2013 — John Hinderaker

Conservatives Unite Against Immigration Bill

Featured imageA group of conservatives that includes Paul and me have signed a letter opposing the Gang of Eight’s immigration bill. I didn’t contribute to drafting the letter, but I was proud to sign it because it sets out the key arguments against the proposal in a powerful and easily understandable way. The group is called the Coalition Against S. 744, and the letter is titled “The Wrong Way to Reform »
May 20, 2013 — John Hinderaker

DOJ’s Fox News Surveillance: Legitimate Leak Investigation, Or Outrageous Violation of the First Amendment?

Featured imageYesterday the Washington Post broke an explosive story: as part of a leak investigation, the Department of Justice obtained access to Fox News reporter James Rosen’s email account, without giving notice of such access to Rosen, Fox or anyone else: When the Justice Department began investigating possible leaks of classified information about North Korea in 2009, investigators did more than obtain telephone records of a working journalist suspected of receiving »
May 20, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff

Connecting the dots on the video

Featured imageAs Scott discussed earlier today, the absence of any reference in the Benghazi talking points to the Muhammad video has raised a new set of questions about the scandal. Among the questions are: (1) why isn’t the video mentioned in the talking points and (2) how, given the video’s absence therein, did it become the centerpiece of subsequent explanations of the attack, including Susan Rice’s. As to the first question, »