May 19, 2013 — Scott Johnson

On first looking into Chapman’s Nixon

Featured image Our friends at RealClearPolitics have posted Steve Chapman’s Chicago Tribune column “The false Nixon equivalence.” It addresses the subject I took up in “Nixon’s IRS” and, more broadly, in “A Watergate footnote.” Chapman makes the case that comparisons of Obama with Nixon in the matter of the current IRS scandal are misguided. I think the comparison is useful. The outrages committed by the IRS under Obama in the past few »
May 19, 2013 — Steven Hayward

How the IRS Scandal Could Backfire

Featured imageCBS News reported yesterday that senior officials in the Treasury Department knew of the IRS targeting of conservative groups during the 2012 campaign.  While this doesn’t yet place the matter inside the West Wing, it assures another leg to the scandal at least.  To paraphrase an old Watergate-era slogan, “Follow the money-grubbers.” (CBS News) WASHINGTON – There were new questions Saturday night concerning if anyone in the White House was »
May 18, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff

Five dollars worth of “adorable”

Featured imageOrganizing for America, the Democratic Party’s successor organization to Barack Obama’s 2012 presidential campaign, is asking folks to “forward” Joe Biden’s response to a letter from a seven year-old boy on the theory that it is “adorable,” and to “chip in” a $5 dollar contribution, as well. I’m not sure whom Organizing for America finds adorable — Biden or the boy. Both, I guess, since it says the exchange is »
May 18, 2013 — John Hinderaker

North America’s Strangest Mayor

Featured imageRob Ford, the Mayor of Toronto, has been in the news lately because someone allegedly has a video of him smoking crack. I have no idea whether the video is genuine or not, but Ford is a distinctly odd character. He makes Rahm Emanuel look like a normal human being; in some respects, anyway. New York Magazine compiled a list of 20 things you should know about Rob Ford. Not »
May 18, 2013 — John Hinderaker

Three Cheers for Tesla [Updated]

Featured imageI have always been skeptical of electric vehicles, mostly because of my perception that electric car makers are more interested in subsisting on government subsidies than in competing on a level playing field for my business. So I was intrigued when I got an email this morning from Jeff Evanson, Tesla Motors’ Vice-President of investor relations. Evanson, a long-time Power Line reader, pointed out that the company raised over $1 »
May 18, 2013 — Steven Hayward

The Week in Pictures, Umbrellagate Update

Featured imageIf the old weekly Life magazine had managed to hang on until the Internet arrived, it might have survived as an online summary, but fortunately they left the space open to Power Line.  And things are happening so fast we almost need to go daily with this feature. I’m guessing that the fury of Marines on seeing Obama’s appalling breach of Marine protocol will be lost on the media, but »
May 18, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff

As IRS scandal deepens, Obama fetes anti-democracy pal

Featured imageI don’t contend that President Obama was involved in the decision to target conservative groups for harassment by the IRS. So far, there is no evidence that would support that contention. I do contend, however, that Obama has little appreciation for the democratic process, including the right to dissent from his agenda without suffering for it. In my view, he regards democracy and dissent as hindrances to the march of »
May 18, 2013 — Steven Hayward

The Ultimate Nixon-Obama Parallel

Featured imageHow will we tell when Obama is slipping fully into Nixon territory?  I predict it will be when The Daily Show juxtaposes the two images below (though as one commenter suggests, wouldn’t Walter Slobchak be screaming “over the line!”): »
May 18, 2013 — Scott Johnson

Nixon’s IRS

Featured imageOne of the articles of impeachment against Richard Nixon included his alleged misuse of the IRS. Article 2 of the Articles of Impeachment was carefully framed to charge that Nixon “endeavored to obtain from the Internal Revenue Service, in violation of the constitutional rights of citizens, confidential information contained in income tax returns for purposes not authorized by law, and to cause, in violation of the constitutional rights of citizens, »
May 17, 2013 — John Hinderaker

Highlights of Today’s IRS Hearing

Featured imageFormer acting IRS Commissioner Steve Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee today; Paul live-blogged his appearance. My friend Jeff Davis compiled this video of highlights of today’s proceedings. As usual, the highlights consist more of the Congressmen’s questions than Miller’s answers, but the video is nevertheless revealing. Miller comes across just as Paul described him: »
May 17, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff

Live-blogging the House IRS hearing

Featured imageSteve Miller, former acting Commissioner of the IRS, is testifying before the House Ways and Means Committee. Paul Ryan has just taken him to task for his prior testimony to Congress. Ryan demonstrated that Miller failed to meet his obligation to tell Congress the whole truth in his previous testimony. In prior testimony, Miller was asked what “targeting” of tax exempt groups was taking place at the IRS. At the »
May 18, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff

Obama adminstration talking points scrubbed jihadists from Cairo as well as Benghazi

Featured imageIn the days after the Benhazi attack, the State Department scurried to cover up its failure to heed warnings of such attacks while the White House scurried to cover up the fact that that attacks were the work of al Qaeda-linked terrorists of the sort President Obama supposedly had largely vanquished. The final Benghazi “talking points” and Susan Rice’s talk show appearances represent the product of this scurrying. To help »
May 18, 2013 — Steven Hayward

The Power Line 100: Jonathan Adler

Featured imageIt’s about time we start turning our attention to law professors who belong on the Power Line 100 list, and we’ve got a long list of them.  As with the rest of the field of finalists, there is no particular order, so we’ll start with Jonathan Adler, the well-known interior designer whose baubles you can find at Bed, Bath & Beyond—no, wait, not that Jonathan Adler!  We mean the Jonathan »
May 18, 2013 — John Hinderaker

Bye, Bye Beretta

Featured imageBeretta USA has been headquartered in Maryland for many years. But Maryland’s left-wing governor, Martin O’Malley, has just signed legislation that, among other things, bans the possession or use of average-capacity magazines. Beretta naturally views this as an insult to its products, its customers and its employees, and is looking for a new home. I like Beretta’s statement on the issue: The question now facing the Beretta Holding companies in »
May 17, 2013 — John Hinderaker

What If the Obama Scandals Had Surfaced Last Fall?

Featured imageI was on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show last night, talking about the Benghazi talking point emails. Near the end of the segment, Hugh asked whether I thought the presidential election might have turned out differently if Obama and Clinton had not succeeded in covering up the truth about Benghazi. I was skeptical. The story of the election, I said, was the Obama campaign’s ability to turn out, once again, a »
May 17, 2013 — Steven Hayward

The Week in Pictures, Scandalpalooza Edition

Featured imageI had to doublecheck the calendar this morning to make sure I hadn’t woken up back on April 1, for a couple of the front section headines in today’s Wall Street Journal had me wondering.  Such as: “As Hepatitis C Spreads, Scotland Steps In.”  Scotland?  Since when did it become the CDC?  Or how about this: “Berlin Leftists’ New Target: Barbie Dreamhouse.”  You can always count on the left for »
May 17, 2013 — Scott Johnson

MS. found in a boat

Featured imageCBS News reports: Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev left a note claiming responsibility for the April 15 attack on the Boston Marathon, reports CBS News senior correspondent John Miller. Sources tell Miller that Tsarnaev wrote the note in the boat he was hiding in as police pursued him, and as he bled from gunshot wounds sustained in an earlier shootout between police and his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev. It reads »