May 21, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
While 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 –
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May 20, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
A 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
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May 20, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Eliana 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
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May 20, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
As 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,
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May 19, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
In early March, I wrote a post called “Tears for Piers” about the meltdown of Piers Morgan on Fox Soccer Channel as he watched Arsenal, the soccer team he supports, lose to Tottenham Hotspur, the club’s North London rival. In a tirade the sophistication of which failed to meet the standards of a 3:00 a.m. sports call-in show, Morgan castigated Arsenal’s long-time, hugely-successful manager, Arsene Wenger. He concluded by advising
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May 19, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Andy Borowitz of the The New Yorker provides this somewhat fictitious account of our president’s reaction to the current series of scandals: President Obama used his weekly radio address on Saturday to reassure the American people that he has “played no role whatsoever” in the U.S. government over the past four years. “Right now, many of you are angry at the government, and no one is angrier than I am,”
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May 19, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Mitt Romney says that the Benghazi talking points had no bearing on the outcome of the 2012 presidential election. He made this remark in response to a question by an inquisitive Jay Leno. Romney added that he doesn’t spend a lot of time reflecting on what could have been done differently during his campaign. “I don’t go back and look at: ‘Gee, if this would have happened differently, could I
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May 18, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Organizing 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
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May 18, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
In 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
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May 18, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
I 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
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May 17, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Steve 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
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May 16, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
If this were April 1, I’d bet that the following headline from ABC News is a joke: “IRS Official in Charge During Tea Party Targeting Now Runs Health Care Office.” But the joke is on us. Here’s the story: Sarah Hall Ingram served as commissioner of the office responsible for tax-exempt organizations between 2009 and 2012. But Ingram has since left that part of the IRS and is now the
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May 16, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
A reader provided me with several useful comments on my post regarding the Republican share of the Hispanic vote in presidential elections since 1980. First, he says that the figure I used for George W. Bush’s share in 2004 — 43 percent — is an outlier: In 2004, NEP (National Exit Poll) reported 44% for Bush, the highest of all ten polls. That result was widely and immediately challenged. Pew
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May 16, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Chuck Schumer easily makes my list of the ten politicians I dislike most. So my ears perked up when I heard that, in 2012, he signed a letter that, as it has been characterized, told the IRS to go after conservative groups. The other signers were Sens. Bennet, Whitehouse, Merkley, Udall, Shaheen, and Franken. The letter can be found on Schumer’s website. I don’t read it as calling on the
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May 16, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Eliana Johnson points out that the director of the Office of Rulings and Agreements, which oversees the determination of tax-exempt organizations, is a donor to Barack Obama. Holly Paz donated $2,000 to Obama’s 2008 campaign, according to Open Secrets, which maintains a database of individual political donations. Liberal Democrats comprise the vast majority of federal bureaucrats. For example, in the past two presidential races, roughly 85 percent of the money
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May 15, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
50 years ago, the nation witnessed seven dramatic days in May, as helmeted policemen used dogs and fire hoses against black children chanting freedom songs and hymns in Birmingham, Alabama. More than 3,000 peaceful demonstrators were arrested. The images from those days, including that of Birmingham police chief “Bull” Connor, are indelibly etched in the minds of those of us who saw them, and many of those who have seen
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May 15, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Last week, Bret Baier’s Special Report program on Fox News featured interviews with Marco Rubio and Jeff Sessions about the Rubio-Schumer amnesty legislation. The interviews were given separately. Although Baier tried his best to make it into a point-counterpoint kind of affair, it couldn’t really be a debate because Rubio and Sessions didn’t appear together. I understand that Baier, naturally enough, would have preferred to have Sessions and Rubio on
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