http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/05/16/irs-scandal-overreach/
IRS scandal overreach?
http://www.policymic.com/articles/41643/benghazi-cover-up-republicans-are-in-danger-of-overreaching-and-alienating-voters
Benghazi Cover-up: Republicans Are in Danger Of Overreaching and Alienating Voters
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/17/us/politics/energized-gop-weighs-how-far-to-go-in-inquiries.html
The most pressing question for Congressional Republicans is no longer
how to finesse changes to immigration law or gun control, but how far
they can push their cases against President Obama without inciting a
backlash of the sort that has left them staggering in the past. . . .
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/05/behind-the-curtain-why-the-gop-thinks-it-could-blow-it-91528.html
Why the GOP thinks it could blow it
In Fox World: http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/fox-guest-compares-obama-irs-uproar-to-nazi
Fox Guest Compares Obama IRS Uproar To Nazi Germany
More from Fox World: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/05/16/1209583/-Fox-uncovers-Obama-s-devious-transparency-scheme-Just-a-strategy-to-confuse-Americans
GRETCHEN CARLSON: Let's talk a little about what happened yesterday,
because a lot happened yesterday. The president made an announcement
that he was going to be coming out just after six o'clock to talk about
the IRS scandal and that situation and then right before then, 15
minutes before that, they released 100 pages of emails having to do with
the Benghazi talking points but what was in those emails and was this
just a strategy to try and potentially confuse Americans out there about
these three scandals going on right now, to sort of put a whole bunch
of information out there and see which one ends up the headline.
Ka-BOOM!
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/05/wow_this_is_pretty_epic.php
MAJOR GARRETT: Scott, Republicans have claimed that the State Department
under Hillary Clinton was trying to protect itself from criticism. The
White House released the real e-mails late yesterday and here’s what we
found when we compared them to the quotes that had been provided by
Republicans. One e-mail was written by Deputy National Security Advisor
Ben Rhodes. On Friday, Republicans leaked what they said was a quote
from Rhodes. “We must make sure that the talking points reflect all
agency equities, including those of the State Department, and we don’t
want to undermine the FBI investigation.” But it turns out, in the
actual e-mail Rhodes did not mention the State Department. It read “We
need to resolve this in a way that respects all the relevant equities,
particularly the investigation.” Republicans also provided what they
said was a quote from an e-mail written by State Department Spokesman
Victoria Nuland. The Republican version notes Nuland discussing: “The
penultimate point is a paragraph talking about all the previous warnings
provided by the Agency (CIA) about al-Qaeda’s presence and activities
of al-Qaeda.” The actual e-mail from Nuland says: the “…penultimate
point could be abused by Members to beat the State Department for not
paying attention to Agency warnings…” The C.I.A. agreed with the
concerns raised by the State Department and revised the talking points
to make them less specific than the C.I.A.’s original version,
eliminating references to al-Qaeda and affiliates and earlier security
warnings. There is no evidence, Scott, the White House orchestrated
these changes.
More: http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/05/its-official-bogus-email-leaks-came-republicans
It's Official: Those Bogus Email Leaks Came From Republicans
So, which IS it?
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/05/16/18302701-pick-a-narrative-and-go-with-it
[Steve Benen] Regular readers may recall that I've long been fascinated
by the trouble President Obama's detractors have had with understanding
what it is about him they dislike. The result is a series of rhetorical
attacks that are incoherent and contradictory.
He's a ruthless
Chicago thug and a "wuss." He's a bystander who goes golfing too much
and an activist president who engages too much. He's sticking to the
Bush/Cheney script on national security and he's putting us at risk by
abandoning the Bush/Cheney national security agenda. He's cutting
cherished entitlement programs like Medicare and he refuses to cut
entitlement programs like Medicare. He's waging a class war against the
rich and he's coddling millionaires.
This week, as much of the political world tries to stick to the dubious line that the White House is engulfed in scandals, we're seeing the same phenomenon once more. . . . [read on]
GOP wackos Gohmert, Bachmann help, big time
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/05/gohmerts_pile.php
Don’t miss this video of Rep. Louie Gohmert from yesterday’s Holder hearings. Even the GOP Chair tried to get him to shut up. . . .
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/scarce/louie-gohmert-attorney-general-will-not-cas
Things got heated and a bit insane, as they usually do, when Rep. Louie
Gohmert (R-TX) got miffed when Attorney General Eric Holder rather
politely told Gohmert he didn't know what he was talking about . . .
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/05/democrats_best_friends_in_the_irs_scandal.php
After a pretty crappy few days, Democrats awoke to the nice surprise
that Mitch McConnell would join Michele Bachmann at a press conference
today, along with some tea partiers who were targeted (we are to believe
inappropriately) by the IRS.
Why? Because Bachmann was likely to say something fringe and wacky
like, say, that everyone keeps asking her why President Obama hasn’t
been impeached already. Which is exactly what she did.
You could hear the crunch of McConnell’s intestines turning to ice from across the capital. [watch]
Darrell Issa accused Thomas Pickering of refusing to testify on Benghazi. Pickering responded that he was ready at any time, and that Issa's committee had blocked it. Here's the latest
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/05/16/18301924-pickering-still-seeks-his-day-on-the-hill
Over the weekend, House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa
(R-Calif.) said Pickering "refused to come before our committee," but Issa was lying.
Pickering actually asked to appear before the panel, but Republican
committee members, including Issa, chose not to extend an invitation.
Issa
ultimately said he'd consider Pickering's testimony, but only if the
public isn't permitted to hear the former ambassador has to say.
Pickering said today he'll be happy to testify, but not in secret. . . .
More: http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/eric-holder-to-darrell-issa-your-conduct-is
Holder To Issa: Your Conduct Is ‘Unacceptable’ And ‘Shameful’
Obama addressed two of the three controversies yesterday (Benghazi, IRS). Here's what he says about the third one (the investigation of classified leaks to the AP)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/05/16/obama-no-apologies-for-leaks-investigation/
House votes AGAIN to repeal Obamacare
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/05/16/18297155-theyve-truly-lost-their-minds
They've 'truly lost their minds'
More? http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/05/17/18317981-dont-rule-out-repeal-vote-38
On controlling sexual assaults in the military: this is not how to do it
http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/soldier-assigned-sex-assault-preventi
Soldier Assigned To Sex Assault Prevention Accused of Sex Abuse
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/05/now-the-army-has-a-sexual-assault-scandal.html
[T]he Army has its own scandal as it investigates a sergeant who ran a
similar program at Fort Hood for allegedly running a prostitution ring.
The officer "is being investigated for, among other things, forcing a
subordinate into prostitution and sexually assaulting two others" . . .
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/05/air-force-officer-arrested-for-sexual-battery.html
The Air Force already has a bad rap as a hotbed of sexual assault, and the arrest of Lt. Col. Jeffrey Krusinski — who until Monday headed up the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Program — is not going to do anything to reshape that image. His alleged crime: groping a woman in an Arlington County parking lot. . . .
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/head-of-fort-campbell-harassment-program-arrested-in-domestic-dispute.php
The manager of the sexual assault response program at Fort Campbell,
Ky., was arrested in a domestic dispute and relieved of his post . . .
Confirmation updates
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/17/us/politics/senate-panel-advances-nominee-for-epa.html
A sharply divided Senate committee on Thursday approved the nomination of Gina McCarthy to serve as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. . . .
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2013/05/16/labor-secretary-nominee-perez-clears-early-hurdle-in-confirmation/
President Obama’s pick for labor secretary cleared a minor hurdle in
the confirmation process Thursday as a Senate committee voted to clear
the nomination of Thomas Perez for consideration by the full Senate.
Members of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee voted
12-10 along party lines, with all Republicans opposing the nomination
while the Democrats supported it. . .
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/senate-panel-unanimously-approves-sri-srinivasan-for-dc
Senate Panel Unanimously Approves Sri Srinivasan For D.C. Circuit Judge
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/05/15/1209359/-Reid-Cordray-nomination-will-get-vote-next-week
Reid: Cordray nomination will get vote next week
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