The Spin Begins!

Good Morning, Breakfastpoppers. Today is Wednesday, June 4, 2014. Our dear friend, Spider Harlotte, is with me this morning at the breakfast table. She has brought a delicious assortment of crepes with her. Won't you join us for breakfast this morning? Harlotte has a lot on her mind.

Hello, my cherished human family. The events of the last few days have finally got people talking. Hopefully, they are thinking, as well. President Obama and President Obama alone decided that it was a grand idea to exchange five vicious terrorists housed in GITMO for one deserter living with the Taliban. The law requires that Congress be consulted 30 days in advance of any such exchange. That law was broken. Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee reported that the Pentagon notified the panel by phone five hours before the swap took place.

Now for the spin. President Obama defended his handling of the exchange by saying that when the opportunity, and I repeat that word with great reservations, presented itself, he took it. He went on to say that if he had complied with the congressional notification rules, lives of Americans abroad and soldiers would have been compromised. A spokeswoman for the White House, Caitlin Hayden, made the following statement. " Because such interference would significantly alter the balance between Congress and the president, and could even raise constitutional concerns, we believe it is fair to conclude that Congress did not intend that the administration would be barred from taking the action it did in these circumstances," Now, I ask you, how is that for spin?

If I may, I would like to stop this particular spin with a few observations of my own. A law was put in place that required the President to notify Congress of any prisoner exchanges 30 days before any such move took place. Five hours is not 30 days. The law was really quite straightforward. The President of the United States broke that law and in doing so he broke his promise to the American people. No amount of "spin" can change the fact that, once again, Congress was bypassed. This is not the way the nation is supposed to work which explains quite nicely why it isn't working at all!

President Obama's handling of the VA scandal is another example of the spin machine in full gear. When President Obama announced the resignation of Veteran Affairs Secretary, Eric Shinseki, he made it quite clear that the problems predate his presidency. His statement was mind-boggling. On the one hand he said that he always takes responsibility, but that the VA scandal started with Bush. President Obama can try to "spin" this baby any way he wants, but the facts are this. Obama was on the Veterans Affairs Committee from 2005-2008. That's a long time to know about a problem and do nothing. Obama has been in the White House long enough to have tackled this problem. Not only did he not address a situation that he already knew about, he allowed it to get worse, much worse.

An article of this sort would not be complete without mentioning Hillary Clinton. Her version of the Benghazi debacle is a classic example of "spinning to win." Clinton has denied playing any sort of personal role when it came to the process of providing security to the compound in Benghazi. She has said that she did not see any of the cables from the compound asking, or should I say begging, for added security. According to Clinton, cables of this nature, although addressed to her, were not meant for her. I don't know about you, but right now my head is spinning.

The problem with Clinton's spin on Benghazi lies in the fact that a report released in January 2014 by the Senate revealed that the facility in Benghazi required special waivers to be legally occupied because it did not meet the minimum security standards set by the State Department. The waivers had to be signed by Clinton. Sometimes the truth can be so inconvenient.

The bottom line is this. Those we have chosen to represent us are failing miserably. The Obama administration has taken "the art of the spin" to new heights. Truth is only in the eyes of the latest person giving his or her version of the facts. The facts the American people hear about are very rarely the truth. The other word for "spin" is lie. The American people are lied to on a daily basis. The media spins the news. Most of the Democrats in Congress spin the facts and the news. The White House spins it all. The end result is that Americans are duped constantly and it is accepted and expected. It is time to change all of that, because if you don't demand something better, things can only get worse. It's your nation, now take it back!

Harlotte's Song

Oh, what a tangled web we weave

When first we practice to deceive...

Sir Walter Scott