Obama's parade of "Phony Scandals"
Hi there, Dr. Villarasa. I have not seen you around much lately. We must be on different time tracks.
Perhaps "desparate" applies more to this thread than to the President's speech. Last month, I recall you dragged out the same tired, dog-eared, and lame scenario only then you called it Obama's Scandalous Trifecta. How appropriate for you to use the term “trifecta”: A longshot wager in which the bettor faces great odds and only a slight chance of winning! {1}
To be honest with you, Chairman Issa and his oversight committee are performing an extremely important role albeit mostly unfruitful these days. This is the ideal time for his committee to fulfill its Congressional responsibility. The constitutional system of checks and balances works best when the president is a member of the House’s minority party. I fully support his keeping the administration’s feet to the fire.
Benghazi
After eight months of GOP driven investigations, after Chairman Issa promised his Benghazi "whistleblowers" would be "damaging," and after the chairman promised more testimony from CIA employees that never materialized, the House GOP Majority Leader announced on May 13, 2013, “The time for wasting day after day investigating Benghazi is over.” {2}
Poof! A phony “scandal” vaporizes before our eyes. No laws were broken. No criminal charges were leveled. No evidence of punishable dereliction of duty uncovered. In short, there never was a “scandal”. We are not likely to hear more criticism about Benghazi unless Ms. Clinton decides to run for president in 2016. After all, discrediting the Secretary of State was the only reason the GOP calls this a “scandal” in the first place.
IRS Abusing Power
Here are some truths known to the world. The IRS used inappropriate criteria that identified for review Tea Party and other organizations applying for tax-exempt status based upon their names or policy positions instead of indications of potential political campaign intervention. Not one fact has yet surfaced to prove that anyone outside of the IRS was responsible. There are fresh accusations that this affair leads to political appointees within the IRS but they, like so many other claims, remain unproven at the moment.
Poof! A another “phony” scandal turns out not to be factually a scandal after all, at least not yet.
Not every criticism of the government rises to the level of a “scandal,” Dr. Villarasa, a fact being proven over and over again during the last year.
{1} http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/113418
{2} http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/b … acare.htmlHi again, Dr. Villarasa, and best regards.
I am impressed by your passion and I respect your political motivation. However, the number of issues labeled “scandals” that suffer from a lack of any evidence bewilders me.
So many threads are declaring a scandal far ahead of any factual discovery. The trend displays a lack of respect for facts and the truth. There seems to be so little objectivity, Doctor.
Investigations are not scandals. Prosecutions for wrong doing are scandals!
First, here is the most meaningful fact uncovered to date about Benghazi. There never was a “scandal.” Speaking from the GOP side of the House, Majority Leader Eric Cantor characterized the House Benghazi investigation in this way: “the American people don’t have an endless appetite for meaningless political theater.” {1}
Denial runs so deep among some folks that they blame the media. The media is not withholding facts from Chairman Issa’s committee. Diehards appear to blame the media when their quest for retribution fades with the absence of real hard facts. A ten-month congressional investigation has convinced most Americans. No laws were broken. No criminal charges were leveled. No evidence of punishable dereliction of duty uncovered. Suggesting impeachment without having proof of wrongdoing is irrational.
Second, the IRS investigation continues in earnest. Again, an investigation is NOT a scandal. Most Americans have no problem with waiting for the facts to be known. Although, there are others so eager to punish the president they can not wait for hard evidence before declaring a phony “scandal” exists.
Thirdly, I submit a fact about the current “criminalization of journalists” issues. As chilling as the action by the DOJ is to freedom of the press, no journalist, to my knowledge, as been accused, arrested, charged, or punished for performing his job. No journalist has been asked to reveal his sources under the threat of criminal actions. This affair is certainly sinister in its overtones but, like the other “phony” claims, it does not rise to the level of a scandal. Even Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell publicly reduced the "scandal" rhetoric when asked to comment by Meet the Press. “I do think these national security leaks are very important and it looks to me like this is an investigation that needs to happen because national security leaks, of course, can get our agents overseas killed.” {2} While not handing President Obama a free pass, at least he is being a lot more pragmatic then the language in the OP statement of this thread.
Finally, we have the issues surrounding Obamacare.
Q. “Why is he [the president] spending millions and millions of our taxpayer dollars on an advertising blitz trying to overcome people's resistance to it?”
A. What is characterized as “resistance” is really a lack of knowledge about the law. “[Oregon] needs to sign up more than 200,000 people and enough younger, healthier people to balance out the older, sicker residents in the insurance pool.” {3} There is no better way to educate Oregonians about the benefits and subsidies available to poor uninsured Americans under the ACA.
Q. “Why have several labor unions (including the labor union that represent IRS employees) now saying that ObamaCare is not good for their memberships and are asking to be exempted from its various provisions?”
A. Bob Laszewski, a health care industry consultant, explains the real fear among unions. "If the workers can get benefits that are as good through Obamacare in the exchanges, then why do you need the union," Laszewski said. "In my mind, what the unions are fearing is that workers for the first time can get very good health benefits for a subsidized cost someplace other than the employer." {4}
When given random opinions versus facts, I will always rely on the facts. Facts have a way of adding objectivity sorely missing from most opinions. However, you have a right to rely on just your opinions if you wish.
Thank you for your comments, Dr. Villarasa. I sincerely appreciate your sharing them with us.
{1} http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/b … acare.html
{2} http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/1 … 02856.html
{3} http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-5 … -benefits/
{4} http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/2 … 30074.html
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