A Troubling Victory Lap And Its Aftermath

Back in May 2012 the CIA, in conjunction with the British MI6 and Saudi intelligence, pulled off a coup - some double agents provided intel about the latest Al Qaeda in Yemen underwear bomb and volunteered to deliver the bomb itself; in the course of bringing that together, the Saudis also gleaned drone targeting information for some Al Qaeda-Yemen leaders.

Kudos! And this was all too good to keep quiet during a Presidential campaign, so the Administration leaked like a sieve. Unsurprisingly, this annoyed our allies, so the FBI felt obliged to investigate. And good luck to them, since the sources (as with the leaks about the raid on Osama or the cyberattacks on Iran) were clearly coming from Presidential image-polishers.

So a year has gone by and now we learn that rather than vex various White House operatives with tiresome questions about how much they spilled to the press about Obama's awesomeness the FBI managed to obtain a broad subpoena covering a number of Associated Press reporters. That flips the script! Back in the Plame days, the point of a leak investigation was to tie the Administration up in knots (actually, a bipartisan effort to tie Cheney up in knots); now the Administration is using leak investigations as a weapon to throw a (wet) blanket over the press.

Comments

[gmax]

Powerline says thar she blows, scandal to go full monty:

To no one’s surprise, it is already evident that the Obama administration has been lying about the scope of the IRS’s harassment of conservative-leaning non-profits. The Washington Post has obtained documents that show the anti-conservative effort was directed from Washington, D.C., and was not a rogue operation out of the agency’s Cincinnati office, as the administration has claimed

[centralcal]

First they came for Fox News and I said nothing. Then they came for the AP ...

Hey media sycophants - are your work phones, home phones, cell phones, emails being gathered up by Barry and Eric? You can't be sure, can you?

[narciso]

You can say that again, in the LUN

[Jane on Ipad]

The media is destroying this country.

I bet Obama will go lower than any president in history.

[centralcal]

‏@jeff_poor

Michael Isikoff on Maddow: Holder recused himself from the AP wiretap investigation

-------

Michael Isikoff to the rescue!!!!!

[gmax]

Isikoff does not have enough fingers for this leaking dike...

[Captain Hate]

This day is like sensory overload.

[narciso]

I know, right out of 'Brainstorm',

[gmax]

How long until we have Zero glowering at the camera and claiming :

I AM NOT A CROOK!

[richatgmu]

Wow. Lots of people in the permanent bureaucracy must of got pissed off last week. Might even have to park DOOM!!! for a while as this all plays out.

fingers crossed this goes through.

[GeoffB]

I thought a wiretap of this nature would require AG approval. If Holder recused himself, who approved it? This sounds like phase two of "Don't blame us; overzealous employees in a local office..." The other one they tried that with fell apart earlier today.

I also thought it interesting that Obama ostensibly learned about the IRS thing from media reports. Really?

[Strawman Cometh]

Brainstorm

I started to do italics, then I remembered Hit's mild admonition. But I made the Bloody Mary's for the still beautiful Natalie and the young lout Chris Walken.

[narciso]

It also sounds a little like PoI, but the 'Machine' was much more discriminating.

[bgates]

I bet there are a lot of journolists crying themselves to sleep tonight because there's no indication their phones were tapped. "Why doesn't he want to know about my phone calls?"

[Clarice]

bgates, I really love you.. I want the world to know that.(Well, maybe not the others..you know how they get.)

[Gus]

Well Jane it IS RUMORED that Obama is part of the DOWN "LOW" Club.

[Gus]

Gmax!!!?? Has Butch Napolitano sprung a leak?????

[Clarice]

This is bonanza time for white collar defense counsel in D.C. Big kaching for all former US attys practicing here.

[Gus]

If you want a really good "easy read", I suggest THE AMATEUR by Ed Klein. I bought it for a buck on Saturday and I'm nearly finished.
It pegs Obama quite well.

L-O-S-E-R.

[Rick Ballard]

Rich,

Much earlier than last week. Clarice noted how softly the mandarins were speaking at the Benghazi hearing. It wasn't because they don't know how to project through a mike, it was to force people to actually listen and to forestall the "angry and disgruntled" character assassination (which BOzo's flacks tried anyway). Mandarins don't execute a revolt on the basis of a short term plan. I'm hoping to hear of cracks at the DoJ. The career staff attorneys just can't be too impressed with their zampolit minders waving their Pigfraud checks around and they can't be too excited about BOzo's plans for them in Year Zero.

[narciso]

Yes, Gus, I believed the Amateur, more last spring then now, back then they said that the Clintons despised Obama, but they vouched for him anyways,

[Gus]

Let's review.
IRS=CORRUPT
DOJ=Corrupt on AP phone taps, Benghazi and New Black Panthers.
State Dept=Corrupt.
Pentagon=Talking points spade and neutered and no one says a word.
DEFENSE=stand down in tripoli.

HOPE AND CHANGE!!!!!

[Gus]

Narciso, the Clintons are always looking for an angle to enrich themselves. They made a deal with Obama.
Hey, whatever happened to Rodhams campaing debt???

[Janet]

EPA = Corrupt. Using secret emails, releasing info to enviro. groups

[narciso]

Let me see the logic in this, they are trying to nail the leaker, here's a crazy thought subpoena his records, or those who under suspicion,

[Captain Hate]

I think Slick lost what little mind that hadn't been gnawed away at by various STDs when he had that heart attack. He could be living large with nary a care in the world but he has this unquenchable delusion that he can commandeer Rodham into the White House where he can be the shadow President. God knows why he wants this because he was a mediocre President at best, benefiting from the dot com bubble which burst after he was gone and shitcanned the nation's security so badly with Gorelick that the welcome mat was out for 9/11. What will go better next time?

[Gus]

You know, today Obama said the problems with RUSSIA and the Syria situation were a result of the COLD WAR.
The RESET BUTTON didn't work???
Obama didn't get all FLEXIBLE after the election???
Pathetic loser is getting what he deserves.

[Clarice]

I agree , CH, that the operation seemed to have affected Bill's lucidity.

[Clarice]

Or maybe it's just that Hillary's eating all his food.

[Strawman Cometh]

So now the problem is that Reagan won the COLD WAR. For a Prog, this is progress.

[narciso]

Volodya just sighs, and wonders why do I bother telling them anything,

[Janet]

I didn't realize that Heritage had let Jason Richwine go.

[narciso]

Yes, Janet and 'Duke and Duke' brought a set of torches.

[rich]

still not working

[Janet]

I had trouble earlier today too, rich. For the first time. I even tried putting *birther* at the top!

[Strawman Cometh]

WFB remarked that he would agree that certain subjects, one in particular, should not be researched. No good could come of it.

[Captain Hate]

I guess now that Thatcher's gone there's nobody to keep places like Heritage from going wobbly.

[Janet]

from the Powerline link - "That Heritage would cut Richwine loose in just 48 hours—nowhere near enough time to have reviewed his controversial dissertation seriously—is not a good sign."

[MarkO]

"I had trouble earlier today too, rich. For the first time. I even tried putting *birther* at the top!"

I was KIDDING! Although putting "birther" in this post will ensure you will see it.

It's a faith based deal.

[Ralph L]

This is bonanza time for white collar defense counsel in D.C.
It can't possibly compare to the 8 years of non-stop Clinton scandals.

[Captain Hate]

I'm almost embarrassed to hear you guys are having such difficulty posting (and there's a certain irritation factor of seeing comments consisting solely of the word "test"). Might I suggest that you refer to typhus fairly often as "garbage software"? It seems to like being verbally smacked around.

[Jeff Dobbs]

The sulfuric odor resulting from smiting rodent nests is evidence that vegans were not aware of how a small amount of yeast could work through the whole hair dye and that could only mean that cuts of tendrils should always be included in one's diet when being served shit sandwiches from typepad.

In other news, the Obama administration was unable to give a less mangled response to any of the half dozen scandals engulfing the White House these days.

[Eric in Boise]

I'm not having any difficulty posting, but unfortunately, I'm channeling my inner Lily Tomlin with recent events.

No matter how cynical I get, I'm having a hard time keeping up.

[narciso]

I had that problem Friday, so I sympathize, had to clear the cache of cookies, sometimes certain servers block this site entirely, it's like the Machine, but less self aware.

[Janet]

No matter how cynical I get, I'm having a hard time keeping up.

Hah!

[Trevor Saccucci]

I'm in agreement with Rich at 9:38 about why Benghazi, the IRS scandal, the AP wiretap scandal, et al are being reported now, and I think it also explains why it's getting MSM coveraqe: a lot of career bureaucrats got very, very displeased with the Obama, the White House apparat in general, and Obama's appointees heading the departments and agencies staffed by those bureaucrats. In short, I think Obama threw the wrong people under the bus during the Benghazi debacle, literally abandoning them to die because they were inconvenient. Every foreign or clandestine service officer has to know that what happened in Benghazi could happen to them if they find themselves in a life-or-death predicament while carrying out policies that the executive branch is mortified to own up to. Perhaps a similar sense of impending expendability is permeating the IRS and FBI even now. Now the weakness of Obama's ruthlessness becomes apparent: how do you threaten a dead man? If these people decide that their status as political roadkill (or worse in the case of those serving overseas in rough venues) is likely enough, they'll find ways of striking back politically to improve their odds, or at least to exact retribution if they see their positions as otherwise untenable. I suppose that if some critical mass of such people is reached you get Glenn Reynolds' preference cascade going full tilt. I suspect that many if not most of these people, including the people who gave Jon Karl his information about Benghazi, are politically closer to the MSM journalists than to me or most of the other posters here, and that probably helped these stories get covered. If this is the case, Obama and a number of current and past executive branch personnel at the GS-14 level and higher may find themselves living in interesting times.

[Threadkiller]

Keep the faith...

Birther!

http://obamareleaseyourrecords.blogspot.com/2013/05/obamas-purported-kenyan-birth.html?m=1

[Threadkiller]

For the less than faithful:

Evidence?

[Stephanie]

Idiot Obama Supporter:

That footprint's black... RACIST!!!!

[Threadkiller]

You could have said "Obama supporter".

[narciso]

You know I've never seen Levin angrier, and he wasn't shouting on Hannity, because he suggests the House basically dropped the ball on the IRS investigation, because it concerned the Tea Party.

We have the IG report, it shows coordination at the top level, from at least the summer of 2011,it shows initial aggressive scrutiny since the spring of 2010, around the time of Sarah's 'reload' remarks. Benghazi likewise is a continuation of the support by this administration, of that same clique of Salafi militants involved in the ISB, the Ground Zero Mosque and the Egyptian revolution, but the cooperation of the GOP foreign policy establishment,

[daddy]

I've missed much, but the part I liked best on Talk radio today was Levin and others showing Obama doesn't believe his own IRS.

First they played this tape of Obama saying "Well, let me take the IRS situation first. I first learned about it from the same news reports that I think most people learned about this. I think it was on Friday. And this is pretty straightforward.

If, in fact, IRS personnel engaged in the kind of practices that had been reported on and were intentionally targeting conservative groups, then that’s outrageous and there’s no place for it.

This on the heels of the IRS Officials apologizing yesterday for having engaged in these practices.

So Obama does not believe the IRS.

Amazing.

[Stephanie]

I coulda said Meggie McCans, too. "Idiot" would also be redundant there...

[C.R.]

So I never like the addition of "gate" to the scandal du jour in Washington as it always seems so hackneyed, but I have to say that this has a nice ring to it from the Boston Herald :
"Scandals Invoke Comparison To Nixon...Obamagate"

Via Instapundit

[daddy]

The astonishing thing to me is that Obama has completely had the AP and almost the entire MSM in his pocket for the last 6 years. Why the heck he would do something like this to his best allies in pushing his agenda amazes me. It is like Hitler unexpectedly attacking the Russians and opening up the Eastern Front.

I'm glad he did it, because the MSM needs to slapped in the face by this evil man, but boy was he stupid to do it.

[narciso]

Well there is some of that, the IG report was obviously not done yesterday, as I doubt were the subpoenas to the AP,

[Strawman Cometh]

From the CH-JOM style guide: Mega McCanz

[narciso]

He doesn't think he needs them anymore, it seems like 'ramming speed' to me, conversely he does believe Brennan is valuable, so you throw up a smokescreen,

[Porchlight]

Why wouldn't he? They've always come through for him before. He couldn't conceive that it could work any other way.

[Eric in Boise]

Why the heck he would do something like this to his best allies in pushing his agenda amazes me.

Isn't it obvious? The IRS kerfuffle was put out as a distraction from Bengazi, and the AP fiasco is just a distraction from the IRS flap. The administration is playing three-dimensional chess, while we bitter clingers in the hinterland are stuck on checkers with worn pennies and nickels.

Or, um, something.

[narciso]

'winning the future' is this about;

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2013/05/subliminal-fallen-eagle-message-from-dear-leaders-twitter-account/

[Rob Crawford]

I suspect the AP taps are more about finding a leaker inside the administration than anything the press has done.

[narciso]

That's likely, the timeline they are focusing on them, suggests a certain event, for which we already likely know the answer.

[daddy]

I also hope we identify who first said this IRS thing was just some local office in Cincinnati, then whoever said it was also another small local office in California or wherever, then whoever said maybe it was a few more local offices, and on and on. As these talking points unravel I want the names of each person who spoke them, with hard prosecution waiting in the wings as each person says under oath why they first said "Only Cincinnati", etc.

And again as I watch Obama for the umpteenth time today at his Press Briefing, I notice how Obama has his head leaning at a 20 degree list from the straight up and down. His head is more cockeyed then some Revlon Shampoo model.

He is lying.

[Trevor Saccucci]

As the MSM wake up to the fact that they occupy no special place in Obama's heart and are just as expendable as any of the people left to the tender mercies of Ansar al Sharia in Libya, they'll fight back as a matter of self-preservation (or revenge for their ruination) just as some of the career bureaucrats must be doing. Obama, Hillary, Holder, et al appear to have just out-Chicagoed themselves. After hubris, Nemesis.

[C.R.]

"Attorney General Eric Holder is scheduled to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday." from NRO's The Corner

The information from The House of Representatives just lists the Hearing Information as: Oversight of the United States Department of Justice
1:00 pm

[Threadkiller]

The media had a big clue in 2012 when DADT fruitcakes handcuffed themselves to the Whitehouse fence and the reporters were ejected back thru Lafayette park.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPyQk3UnUD8

[Eric in Boise]

He is lying.

I agree, daddy, but it's a lot harder to prove when he's puffing his lip out rather than biting it.

I denounce myself...

[Threadkiller]

2010 I meant.

[jimmyk]

"Scandals Invoke Comparison To Nixon...Obamagate"

I thought the rule was that when a scandal involves a body count, "-quiddick" is the appropriate suffix: Obamaquiddick?

[jimmyk]

His head is more cockeyed then some Revlon Shampoo model.

Daddy, Tim Blair has been on the "tilting" phenomenon for years, as in this:

http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/tilt_triplets/

[jimmyk]

From that Tim Blair post, the compassionate head tilt:

[Spammer]

Everyone is leery of audits (which is what will come to mind to the average joe, regardless of the facts), and every news man understands the need for confidentiality for news sources. Both of these stories have legs.

[Steve]

Space Oddity -- First music video from the International Space Station:

http://commoncts.blogspot.com/2013/05/space-oddity-first-music-video-from.html

[Clarice]

Jane, Instapundit has a rundown of the Mass Dems attacking Obama and the feature in the Boston herald.

won't it be something if Hillary who began her career here on the watergate committee where she was fired for unethical behavior ends her career here for doing what nixon did--covering up bad behavior?

[Clarice]

PJM goes thru the questions asked of the tea party applicants etc and it's clear the IRS was helping the administration build an extensive enemies list.

[NK]

A Libertarian (Ben Smith at Buzzfeed)now smacks around Obummer as a paranoid leak supresser. There's a completely predictable slap at Bush/Cheney foreign call surveillance, but a pleasant endorsement of current libertarian-Tea Party repubs positioned to slam Obummer's Big Gov tyranny. BTW sweet Obummer/Nixon Gif: http://www.buzzfeed.com/bensmith/the-panopticon-president

[Dublindave]

These scandals have the same entertainment value of a Merchant/Ivory movie. Sure, for industry folk there's substance and technical achievement, but ultimately they're complete fucking snoozers.

State department V Benghazi= intra agency fighting over talking points ...zzzzzzzz

IRS v Tea party= really? Checking the boxes on the deluge of Tea party groups applying for exemptions in 2010....really??????....zzzzzz

Justice V AP= Nicely timed AP, nicely timed. Granted, the scope rather than the FISA law it was excecuted under is unprecendented, but so was the scope of 'A pasage to India' when it was made and that was a complete snoozer.

The bottom line is that joe public is not going to connect with any of these scandals any more than they'd que up for three hours and shell out 50 bucks to watch the newly re-issued 3d version of that 1982 classic 'A room with a view'.

These scandals have artistic merit but honestly, they're too obscure and pretentious to live in the mainstream for long.

[NK]

DD raises a fair point at 7:57. But there's another side to it... the political side. Obummer won't be impeached, but the popular culture will become he's a paranoid nerd who can't handle the details of the job. 4 Dead in Benghazi, and he lied his ass off about-- the pop culture in the media well he just didn't understand the details. Spying on AP to ferret out leakers-- well Bush/Cheney did that to potential Al-Q operatives.. UH... well that's an epic fail; attacking Tea Party with the IRS-- well those crazy christians teabaggers had it coming to them-- the Left will love that, but the other 70% not so much. Bottomline, the pop culture becomes Obummer is either an incompetent idiot or an evil tyrant. And now comes Gunz Control, Immigration and implementing ObummerCare and 2014 elections. Gunz Contol and Immigration are D-E-D dead because of this new perception, this is another huge problem with ObummerCare because it uses the IRS for enforcement, and Obummer becomes a huge drag for close Dem elections. Obummer won't be impeached or even villified in the Media for long, but these events will have real consequences. Me likey.

[RichatGMU]

morning people. trying to see if I can post again.

[Extraneus]

Corrupt DOJ, DOS, FEC, SEC, EPA, DOE, IRS, ATF...

The most corrupt administration in American history.

[NK]

Regarding my 8:16-- Glenn Kessler in the WaPo today sticks 4 Pinnochios on Obummer for claiming yesterday that he call Benghazi 'terrorism' the next morning on 9/12. Of course Kessler doesn't call Obummer a heartless cowardly lying weasel for leaving 30 consulate staff to their fate at the hands of AQ-- he says Obummer is guilty of confused 'messaging'. There's that pop culture angle, Obummer is the confused nerd who can't handle details. that's the teammate talking about Obummer. Obummer won't get anything done after all this-- he'll be in revenge mode from now on.

[rse]

NK-my AM reports say that bo's trip to Austin last week announced three more public-private manufacturing research institutes to go along with the first one in Ohio. All to be "nodes" of a $1 billion National Network for Manufacturing Innovation.

He has also announced a new Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership to reward campaign donors and continue dependence of his most loyal constituents.

Ooops. Cynical me. That's not the PR version explanation of these boondoggles.

[Captain Hate]

You know I've never seen Levin angrier, and he wasn't shouting on Hannity, because he suggests the House basically dropped the ball on the IRS investigation, because it concerned the Tea Party.

I'm listening to Levin from last night now and he's been going hard after Boehner and the Repub apparatchiks for not exercising their oversight responsibilities instead of after the fact reacting to others' revelations.

[Extraneus]

The intimidation of Republican donors calls the 2012 election result into question.

(Someone like McConnell should say this out loud.)

[RichatGMU]

success.

NK-

An issue that I don't see the Obama Administration handling well is that they have been treated with kid gloves (and him his whole career) and the administration doesn't know how to deal with a media feeding frenzy.

1. The AP story is interesting and I find it doubtful that 100 or so reporters were given the Yeman information. Looks like that is an abuse of FISA (if that was how they obtained the records) or at the least the story is cover to find whistleblowers and leakers the admin wanted silenced (and wouldn't be surprised if the media helped the admin in silencing some).

2. Did you see the story about how much insurance costs are going to skyrocket with the full implementation of Obamacare? 100%-400%. I think the lowest of the low information voter might notice that. Already ran into an issue where I couldn't cut back my hours for school because I'd run afoul of the healthcare rules, now I'll get to see my premiums more than double too. Australia is looking pretty good.

[narciso]

No not good enough enough, this whole edifice was built on lies, the 'lynching' of Zimmerman,
to reinforce the African American bloc, the Fluke agitprop, to subvert one of the few remaining institutions, and to mask the butchery of a Gosnell, the slandering of good men and women, like Allen West and Sarah Palin, for speaking truth to power,

[RichatGMU]

from last night:

CH-

this garbage software. I've tried everything: rebooting my machine, rebooting my wifi, clearing the cashe, virus scan. Even signed up for a typepad account. Nothing works.

[henry]

rse, the entire country is collapsing under the weight of various public-private partnerships for manufacturing and has been for decades. There is at least one in every congressional district.

OT, Milwaukee Mayor Barrett has doubled down on the trolley. Angry at the WI legislature making him pay for it with local funds, he hand waved the utility relocation costs as trivial and will start spending immediately on full engineering design. I suppose he'll appeal to regionalism when the costs turn out to be "unexpectedly" a multiple of the original estimates.

[Elliott]

So I never like the addition of "gate" to the scandal du jour in Washington as it always seems so hackneyed,

IRS-Contra? JournoListen?

[RichatGMU]

rse-

All to be "nodes" of a $1 billion National Network for Manufacturing Innovation.

Is that more "green jobs" crap or is it just the normal sort of rent seeking and payoffs?

[henry]

Rich, is there a difference? The answers are yes, and yes.

[NK]

RichGMC/Narc-- The Obamaniacs are screwing the pooch in handling these self-created disasters, and this is not anywhere NEAR a Media feeding frenzy. I think ObummerCare is in real danger because it stinks as it is, and now they'll have to back off IRS collecting fines from uninsured-- ObummerCare will disintegrate out of its own insanity.

As far as the popc ulture being Obummer the paranoid nerd, rather than an evil narcissistic tyrant-- that's up to us to convince the LIVs. Narc is right-- everything-- and I mean everything literally-- Obummer believes and does is built on lies. Expose the lies over and over. That's up to us.

[RichatGMU]

IRS-Contra? JournoListen?

An Obamabungle. Benghazi->Guns for Terrorists. Fast & Furious -> Guns for Thugs. IRS -> audits for mom and dad.

Needs work. Don't have bates knack for this sort of thing.

[Jeff Dobbs]

"White House spokesman Jay Carney insists that the president was not informed of the IG’s review of the IRS and learned about the program on Friday through news reports."

So Obama has adopted Comey's managerial style.

[rse]

Both Rich. Do you remember the post I wrote about Project 21 and how these are also to be minority jobs in certain neighborhoods? Or at least there must be payoffs to minority firms even if just a middleman pass through.

henry-I agree but it is accelerating and you will be fascinated by what popped up in next post. An aspect of Uncle Karl's emphasis that is definitely getting implemented but I had never seen attributed to him or Friedrich before.

Regionalism corrupts the Republican politicians so they become in essence Dem lite. It is part of the attraction as it disgruntles the part of the base most likely to be paying attention.

[RichatGMU]

henry-

a distinction without a difference. It is just so great to be able to post again, I'm just letting the words fly off the keyboard. I'll be less of a chatterbox as soon as the morning coffee wears off.

[James D.]

he'll be in revenge mode from now on.

Obama's been in revenge mode his entire life.

[narciso]

You see here, where a word like Ghoul came into being, and this is not the Nusra Front, in the LUN, because I've given fair warning,

[Captain Hate]

At least they didn't rape and kill him: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323716304578482660056321772.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories