The IRS & Benghazi….What Did Obama Know And When Did He Know It?

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obama clinton nixon lbj

He has, acting personally and through his subordinates and agents, endeavored to obtain from the Internal Revenue Service, in violation of the constitutional rights of citizens, confidential information contained in income tax returns for purposed not authorized by law, and to cause, in violation of the constitutional rights of citizens, income tax audits or other income tax investigations to be initiated or conducted in a discriminatory manner.

That paragraph is from the articles of impeachment for Richard M. Nixon.

And now we find out that the IRS, under Obama’s administration, specifically targeted groups that ran counter to his presidency and his campaign for re-election.

How bad was it?

Pretty effin bad:

An IRS campaign to apply additional scrutiny to conservative groups went beyond targeting “Tea Party” and “patriot” groups to include those focused on government spending, the Constitution and several other broad areas.

The additional guidelines created by the agency were part of a timeline, obtained by Fox News, from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, which is looking into the controversial IRS practice. IRS officials apologized Friday for the scrutiny, but new information suggests senior leaders were apprised of the effort as early as 2011 despite public denials from the top.

Republican lawmakers have vowed to investigate and hold hearings, calling the revelations deeply troubling.

“The conclusion that the IRS came to is that they did have agents who were engaged in intimidation of political groups,” Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers told “Fox News Sunday.” “I don’t care if you’re a conservative, a liberal, a Democrat or a Republican, this should send a chill up your spine. It needs to have a full investigation.”

A top Democrat — Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus — also said Monday that his committee would launch a “full investigation” into the matter.

“These actions by the IRS are an outrageous abuse of power and a breach of the public’s trust. Targeting groups based on their political views is not only inappropriate but it is intolerable,” the Montana Democrat said in a statement. “Americans expect the IRS to do its job without passion or prejudice. We need to get to the bottom of what happened here. … The IRS will now be the ones put under additional scrutiny.”

What’s Obama’s response?

“[it’s] outrageous and there’s no place for it — and they have to be held fully accountable.”

Yeeeaaaaah, we shall see how far down this rabbit hole goes soon enough. I mean during the election there was a leak about Romney’s taxes wasn’t there? Obama and his pals wouldn’t of had any interest in that would they?

Naaaaw.

And as this scandal continues to grow, so does Benghazi.

But no worry, Obama says you CAN trust government, that tyranny under the guise of our government is a fantasy:

“Still, you’ll hear voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that’s the root of all our problems, even as they do their best to gum up the works; or that tyranny always lurks just around the corner. You should reject these voices. Because what they suggest is that our brave, creative, unique experiment in self-rule is just a sham with which we can’t be trusted.”

But what we are finding out is that when a Republican is in office it’s a-ok to scream about conspiracies. Whether they be WMD, 9/11, wiretaps and so on. Hell, I recall some years back when the whole world seemed to fall apart over a desk jockey at the CIA getting outed.

But now we have the IRS doing the same thing under Obama as they did under Nixon. Now we have the administration outright lying to the American people over an attack that killed our ambassador and 3 other Americans.

And what do we get now from our media?

They barely covered Benghazi until Republican lawmakers forced it into the headlines with multiple hearings. They mocked the IRS story until a conservative talk-show host forced it into the headlines with a lawsuit.

woodward-and-bernstein

Where are our Woodward and Bernsteins now that a Democrat is in office I wonder?

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Keep your eye on the ball. This administration wants the scrutiny off of Benghazi and the press is accommodating. Keep hammering away on Benghazi, this can wait.

Today, the sad sack that is the President referred to the Benghazi hearings as a “Sideshow”! A side show” An EFFIN side show?! Once again not only is his sheer disregard for the truth and for that matter his utter disdain for the public in general once again on display, but in fact his complete failings as Commander in Chief! This clown went to bed knowing our people were being murdered and he didn’t do a damn thing about it! How must our men and women at arms feel if they are in a position of mortal danger when they know their CC is willing to let them die without lifting a hand to help them?

I agree re: This probably is a distraction.
Of note: The IRS also targeted Jewish non-profits as well. In fact, the trial is set for some time in July, I think.

@joetote:
The vast majority of military personnel cannot stand democrats. We had to have commanding generals order us not to be disrespectful of Clinton when he came to use us as props in his photo ops. The vast majority of military personnel cannot stand Obama. I can recall commanders having to hold formations in Afghanistan when Obama threatened to have military pay held hostage to his tax hike budget battle in Feb-Mar 2011. Commanders had to warn troops to hold true to their Constitutional oath to serve and not worry what the lying politicians were doing.

Leftists are untrustworthy traitors.

@Pete:

The vast majority of military personnel cannot stand Obama.

Unfortunately both Clinton and Obama placed progressive officers in most high command positions. Bush stupidly left many of Clinton’s Pentagon leadership in place.

Pete, this goes way beyond our military not being able to stand Obama or the Democrats (and please, let’s not forget the wishy-washy RINOs here). This goes to the very heart of our soul as it relates not only to country and what we stand for, but in a military’s faith that their Commander in Chief and hos or hers underlings will have their backs! The President got pissed as he was asked questions about this! He called it a sideshow! The Commander in Chief let our people die! No matter what else comes of this, we have a treasonous son of a bitch in charge who abandoned our people!! Never in my life have I seen anything remotely as Anti-American as this!

I put this comment on a post by Curt and also on Doug Gibbs “political Pistachio” site., but I want to use it here also along with a comment that came back from Doug. In my second paragraph, I ask a question which as I state Doug Gibbs confirmed I was correct in my assertions! So again, why did our leaders abandon our people?
From the other day:
“As the hearings unfolded Wednesday it was apparent to anyone who chose to open their minds that this administration from the President down lied to their teeth! Some call it political. Some call it moronic stupidity. Some call it miscommunication. Bullshit! The President of the United States, The Secretary of State, The Press Secretary and more all lied! And apparently the then Secretary of Defense had his head so far up the President’s ass that he also came out with some bullshit line as to “we couldn’t just send our people in there without knowing the situation”. We know they had real time video! We know they were told that the consulate was under attack. And we damned well know the “video” excuse was complete balderdash.

I want to make one point as to the above that I have not really seen any one expound upon much and if I am wrong on this assertion I would ask someone to please show me that. It is my understanding that for hours, one of the hero Seals reported he had the mortar position that was shelling the consulate “lit up” while they were begging for help. I understand that this means he had a laser aimed at the position which in turn a fighter could have homed a missile or whatever in on. It is also my understanding that as the battle lasted for some hours, there was in fact plenty of time to get an F16 over there which could have blown the sorry Muslim Al-Quida whatever they are called bastards directly to hell! Yet or Secretary of Defense said we couldn’t do that?! And what about our Commander in Chief, you know, the one who was informed and went to bed because he had to be up early for a trip to Vegas! ”

Doug Gibbs commented as follows:
And since the SEAL was painting a target, I think he really believed air support was on its way. I believe he was told by the administration that air support was on the way, and lit up that target for the strike. He betrayed his position in doing that, placing the administration as being even more directly at fault for his death. They lied to him, and he opened himself up as a result. There is a lot of blood on the hands of the Obama administration.

Sideshow my ass! This isn’t about a coverup, political cover or misinformation. It wasn’t a damn video! This is a dereliction of duty, a duty this no count swore he would perform when he took the oath of office! He and his lackeys let our people die then they lied! In my book, the President of the United States committed one of the most treasonous acts one could ever imagine a leader could do. He abandoned our people! It’s time to stop putting rose colored glasses on this and call it like it is! Our President turned his back on his country and for that, we all suffer.

Well said Joetote.

It’s time to drag these treasonous leftist dogs out into the streets and start passing out blindfolds and cigarettes!

And don’t let them get away with just “4 dead” that f-wad left ALL (40?) of the Embassy Empolyees to die while he went and took a little nappy.

My god! As if things aren’t bad enough, there is now this! When are the people going to stop this from happening?!

From the USA Today:
The U.S. Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for the Associated Press in what the news cooperative’s top executive called a “massive and unprecedented intrusion” into how news organizations gather the news.

The Politburo has a right to know who and what is being said against them…

When did Obama now what? That this was a terrorist attack? He said so in less than 24 hours. You got nothing.

If the IRS didn’t target them, they wouldn’t be doing their job.
The real scandal here is that we allow these organizations to be tax exempt to begin with.
501(c)(4)s are not supposed to intervene in elections for or against any candidates. 501(c)(3)s are not supposed to do that OR to lobby for or against any legislation.
The Heritage Foundation is a 501(c)(3). So is the Center for American Progress. Neither of them should be tax exempt. Why should some entity be able to make a profit off these activities and not pay any tax?

@This one:

“He said so in less than 24 hours. You got nothing.”

Hey dumbass, go ask Candy Crowley why she had to APOLOGIZE for saying the same stupid thing as you.

You’re repeating FULLY DEBUNKED leftist talking points and you’re a willfully ignorant moron for still trying to defend that inept fool Obama. Oh well, blind liberal sheep like you never were too bright and you’re all easily misled. You believe in LIES. 🙄

Moron.

This@ Ahh, we know where you get your info, from this widely debunked bit from Crowley, even she admitted that she was wrong:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/17/mitt-romney-benghazi-attack-debate_n_1973226.html

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/matthew-sheffield/2012/10/17/video-candy-crowley-admits-romney-was-correct-about-libya-attack

CANDY CROWLEY: Well, you know, I heard the president speak at the time. I, sort of, reread a lot of stuff about Libya because I knew we’d probably get a Libya question so I kind of wanted to be up on it. So I knew that the president had, had, said, you know, these acts of terror won’t stand or, whatever the whole quote was.

And I think actually, you know because, right after that I did turn around and say, but you’re totally correct that they spent two weeks telling us this was about a tape and that that there was a, you know, this riot outside the Benghazi consulate which there wasn’t.

So he was right in the main, I just think he picked the wrong word. And I, you know, they’re going to parse and we all know about what the definition of is is, but, I, uh, you know, in the end, I think John [King]’s probably right. I think this has a lot more to with jobs and the debt crisis and all of that kind of stuff.

I just think that probably it was one of those moments and I could even feel that here, you know, when you say something you’re not expecting. It’s just that was the natural thing coming out of me going, ‘Actually he did, you know, call it an act of terror.’ Uh, when, you know, half the crowd clapped for that and the other half clapped for ‘But they kept telling us this was a tape, this was caused by a tape’ so, you know, in the main, the thrust of what Governor Romney was saying, which is why I went back and said that, um, but I just think he picked the wrong kind of way to go about talking about it if that makes sense.

Ah, the Website That Cried Impeachment. One of my favorite tales.

@Out of the ashes:

It’s time to drag these treasonous leftist dogs out into the streets and start passing out blindfolds and cigarettes!

Sounds intriguing. Are you bringing us to a surprise party?

@Pete:

The vast majority of military personnel cannot stand democrats.

are you including the 25% of US minority servicemen and women in that “statistic”, or just the ones you talk to?

There it is, the race card, sorry pal, you are over extended and there is no more race credits on your card.

@Rob in Katy:

Race card or facts? You can listen to “Pete”, who says the vast majority of servicemen hate Democrats, or you can listen to the servicemen. Less than half disapprove of how Obama is performing his job as CIC. is he a Democrat?

No, he is Muslim, which means he is only pretending to be Democrat. If you are thinking he is one of yours, you will be sorry!

@Tom: Per your link, Obama’s disapproval rating as CiC is as follows:

Active Duty: 44.3%
Guard and Reserve: 52.23%
Retired/Vets: 63.68%

Percent identifying themselves as Democrats:

AD: 14.19%
Guard/Reserve: 10.97%
Retired/Vets: 9.72%

Check out the percent of those on AD that approve of Obama as CiC. At less than 25%, it is way lower than those who disapprove. Your statement cherry picks the data to paint a picture that doesn’t exist. What this poll overwhelmingly shows is that those serving and those who have served, tend to be conservative, tend to vote for someone other than a Democrat, and don’t approve of Obama as a CiC. If anything, it validates Pete’s statement. I guess him being or having been in the military gives him a better perspective on what those in uniform think compared to those who are on the outside. I couldn’t have done a better job posting a link to support his statement. Even I didn’t think the gap would be that big. Thanks!

@This one:

Not to bust your chops “This One”….I’m as bad as anybody. But, “now”…is not “know”. What did he “know”. Not what did he “now”.

You could say….what did he do now. That works 🙂

@another vet:

I am not attempting to state that there are as many liberals as conservatives in the military. I am specifically pushing back against Pete’s statement that the “vast majority of military personnel cannot stand democrats”. The data does not support that assertion. He never mentioned veterans, by the way, so, respectfully, I believe you are injecting irrelevant data into this conversation.

The military is trending less overtly Republican, and the 2012 survey of active duty servers certainly refutes Pete’s sweeping statement since not even a simple majority disapprove of Obama as CiC.
http://www.navytimes.com/article/20100411/NEWS/4110309/Survey-Troops-shift-political-parties

Political party affiliation has fallen sharply among those wearing the uniform today, a new Military Times survey shows.

An exclusive survey of some 1,800 active-duty troops shows the percentage of self-identified Republicans has decreased by one-third since 2004, from 60 percent to 41 percent, while the percentage of self-identified independents has nearly doubled to 32 percent during the same period.

What does the number of men/women in the military and/or how they vote have anything to do with what happened in Benghazi?

I can tell you absolutely…the men and women who were in Benghazi…democrat or not…were ALL disappointed, even livid…at how things went down and how things were handled back in Washington. Hicks is a democrat and 2x Obama voter. It doesn’t stop them from realizing when they are being shot at and by whom. It doesn’t erase what they know to be the truth, and that it differs from what the WH and State are saying. And it surely doesn’t stop them from feeling bitter over being demoted and/or pushed out for speaking out about it.

@Tom: I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a leadership position, but if only 25% (a number which you are ignoring but tells a lot more than the 44%) of those under you approve of the job you are doing as their leader, it would be very indicative of you being a shitty leader. It also indicates a morale problem. If the Army did a Command Climate Survey of a unit and had similar results, it would have caused serious concern in the unit’s chain of command and may have very likely led to the commander being relieved or “transferred”.

As for Pete’s assertion, you have to remember that the dems went out of their way to be the darlings of the anti war movement. That doesn’t bode well with those who risk their lives. As someone who used to vote for almost as many D’s as R’s, I may never vote for another D again because of that. While the military may be trending less Republican, it doesn’t mean that they are trending more Democrat. What it most likely means is that they are becoming more disgruntled with the R’s because the R’s have abandoned their party’s principles. I certainly fit into that category and know others who feel the same way. More and more people seem to be of the attitude that there is little difference between the two parties. To me the D’s are a lost cause and the R’s aren’t very far behind if not there already.

@Dc: It’s all about image. The image was that Obama almost single handedly wiped out AQ and everything was hunky dory. The preplanned Benghazi terrorist attack debunks that image. Those AMERICANS were left out to dangle in the wind. It should be very simple to find out who gave the stand down orders. All you have to do is follow the chain of command from the bottom up. Eventually you’ll find out at what level those orders came from. They may have very well come from a level below that of the WH. Then again, we should have known a long time ago who authorized the intel leaks and we still don’t know that.

Obama’s use of ”IF,” makes Clint Eastwood’s idea of depicting him as an empty chair quite prescient.
How can Obama be such a bystander of all of these areas of his own Administration?
But he’s an empty chair painted into a corner.
IF he was aware, that makes him complicit.
If he’s unaware it extends the image of him as the ”Present” president, voting merely ”present,” like he actually did as state senator.

CURT
this big one is number 13