Obama Attacks 'Phony Scandals,' 'One Percent,' Forces 'Conspired' Against Middle Class

Top 10 Signs Scandals Aren't 'Phony'

10. Someone pleads the Fifth. Lois Lerner, IRS Director of Exempt Organizations, invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during an oversight hearing. She was also suspended (with pay).

9. Documents go missing, officials fake e-mail addresses. Records of tax inquiries into Tea Party candidate Christine O'Donnell are gone; the former EPA chief made emails tough to find by using an alias.

8. You announce drastic policy shifts to minimize damage. When the Department of Justice was found to be snooping on the AP and Fox's James Rosen, Obama suddenly embraced a media shield law.

7. You make a show of "forcing" an official to resign. Obama theatrically announced the resignation of IRS chief Steven Miller; though his term was almost over, the gesture sent a clear signal of disapproval.

6. You try to arrest a low-level leaker. Though Obama himself minimizes the effort to catch Edward Snowden, the federal government is desperately trying to have him extradited for exposing NSA programs.

5. You assert dubious executive privilege to stop investigations. Obama exercised that option to protect Attorney General Eric Holder and the disastrous Operation Fast and Furious from scrutiny.

4. You intimidate whistleblowers. Hillary Clinton's State Department intimidated officials who knew the truth of what happened in Benghazi--and others who knew about gross misconduct in the agency.

3. Your Department of Justice opens criminal investigations. Theoretically, anyway, Attorney General Holder is seeing to it that the IRS's conduct is being scrutinized for alleged federal crimes.
www.breitbart.com...
2. You yourself have condemned the misconduct. Whether calling the IRS's behavior "inexcusable," or condemning civil liberties violations before 2008, Obama set the standard by which he is being judged.

1. Even the friendly media have run out of patience. When even journalists who made sure Obama was elected--twice--begin to feel threatened and irritated by the administration, there is no denying reality.

Takes a lot of nerve to bold face lie, sad that the people listening to the speech are so gullible.

It is like a cult.

reply to post by JacKatMtn


Politics aside...Niel Diamond rocks!!

reply to post by Stormdancer777


No offense, but IMO that list kinda sucks...lots of rhetoric and BS...very little meat.

I would rank genuine scandals as the NSA collecting info on well..everyone. Plus the targeting of American Citizens abroad for assasination, and both security leaks and the over-sized prosecution of leakers.

Plenty of real-life crap that the Administration needs to be held accountable for.

But there is also too many distractions...BS scandals put forward by the far-right...the IRS it turned out was equally targeting left wing groups...the scandal there should be why that evidence was burried for witch hunt purposes.

Was the #1 scandal you listed really that journalists no longer like him as much?

Just saying..

This guy....

Nothing in the speech was helpful. Not a single proposal in there. No call for bi-partisanship...just more divisiveness. "It's the republicans fault"...yeah, that always motivates people to come to the table with an open mind and willingness to work.

Phony scandals? Nah...the IRS didn't do anything wrong. Benghazi never happened and the Snowden release was just a huge misunderstanding...but we're going to throw him under the prison anyway.

reply to post by Indigo5


The song works for any political pundit who gives you a headache, no matter what side of the fence you sit on

I use it when I see Karl Rove bring out his whiteboard BS too !!

Originally posted by Indigo5
the IRS it turned out was equally targeting left wing groups...

Oh really??? Care to share that evidence?

Originally posted by macman

Originally posted by Indigo5
the IRS it turned out was equally targeting left wing groups...

Oh really??? Care to share that evidence?

Documents reveal IRS put Occupy groups on ‘watch list’ too
www.rawstory.com...

New Documents Reveal That the IRS Hid the Targeting of Occupy Groups
www.politicususa.com...

Document: IRS also targeted 'progressive,' 'Occupy' groups
news.cincinnati.com...

The Treasury Department inspector general who got the IRS — and then himself — in hot water over his report detailing alleged targeting of Tea Party groups, said he didn’t know the IRS had also flagged for review the applications of “progressive” and “Occupy” groups until after publishing the results of his audit.

“We just learned about that recently,” J. Russell George told members of the House Oversight Committee this afternoon, saying he was not given a target list beyond Tea Party ones. “I am disturbed that these documents were not provided to our auditors at the outset, and we are currently reviewing the issue.”

www.salon.com...

reply to post by Indigo5

You had said that the IRS was targeting Progressive groups equally.
Were the numbers equal? That is regarding the progressive vs Tea Party groups.

I heard that the IRS targeted 100% of groups having 'Tea Party' in their name, but only 30% that had 'Progress' or 'Progressive' in their name.
cnsnews

It doesn't seem equal.

IRS workers complained that they were being micromanaged by people at the top when it came to Tea Party applications.

Originally posted by Indigo5


Documents reveal IRS put Occupy groups on ‘watch list’ too
www.rawstory.com...

They were put on a "watchlist". They did not receive the same treatment. The title is misleading, as the context explains the Progressive groups were on a separate list from the "Tea Party" groups that were delayed and investigated.
Try again.

Originally posted by Indigo5
New Documents Reveal That the IRS Hid the Targeting of Occupy Groups
www.politicususa.com...

Regurgitation of the last story you provided. Echo chamber much?

Originally posted by Indigo5
Document: IRS also targeted 'progressive,' 'Occupy' groups
news.cincinnati.com...

Again

Originally posted by Indigo5

The Treasury Department inspector general who got the IRS — and then himself — in hot water over his report detailing alleged targeting of Tea Party groups, said he didn’t know the IRS had also flagged for review the applications of “progressive” and “Occupy” groups until after publishing the results of his audit.

“We just learned about that recently,” J. Russell George told members of the House Oversight Committee this afternoon, saying he was not given a target list beyond Tea Party ones. “I am disturbed that these documents were not provided to our auditors at the outset, and we are currently reviewing the issue.”

www.salon.com...

More

It was already stated last month that the IRS had potentially reviewed "Progressive" groups, but that none had received the treatment that the groups associated with the "Tea Party" did.

You have found nothing in a hay stack.

The facts are that the Conservative groups received treatment outside of any other group stated.
Wonder why Lerner claimed the 5th then??? Maybe to protect her from OWS???

Thought OWS was "the people" and not "Progressive" in nature.
Can't have it both ways.

Nice try though. Keep it coming.

reply to post by Indigo5


Sticks around on ATS you will know the fanatical political fanboys soon enough!

Originally posted by luciddream
reply to post by Indigo5

 

Sticks around on ATS you will know the fanatical political fanboys soon enough!

Indigo knows us all too well already.
I admire and respect Indigo5.

I think Obama was subtly indicating he is planing to take more "executive" actions.

He has threatened this before, as he can't take 'no' for an answer when he can't get his way.

The whole speech was suggestive.

The Democrats are ice-frosted because they can't get their loonie legislation as easy as they did a few years ago.

The biggest threat to the public in general is all the Cabinet authority that doesn't necessarily need Congress to implement damaging 'policies'.

The laws were cleverly worded to allow this mania.

Just look at the massive powers granted to the IRS and HHS in the PPACA.

More that Obama 'said'.....

“This moment does not require short-term thinking,” said Obama. “It does not require having the same old stale debates. Our focus has to be on the basic economic issues that matter most to you, the people we represent. That’s what we have to spend our time on and our energy on and our focus on.”

Obama said his key focus will be “job security with good wages and durable industries, a good education, a home to call your own, affordable health care when you get sick, a secure retirement even if you’re not rich, reducing poverty, reducing inequality, growing opportunity, that’s what we need.”

He also said he would take executive action.

“Some of these ideas I’ve talked about before. Some of the ideas I offer will be new. Some will require Congress. Some I will pursue on my own,” Obama said.

Obama Denounces Congress for Focusing on ‘Phony Scandals,’ Promises More Executive Action

.......Sounds like typical puppy-petting with no substance or realities.


Watch for stronger indications in the next 'speech'.

He's buttering-up the public for more 'dictatorial' moves.

Most will come from the Cabinet 'authorities'.

@Indigo5 ..... the news 'sources' don't trump Obama's own words.

reply to post by butcherguy


A) You know I don't like CNS as a source "Conservative News Station" whose motto is "the RIGHT news, Right now"

B) The article is from the end of June...the following from July 17th explaining how the IG was wrong in what he said in the CSN article.

“We just learned about that recently,” J. Russell George told members of the House Oversight Committee this afternoon, saying he was not given a target list beyond Tea Party ones. “I am disturbed that these documents were not provided to our auditors at the outset, and we are currently reviewing the issue.” It was typical of George’s answers today — defensive, occasionally apologetic, but mostly promising more information later.

I already linked it in last post.

As far the 30% vs. 100%...So this is what he states in June...

"Based on the information you flagged regarding the existence of a 'Progressives' entry on BOLO lists, TIGTA performed additional research which determined that six tax-exempt applications filed between May 2010 and May 2012 having the words "progress" or "progressive" in their names were included in the 298 cases the IRS identified as potential political cases. We also determined that 14 tax-exempt applications filed between May 2010 and May 2012 using the words "progress" or "progressive" in their names were not referred for added scrutiny as potential political cases. In total, 30 percent of the organizations we identified with the words "progress" or "progressive" in their names were processed as potential political cases.

"In comparison, our audit found that 100 percent of the tax-exempt applications with Tea Party, Patriots, or 9/12 in their names were processed as potential political cases during the timeframe of our audit."

Notice no talk of "occupy" as a keyword...only "progress" vs. "Tea Party, "patriots", 9/12 etc...

Since then they have admitted "Occupy" was also a keyword (in addition to Progressive) and the IG says they will be back to congress with more info.

My point being is that we don't have all the info. yet, so 30% vs. 100% was a premature stat on incomplete info..."Occupy" and other keywords were used.

We will see, but arguing over who the IRS screwed MORE seems a silly argument, the very fact that they unethically targeted both left and right at all means it wasn't political, just stupid and unethical.

That plus the tonnage of testimony from agents saying politics had nothing to do with it.

I wont debate this further...cuz this isn't really the OP for it...and folks believe what they want to believe.

There are legit scandals for Obama and illegit scandals...ANd I don't look to Darryl Issa for guidance on that front...or CSN News etc.

The IRS scandal is and IRS scandal...that is my strong opinion after too much reading of facts on the matter.

Originally posted by xuenchen
I think Obama was subtly indicating he is planing to take more "executive" actions.

That, or he is planning on taking more vacations! Between behaving like a dictator and endless campaigning, I'm not sure how anyone could continue to support this complete and total failure!

Originally posted by Indigo5
reply to post by butcherguy

 

A) You know I don't like CNS as a source "Conservative News Station" whose motto is "the RIGHT news, Right now"

But you linking Salon and HuffPo articles is somehow acceptable??? I guess you didn't notice that HUGE glass house right behind you as you filled your bucket with throwing stones.

Originally posted by kozmo

Originally posted by xuenchen
I think Obama was subtly indicating he is planing to take more "executive" actions.

That, or he is planning on taking more vacations! Between behaving like a dictator and endless campaigning, I'm not sure how anyone could continue to support this complete and total failure!

good point !!

Yes, 'vacations' are 'executive' orders.

reply to post by Indigo5


I think they put 'Occupy' and some other 'Liberal sounding' groups in to the mix as an attempt to quell the problem and make it appear that they applied their paranoia equally.

All that info came Later, after the original exposures, lies, and deflections.

I also think 'they' were scared stiff that some 'progressive' outfits had been infiltrated by Conservatives.

'They' are always on the look out for their own tactics backfiring on 'them'.

Paranoia does that to some people.

reply to post by xuenchen


No, but simply making law by decree (Executive Orders) gives him more time to take vacations since he isn't performing his duties - Article II of the U.S. Constitution vests the executive power of the United States in the president and charges him with the execution of federal law, alongside the responsibility of appointing federal executive, diplomatic, regulatory, and judicial officers, and concluding treaties with foreign powers, with the advice and consent of the Senate.

You'll notice that his primary duty is the execution of federal law. However, the President has NO AUTHORITY to MAKE law.

I wish that people understood that Executive Orders do NOT carry the weight of law. Executive Orders were created to ensure that the President has the necessary authority over his Cabinet appointees to aid him in his primary duty; the execution of federal law. Nothing more.

This is what happens when neither history nor civics is taught in school... a generation of people too dumb to understand HOW government is SUPPOSED to work.

Originally posted by kozmo

Originally posted by Indigo5
reply to post by butcherguy

 

A) You know I don't like CNS as a source "Conservative News Station" whose motto is "the RIGHT news, Right now"

But you linking Salon and HuffPo articles is somehow acceptable???

I guess you didn't notice that HUGE glass house right behind you as you filled your bucket with throwing stones.

Huffpost and Salon...along with AP and CBS etc.e tc. I can find whatever sources you like.

While sites like Huffpost interject Bias in thier reporting of facts...
CSN often invents thier own facts then interjects bias.

The difference between being biased with the evidence...and making crap up altogether to fit a story.

CSN is not news...it only pretends to be. Huffpost is news...but always with extra helpings of bias...but you can filter down to the links and facts and chase the truth....with CSN, you scratch at a story and find that they BSed in some way in short order.

just the truth...but have it any way you like.

Originally posted by xuenchen
reply to post by Indigo5

 

I think they put 'Occupy' and some other 'Liberal sounding' groups in to the mix as an attempt to quell the problem and make it appear that they applied their paranoia equally.

That makes no sense...but I guess you aren't obligated to? Not really the goal?

The same IG that reported on/exposed the targeting of conservative groups, is now getting his ass handed to him by Congress for not also iniitially noticing that Left-leaning groups were targeted as well. You think he just feels like effing with his own career?

This thread gets kind of boring when folks start with a theme...handed to them by idealogical pundit websites who have agenda...and no one wants to consider facts or logic.

The IRS targeted both left and right...The tonnage of testimony repeatedly explained it was not DC driven...and Issa is a goof-ball and dishonest.

The NSA and other issues need to be hammered and you guys are still chasing BS...cuz Rush Limbaugh tells you to. Birtherism is even making a rebound.

It's a effed up system...Funny how the right doesn't trust any news media except the news media that tells them exactly what they want to hear....CNS.."the RIGHT news, right now!"...eff...weren't they founded by Moon, that wacko right wing korean guy that married folks a 1000 at a time? I mean really..your brain is just as important as your body...pay attention to what you feed it and filter out the BS...whatever end of the political spectrum you sit on.