(UPDATE) – Democrat Rep: Hey, #IRS! Give us real answers, or there’ll be “Hell To Pay…”

The House Oversight Committee continued their hearings today (seen over at HotAir), but when you start getting verbiage like this from the President’s own party, perhaps the worm is beginning to turn here:

Gullibility and the Media: “The More Things Change…”

I wrote this paragraph in my first official post on this blog, published over a year ago. It is disturbingly unchanged:

I continue to shake my head in bewilderment at the willful gullibility of so many Americans. We are jaded and cynical about so many things–God and marriage perhaps topping the list–and yet too many are willing to accept the media’s slant on every critical issue in sight. 

Really? No doubts? No wondering whether there might be some bias, some personal axe-grinding or palm-greasing going on behind the scenes? We should just nod and smile at each new presidential or congressional fiat attempt, and go back to watching The Biggest Loser.

(OK, I take it back. You should probably scratch out The Biggest Loser and substitute The Voice or Game of Thrones.)

So yesterday when my brother mentioned this Salon.com sub-headline:

Dear Conservatives: if you thought the #IRS was invasive, just wait for Obamacare

Funny and scary, at the same time…

Leftist Media on Obama’s scandals: Defend, Dispute and Dismiss

From Salon.com:

The last several years have brought a parade of dark revelations about the Barack Obama administration, from the manipulation of intelligence in Benghazi to the IRS’ targeting of Conservatives to extrajudicial spying inside the United States.

But there are growing indications that these known abuses of power may only be the tip of the iceberg. Now, in the 2nd term of the Obama presidency, a movement is stirring in Washington for a sweeping new inquiry into White House malfeasance that would be modeled after the famous Church Committee congressional investigation of the 1970s.

Wow!! Did Salon really print that about President Obama? They’ve finally started covering this in earnest! That is unbelievable….

Honestly, it IS unbelievable, because the above passage is from an article back in 2008, and (with only the italicized parts having been changed) all criticisms are directed at George W. Bush.

OUT: “Hope ‘n Change” – IN: “Oh, What a Tangled Web We Weave, ….”

Back when I was still shorter than a regulation hockey net, I had an occasional issue with the truth. Although generally a decent kid, I periodically did things I shouldn’t (naturally), then made it exponentially worse by fibbing to try to extricate myself from the unpleasant situation I’d created.

Once when I was caught red-handed, my intricate lies having been systematically dismantled by my father (he’d have made an extraordinarily good cop), he told me this:

“Son, I want to be able to trust whatever you tell me, in any situation, always. But when you lie, and then tell lies to cover the first ones, you make it impossible for me to trust you.

No one expects you to never make a mistake, but a lie isn’t a mistake: it’s deliberate. A man takes ownership of his mistakes, every time. First you admit it, THEN you correct it. 

Don’t ever forget that.”

And I haven’t.

The #IRS: “Above The Law”

They must think we’re idiots.

At the conclusion of a week where we were treated to discovery after stomach-turning discovery, showing IRS abuses that seemed more like Mafia standard protocol than Good Governance, two points were made painstakingly clear:

Pelosi knows the REAL reason why we’re focused on Obama’s numerous scandals…

You’ve felt this way before.

It rises from your gut when you make a cogent, incisive argument in opposition to an aspect of the President’s agenda (Obamacare, for instance), …but the person you are talking with blithely retorts, “Oh, you just can’t stand him ’cause you’re a racist”, or “Why do you hate poor people?”

This person has, out-of-the-blue, attributed the absolute worst motivations to your reasoning, and with no justification other than you disagreed with them.

You know that feeling, right?

It’s the half-shock/half-fury sensation, where you honestly can’t believe someone is that stupid, dishonest or closed-minded that they refuse to acknowledge even the logical basis of your argument. You’ve felt it.

“Tea Party vs. the #IRS”: the movie Hollywood will never, EVER make

After my post the other day, I’ve been thinking a lot about movies. And last night it hit me: I’ve got an idea for a screenplay that just can’t miss!!

…A group of freedom-loving patriots, ordinary folks hailing from ordinary hamlets (we’ll call them the “TEA Party”), witness their beloved country being taken over by a hostile State.

Rallying around a single man’s call to stand up and fight, they answer in droves. Neighborhood by neighborhood, then town by town, they band together across the entire country, creating an impressive force which positively impacts an election.

Then, the State fights back, attempting to crush and grind these groups out of existence, or intimidate them into silence.

Now Showing! at the Obama Scandal-plex: “The IRS, the AP, the DOJ and #Benghazi…”

At this point, if every separate Obama Administration scandal was a movie, you’d need to rent out a couple of multiplexes to show them all.

Consider:

• The IRS has been targeting & harassing Conservative groups and individuals,
• The DOJ seized phone records from the Associated Press, with as yet no explanation,
• HHS Secretary Kathleen Sibelius has been shaking down companies and organizations for private donations in order to help implement Obamacare, …and courtesy of Allahpundit:
• The EPA has been granting Freedom Of Information Act fee waivers to left-wing groups (who are usually sympathetic to a more powerful EPA), but systematically denies such waivers for Conservative groups.

And that’s just the CURRENT ones.

I’m actually in scandal overload. In U.S. history, I personally can’t recall such an overwhelming display of blatant corruption and abuse of power since possibly Louisiana Governor Huey Long in the 1930s. By comparison, Watergate and Teapot Dome don’t even come close, in scale or breadth.

Obama is shocked, SHOCKED!, that #IRS was harassing/intimidating Conservative groups

**With apologies to Captain Renault….

“Don’t tell me: …you’re ‘shocked’, right?”

Are we really supposed to believe that Obama is dismayed and distraught at revelations of political intimidation within the IRS? That (according to Allahpundit) he “just found out about this on Friday”?

Is our President honestly expecting us to swallow the following tale: that for some inexplicable reason, a rogue band of low-level IRS flunkies took it upon themselves to target the political enemies of this Administration, all without Obama’s imprimatur?

Nothing to see here: #IRS targeted conservative, Tea Party groups…

Many moons ago, an old college professor of mine told me that Bullet Points make it easier for people to remember what you say. And since I think the following is kinda’ important, I’ll give his advice a shot.

Today’s topic is: the I.R.S.:

• Gee, the IRS was used for political purposes, and against Conservatives & Tea Party groups, no less? Hmmm, that’s odd: I seem to recall the NY Times looked into this last year and, after checking into the original complaints from various Tea Party groups, the Times reported roughly along these lines: “Ahhhh, quit  yer’ whining, you crazy patriotic wing nuts!!“

• Predictably, the Administration immediately “blamed low-level employees, saying no high-level officials were aware.” Whoa…, now THERE’s a TOTALLY NEW EXCUSE….

• Also predictably, the IRS is very, very, very, very sorry. Really. They are. Unspecified is exactly what they’re sorry about: the “inappropriate actions” themselves, or being caught….

How the Media covers a story: #Benghazi vs. Valerie Plame and Abu Ghraib

Yesterday we described the Media’s newest narrative on the Benghazi scandal…in the instances where the Media covers it at all.

However, woven into much of the coverage (or NON-coverage) is another recurring theme, which equates Benghazi to Watergate. Many on the Right are making the connection, and just as many on the Left are calling such comparisons ridiculous.

Personally, I think that comparison is imperfect, for a couple of reasons. First, the Press will never allow it to stand, since for many of them Watergate has been elevated to a sacred religious experience, to be celebrated and revered. Thus, they react to its being compared to other scandals in much the same way an Islamist does if you draw a cartoon of Mohammed, …minus the rusty scimitar and poor grooming habits.