There are so many shoes dropping in Washington right now that president Obama seems about to be buried under them. This morning's big news is much worse than most, however. We now know that one of the co-chairmen of Obama's re-election campaign used confidential information from secret IRS documents to attack Mitt Romney. The co-chair, Joe Solmonese, published information about ties between Romney and the National Organization for Marriage including information that Romney had contributed to that organization. The details of this story are here.
So let's be clear what this means. First, this is criminal conduct under federal law. Second, the claim of the previous few days that neither the White House nor the Obama campaign had any involvement in the scandal is kaput. Indeed, the progression has gone from there being just a few low level employees in Cincinnati, to there being multiple offices and some IRS supervisors, to there being knowledge and inaction by the IRS supervisors, to there being many groups targeted under leadership from Washington, to -- now-- involvement directly by the Obama campaign co chair. What's next? Will there be pictures of Obama himself perusing the IRS files?
The third meaning of this latest news is that the Progressives of the Democrat party have been shown to believe themselves above the law. Their slogan ought to be "if it helps us, then it is good." There is not a single person involved in this scandal who did not know that release of secret IRS files is against the law. But that did not stop them. In the best manner of the KGB, these secret police used confidential information to attack political opponents.
This is not an isolated event, either. It goes right to the top. If anyone has any doubt, for example, whether or not Harry Reid was given a "heads up" from someone at the IRS when he mad all those claims about Romney's tax returns, there is no reason to doubt anymore. Indeed, the burden is now on Reid to come forward with proof that his supposed source was not an illegal one at the IRS. The Senate needs to investigate Reid's conduct immediately.
In a strange way, this is the closest America has come to Watergate in 40 years. Both involved the re-election of a president who thought he was above the law. Both involve really stupid crimes by political zealots. Both involve long term cover ups by the administration. Watergate brought down Nixon. Let's see what happens to Obama.
So let's be clear what this means. First, this is criminal conduct under federal law. Second, the claim of the previous few days that neither the White House nor the Obama campaign had any involvement in the scandal is kaput. Indeed, the progression has gone from there being just a few low level employees in Cincinnati, to there being multiple offices and some IRS supervisors, to there being knowledge and inaction by the IRS supervisors, to there being many groups targeted under leadership from Washington, to -- now-- involvement directly by the Obama campaign co chair. What's next? Will there be pictures of Obama himself perusing the IRS files?
The third meaning of this latest news is that the Progressives of the Democrat party have been shown to believe themselves above the law. Their slogan ought to be "if it helps us, then it is good." There is not a single person involved in this scandal who did not know that release of secret IRS files is against the law. But that did not stop them. In the best manner of the KGB, these secret police used confidential information to attack political opponents.
This is not an isolated event, either. It goes right to the top. If anyone has any doubt, for example, whether or not Harry Reid was given a "heads up" from someone at the IRS when he mad all those claims about Romney's tax returns, there is no reason to doubt anymore. Indeed, the burden is now on Reid to come forward with proof that his supposed source was not an illegal one at the IRS. The Senate needs to investigate Reid's conduct immediately.
In a strange way, this is the closest America has come to Watergate in 40 years. Both involved the re-election of a president who thought he was above the law. Both involve really stupid crimes by political zealots. Both involve long term cover ups by the administration. Watergate brought down Nixon. Let's see what happens to Obama.
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