Accusations against President Obama and his administration that seem
based more on theory than fact are flying around thick and fast. Republicans
gather like hungry vultures around their pet illusion, the carcass. But they
don’t dare get too close. They have memory, it seems, of moving in with sharp
beaks and beady eyes too soon on what they were sure was the Bill Clinton
carcass. Impeach! Impeach! Only he wasn’t dead. And it lost them the election.
At first, this time round, good sense didn’t prevail. Republicans went crazy
hawking and squawking. First Benghazi. What hasn’t made the headlines,
according to Nancy A. Youssef, McClatchy Foreign Staff, is that Benghazi embassy officials drafted a cable on August 16 stating
that US Mission Benghazi would request extra security from the Tripoli US
Embassy. Army General Carter Ham read the cable and didn’t wait. He called
Ambassador Stevens immediately and offered a special US military security team.
Stevens turned him down. Ham offered again a
couple of weeks later when the two met in Germany at the headquarters of
AFRICOM. Again, Stevens said no.
Hilary Clinton has insisted she didn’t read
that cable or know that Stevens had turned down help. Which Republicans refuse
to believe. She caustically commented that thousands of emails had
gone through her office every day and that she didn’t personally read every single one.
Even if she had,
though, what are the chances that she would have been able to persuade Stevens
if General Carter Ham hadn’t been able to? Doesn’t Stevens have any
responsibility in this at all? Of course he does. But he’s the dead hero and
this is just about electioneering in any case. In truth, that carcass has truly
been picked to death.
The furor over IRS officials targeting Tea Party members has been blown
totally out of proportion. Obama has expressed his outrage; there’s an already
an investigation, and there’s no proof at all that he sanctioned the misdeeds. And
the other side of the story isn’t reported on. Tax officials’ job is to find
defaulters. It’s a pretty rational step to single out people who openly rage
against big government and paying tax. I have never seen any objection to
exactly the same tactic being used to take down Mafia. If those investigated
had been Muslim, African American or Latino, would any Republicans care?
While we're building conspiracy theories about the anti-social, corrupt,
devious President and his administration why not add another - that the IRS
officials targeting Tea Party members were paid by moderate Republicans who
need to get rid of the Tea Party in order to have any chance in the next
election. Or that some Tea Party members offered themselves up as a sacrifice
and did a kind of suicide bombing act: persuaded a loyal IRS official to target
them. Ridiculous? Of course it is. Conspiracy theories usually are, no matter
what side of the fence you’re on.
Republicans are good at manufacturing dirt and now
seemed to be their opportunity. Republican Senator Orrin Hatch compared Obama to
Nixon. Utah
Representative Jason Chaffetz (Republican) and Michelle Bachman called for
Obama to be impeached.
But just when it looked like the feeding frenzy was peaking, they
pulled back. Californian Representative Darrel Issa, the Republican who’s been outspoken in his condemnation of Obama and is leading a couple of investigations,
suddenly calmed down and said he was working with the President. Jim Boehnor
also calmed down and so did Louisiana Representative
Charles Boustany Jr., (Republican) who has been driving an investigation of the
IRS. He said “I’m being very cautious not to overplay my hand.” (nytimes.com).
It’s unusual for Republicans to act sensibly. But they’re on thin ice and they
know it. And they’re terrified of backlash.
Ultimately, here’s the thing: when you’re telling the
truth and you can back it up with fact, you don’t need to back down. They didn't back down over Richard Nixon, did they?
