Obama's Agenda Scorched by Exploding Scandals

From Susan Page, at USA Today, "Analysis: Obama's agenda scorched in firestorm":

WASHINGTON — President Obama, meet the second-term curse.

Revelations that the U.S. government has been collecting a massive database of telephone usage by millions of Americans — citizens not suspected of any wrongdoing — created a firestorm Thursday that would be damaging for any administration. But it is is especially problematic for Obama because it stokes controversies he already was struggling to contain and reinforces criticism that has dogged him from the start.

Republicans have long depicted Obama as an advocate of a big, dangerous and overreaching government, back to the federal bailout of the auto industry he undertook during the financial crisis that greeted his first inauguration. That has been their fundamental philosophical objection to his signature Affordable Care Act, now just months away from implementation of its major provisions.

In recent weeks, it has fueled outrage over the targeting by the Internal Revenue Service of conservative Tea Party groups seeking non-profit status, and over the use of secret subpoenas and search warrants against the Associated Press and Fox News in Justice Department investigations of news leaks.

Now the headlines are focused on governmental monitoring that touches not just reporters but, apparently, just about anyone who makes a phone call.

Continue reading.

As always, it's the hypocrisy.

PHOTO CREDIT: Rare, "Government run amok: Obama’s scandals are killing the ‘good government’ narrative."

Lying Liar Anthony Weiner’s Underage Girl Problem

At Michelle's:

Touchy, touchy. Despite Team Anthony Weiner’s best efforts at political rehabilitation, there’s just no way to shore up his sorest scandal spot. As the New York Post reported this week, Weiner had a bit of a snit fit when a local Democratic official boldly slammed his sexting habits with underage girls.

Chris Owens, the Dems’ state committee member in northwest Brooklyn, called out the skeezy ex-congressman at a mayoral candidate forum. “I am outraged and disgusted by you,” Owens told Weiner. “Both by what you did and by the fact that you have the arrogance to run for mayor. I want to understand how you explain to us how you used a public facility to tweet offensive material to … minors you did not know, you then lied about it … and now you come back.” The hubristic horn-dog bared his teeth, got “snippy” and responded by snarling defensively that he’s “going to win this election and I’m going to govern this city really well.”

Don’t get ahead of yourself there, Tweety Boy. If more rank-and-file Democrats join Owens in focusing like a laser on Weiner’s underage-girl problem instead of soft-pedaling his “past issues” as “consensual” “online dalliances,” Icky-rus will fall again.

Continue reading.

And at the People's Cube, "Support Your Weiner In His Hour of Need!"

First Lady Diplomacy

This is pretty interesting, amazingly.

At the Diplomat, "The U.S. Drops the Ball on First Lady Diplomacy."

And from Daniel Drezner, "Michelle Obama's diplomatic misstep."

Trey Gowdy Rips #IRS in Emotional Hearings

At Hot Air, "Video: Trey Gowdy gets emotional over IRS binging on conferences while others were being furloughed."

The Left's ObamaCare Lies

At iOWNTHEWORLD, "The Left Simply Lies – PERIOD."

WSJ: "The NSA's 'metadata' surveillance is legal and necessary…"

Well, it's the hypocrisy of it all, especially the president's.

But see the Journal's editorial, "Thank You for Data-Mining":

We bow to no one in our desire to limit government power, but data-mining is less intrusive on individuals than routine airport security. The data sweep is worth it if it prevents terror attacks that would lead politicians to endorse far greater harm to civil liberties.

Previously:

* "Obama Administration Surveillance Regime: Most Breathtaking Violations of Civil Liberties in U.S. History."

* "The U.S. Surveillance Police State."

The U.S. Surveillance Police State

As noted, it's the left hypocrisy on all of these issues that bugs me. (Although I'm not going so far defending things as Max Boot, "NSA Data Collection Is Legal – and Smart.")

Either way, here's Michelle Malkin's piece from yesterday, "History lesson: The crucial differences between Bush and Obama’s NSA phone surveillance programs."

And see all the commentary at Memeorandum.

Glenn Greenwald Surveillance Scoop Generates Big-Time Media Coverage

Greenwald's initial report is here, "NSA collecting phone records of millions of Verizon customers daily."

And he was on Piers Morgan's earlier.

Plus, from tomorrow's New York Times, "Blogger, With Focus on Surveillance, Is at Center of a Debate."

Obama Administration Surveillance Regime: Most Breathtaking Violations of Civil Liberties in U.S. History

There's so much on this I'm overwhelmed. But when the New York Times slams Obama's total loss of credibility, you know something's up.

See, "President Obama’s Dragnet":

Within hours of the disclosure that federal authorities routinely collect data on phone calls Americans make, regardless of whether they have any bearing on a counterterrorism investigation, the Obama administration issued the same platitude it has offered every time President Obama has been caught overreaching in the use of his powers: Terrorists are a real menace and you should just trust us to deal with them because we have internal mechanisms (that we are not going to tell you about) to make sure we do not violate your rights.

Those reassurances have never been persuasive — whether on secret warrants to scoop up a news agency’s phone records or secret orders to kill an American suspected of terrorism — especially coming from a president who once promised transparency and accountability.

The administration has now lost all credibility [on this issue].* Mr. Obama is proving the truism that the executive branch will use any power it is given and very likely abuse it. That is one reason we have long argued that the Patriot Act, enacted in the heat of fear after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by members of Congress who mostly had not even read it, was reckless in its assignment of unnecessary and overbroad surveillance powers.

* Added: See the Daily Caller, however, "New York Times quietly changes published editorial to make it less damning of Obama." (It was a total loss of credibility when the editorial first went up, but the Times is on the right track, bless their little editorial hearts.)

More (9:15pm): At Twitchy, "New York Times revises editorial, implies Obama administration might have some credibility left."

And see the Wall Street Journal for a nice backgrounder, "U.S. Collects Vast Data Trove: NSA Monitoring Includes Three Major Phone Companies, as Well as Online Activity."

I'll have more on this. Some surveillance is necessary. But we're in police state territory at this point, and the hypocrisy is killing me.

From the Nixon Library

Visited the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Birthplace in Yorba Linda this morning. This was a field trip with my son's 5th grade class. We took lots of pictures. I'll post some later. Meanwhile, I tweeted:

"The Enemies List." (Nixon's, not Obama's, at the Nixon Library.) twitter.com/AmPowerBlog/st…

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) June 6, 2013

The #IRS Scandal is RAAAAACIST!

This is really something else.

It's racist?

To blow off this whole scandal like this, a controversy which is recognized nearly across the board as a huge problem for the administration, is utterly ridiculous, if not depraved.

But MSNBC's on its last legs, so they're getting desperate:

More, at Twitchy, "Boom! Livid Martha MacCallum slams IRS lavish spending; ‘REALLY, IRS?’"

Obama Sucks Dollar Bill

This dollar somehow got in my pocket without me noticing the hilarious scribbling, and so I go to get it out the other day to leave a tip, and was cracking up.

And of course O-Clusterf-k really sucks, objectively sucks.

See WSJ, "Controversies Sow Doubts About Honesty: Majority in Poll Express Concern in Wake of IRS, Benghazi Episodes; Most Don't See President as Personally Responsible."

The asshole.

Glenn Beck Slams Rachel Maddow's Pathetic Alex Jones Smears

Well, Maddow's circling the drain over at MSNBC. It won't be long now until she gets the boot.

Meanwhile, at BuzzFeed, "Glenn Beck Questions Rachel Maddow’s “Intellectual Integrity”."

And Mediaite, "Beck Fires Back at Maddow, Questions Her ‘Intellectual Integrity’: ‘I’ve Never Been Called a Conspiracy Theorist’."

Past Writings: Samantha Power on Rwanda, Sudan, Iraq

I've said it before, but Samantha Power is a terrible pick and a terrible person. But her nomination reveals everything about this terrible president's foreign policy and his personal values --- which are despicable.

At the Wall Street Journal:

Samantha Power is President Barack Obama’s pick to succeed Susan Rice as the ambassador to the United Nations. The Dublin native and longtime Obama adviser is a former journalist, Harvard professor and Pulitzer Prize winning author for a book on genocide. Over the years, she has earned a reputation for being a passionate human rights advocate and highly outspoken political aide (she resigned from the Obama campaign in 2008 after calling then-Obama rival Hillary Clinton a “monster”). Here is a sampling of Ms. Power’s writings, on topics including Sudan, Rwanda and the war in Iraq.

And at Israel Matzav, "Could it get worse? Samantha Power to be US Ambassador to the UN," and "Republican Jewish Coalition statement on Samantha Power nomination":

In 2008, as an academic who taught at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, Samantha Power suggested that the U.S. should invade Israel militarily to impose a settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and protect “a new state of Palestine.” Her writing and public appearances reflected her views that special-interest lobbies in this country (read, the “Israel lobby”) have too great an impact on our foreign policy in the Middle East.

More recently, she served as the first director of President Obama’s new Atrocity Prevention Board. In her months in that role, the APB was silent about the thousands of civilians killed by the Syrian government, the attacks by the Sudanese government of the Nuba tribes in South Sudan, and other crises around the world. The APB has no web site or social media presence, and has not responded to letters from human rights activists and genocide scholars regarding ongoing atrocities.

And if you have time, the press conference was pure Orwell:

Back Off Bitch! Michelle Obama Threatens to Leave Fundraiser After Lesbian Heckler Interrupts Her

At the White House Dossier, "Faced with Heckler, Michelle Threatens Walkout."

And at the Other McCain, "Why Does Michelle Obama Hate Lesbians?"

Teenager Nicole Easton Breaks Both Feet Attempting Pool Jump From Rooftop (VIDEO)

Yeah, and the mom took to the web for some online panhandling, which didn't go over too well.

At London's Daily Mail, "Mother sparks online backlash after posting disturbing video of her teen daughter breaking both feet in pool jump to raise money for her medical expenses."

There's video at the link.

Not smart. Not smart at all.

The Real Trigger Behind the Protests in Turkey

Claire Berlinski, at U.S. News, "What's Behind Turkey's Unrest":

ISTANBUL – By now, the media coverage of the upheaval in Turkey has been extensive, but certain points have been insufficiently emphasized.

The story began as a peaceful sit-in in a park near the city's central Taksim Square. It was slated to be demolished and replaced with a shopping mall. The protesters wanted to preserve it, but Ankara disagreed. Riot police raided the protesters at dawn, using unbelievably excessive force – hundreds of people wound up in local hospitals, and the police then proceeded to tear gas the hospitals, too. People lost eyes, suffered severe brain injuries and an opposition party member of parliament who had come to show his support suffered a heart attack. As of today, following demonstrations and clashes with the police around the country, at least two people have been confirmed killed; at least six people have lost their eyes and many more have been terrorized and suffered severe injuries.

Yet the highly excessive use of police force happens quite often in Turkey. It happens so often, in fact, that Turks on Twitter use the hashtag #dailygasreport. But never, in the decade that I've lived here, has this prompted a national reaction. Never has it triggered outrage on this level...

Continue reading.

And also at City Journal, "Erdoğan Over the Edge."

BONUS: At London's Daily Mail, "Horrifying image of 'woman in red' being sprayed with tear gas becomes symbol of Turkish protests."

Controversy Over Huge Mako Shark Caught Off Huntington Beach

At the Los Angeles Times, "Giant shark caught off Southland coast stuns sportfishing world."

You gotta love the response from the idiot environmentalists (with the emphasis on "mental"):

David McGuire, the director of Shark Stewards, a Bay Area nonprofit that advocates for the protection of sharks, said he was shocked.

"It's really something you see more in Florida than in California, where we have more of a conservation ethic," he said. "People should be viewing these sharks as wonderful animals that are important to the ocean and admiring how beautiful they are."

He lamented that so many shows about sharks continue to evoke Jaws-like terror rather than science. "These kind of reality shows are not reality. The reality is we're overfishing sharks, and this macho big-game attitude should be a relic of the past."

Susan Rice to Replace Tom Donilon as National Security Advisor

At WSJ, "Rice to Succeed Donilon as National Security Adviser." And at Memeorandum.

Failing upward.

See, "Ambassador Susan Rice Appeared on Five Sunday Talk Shows on September 16th to Claim Libya Attack Was 'Spontaneous'."

This is the most despicable administration in history.

PREVIOUSLY: "Obama Names Samantha Power as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations."

Obama Names Samantha Power as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations

The contempt for Israel is just astonishing.

At Atlas Shrugs, "Obama names Israel Invading Advocate, Samantha Power, Ambassador to the UN."