Political Punts and Pratfalls

By William L. Garvin

“The only people who don’t want to disclose the truth are people with something to hide.”              President Barack H. Obama, August 21, 2011 

It seems that private citizens and organizations must initiate lawsuits as the only viable alternative to get necessary information from the “most transparent administration” in history.  The Fifth Amendment, continual stonewalling, “misspeaking” (which used to be knows as LYING!), crashing hard drives and continual interruptions and obfuscation from sympathetic legislators are tactics employed by Democrats to carry out their strategy of delay, delay, and delay some more.  It is their fondest hope that time and “scandal fatigue” will outlast the search for truth.  It is a war of attrition and a tactic to exhaust patience and memory in a short-term memory world.  As Eleanor Holmes Norton, the esteemed Democrat from D.C. proclaimed:  “You don’t have a right to know everything in a separation-of-powers government, my friend.”  At the time, she was talking to the House and Government Reform Committee that is supposed to insure our system of checks and balances!

Thankfully, a federal judge has ordered that all the “Fast and Furious” documents previously hidden behind “executive privilege” be produced.  Eric Holder was held in contempt by the court for his previous refusals.  Another has ruled that the Affordable Care Act means what it says and only those who enroll in state exchanges are eligible for federal subsidies.  Another has ordered all the emails in the IRS targeting of conservatives be delivered.  Not too surprisingly, as they trickle out we find that Lois “Latrine Lips” Lerner has referred to conservatives as “whackos,” “terrorists,” and (rhymes with) “glassbowls.”  Do you think the aforementioned Holder will ever appoint a special prosecutor to get to the bottom of this?  Of course not because his boss has already told him there’s not a “smidgeon of corruption.”  If you believe he will then you’ll also believe Harry Reid when he says “The border is secure.”

By the way, the IRS has also reached a secret agreement with the Freedom From Religion Foundation to monitor church sermons to see if preaching Biblical principles (such as opposition to gay marriage and abortion) violates their tax exempt status.  And who will do the monitoring and render the subsequent decision…why Lois Lerner’s old IRS unit of course!  It’s just another chink in our constitutional armor.

That goes along with CIA Director John Brennan and his months of angry denials that he had never spied on Senator Diane Feinstein or other members of the Senate Intelligence Committee.  Now he admits that in fact he did…but once again, it was a couple of low level employees.  Wasn’t it just a couple of “rogue agents” in the first of many IRS cover stories that emerged over the last year?  Hopefully everyone is now wise to that tired old playbook.  In the next chapter, we’ll hear about all the CIA hard drives crashing for everyone involved in the “investigation.”   No one actually believes that the Department of Justice will actually investigate AND PROSECUTE another member of the Obama administration.  It is also unlikely that Brennan will resign despite his constitutional crimes.

But what’s the Constitution even mean in this day and age?  To Steny Hoyer, the Number Two Democrat in the House, it means little.  “What the president can in fact do, however, is implement the laws as he believes they should be implemented,” said Hoyer.  Representative Luis Gutierrez from Illinois says the president has promised him that he will grant amnesty to five or six million illegal immigrants.  What Constitution?  What law?  What border?  If you voice any opposition, expect Rep. Gutierrez to channel his inner Al Sharpton and spout the same old tired racial polemics.  “They want to punish our community…” said Gutierrez.  “It is almost as if they despise and hate all our children.”  He was quickly joined by Nancy Pelosi who thought the unaccompanied minors (sic) are “just like Baby Jesus” who was also a “refugee from violence” and sending them back to their countries of origin is similar to “throwing them back into a burning building.”

Then again, she thinks natural gas is a “…clean, cheap alternative (LOL!) to fossil fuels,” and accepts Qatar’s belief that Hamas is a “humanitarian organization.”  And Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee proclaims with a straight face that Democrats did not “seek an impeachment of President Bush” when she co-sponsored the bill!  Rep. Anna Eshoo calls those who lost their health care plans “whiners” and “untruthful”…at least she didn’t call them “liars” as did Harry Reid.

The only time this administration actually needs a cover-up is when Joe Biden goes skinny dipping!  Sometimes there’s just too much information!