posted May 20, 2013 01:39 PM            

He makes a strong case for restraint in the wake of scandal

Listen to Newt. He knows that of which he speaks.

Over the weekend, the former House speaker took to the airwaves of, well, NPR (a station most GOP leaders were probably not listening to at the time) to caution his congressional successors against "appearing too eager as they dig into the scandals now dogging the Obama administration." The former speaker added a tidbit for good measure to remind the audience that he has firsthand experience in this particular area: "I think we overreached in '98. How's that for a quote you can use?"

The quote is pretty solid indeed, Mr. Speaker. And most political junkies probably remember 1998 quite well. But if you don't: This was the time the GOP practically wet itself when President Clinton perjured himself in a deposition before heading onto national television and, oozing righteous indignation, defiantly wagged his finger at the American people and denied in the most unequivocal terms that he ever "had sexual relations with THAT woman…Ms. Lewinsky."

Of course, a host of evidence gave special prosecutor Kenneth Starr enough to bring Monica Lewinsky in, and when she talked, she sang. The resulting Starr report laid to rest any question that the president of the United States was not only cheating on his wife — but he viewed himself as above the law, and lacked the integrity and the judgment to tell the American people the truth.

What followed was surreal, and it more or less derailed Clinton's final term. The House GOP jumped at the opportunity to impeach the president. But in their zeal to take down a man for behaving without integrity, judgment, morality, or common sense, the GOP managed to behave in a way that the American public ultimately decided was as or more unseemly than the behavior that gave rise to the entire fiasco in the first place. Which is why, in a much forgotten historical tidbit, Bill Clinton actually left office with a 66 percent approval rating.

Americans love a good scandal. But they can also smell opportunistic hyperbole a mile away, and they do not much care for it. Which is why, despite the offensive, demeaning, embarrassing behavior of our former president, Americans ultimately rolled their eyes when Republicans got a bit too serious with their claims that President Clinton really ought to be thrown from office. The public can tell the difference between apples and oranges, and Bill Clinton's crimes were simply of a different nature than those that would have had Richard Nixon thrown from office had he stuck around to allow the process to play out.

Which brings us to the speaker's wise advice for Republicans regarding the present three-headed predicament the White House faces: "They need to be calm and factual. For example, a [House] subcommittee ... should invite every single tea party, conservative, patriot group that was messed over by the IRS — every single one of them — to come in and testify, so that they build this deadening record of how many different people were having their rights abused by this administration."

This can be simplified: The GOP should use the fiascos for what they are — examples of an administration that is not in control of the day-to-day workings of the government, that is often incompetent and misleading, and most importantly, that does not take responsibility for the consequences of its failures.

Exhibit A: Dan Pfeiffer's imprudent and premature counterattack on the Sunday shows against Republicans for making a big deal out of events which are, by any measure, a very big deal. But the GOP should also remember the lesson of MonicaGate, and be mindful of the fact that if they try to take these three serious missteps and turn them into capital crimes, Pfeiffer's narrative will gain credibility and the American people will stop pressuring this aloof and arrogant administration to tighten up its ship. Instead, voters will punish Republicans for being too politically opportunistic with real problems that need serious-minded inquiries that lead to forward thinking proposals designed to ensure that these problems do not repeat themselves in the future.
http://news.yahoo.com/gop-listen-newt-gingrich-095100571.html

posted May 20, 2013 02:48 PM            

D.C. is obsessed with scandal. America isn't.
By Paul Brandus | The Week – 8 hrs ago

No wonder the nation is disillusioned with its lawmakers.

We just had a week that showed, once again, why the American people are right to hold their elected leaders in contempt, and why trust in government is so low. It really does seem like our lawmakers spend all their time trying to put the political screws to the other party — while the people's business goes undone.

Let's take the ongoing Benghazi saga. The White House, trying for a change to get in front of the controversy, released more than 100 pages of emails sent in the frantic aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2012, terror attack. They showed that Republicans, trying to fan the flames of scandal, created a scandal of their own by doctoring key portions of text that had been leaked to the media. Republicans fired back that there were key gaps in what the administration actually released.

There's no question that with a tight election looming, the Obama administration's strategy in the wake of the terror attack had three elements: Play down the incident, change the narrative, and run out the clock. Politicians do this all the time. They cherry pick facts, spin data, and develop slick talking points for media consumption. Everyone from the president on down to your mayor does it. That's what politicians do. And that's what the White House did. Press secretary Jay Carney said on Nov. 28 that the White House only made "stylistic" edits to Susan Rice's talking points. That's probably a crock.

(Note from AG: I don't think this is literally true. I think the Washington Post has it more correct: that the CIA and the State department were both trying to cover themselves)

But does the fact that Team Obama bungled its response to the Sept. 11 attack make it the worst scandal in American history — as 41 percent of Republicans in one recent survey believe?

To me this suggests something entirely different: How little these Americans know about American history, which is littered with far worse scandals dating back to the founding of the republic. It also shows a broader ignorance: 39 percent can't even place Benghazi on a map. Where is it? Guesses included Egypt, Iran, Cuba, Syria, and Iraq. One percent even think the Libyan city is in that well-known hotbed of Islamic extremism, North Korea.

But why let such ignorance stop one from being an expert on what the government should have done to save the four brave men who died on Sept. 11? Robert Gates (Defense Secretary under Bush and Obama and CIA director under Bush Sr.) and Leon Panetta (CIA and Defense Secretary under Obama) both said military action was unfeasible, but what do they know compared to armchair generals like Sean Hannity?

Still, here's the bottom line: Obama's second term is off to a bumbling start, and he's in charge. His image is increasingly one of an aloof, out-of-touch man with poor management skills. Gleeful Republicans will keep stirring the pot.

It's not exactly hurting Obama, though. A CNN/ORC poll taken Friday and Saturday shows Obama's approval actually climbing two points and disapproval falling two points from its prior poll of early April. Gallup gives Obama a 50-43 advantage (1 month ago: 51-42) and Rasmussen shows his approval-disapproval tied at 49, unchanged from a month ago. Obama may be aloof, insular, arrogant and not the best manager of the executive branch we've ever had, but his suits appear to be made of teflon.

What about Congressional approval? It remains at "friends and family" levels: 16.6 percent of Americans approve. Given the polling discrepancy between what the American people think of Obama — even after several weeks of this GOP fishing expedition — and what they think of Congress, lawmakers may want to step back and ask whether they're serving the American people or not.

One reason Republicans are so obsessed with exploiting these "scandals" is because the one issue that Americans truly care about — jobs and the economy — is getting better. Republicans talk about three things — Benghazi, the IRS and the AP — because they don't want to talk about these three things:

1. Unemployment
Since bottoming out in 2010, the economy has created 5.8 million jobs; on Friday, as everyone was focusing on scandal, the Labor Department said that jobless rates fell in 40 states in April, while rising in just three.

2. Housing
Home prices are up at the fastest pace since the housing bubble burst in 2006. The S&P Case-Shiller index, which measures the top 20 markets, showed prices up 9.3 percent between February 2012 and February 2013. The January-to-January gain was 8.1 percent, meaning price gains are accelerating.

3. Confidence
The closely-watched Thomson-Reuters/University of Michigan consumer confidence survey showed Friday that Americans' confidence in the economy rose in May to its highest levels in nearly six years.

Benghazi, a couple of rogue IRS employees in Cincinnati (working under a Bush appointee), or the Justice Department seizing records from the Associated Press (after Republicans asked the Justice Dept. to investigate leaks). They are all serious issues. But it seems Americans, at least for now, have bigger fish to fry. http://news.yahoo.com/d-c-obsessed-scandal-america-isnt-095500715.html

posted May 20, 2013 05:44 PM            

Naughty Newt is right when he`s right!!

Most Americans can indeed smell hyperbole a mile away... those who can`t, are going to be sad depressed puppies.

posted May 31, 2013 09:09 AM            

Bill Clinton could break any law he wanted, he still won because he created an economic boom. Jobs and Economy, that is all that counts for voters. Obama can pray Islamic Namaz in his office and televise it live, Democrats will still win if the economy booms. Benghazi?, its totally irrelevant for the voters.

Mitt Romney destroyed jobs through his Bain Capital, and he got crushed. As simple as that. There is so much leadership vacuum in the Republican Party, they have already lost 2016 and possibly 2020. Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann have already chickened out of the race. They have the best opinion poll data available to them, they know they do not have a ghost of a chance to win.