Why the GOP may regret its Obama scandal obsession

[struggle4progress]

Ari Melber
1:02 PM on 05/16/2013

... On Wednesday, The National Review warned Republicans that “scandal is not an agenda,” and they should not think scandals will “deliver election victories in 2014.” Charles Krauthammer and Bill O’Reilly have also jumped in, urging Republicans to stop putting Obama-bashing ahead of the facts. (Again, there are no reports that the IRS or AP decisions originated in the White House, so far, these are distinctly Obama-less stories.)

Yet beyond any self-inflicted damage to the Republican brand, the GOP’s response is more concerning because it undermines independent legislative oversight of the executive branch. We need a real investigation into the IRS–one that is focused on protecting our rights, not pursuing a political vendetta against Holder or Obama. That is difficult to achieve, however, when top Republicans issue verdicts before collecting evidence.

The IRS scrutiny of political activists could turn out to be one of the most serious First Amendment violations in the federal government today. If citizens’ speech rights were violated by the government, that is a serious problem even if the president was not involved. That is the scandal and the legal priority: Our government must strenuously avoid viewpoint discrimination in the regulation of democratic activity–even just a hint of it, and even if it’s “only” caused by incompetence (rather than orchestrated bullying). That is the substantive concern, of course, and not whether the infraction can be exploited for some pre-cooked political attack.

So far, it doesn’t look like Issa’s committee will apply those priorities in its oversight. Instead, many House Republicans seem to think they’ve found another Watergate. For all the references to that trauma in American government, today’s Republicans have clearly missed a key feature of Congressional oversight during that period ...

http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/05/16/why-the-gop-may-regret-its-obama-scandal-obsession/

[freshwest]

1. Irrelevant to repukes. Takes to long to read, plus reasoning is required. Soundbites are cheaper!

[demosincebirth]

2. They won't regret, they are shameless sociopaths.

[DCKit]

3. If Krauthammer and O'liely are jumping in, they must think it's deadly serious.

Still, it's so odd to hear those two as "the voice of reason" in this mess. I don't ever listen to BillO, but Krauthammer's sleazy, slick, low key character assassinations of Dems creep me out to no end.