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You are here: Home / The True Measure Of The Nation’s Courage

The True Measure Of The Nation’s Courage

by Zandar|  May 14, 20138:11 am| 139 Comments

This post is in: All we want is life beyond the thunderdome, Peak Wingnut Was a Lie!, Somewhere a Village is Missing its Idiot

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Measured in gigaderps per second (GDPS) that is.

Would nation have the courage to remove its first black president IF proved he is corrupt?

— MATT DRUDGE (@DRUDGE) May 14, 2013

“You support impeachment and removal of President Obama because you have the courage to not play the race card, right?” he said, playing the race card.

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Reader Interactions

139Comments

  1. 1.

    some guy

    May 14, 2013 at 8:12 am

    why is Eric Holder still Ag?

  2. 2.

    Russ

    May 14, 2013 at 8:21 am

    I’m not saying Matt Drudge has sex with animals, but if he does it would be courageous to come out of the closet.

  3. 3.

    Chris

    May 14, 2013 at 8:22 am

    It’s an oldie but goodie on the right to pretend that we’ve solved all our racial problems and as a nation have become so tolerant and understanding and anxious to please minorities that the biggest problem we have is whether we’re being too nice to them.

    Meanwhile, in Trayvon Martin’s life (or lack thereof)…

  4. 4.

    Knockabout

    May 14, 2013 at 8:23 am

    Will Zandar and ABL have the courage to admit that Obama’s scandals will be the primary reason the Democrats lose the Senate in 2014 and the GOP will have 300 seats?

    Will they have the courage to admit Obama is a third-tier President who probably should get thrown out of office?

    Will they have the courage to leave this comment up, or respond with a logical argument instead oh knee-jerk Obamism?

    I doubt it.

  5. 5.

    Brian

    May 14, 2013 at 8:25 am

    It depends on what your definition of if is.

  6. 6.

    The Red Pen

    May 14, 2013 at 8:25 am

    Would we have the courage to report Matt Drudge for possession of child pornography if there was any on his hard drive?

    OT: anyone up for a BJ meetup at Amy’s Baking Company in Scottsdale, Arizona?

  7. 7.

    Napoleon

    May 14, 2013 at 8:25 am

    ^^^^

    Jackass alert.

  8. 8.

    beltane

    May 14, 2013 at 8:26 am

    I can’t really answer Drudge’s question except to observe that our nation certainly did not have the courage to remove a WASP president for corruption, war crimes, and gross dereliction of duty.

  9. 9.

    lojasmo

    May 14, 2013 at 8:28 am

    @Knockabout:

    So you’re a racist little bitch?

    Whocoodanode?

  10. 10.

    Schlemizel

    May 14, 2013 at 8:29 am

    @Knockabout:

    Ya gotta love this guy. AS a pea-wit moran he knows that he can go on BJ, crap out a string on nonsense with no substance and then !DARE! anyone to refute it and not make fun of him! (!-times-infinity!).

    HE WINS!

    Go fuck a nut

  11. 11.

    weaselone

    May 14, 2013 at 8:30 am

    I honestly think we’re handling the IRS “scandal” the wrong way. We’re not going to douse the white hot flames of wingnut paranoia with logic. It’s like applying water to an electrical fire. The person heading the IRS at the time was a Bush appointee. The more effective way to deal with this is to point out that this was just of the numerous documented attempts by establishment Republicans to marginalize the Tea Party.

  12. 12.

    schrodinger's cat

    May 14, 2013 at 8:30 am

    I think all this rending of garments about impeachment is premature. I will hit the panic mode if and when it happens.

    ETA: Most people tune out the blatherings of MSM punditubbies.

  13. 13.

    liberal

    May 14, 2013 at 8:31 am

    OT: For all the rubes out there who thought that Barney Frank was really interested in real finance reform:

    While this might have seemed like a victory for simple common sense, the amendment was largely eviscerated in a conference committee, apparently at the urging of then House Finance Committee Chair Barney Frank. Instead of implementing the amendment, the conference bill called for the SEC to study the issue [how credit rating agencies are assigned to rate credit issues] and make a decision by the end of July, 2012.

    Link

  14. 14.

    Linda Featheringill

    May 14, 2013 at 8:31 am

    Actually Matt, it shouldn’t matter what color the President’s skin is.

    HOWEVER,

    the criteria for impeachment should be the same, regardless of the color of the President’s skin.

    But abstract ideals aside, the entire Obama Administration has been relatively free from corruption. And the President himself has been very straight and narrow.

  15. 15.

    The Red Pen

    May 14, 2013 at 8:31 am

    @Knockabout:

    Will they have the courage to leave this comment up, or respond with a logical argument instead oh knee-jerk Obamism?

    Is this one of those trick questions they use in job interviews like “how many piano tuners are there in Chicago”?

  16. 16.

    Zifnab25

    May 14, 2013 at 8:32 am

    Blackity black black black. Courage!

  17. 17.

    liberal

    May 14, 2013 at 8:34 am

    @weaselone:
    Who’s this “we” you’re speaking of, Kemosabi?

    The Dem Party leadership which decided it was a good idea not to stand behind Acorn or MoveOn?

  18. 18.

    Linda Featheringill

    May 14, 2013 at 8:34 am

    @Knockabout:

    Well, well. We haven’t had one of these for a while.

    Yawn.

  19. 19.

    Chyron HR

    May 14, 2013 at 8:35 am

    This scandal (whatever it is) is even more outrageous than Soylandra, Sherrodgate, and 2 Fast 2 Furious put together. It’s truly, truly, truly outrageous.

  20. 20.

    Betty Cracker

    May 14, 2013 at 8:39 am

    @Knockabout: Zandar and ABL, huh? Why would you single those two front-pagers out of the line-up, I wonder? I believe all of us are regularly accused of excessive fealty to Mr. Obama, and yet, you focus on Zandar and ABL. What is it that those two have in common…

  21. 21.

    Ash Can

    May 14, 2013 at 8:40 am

    In a way, I wish there was another prominent black Dem contender for the presidency waiting in the wings who could be elected in 2016 and drive all these racist fuckshits to guzzling arsenic once and for all. The nation would be better off.

  22. 22.

    beltane

    May 14, 2013 at 8:43 am

    @Ash Can: All it would take is for the president, Hillary Clinton, and Nancy Pelosi to put out a public service announcement urging people to avoid guzzling arsenic. This would be a wingnut-free country within less than a week.

  23. 23.

    zoot

    May 14, 2013 at 8:43 am

    republicans/conservatives are so foul it is beyond words to describe. They are plain awful people in every measure.

    You take all the utter filth, crap, violence, ignorance, and indecency that a human being can be (and history has proven that to be pretty monstrous); you bundle it in one person; and you have today’s republican/conservative.

  24. 24.

    Shortstop

    May 14, 2013 at 8:43 am

    @Betty Cracker: I know! I know! They’re the real racists, and they hate Knockabout because he’s white?

  25. 25.

    Cris (without an H)

    May 14, 2013 at 8:44 am

    @Chyron HR: This scandal (whatever it is) is even more outrageous than Soylandra, Sherrodgate, and 2 Fast 2 Furious put together. It’s truly, truly, truly outrageous.

    Dude, it’s bigger than Teapot Dome.

  26. 26.

    pseudonymous in nc

    May 14, 2013 at 8:45 am

    The GOP would remove Obama if they believed he farted in the room, and by rattling the impeachment sword, they aim — as they managed with Daddy Bush — to inoculate their own against the same.

    I dare them to run on impeachment in 2014. That’s one way of taking back the House.

  27. 27.

    Shortstop

    May 14, 2013 at 8:46 am

    @Ash Can: That would be fun, but at least we have someone with XX chromosomes, which will bring a lesser but still energetic bigotry out of the woodwork.

  28. 28.

    beltane

    May 14, 2013 at 8:48 am

    @pseudonymous in nc: Yes, it would rev up the Democratic base in a way that rarely happens for a midterm.

  29. 29.

    El Cid

    May 14, 2013 at 8:50 am

    The true measure of a nation’s courage is whether or not it allows its minority political party to remove the black liberal (liberal enough for their purposes) President for reasons which failed to motivate the slightest impediment for President George W. Bush Jr.

  30. 30.

    Shakezula

    May 14, 2013 at 8:55 am

    I am confused by Mr. Drudge’s mini-missive. President Obama is black and uppity. Surely that is prima facie proof of his guilt.

  31. 31.

    Kay

    May 14, 2013 at 8:58 am

    @Knockabout:

    Will Zandar and ABL have the courage to admit that Obama’s scandals will be the primary reason the Democrats lose the Senate in 2014 and the GOP will have 300 seats?

    It’s so silly to rest the fate of the Democrats on Obama. That’s what comes off as obsessive hatred. It’s a midterm. I know this is shocking to you, but Democrats in Congress are big boys and girls. They have to run their own races. Half of them happily ran away from the health care law in 2010, because they thought that was in their individual best interest, and to hell with Obama. This idea that they’re hapless victims of Obama is just ridiculous.

    Democrats in Congress have to run on something. If they aren’t running on anything, they’re going to lose.

  32. 32.

    Mark B

    May 14, 2013 at 9:00 am

    OK, I’m still trying to figure out where the impeachment talk is coming from. I’m thinking there has to be some kind of wrongdoing by the chief executive to hang the proceedings. So far, we have:

    1. A tragic incident where some diplomats lost their lives while courageously doing their duty. The wrongdoing is that some government officials distributed talking points shortly after the incident which turned out to not be true, but they didn’t know they were wrong at the time. Also, we didn’t get Tony Stark to put on the Iron Man suit and swoop in between the mortar shells and rescue Ambassador Stevens.

    2. A case where a Bush appointee used improper search terms to target investigations of political organizations masquerading as nonpolitical public service organizations. This is a real scandal, but it has jack shit to do with Obama. And the fact that no actual harm was done by the improper use of search terms ought to play into how significant the whole thing is.

  33. 33.

    Chris

    May 14, 2013 at 9:00 am

    @zoot:

    You take all the utter filth, crap, violence, ignorance, and indecency that a human being can be (and history has proven that to be pretty monstrous); you bundle it in one person; and you have today’s republican/conservative.

    When you spend fifty years appealing to nothing but the worst in human nature, you end up with a political base made up of nothing but the worst human beings the country has to offer.

    And it’s not like they can run for office by telling the public that they’re going to make things better for that, so they’ve got nothing to do but to appeal to the worst. (Racism, sexism, homophobia, hatred of the poor, etc).

  34. 34.

    gnomedad

    May 14, 2013 at 9:02 am

    Would the nation have the courage to remove the 43rd white President of the United States if he started a trillion-dollar war based on bogus information?

  35. 35.

    Cassidy

    May 14, 2013 at 9:05 am

    @Knockabout: Will you have the courage to go walk in front of a moving bus? Show us how courage works. Lead form the front!

  36. 36.

    Cassidy

    May 14, 2013 at 9:08 am

    @Mark B:

    So far, we have:

    1) Black person in White House
    2) Democrat

    That’s all these traitorous scum need to know. It doesn’t matter. Sane people know that nothing happenned that is worhty of impeachment, but like all things, these clownish buffoons have reduced the legitimacy of words jsut to fit their temper tantrum. They are a cancer and need to be removed.

  37. 37.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 14, 2013 at 9:11 am

    @Betty Cracker: Knockabout has covered the FPers A to Z. Hasn’t s/he?

  38. 38.

    me

    May 14, 2013 at 9:14 am

    Will they have the courage to leave this comment up,

    I propose a new policy. Every time someone says this, replace the comment with “You asked for it, shithead.”.

  39. 39.

    f space that

    May 14, 2013 at 9:15 am

    @Knockabout: Let’s make waffles!

    Ingredients
    3 tablespoons butter
    1 1/2 cup flour
    1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
    Pinch of salt
    2 tablespoons sugar
    1 1/2 cup milk
    2 eggs
    Directions
    Preheat waffle iron and read manufacturer’s instructions. Melt butter in microwave. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. In another bowl, beat together milk and eggs. Whisk liquid mixture into dry ingredients until just combined. Stir in melted butter. Brush hot waffle iron with butter. Spoon about 1/2 cup of batter onto iron and close to cook. This first waffle will be the tester. Cook waffle until golden brown.

  40. 40.

    schrodinger's cat

    May 14, 2013 at 9:17 am

    What is with all the references to tea in politics. First there was the Boston Tea Party, now there is the CrazyMad Hatter’s Tea Party and then there is this Tea Pot Dome scandal. Any other tea related scandals that I am missing.

  41. 41.

    bjacques

    May 14, 2013 at 9:21 am

    Summer is coming. Some nasty weather event will come along–because, hey, it’s summer–that’ll guarantee the target being declared a federal disaster area. The GOP will either douche up and demand cuts in social programs to pay for the emergency funds or they’ll be too busy with their impeachment circus to want to deal. Or something blows up. Or there’s another mass shooting. Any of these will remind everyone but the 27% that real life has a way of showing up Beltway politics for the dumbshow it is.

    All the Obama administration has to do is play it straight and stick with the message until the media get bored.

  42. 42.

    NorthLeft12

    May 14, 2013 at 9:23 am

    @Betty Cracker: Are you saying that Zandar is a member of a visible minority? I go on his site all the time [love the title and his writing] and was not aware of that. Either I am clueless or Zandar writes well enough that he does not continually harp on his race. I knew he was liberal, but that was about it.

  43. 43.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 14, 2013 at 9:24 am

    @schrodinger’s cat: It is because we, the US, came out of the British Empire where tea is important. FWIW gin or scotch would have made more sense but that’s politics for you.

  44. 44.

    Jockey Full of Malbec

    May 14, 2013 at 9:24 am

    The left seriously needs to stop being so scared of these fuckers. Obama won a second term fair & square, despite a hostile media, a borderline retarded electorate, and UNLIMITED CORPORATE CASH (much of it foreign, BTW) only a few months ago.

    These imaginary scandals will only get as much legs as the audience allows. (And, frankly, the orderly fashion in which the media is rolling these out is almost comical).

    If anything sinks Obama, it will be excessive politeness/fairness and needless doubt on the part of those who should have his back.

    Spines up, folks: Reality always wins, in the end.

  45. 45.

    schrodinger's cat

    May 14, 2013 at 9:26 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: True, but that was more than 200 years ago and coffee is much more popular here than tea. It is impossible to get decently brewed tea in the US unless you make it yourself. Most establishments give you some tepid water and a tea bag when you ask for tea.

  46. 46.

    schrodinger's cat

    May 14, 2013 at 9:28 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: True, but that was more than 200 years ago and coffee is much more popular here than tea. It is impossible to get decently brewed tea in the US unless you make it yourself. Most restaurants give you some tepid water and a tea bag when you ask for tea.

  47. 47.

    chopper

    May 14, 2013 at 9:29 am

    the nuts realize they don’t have much of anything, so if they keep talking about impeachment maybe they can magically lower the bar for which the public will be willing to remove a president from office.

    meanwhile, everyone who isn’t a drooling right wing ball sack is slowly walking backwards away from the crazy talk.

    really, i don’t think they really want to impeach the guy. talking about impeachment riles the RW base but actually going through with it, over something as nothingburger as benghazi, riles everyone else. they want 2014 to be a GOP base election, not a dem one.

  48. 48.

    low-tech cyclist

    May 14, 2013 at 9:32 am

    And just think, the MSM let this guy lead them around on a leash for years. He “rule[d] their world.”

    Idiots.

  49. 49.

    Kay

    May 14, 2013 at 9:33 am

    There’s just absolutely no accountability in political media. None. They made up the Benghazi talking points scandal. Completely. It originated with them.

    Now that it’s become a stupid, embarrassing sideshow that is only going to get more stupid, they have to shift blame:

    This was exactly his problem with Benghazi. Obama correctly said in response to Pace’s multi-headed question that the squabble over the talking points is a “sideshow.” But his administration wrote the script for this sideshow by not getting the details out quickly.

    Never, ever their problem.

  50. 50.

    Waldo

    May 14, 2013 at 9:34 am

    Would nation have the courage to remove its first black president IF proved he is corrupt?

    Well, that’s a big “if,” Matt. No, really — look at the size of it.

  51. 51.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 14, 2013 at 9:35 am

    @schrodinger’s cat: Well, if you are looking for a serious answer: The Boston Tea Party literally involved tea (and taxes and more). The Teapot Dome scandal involved bribery around the use of a Naval Petroleum Reserve at the Teapot Dome in Wyoming. The modern Tea Party is some form of cosplay by right wingers.

    I hope this helps.

  52. 52.

    jon

    May 14, 2013 at 9:36 am

    Yes. I only support the President because he’s black. Nothing else. I wasn’t a Democrat before, only a Republican who sat around waiting for a black man to run for President so I could support him fully because in 2008 it was time to have the courage to vote for a black man to be our leader. I don’t care about economic policy, foreign policy, the makeup of the courts, the environment, gay rights, women’s rights, sexual freedom, tax policy, education, roads, infrastructure, or anything else. I just wanted a black man to lead us because it completely undoes all the racism of the past. That’s it. And now I will continue to support him because of the blackness. It is because I am a white man who hates myself for slavery and racism, so my support for Obama is entirely, 100% related to the fact that he’s black.

    Well, half-black. I am heartened to be able to say that (mathematically) I voted for the white guy in 2008 and 2012. WHITE POWER!

  53. 53.

    schrodinger's cat

    May 14, 2013 at 9:36 am

    @Kay: The political media is second only to finance and econ professors in their mendacity and being consistently wrong about supposed area of expertise.

  54. 54.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 14, 2013 at 9:38 am

    @jon: It is obvious that you are the real racist here.

  55. 55.

    schrodinger's cat

    May 14, 2013 at 9:38 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: I knows, I just thought it was funny, all these tea related scandals, since most people drink coffee.

  56. 56.

    S-Curve

    May 14, 2013 at 9:39 am

    Don’t miss this from The One Who Rules Mark Halperin’s World:

    https://twitter.com/DRUDGE/status/333930791379816448

    Nope, not the least bit loony.

  57. 57.

    Ash Can

    May 14, 2013 at 9:41 am

    @f space that:

    This first waffle will be the tester.

    And it’s all the better if you have children and/or a hungry spouse to do the testing. Capital idea!

  58. 58.

    Zandar

    May 14, 2013 at 9:42 am

    @NorthLeft12: I’m articulate!

  59. 59.

    jon

    May 14, 2013 at 9:42 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: RAHOWA, bitches!

  60. 60.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 14, 2013 at 9:45 am

    @Zandar: And clean?

  61. 61.

    Kay

    May 14, 2013 at 9:46 am

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    So far, they have what amounts to an inter-agency squabble over talking points, and they’re all pretending the CIA wasn’t involved in that, for some reason that escapes me since that appears to be FACT. For some reason they’ve decided to pretend it was State and the Administration. That’s what they have, really. A squabble where they’re omitting a key player, for reasons only they know. Now that that’s becoming obvious, we have to go to this meta-political analysis?

  62. 62.

    Ash Can

    May 14, 2013 at 9:46 am

    Shorter NorthLeft12: “Gee, that’s funny; Zandar doesn’t sound black…”

  63. 63.

    Cacti

    May 14, 2013 at 9:48 am

    @Knockabout:

    Argle blarglebargle glaaarg!

    Meds dear. Meds.

  64. 64.

    Cassidy

    May 14, 2013 at 9:49 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: I bet he dresses well, too.

  65. 65.

    Ash Can

    May 14, 2013 at 9:50 am

    @Kay: Poor GOP and news media. Obama won’t give them a scandal to play with, so they have to make one up themselves.

  66. 66.

    schrodinger's cat

    May 14, 2013 at 9:50 am

    @Cacti: Is the new troll a part of the site redesign?

  67. 67.

    srv

    May 14, 2013 at 9:53 am

    And you’d have to be a toddler or a fool to believe that Eric Holder could go off on his own and take as politically volatile a step as this. But, let us take the White House at its word. Eric Holder did this by himself. He should be gone. This moment. Not only is this constitutionally abhorrent, it is politically moronic.

    BJ demi-messiah Charlie Pierce Goes FIREBAGGER!

    Next up Genius Brennan.

  68. 68.

    Cacti

    May 14, 2013 at 9:54 am

    @Zandar:

    I’m articulate!

    Reminds me of when Bill O’Reilly went to Sylvia’s in Harlem and reported his amazement that the patrons had mastered basic table manners.

  69. 69.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 14, 2013 at 9:56 am

    @schrodinger’s cat: Knockabout is Zandar’s personal stalker troll. Lucky Zandar, huh?

  70. 70.

    Chyron HR

    May 14, 2013 at 9:58 am

    @srv:

    Lynch Holder!

    But from the left, naturally.

  71. 71.

    rikyrah

    May 14, 2013 at 10:01 am

    CAC IS….

    as

    CAC DOES…

  72. 72.

    Yatsuno

    May 14, 2013 at 10:03 am

    @srv: Who replaces him and how do you get him by the wingnut gauntlet in the Senate? Answer carefully…

  73. 73.

    Jay in Oregon

    May 14, 2013 at 10:05 am

    @me:
    “I dare you to leave this comment up” is a troll’s game.

    You don’t play a troll’s game, because it gives them what they want (attention) and encourages more of the same.

    John Scalzi has no reservations about stomping on trolls, and the conversation is noticeably better as a result.

    OH do they whine about it, too. But they don’t do it on his site.

  74. 74.

    gene108

    May 14, 2013 at 10:07 am

    WAKE UP SHEEPLE!

    2014 is all about turning out the base.

    In a good year, about 60% of people vote in a Presidential election.

    In the off-year election that number drops to 35%.

    Republicans only need to get – at most – 18% of the people to vote for them, in order to win.

    With gerrymandered districts and their structural advantage in rural areas, Republicans probably need something like 16%-17% of the total voting population to go their way to maintain the status quo in 2014.

    They just need to keep the wurlitzer going to keep their base whipped up and frothing.

  75. 75.

    Kay

    May 14, 2013 at 10:08 am

    @Ash Can:

    They have two better scandals. But why are they credible now that they pushed Benghazi?

    They’ll say anything.

  76. 76.

    Xenos

    May 14, 2013 at 10:10 am

    Who is it who checks out Morning Joe every day… Raven? I would be curious what Mika B. has to say about former Commissioner Doug Shulman seeing as they knew each other as part of Williams College class of ’89.

  77. 77.

    Betty Cracker

    May 14, 2013 at 10:11 am

    @Jay in Oregon: We have some irritating, bone-headed trolls around here for sure, but I favor the troll tolerance policy. Squelching trolls is too much like work.

  78. 78.

    The Red Pen

    May 14, 2013 at 10:13 am

    @jon:

    RAHOWA, bitches!

    Church of the Creator ref. You know your scum, sir.

  79. 79.

    Patrick

    May 14, 2013 at 10:15 am

    @Knockabout:

    Will Zandar and ABL have the courage to admit that Obama’s scandals will be the primary reason the Democrats lose the Senate in 2014 and the GOP will have 300 seats?

    Ok – I’ll bite.

    Why did the Dems lose seats in the House/Senate in 2010 when there were no Obama scandals (and frankly there are none this time either)?

    Why the hell is it Obama’s fault if they lose seats in 2014? Couldn’t it be the same damn thing as in 2010, ie it is a mid-term election year where people of the incumbent party tend not to show up (as in 2010).

  80. 80.

    Yatsuno

    May 14, 2013 at 10:17 am

    @Betty Cracker: Well, just to tempt you, you do have that magic button. Knockabout ain’t worth the effort though. At least he finally let his white sheet freak flag fly today. We can now point and mock as necessary.

  81. 81.

    Just One More Canuck

    May 14, 2013 at 10:18 am

    @Yatsuno: and show your work

  82. 82.

    Suffern ACE

    May 14, 2013 at 10:20 am

    @Kay:

    So far, they have what amounts to an inter-agency squabble over talking points, and they’re all pretending the CIA wasn’t involved in that, for some reason that escapes me since that appears to be FACT.

    Petraeus as a great man. The greatest general since Patton. The political establishment wants to keep his only flaw as his mistress.

  83. 83.

    MomSense

    May 14, 2013 at 10:20 am

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Hey here is an interesting factoid about the Boston Tea Party. The original tea party was just a staged event. The owners of the ships whose tea was destroyed–were paid for that tea in advance of the party!

    So the original was an astro turf operation as well.

  84. 84.

    Patrick

    May 14, 2013 at 10:21 am

    Would nation have the courage to remove its first black president IF proved he is corrupt?

    Oh, since Bush wasn’t impeached, the line has been drawn so far away that it is hard to get anybody impeached.

    It is amusing that of all the scandals under bush, the right-wingers literally didn’t say a word. Credibility…

  85. 85.

    srv

    May 14, 2013 at 10:29 am

    @Yatsuno: I just bring the message, I don’t advocate.

    It is always simpler to just burn the latest heretic here at BJ.

  86. 86.

    Kay

    May 14, 2013 at 10:30 am

    @Patrick:

    Oh, since Bush wasn’t impeached, the line has been drawn so far away that it is hard to get anybody impeached.

    I look at it the other way. I think conservatives discredited the whole impeachment mechanism with Clinton. It’s now perceived as purely political. It’s unmoored from anything real.
    The Newt Gingrich-led GOP did a lot of structural damage.

  87. 87.

    Suffern ACE

    May 14, 2013 at 10:34 am

    @Kay: i think so, too. Now they suddenly want it back. I guess they’ll state that Dems in the Senate who don’t vote for conviction are being partisans, not actually noting that only Republicans are voting for conviction.

  88. 88.

    Kay

    May 14, 2013 at 10:39 am

    @Suffern ACE:

    Petraeus as a great man. The greatest general since Patton. The political establishment wants to keep his only flaw as his mistress.

    I agree. I’ve thought that from the beginning, that there was a careful dance to protect him.

    I love how this thing doesn’t make any sense even on the most surface level. He’s the Great God General, he was very involved in this, obviously, and the allegation is they didn’t use enough force once the attack began? The myths don’t even match up, unless they omit key facts. Incredibly, DAVID BROOKS brought this up. It’s stating the obvious, but still, he gets a tiny dollop of credit.

  89. 89.

    Yatsuno

    May 14, 2013 at 10:40 am

    @srv: You. Cross. Off. Now.

    And you don’t get out of it that easily. Pierce I know doesn’t go into this detail, so now it’s up to you. Who replaces him and how do you get him through the Senate? You don’t get to make a statement and then ignore the logical follow-up.

  90. 90.

    Chyron HR

    May 14, 2013 at 10:42 am

    @Suffern ACE:

    I guess they’ll state that Dems in the Senate who don’t vote for conviction are being partisans, not actually noting that only Republicans are voting for conviction.

    Optimist, huh?

  91. 91.

    low-tech cyclist

    May 14, 2013 at 10:44 am

    IF it was proved that George W. Bush had gotten us into a military occupation of a country on the other side of the world, a country with a vastly different language and culture and internal divisions of religion and ethnicity that we only superficially understood, without the least bit of advance planning, at a cost of thousands of American lives, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives, and trillions of dollars, would we have had the courage to impeach our first mentally retarded President?

    Guess we know the answer to that one.

    And IF it was proved that Matt Drudge was a totally ignorant, worthless schmuck, would the MSM have the common sense to stop paying any attention to him?

    We know the answer to that one too.

  92. 92.

    Kay

    May 14, 2013 at 10:45 am

    @Suffern ACE:

    Yeah, I think you can do that. Discredit a whole mechanism.

    It was a kind of immunization for Bush. It’s a shame, but I think that particular “pull emergency cord” is gone as a serious option. Once you use it how they used it for Clinton, the whole analysis is different. They cheapened it. It’s worth less.

    I was shocked at the time at how deeply undemocratic it was, and I remain shocked. They tried to remove a democratically elected President. It’s just breathtaking abuse of process.

  93. 93.

    MomSense

    May 14, 2013 at 10:45 am

    @Kay:

    Ok, the scandal doesn’t make any sense at all unless you put on your tinfoil hat and look at it as an early October surprise that didn’t work.

    FUX and the Romney campaign rolled out their messaging within an hour of the event. Also too it came out that he was being investigated for something unrelated when the Mistress emails were discovered.

    ETA: Petraeus was being investigated for something unrelated. Have to be careful when I put on the tinfoil hat–it destroys brain cells.

  94. 94.

    Julia Grey

    May 14, 2013 at 10:46 am

    @Cris (without an H):

    Dude, it’s bigger than Teapot Dome.

    Approximately 99.8% of the people being asked that question had no fucking idea what the Teapot Dome scandal entailed.

    I’m a big history buff and even I could barely remember the outlines. But it was big, and riotous with filthy lucre. But because it didn’t directly involve the President, you could say that it wasn’t bigger than Watergate.

    From Wikipedia:

    The Teapot Dome scandal was a bribery incident that took place in the United States from 1920 to 1923, during the administration of President Warren G. Harding. Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall leased Navy petroleum reserves at Teapot Dome in Wyoming and two other locations in California to private oil companies at low rates without competitive bidding. In 1922 and 1923, the leases became the subject of a sensational investigation by Senator Thomas J. Walsh. Fall was later convicted of accepting bribes from the oil companies.

    Fall got today’s equivalent of over 6 million bucks out of the deals, and it was the sudden enormous rise in his standard of living that made people suspicious. Clearly not the smartest of fellas, Fall.

    Interestingly enough, the unilaterally awarded low-rate, non-competitive bid leases were not illegal (I know, right?), but the “gifts” he got from the oil companies in return certainly were.

  95. 95.

    gene108

    May 14, 2013 at 10:47 am

    @Patrick:

    What would Dems have used as evidence for impeachment?

    Bush, Jr. sent ZERO e-mails as President. Not one.

    Every public utterance he made had built in deniability. Did Bush&Co say Saddam Hussein had anything to do with 9/11?

    NO!

    They carefully parsed every word, every sentence and every bit of punctuation in the English language to juxtapose Saddam and 9/11, without actually equating them.

    They are slimy bastards, who never let themselves get pinned down with anything that could ever be used against them.

    Nailing them on an actual violation of the law was/ is damn near impossible.

    They are gangsters, who got lawyered up before even stepping into office.

  96. 96.

    ericblair

    May 14, 2013 at 10:50 am

    @MomSense:

    Hey here is an interesting factoid about the Boston Tea Party. The original tea party was just a staged event. The owners of the ships whose tea was destroyed–were paid for that tea in advance of the party!

    Besides the fact that at its core the colonists were protesting a corporate tax cut. (East India Company had to pay taxes on imported tea, making a nice smuggling opportunity via Dutch sources for Yurpeans and colonists alike. East India Company gets this tax cut, and Parliament makes it up on import taxes to the colonies, making smuggling a lot less profitable.)

  97. 97.

    Kay

    May 14, 2013 at 10:54 am

    @MomSense:

    I believe that the three agencies/entities managed it politically, according to their disparate needs/wants. I completely buy that. I just don’t buy that doing that excludes managing it practically or seriously or properly. They can both things at the same time. Indeed, I think “doing both things at the same time” is SOP.
    They want me to believe The General is a purely operational actor, that he has no political or reputation or legacy concerns? It’s just horseshit. Of course he does. Anyone who has watched his extremely mannered and careful testimony knows he’s aware of all that.

  98. 98.

    Mike Lamb

    May 14, 2013 at 10:54 am

    Can someone please explain why the IRS issue is so scandalous? (c)(4) are prohibited from electioneering. IRS doesn’t have the man power to investigate all these groups at a substantive level. So key word searches on the names is about the only way they can get any sort of idea whether these are legitimate groups. Conservatives overwhelmingly reference Tea-something in their groups.

    The only way I can see a scandal is if liberal groups also had common names (which to my knowledge they don’t) and the IRS was avoiding investigating those groups. I haven’t seen that as being the case.

  99. 99.

    Bobby Thomson

    May 14, 2013 at 10:56 am

    @low-tech cyclist: still does

  100. 100.

    gene108

    May 14, 2013 at 10:56 am

    @Kay:

    More than impeachment being discredited what they did was successfully scuttle the Special Prosecutor law, which was used effectively in Iran-Contra to ferret out wrong doing.

    This way, the next time a Republican President wanted to break the law, pinning him down is going to be harder.

  101. 101.

    Cassidy

    May 14, 2013 at 10:59 am

    @Mike Lamb: Because it reinforces their perpetual WATB victim complex. Who needs facts when you jsut got confrimation of what you know: that the gov’t really is out to get you.

  102. 102.

    Shortstop

    May 14, 2013 at 11:01 am

    @Zandar: no shit. I read that and I just…I…jesus.

  103. 103.

    Kay

    May 14, 2013 at 11:04 am

    @Mike Lamb:

    So far, it looks like there wasn’t an influx of liberal groups like there was an influx of conservative groups. Propublica has been following it a long time, because they were interested in the IRS role after Citizens (no one knew the rules after Citizens). They would make periodic requests for applications that had been approved, and publish them. They would get far more conservative submissions.

    The new theory is “now it reaches DC!” but reading the Propublica timeline, that looks (so far, to me) like DC took it from Ohio after they started the investigation on the Ohio cases, which is what one would expect them to do.

  104. 104.

    srv

    May 14, 2013 at 11:04 am

    @Yatsuno:

    You don’t get to make a statement and then ignore the logical follow-up.

    You people are so emotionally irrational. I did not advocate Firing Holder, Anne Laurie’s god did. It will soon grow to a much bigger chorus. Holder isn’t this stupid, but he’s going to take the fall for it.

    If you want some analysis, you will probably be lucky to get some Republican federal judge after a year or two of hearings and a Special Prosecutor.

  105. 105.

    Shortstop

    May 14, 2013 at 11:05 am

    @Cacti: Carch Larry Wilmore’s (sp?) take on that on TDS? He went up to Sylvia’s and was using his sleeve as a napkin, spearing food with his knife, etc. Funniest part was the server’s completely impassive face.

  106. 106.

    Shortstop

    May 14, 2013 at 11:09 am

    @Shortstop: I make it a point not to comment on site changes but…I miss having a mobile edit function that works.

  107. 107.

    xian

    May 14, 2013 at 11:12 am

    @weaselone: this plan is full of win

  108. 108.

    Patrick

    May 14, 2013 at 11:15 am

    @gene108:

    The Dems, unlike the GOP, didn’t push hard enough. The attorney general scandal, the outing of the CIA agent, why exactly did we go to war against Iraq, did Cheney push CIA into making up evidence of WMD’s.

    We don’t know if it went all the way up to Bush, because Congress didn’t used its powers adequately. But we do know that Bush was CIC and was privy to all the information before attacking Iraq so foolishly.

  109. 109.

    Jockey Full of Malbec

    May 14, 2013 at 11:26 am

    @srv:

    Holder isn’t this stupid, but he’s going to take the fall for it.

    Just think of all the mischief the GOP will be able to get up to, with the AG’s office empty.

    Just in time for the 2014 midterms.

  110. 110.

    Kay

    May 14, 2013 at 11:26 am

    @Mike Lamb:

    This is a short read from the IRS side.

    We get horrible news coverage of these sorts of procedural processes from media. I don’t have any hope anyone will understand what happened at the end of this thing. I base that on reading about election process for the last six years. For three years, they regularly conflated voter registration and voting when they were smearing ACORN. They treated registration and voting as the same thing.
    This is IRS review of a campaign finance issue (boring! complex!) and it’s politically charged.
    It’s complicated. They’re going to screw it up. I don’t think I can follow it anymore because it drives me crazy enough when they do this with voting process.
    The Washington Post coverage is just terrible. They aren’t making simple logical connections between events, like WHY would the approval process move from Ohio to DC? There’s no thought in it.

  111. 111.

    Matt McIrvin

    May 14, 2013 at 11:33 am

    @Kay: God, why did he use the phrase “mistakes were made”? That’s like painting a giant target on yourself.

  112. 112.

    Kay

    May 14, 2013 at 11:39 am

    @Matt McIrvin:

    They got a huge influx of applications from conservative groups. They had no guidelines. They had orders to review the applications for mysterious “signs” of political activity. They then cycled thru 3 separate flagging techniques. It’s perfectly reasonable to think they used conservative markers because there were FAR more applications from conservatives.
    I just don’t see the malice here. I’m waiting for something. I just don’t see it yet.
    In a way it doesn’t matter. There’s no way to retract all the language that’s been used, “targeting”, which is technically correct, but perhaps not in the way it’s being used.
    I mean, obviously they’re bad at the politics of this, but is that really their role?

  113. 113.

    catclub

    May 14, 2013 at 11:39 am

    @Ash Can: Deval Patrick would be your best bet there.

    Of course, ex-governor’s of Massachusetts do not have a good recent track record running for President.

  114. 114.

    taylormattd

    May 14, 2013 at 11:51 am

    @Knockabout: when will an admin simply ban these racist pieces of shit?

    When

  115. 115.

    AxelFoley

    May 14, 2013 at 11:52 am

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    I think all this rending of garments about impeachment is premature. I will hit the panic mode if and when it happens

    Exactly. When you have chicken littles on the left going on about the GOP going for impeachment, you embolden them assholes.

    Can all you pussy-ass lefties stop with that shit?

  116. 116.

    beltane

    May 14, 2013 at 11:58 am

    @AxelFoley: Best comment I’ve seen on this was on DKOs: “Much like Democrats to bring a string of pearls to a gunfight…”

  117. 117.

    AxelFoley

    May 14, 2013 at 12:02 pm

    @Jockey Full of Malbec:

    The left seriously needs to stop being so scared of these fuckers. Obama won a second term fair & square, despite a hostile media, a borderline retarded electorate, and UNLIMITED CORPORATE CASH (much of it foreign, BTW) only a few months ago.

    These imaginary scandals will only get as much legs as the audience allows. (And, frankly, the orderly fashion in which the media is rolling these out is almost comical).

    If anything sinks Obama, it will be excessive politeness/fairness and needless doubt on the part of those who should have his back.

    Spines up, folks: Reality always wins, in the end.

    Thank you. Just thank you.

  118. 118.

    AxelFoley

    May 14, 2013 at 12:03 pm

    @beltane:

    @AxelFoley: Best comment I’ve seen on this was on DKOs: “Much like Democrats to bring a string of pearls to a gunfight…”

    I know, right? Shit makes me sick. Dems/lefties need to stop being scared of the GOP.

  119. 119.

    Mike in NC

    May 14, 2013 at 12:10 pm

    Wasn’t Drudge a mentor of Breitbart? He should follow his example and fucking drop dead.

  120. 120.

    Suffern ACE

    May 14, 2013 at 12:21 pm

    @MomSense: You know, if I put my tinfoil hat on here, the “Leaker” that is behind this AP phone record search may have been Petraeus.

  121. 121.

    Rick Taylor

    May 14, 2013 at 12:26 pm

    Will the House Republicans really impeach the President? It would be so self destructive I don’t believe they will, but they’ve surprised me before.

  122. 122.

    Jay

    May 14, 2013 at 12:31 pm

    If Drudge wants to bring identity into the bargain, let’s try this:

    Do you have the courage to admit you support a political movement that would force you back into the closet? Because that movement IS provably homophobic.

    Live by the sword, die by it, boss man.

  123. 123.

    Mike Lamb

    May 14, 2013 at 12:32 pm

    @Kay: I guess what I’m missing is why the IRS is apologizing. If there were similar “markers” in the names used by liberal groups and a similar key word search as was used for the conservative groups was not employed, then I’d get it.

  124. 124.

    MomSense

    May 14, 2013 at 12:32 pm

    @Suffern ACE:

    Pretty sure he was involved in all of those Obama dilly dallying on Afghanistan leaks back in ’09 while he was meeting with big donors and expressing his interest in running for President.

  125. 125.

    jurassicpork

    May 14, 2013 at 12:43 pm

    Prosecute the precedent as well as the President: Mike Flannigan’s take on the AP phone record seizure scandal.

  126. 126.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 14, 2013 at 12:50 pm

    @Knockabout:

    the GOP will have 300 seats

    Is that anything like this?

  127. 127.

    brantl

    May 14, 2013 at 12:58 pm

    Matt Drudge, superdouche!

  128. 128.

    Kyle

    May 14, 2013 at 1:30 pm

    If faced with overwhelming evidence that he’s a dick, would Matt Drudge have the decency to take his own life?

  129. 129.

    Elie

    May 14, 2013 at 1:54 pm

    @Mark B:

    This this this…

  130. 130.

    John M. Burt

    May 14, 2013 at 1:59 pm

    I call this “playing the ‘playing the race card’ card”.

    http://johnmburt.tumblr.com/post/50431298584

  131. 131.

    Kathleen

    May 14, 2013 at 2:34 pm

    @Betty Cracker: Hmm. I wish I could answer you, Betty, but I just can’t put my finger on it either. Hmm.

  132. 132.

    rea

    May 14, 2013 at 2:34 pm

    @srv:

    And you’d have to be a toddler or a fool to believe that Eric Holder could go off on his own and take as politically volatile a step as this.

    Well, but in fact, because Holder was someone who had the knowledge to have been the leaker, and was therefore theoretically a suspect, he very properly recused himself.

  133. 133.

    Kathleen

    May 14, 2013 at 3:02 pm

    @Kay: I agree with you, Kay. And to be honest, I do not appreciate how Obama (in my view) threw Federal workers under a bus again without understanding the facts (but I’m not as politically savvy as many of the folks here are so there’s that). I worked many years in Corporate America dealing with process issues. Anyone who has ever worked for a corporation I would think has experienced a product/service rollout that was not carefully planned and implemented and resulted in total chaos due to lack of process implementation/documentation for worker bees. The IRS was apologizing for that lack of planning oversight. And, frankly, as a taxpayer, I’m glad they performed due diligence by following up when they had questions. And the most of the comments at the USA Today link were predictable.

  134. 134.

    JR in WV

    May 14, 2013 at 3:11 pm

    @Kay:

    Yes, me too. But he was also a Democrat, and probably liberal underneath the realpolitik. We know what Republicans think about liebuarls.

  135. 135.

    YellowJournalism

    May 14, 2013 at 3:29 pm

    . It’s truly, truly, truly outrageous.

    Great. Now I’m going to have the Jem theme song in my head all day.

  136. 136.

    cckids

    May 14, 2013 at 3:30 pm

    @Kay:

    I was shocked at the time at how deeply undemocratic it was, and I remain shocked. They tried to remove a democratically elected President. It’s just breathtaking abuse of process

    They did that, then turned around & tried to/did subvert the will of the voters by stopping the vote count in Florida, with all the machinations we all know so well. And it worked. Why should they stop now? Go big or go home, that is their motto.

  137. 137.

    jon

    May 14, 2013 at 3:40 pm

    @The Red Pen: I worked in a prison. I met the best of them.

  138. 138.

    JGabriel

    May 14, 2013 at 5:20 pm

    Matt Drudge:

    Would nation have the courage to remove its first black president IF proved he is corrupt?

    Hey, Matt, let’s turn to reality. Since we actually have a black Supreme Court Justice who is corrupt, why don’t we start with Clarence Thomas?

    .

  139. 139.

    ellennelle

    May 14, 2013 at 6:21 pm

    wow, drudge just enlightened me.

    it’s been sorta nagging at the fringes of my mind, but boom! there it is!

    the rightwing media is push polling the public.

    hey, whatever works when you’re desperate.

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