Before the Super Bowl, President Barack Hussein Obama sat down for an interview with Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly.
Hilarity Prevarication and denial of responsibility ensued.
Fox News summarizes the interview:
President Obama, in an interview with Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly, tried to put behind him the scandals that have hung over his second term, suggesting his administration did not mislead the public on the Benghazi attack and going so far as to say the IRS targeting scandal had “not even a smidgen of corruption.”
Obama addressed concerns over Benghazi, the launch of HealthCare.gov and the IRS, during the interview Sunday before the Super Bowl. He adamantly rejected the suggestion that the IRS was used for political purposes by singling out Tea Party groups seeking tax exemption.
“That’s not what happened,” he said. Rather, he said, IRS officials were confused about how to implement the law governing those kinds of tax-exempt groups.
“There were some bone-headed decisions,” Obama conceded.
But when asked whether corruption, or mass corruption, was at play, he responded: “Not even mass corruption — not even a smidgen of corruption.”
He acknowledged that then-IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman had been to the White House more than 100 times but said he couldn’t recall speaking to him on any of those occasions.
Obama also downplayed the controversy over how the Sept. 11, 2012, Benghazi attacks were described by the administration.
He said he considers any such strike an act of terror and that he was told by then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta at the time only that it was an “attack” — and that the more important issue is whether security lapses have now been fixed.
“All of the security precautions that needed to be taken didn’t happen,” the president said. “The key is that we’ve implemented the reforms that have been recommended.”
He also said his administration didn’t try to “hide the ball” regarding the attacks, in which four Americans were killed including Ambassador Chris Stevens.
“We revealed to the American people exactly what we understood at the time,” the president said.
Obama also claimed that the attackers were made up of a mix of people, some affiliated with terror organizations and others who were just “troublemakers.” A recent report from the Senate Intelligence Committee, though, definitively declared that individuals tied to Al Qaeda groups were involved.
On the rocky launch of the health care exchange system, Obama said he anticipated problems with the rollout of ObamaCare in October, particularly with the HealthCare.gov website because computer programs have glitches.
“But neither I nor anybody else anticipated the degree of problems with HealthCare.gov,” he said.
The president argued that total enrollment is now just about a month behind schedule and that young people, key to making ObamaCare work, are enrolling at a good rate.
He would not answer when asked repeatedly why he kept Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on the job.
“I try to focus not on the fumbles but on the next play,” he said
Is it just me, or does Obama sound like the bad guy, at the end of a Scooby Doo Cartoon?
And, I would have gotten by with it, too. if it wasn’t for that meddlesome Fox News!
After watching Obama do his Lt. Frank Drebin (The Naked Gun) impersonation,
Nothing to see here. Move along. Nothing to see here.
I did some research, and came up with the following list of Obama Scandals:
- The IRS targeted conservative and pro-Israel groups prior to the 2012 election.
- Benghazi: There are still 4 brave Americans, who are unavailable for comment. (And, their Commander in Chief chuckled inappropriately, when O’Reilly asked him about it.)
- The ATF “Fast and Furious” scheme: Federal agencies allowed weapons from U.S. gun dealers to “walk” across the border into the hands of Mexican drug dealers, leading to the December 2010 killing of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.
- Holder told Congress in May 2011 that he had just recently heard about the Fast and Furious gun walking scheme.
- HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius solicited donations from companies HHS might regulate. The money would be used to help her sign up uninsured Americans for Obamacare.
- Spying on The Associated Press: The Justice Department reviewed Associated Press reporters’ phone records as part of a leak investigation.
- Rosengate: The Justice Department treated Fox news Reporter as a criminal and monitored his phones and emails.
- Attorney General Eric Holder told Congress he had never been associated with “potential prosecution” of a journalist for perjury when in fact he signed the affidavit that termed Rosen a potential criminal.
- The Pigford scandal: An Agriculture Department effort that started as an attempt to compensate black farmers who had been discriminated against by the agency but evolved into a gravy train.
- The General Services Administration in 2010 held an $823,000 training conference in Las Vegas, featuring a clown and a mind readers.
- Veterans Affairs in Disney World: The agency wasted more than $6 million on two conferences in Orlando.
- Sebelius violates the Hatch Act: A U.S. special counsel determined that Sebelius violated the Hatch Act when she made “extemporaneous partisan remarks” during a speech in her official capacity last year.
- Obama may have violated the Constitution and both the letter and the spirit of the War Powers Resolution by attacking Libya without Congressional approval.
- Vice President Biden’s office has repeatedly interfered with coverage of the Administration, including forcing a reporter to wait in a closet, making a reporter delete photos, and editing pool reports.
- The Administration paid millions to the former firm of then-White House adviser David Axelrod, AKPD Message and Media, to promote passage of Obamacare.
- Solyndra: Republicans charged the Obama Administration funded and promoted its poster boy for green energy despite warning signs the company was headed for bankruptcy.
- Former EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson used the name “Richard Windsor” when corresponding by email with other government officials.
- The New Black Panthers: The SOJ was accused of using a racial double standard in failing to pursue a voter intimidation case against Black Panthers who appeared to be menacing voters at a polling place in 2008 in Philadelphia.
- Former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel used Bill Clinton as an intermediary to probe whether former Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) would accept a prominent, unpaid White House advisory position in exchange for dropping out of the 2010 primary against former Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.).
- Obama has repeatedly been accused of making end runs around Congress by deciding which laws to enforce, including the decision not to deport illegal immigrants who may have been allowed to stay in the United States had Congress passed the “Dream Act.”
- Obama blocked veterans from visiting National Monuments by barricading them, to make Americans suffer, during to a Government Shutdown of the Budget.
So, Mr. President, did Fox News make up all of these scandals, as well?
Shortly after Obama was inaugurated, the following appeared on the official website, whitehouse.gov:
Transparency and Open Government
Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies
SUBJECT: Transparency and Open Government
My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.
Government should be transparent. Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their Government is doing. Information maintained by the Federal Government is a national asset. My Administration will take appropriate action, consistent with law and policy, to disclose information rapidly in forms that the public can readily find and use. Executive departments and agencies should harness new technologies to put information about their operations and decisions online and readily available to the public. Executive departments and agencies should also solicit public feedback to identify information of greatest use to the public.
Joe Wilson was right.
He lied.
Until He Comes,
KJ