Salon.com > Darrell Issa http://www.salon.com Wed, 03 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 IRS scandal is Republicans’ zombie http://www.salon.com/2013/06/27/irs_scandal_is_republicans_zombie/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/27/irs_scandal_is_republicans_zombie/#comments Thu, 27 Jun 2013 22:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13339094 Like a "zeke" in "World War Z" that just won't die, the IRS scandal lives another day. We declared it dead on Monday -- based on the information we had at the time -- after we learned that the IRS had targeted progressive and Occupy groups in addition to Tea Party ones.

But today, Treasury Department Inspector General Russell George explained in a letter to lawmakers that while some liberal groups got extra scrutiny, they weren't systematically targeted like conservative ones were. "We found no indication in any of these other materials that 'Progressives' was a term used to refer cases for scrutiny for political campaign intervention," the IG wrote. While 100 percent of applications for groups with "Tea Party," "Patriot" or "9/12" in their name were processed as "potential political cases," just 30 percent of progressive ones were.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/27/irs_scandal_is_republicans_zombie/feed/ 187 Issa saved by the news cycle http://www.salon.com/2013/06/27/issas_irs_scandal_quietly_crumbles/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/27/issas_irs_scandal_quietly_crumbles/#comments Thu, 27 Jun 2013 12:27:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13338630 There has been so much news this week, from the Supreme Court to the racist television cooking lady to the return of "Crossfire," that some of the political media's old favorite stories have almost entirely disappeared from cable news and the blogosphere. Victims of the news cycle include the trio of "scandals" that gripped official Washington for weeks beginning last month. In particular, the controversy over IRS scrutiny of Tea Party groups has largely disappeared from the headlines. Considering how much of a political gift that particular controversy was to Republicans, you'd expect them to be upset about this fact. But recent revelations have actually given them cause to celebrate the nation's short attention span.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/27/issas_irs_scandal_quietly_crumbles/feed/ 15 Darrell Issa’s credibility is over http://www.salon.com/2013/06/25/darrell_issas_credibility_is_over/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/25/darrell_issas_credibility_is_over/#comments Tue, 25 Jun 2013 16:36:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13336175 Liberals have naturally never much cared for Darrell Issa, but after he seized on a Treasury Department inspector general report that appeared to show the agency had improperly singled out Tea Party tax-exempt groups for extra scrutiny, even we thought he might be on to something. Jon Stewart practically disowned the president. After a long string of failures, it looked like Issa had finally found something real, even if he was a bit overeager in hyping it.

How wrong we were. Now it's clear Issa played us this whole time, thanks to new documents that show the IRS also targeted "progressive" and "Occupy" groups, in addition to Tea Party ones. And if it targeted groups on both sides, it wasn't really singling anyone out (the only group actually denied tax-exempt status was a progressive one, after all) and the whole scandal falls apart.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/25/darrell_issas_credibility_is_over/feed/ 226 Darrell Issa is terrible at his job http://www.salon.com/2013/06/19/darrell_issa_is_terrible_at_his_job/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/19/darrell_issa_is_terrible_at_his_job/#comments Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:40:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13330396 In case you lost track of the IRS scandal, here's where it's at right now: House Oversight Committee members are releasing dueling transcripts of witness testimony to the press. There is a big fight about it. It is maybe kind of boring.

Darrell Issa, Republican chairmain of the committee, has been selectively releasing snippets of testimony to the press, all of it designed to support his contention that the IRS targeting of conservative groups for additional scrutiny of their nonprofit status was a political maneuver ordered or somehow directed by the White House. There is literally no evidence for that claim and it's not true but Issa is sort of bad at his job in many important respects. Democratic ranking member Elijah Cummings asked Issa to please release full transcripts of witness testimony, but Issa refused, so Cummings just did so, with a full transcript of the committee's interview with an IRS employee who seems to have been the first one to flag a "Tea Party" group's application for tax-exempt status for further review.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/19/darrell_issa_is_terrible_at_his_job/feed/ 81 War against Issa heats up, as Cummings releases IRS transcript http://www.salon.com/2013/06/18/cummings_releases_irs_transcript/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/18/cummings_releases_irs_transcript/#comments Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:52:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13329964 The internal war between House Oversight Committee chair Darrell Issa and ranking Democrat Elijah Cummings blew up again Tuesday, when Cummings released the full transcript of a five-hour interview with the conservative Republican IRS screening manager who said the very first Tea Party case was flagged by one of his own staffers, and denied any White House knowledge or involvement with the controversial screening policy. Part one is here; part two is here.

You’ll recall that Cummings had previously charged Issa with misrepresenting the Committee’s findings when he charged that the investigation was uncovering evidence that pointed to “Washington” involvement. Cummings demanded that Issa keep an earlier pledge to release all of the transcripts of committee interviews to date. Issa refused, calling Cummings “reckless” and “irresponsible” for sharing a partial transcript of the Republican screening manager's interview, and insisting any further disclosure of interviews would “undermine the integrity of the Committee’s investigation.”

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/18/cummings_releases_irs_transcript/feed/ 51 Republican IRS agent reportedly says he was behind Tea Party scrutiny http://www.salon.com/2013/06/10/republican_irs_agent_reportedly_says_he_was_behind_tea_party_scrutiny/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/10/republican_irs_agent_reportedly_says_he_was_behind_tea_party_scrutiny/#comments Mon, 10 Jun 2013 13:25:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13321785 Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., says that a manager at the IRS, who describes himself as a conservative Republican, told a congressional committee that he and a colleague at the Cinncinnati office were behind the practice of targeting Tea Party and other conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.

"He is a conservative Republican working for the IRS. I think this interview and these statements go a long way toward showing that the White House was not involved in this," Cummings sain CNN's "State of the Union," adding: "Based upon everything I've seen, the case is solved. And if it were me, I would wrap this case up and move on."

Reuters reports:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/10/republican_irs_agent_reportedly_says_he_was_behind_tea_party_scrutiny/feed/ 18 IRS: “Star Trek” parody video is “embarrassing” http://www.salon.com/2013/06/06/irs_star_trek_parody_video_is_embarrassing/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/06/irs_star_trek_parody_video_is_embarrassing/#comments Thu, 06 Jun 2013 17:35:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13318883 As the American people continue to lose faith in an increasingly and disturbingly Orwellian government, proceedings are underway for perhaps the only humorous scandal in the mix: the IRS's controversial conference spending, which produced a "Star Trek" parody tape, among other wonders.

House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif. asked IRS commissioner Faris Fink, better known to taxpayers as Spock, "What were you thinking?" regarding the creation of a nearly $50,000 "Star Trek" parody training video played at an IRS training conference in 2010. Fink said it was "an attempt, in a well-intentioned way, to use humor to open the conference.”

“The fact of the matter is that they’re embarrassing … they’re embarrassing and I regret the fact that they were made," he said.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/06/irs_star_trek_parody_video_is_embarrassing/feed/ 5 The farce that is Darrell Issa http://www.salon.com/2013/06/04/the_farce_that_is_darrell_issa/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/04/the_farce_that_is_darrell_issa/#comments Tue, 04 Jun 2013 15:20:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13316426 The only thing that makes Rep. Darrell Issa remotely qualified to chair the House Oversight Committee is his personal familiarity with the investigative process – on the receiving end. The man Republican House Speaker John Boehner put in charge of investigating government wrongdoing was himself indicted for stealing a car, accused of stealing at least one other car, arrested for carrying a concealed weapon, and twice suspected of insurance fraud – and once extensively investigated by authorities for arson, because his former business associates accused him, on the record, of burning down a building to collect the insurance payout.

Democrats love to hate the silly, camera-chasing Issa, who came to power in 2011 promising to put the White House under generalized investigation. But now even some Republicans are happy to criticize Issa too. It’s easy for them to denounce his calling Jay Carney a “paid liar,” as well as his evidence-free claim that the IRS mess was directed from Washington, D.C., while they continue to participate in smearing the White House with non-scandals themselves, nonetheless.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/04/the_farce_that_is_darrell_issa/feed/ 99 Lindsey Graham: “No evidence” IRS was acting on White House instructions http://www.salon.com/2013/06/03/lindsey_graham_no_evidence_irs_was_acting_on_white_house_instructions/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/03/lindsey_graham_no_evidence_irs_was_acting_on_white_house_instructions/#comments Mon, 03 Jun 2013 19:07:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13316004 Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., says that there's "no evidence" so far that IRS officials were acting based on directives from the White House when they targeted conservative groups.

"I don't believe this was something thought up in the Cincinnati office, but I have no evidence that goes to the White House," Graham said on Fox News Radio on Monday, the Huffington Post reports.

Graham made his comments after Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, called White House Press Secretary Jay Carney a "paid liar " over the weekend, and said that employees from the IRS Cincinnati office allege that this is "a problem that was coordinated in all likelihood right out of Washington headquarters -- and we're getting to proving it."

"I don't think it was a localized issue. I think it was a coordinated effort by some people to silence conservative critics of the president," Graham added. "That's pretty clear. How far it went, we don't know."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/03/lindsey_graham_no_evidence_irs_was_acting_on_white_house_instructions/feed/ 10 Issa subpoenas documents on Benghazi http://www.salon.com/2013/05/28/issa_subpoenas_documents_on_benghazi/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/28/issa_subpoenas_documents_on_benghazi/#comments Tue, 28 May 2013 20:42:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13311160 House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., has subpoenaed documents from the State Department related to the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, including communications about the talking points issued to Ambassador Susan Rice, which have become a sticking point in the House investigation of the administration's response to the attacks.

In a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, Issa wrote that he and members of Congress "have requested documents and information related to the ongoing investigation. To date, the Administration has largely ignored these requests, despite various pledges both you and the President have made to cooperate with Congress."

"The State Department has not lived up to the Administration's broad and unambiguous promises of cooperation with Congress. Therefore, I am left with no alternative but to compel the State Department to produce relevant documents through a subpoena," Issa wrote.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/28/issa_subpoenas_documents_on_benghazi/feed/ 21 How Eric Holder holds on http://www.salon.com/2013/05/27/how_eric_holder_holds_on/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/27/how_eric_holder_holds_on/#comments Mon, 27 May 2013 17:30:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13309626 Part of me has been rooting for Attorney General Eric Holder to keep his job. It’s the part of me that wishes Democrats were tougher, that they didn’t reflexively try to reason and negotiate with crackpot Republicans, and then just fold when the GOP, predictably, won’t budge. Holder modeled backbone for spineless Democrats the day he told Rep. Darrell Issa, the dodgy car-alarm magnate turned “oversight” bully, that his behavior as House Oversight Committee chair has been “unacceptable, and…shameful.”

Unfortunately, that same day we got more details about the Justice Department’s broad, aggressive targeting of the Associated Press in a national security leak probe. Then came the news that the department had obtained the personal and professional email and phone records of Fox News’s James Rosen, under the dubious and shocking claim that he might be a criminal “co-conspirator” in the leak of national security secrets. While Holder says he didn’t know about the AP dragnet because he recused himself from the leak investigation, since he was among the administration officials interviewed for it, NBC News revealed late Thursday that he personally signed off on the unprecedented (as far as we know) warrant for Rosen’s records.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/27/how_eric_holder_holds_on/feed/ 116 Lois Lerner, IRS disaster http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/lois_lerner_irs_disaster/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/lois_lerner_irs_disaster/#comments Wed, 22 May 2013 16:43:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13305719 One puzzling response to the IRS mess, common among pundits, is demanding firings, of anyone, anywhere, now, yesterday – Obama should just make heads roll! “Why weren’t more people fired?” Sen. Max Baucus asked at a Senate hearing Tuesday. But shouldn’t we all want to figure out exactly who is responsible for targeting conservatives before trying to placate the gods of outrage by offering up indiscriminate scapegoats?

Acting IRS director Stephen Miller walked the plank, even though there’s no evidence he had anything to do with the wrongful targeting of conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status, and the commissioner of the agency's tax exempt and government entities division, Joseph Grant, is retiring early. I’m not defending either man; bad things happened on their watch and that’s what happens to people at the top. Yet the woman at the center of the scandal, Lois Lerner, the IRS director of exempt organizations, still has a job --  and that makes no sense.

I don’t like scapegoating, but Lerner seemed like a reasonable candidate to lose her job even before she delivered a tin-eared self-defense in front of Darrell Issa’s House Oversight Committee – and then pleaded the Fifth Amendment, exercising her constitutional right to avoid self-incrimination,

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/lois_lerner_irs_disaster/feed/ 112 IRS official takes the Fifth: “I have not done anything wrong” http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/irs_official_takes_the_fifth_i_have_not_done_anything_wrong/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/irs_official_takes_the_fifth_i_have_not_done_anything_wrong/#comments Wed, 22 May 2013 15:31:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13305597 In a hearing before the House Oversight Committee, Lois Lerner, the IRS official charged with overseeing groups with tax-exempt status, invoked her Fifth Amendment right not to answer questions, telling lawmakers: "I have not done anything wrong. I have not broken any laws. I have not violated any IRS rules or regulations and have not provided false information to this or any other congressional committee.

"And while I would very much like to answer the committee's questions today," she continued, "I've been advised by my counsel to assert my constitutional right not to testify or answer questions related to the subject matter of this hearing. After very careful consideration, I've decided to follow my counsel's advice and not testify or answer any of the questions today."

Committee chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., then excused Lerner. Several other witnesses, including former IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman, are also scheduled to answer questions at the hearing, regarding the IRS's targeting of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status.

Watch:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/irs_official_takes_the_fifth_i_have_not_done_anything_wrong/feed/ 6 Dem Congressman slams GOP for “doctored” Benghazi emails http://www.salon.com/2013/05/19/dem_congressman_slams_gop_for_doctored_benghazi_emails/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/19/dem_congressman_slams_gop_for_doctored_benghazi_emails/#comments Sun, 19 May 2013 14:20:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13302714 Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff is calling for answers into how emails about the attacks on Benghazi were leaked and altered, reportedly by Republican aides, which Schiff says was "intended to further a politically-driven narrative."

CBS News reported last week that emails between the CIA, White House and State Department, leaked to ABC News and purportedly showing the State Department's key role in drafting talking points about the attacks, were sent out by Republicans, and had key differences from the originals released by the White House.

Schiff, a Congressman from California who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement on Saturday that the House Oversight Committee, and Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who chairs the committee, should provide answers for how the emails leaked in the first place, saying that Congress's oversight authority "certainly does not justify the leak of falsified information intended to further a politically-driven narrative."

From the statement:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/19/dem_congressman_slams_gop_for_doctored_benghazi_emails/feed/ 6 Will a GOP aide be fired over Benghazi email changes? http://www.salon.com/2013/05/17/will_a_gop_aide_be_fired_over_benghazi_email_changes/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/17/will_a_gop_aide_be_fired_over_benghazi_email_changes/#comments Fri, 17 May 2013 16:56:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13301549 Now that we know a GOP congressional aide misleadingly edited -- intentionally or not -- Obama administration emails on the Benghazi attack, one wonders if he or she will face repercussions. There's some precedent here. Former GOP Rep. Dan Burton used to hold Darrell Issa's job as Chairman of the House Oversight Committee and used it to aggressively go after Bill Clinton on a host of controversies of various degrees of merit, much as Issa is doing now.

In 1998, as Burton was investigating alleged campaign finance violations from Clinton's 1996 reelection campaign, his office released a doctored transcript of an audiotape of a former Clinton aide. Burton's top aide took the blame for the deception and resigned, as the New York Times reported on May 7, 1998:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/17/will_a_gop_aide_be_fired_over_benghazi_email_changes/feed/ 48 Holder slams Issa for “unacceptable” and “shameful” conduct http://www.salon.com/2013/05/15/holder_slams_issa_for_unacceptable_and_shameful_conduct/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/15/holder_slams_issa_for_unacceptable_and_shameful_conduct/#comments Wed, 15 May 2013 19:20:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13299620 During Attorney General Eric Holder's appearance at the House Judiciary Committee, the proceedings got a little bit heated after Rep. Darrell Issa questioned Holder about the lack of access to emails between the Obama administration and Labor secretary nominee Tom Perez, which Issa claimed could show a violation of the Federal Records Act. "You didn't want us to see the details," Issa said.

Holder interrupted Issa: "No, no, that's what you typically do -- No, I am not going to stop talking now," Holder said, adding: "It is inappropriate and too consistent with the way in which you conduct yourself as a member of Congress. It's unacceptable, and it's shameful."

Holder and Issa, R-Calif., have a pretty contentious relationship, and are currently mired in a court battle over internal Department of Justice documents related to the "Fast and Furious" gun-running case. Issa, who chairs the House Oversight Committee, successfully pushed to hold Holder in contempt of Congress last year for refusing to release the documents.

Watch, via TPM:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/15/holder_slams_issa_for_unacceptable_and_shameful_conduct/feed/ 35 Benghazi depositions to examine Clinton’s role http://www.salon.com/2013/05/13/benghazi_depositions_to_examine_clintons_role_ap/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/13/benghazi_depositions_to_examine_clintons_role_ap/#comments Mon, 13 May 2013 12:33:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13296999 WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican chairman of the House oversight panel is asking a veteran diplomat and a former chairman of the Joints Chief of Staff for sworn testimony about their investigation into the deaths of four Americans at a diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya.

Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, planned on Monday to seek depositions from retired Ambassador Thomas Pickering and retired Adm. Mike Mullen. Issa, who is leading Republicans' investigations into the attacks on a State Department consulate last September, said he wants to know with whom the pair spoke to reach their conclusion that then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton did not direct the response to the pair of nighttime attacks in Libya.

"This is a failure, it needs to be investigated. Our committee can investigate. Now, Ambassador Pickering, his people and he refused to come before our committee," Issa said Sunday.

Pickering, sitting next to Issa during an appearance on one Sunday show, disputed the chairman's account and said that he was willing to testify before the committee.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/13/benghazi_depositions_to_examine_clintons_role_ap/feed/ 1 What Darrell Issa really wants out of Benghazi hearing http://www.salon.com/2013/05/09/darrell_issa_the_man_behind_the_benghazi_hearings/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/09/darrell_issa_the_man_behind_the_benghazi_hearings/#comments Thu, 09 May 2013 16:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13293393 According to Darrell Issa, the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, his hearing on Benghazi Wednesday was designed to reveal, among other potentially “explosive” points, that he has evidence of the administration’s “premeditated lying to the American people.” Issa previously said that there’s “no question” that someone from Hillary Clinton’s “circle” was involved in a “cover-up” following the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.

How seriously should Americans take Issa’s hearing and claims?

For almost four years, I worked in close proximity to him, first on the Democratic staff of the Oversight Committee (when he was ranking member) and then as legislative director for a senior member of the committee, when he was chairman. Here’s what I learned: If Darrell Issa says something – based on the record, his statements and my personal observations of him up-close – there is a strong likelihood it will be baseless and easily disproven.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/09/darrell_issa_the_man_behind_the_benghazi_hearings/feed/ 63 GOP successfully scream “Benghazi” until people pay attention to them http://www.salon.com/2013/05/09/gop_successfully_scream_benghazi_until_people_pay_attention_to_them/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/09/gop_successfully_scream_benghazi_until_people_pay_attention_to_them/#comments Thu, 09 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13293451 Yesterday, Republicans finally got their #BENGHAZI hearing. After months of nonstop screaming, everyone finally paid attention to the conservative movement's favorite scandal since Fast and Furious. Darrell Issa's House Oversight Committee heard explosive testimony from three #BENGHAZI whistle-blowers, who blew the lid off the Obama administration's conspiracy to win reelection by allowing Americans to die in a terrorist attack and then having an administration official most Americans had never heard of pointedly not blame al-Qaida on Sunday news shows that only people in Washington care about.

Those are the accusations the #BENGHAZI coalition has been making since shortly after the attack: that the Obama administration intentionally allowed the attack on the U.S. consulate to happen, or did not do as much as it could have to stop the attack once it started, because it did not want to admit that it did not successfully destroy terrorism itself in its first term; and that after the attack, the administration intentionally and repeatedly lied about the attackers and their motivation (the "they didn't say 'terrorism'" argument), and then engaged in a Watergate-style cover-up of the fact that the attack had been terrorism.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/09/gop_successfully_scream_benghazi_until_people_pay_attention_to_them/feed/ 141 Please stop comparing things to Watergate http://www.salon.com/2013/05/08/please_stop_comparing_things_to_watergate/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/08/please_stop_comparing_things_to_watergate/#comments Wed, 08 May 2013 20:10:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13292851 Benghazi is back in the news today with a House Oversight Committee hearing, and that means Watergate is too. Because 40 years later, anything and everything gets compared to Watergate for some reason. It has to stop.

Here's Tea Party Rep. Steve Stockman -- "the New Michele Bachmann" -- today:

Mike Huckabee echoed the sentiment on Sunday, saying Benghazi will be Obama's Watergate or worse because, "as bad as Watergate was -- because it broke the trust between the president and the people -- no one died." But Huckabee and Stockman are just cribbing John McCain, who's been saying the same thing since October. Naturally, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and the rest of the crew at Fox News are all over the comparison as well

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