Justice Dept. Secretly Grabs AP Phone Records

[3rdnlng]

I always said that as soon as Obama's out of office, the rumblings of mass corruption in his administration would begin. Looks like we don't have to wait that long.

 

This administration is doing their best to keep their tabs on anyone that could potential harm it. That's why they selectively cherry-pick which leaks they go after.

 

You leak a story that makes Obama looks good, no problem. You leak a story that makes him look stupid/bad/corrupt, start running.

 

He's honestly made Nixon look like an amateur.

 

At first I thought you were that nutty professor (TPS) saying something that made sense and I became very confused.

[3rdnlng]

So, after years of giving this administration a free pass and making Obama feel like the teflon man and his Brownshirts like greased pigs you in the media are now bitching about your creation?

 

 

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/05/journos-fume-over-doj-raid-on-ap-91295.html?ml=po_r

[PTS]

 

 

At first I thought you were that nutty professor (TPS) saying something that made sense and I became very confused.

I get that a lot. TPS I am not.

 

I've been trying to stay away from politics and this forum but this administration is a disgrace.

[B-Man]

Oh Dana, you're not so much concerned with the scandal as the way your hero responded to it.....................lol

 

Obama, the uninterested president

 

by Dana Milbank

 

President Passerby needs urgently to become a participant in his presidency.

Late Monday came the breathtaking news of a full-frontal assault on the First Amendment by his administration: word that the Justice Department had gone on a fishing expedition through months of phone records of Associated Press reporters.

And yet President Obama reacted much as he did to the equally astonishing revelation on Friday that the IRS had targeted conservative groups based on their ideology: He responded as though he were just some bloke on a bar stool, getting his information from the evening news.

In the phone-snooping case, Obama didn’t even stir from his stool. Instead, he had his press secretary, former Time magazine journalist Jay Carney, go before an incensed press corps Tuesday afternoon and explain why the president will not be involving himself in his Justice Department’s trampling of press freedoms.

“Other than press reports, we have no knowledge of any attempt by the Justice Department to seek phone records of the Associated Press,” Carney announced.

The president “found out about the news reports yesterday on the road,” he added.

And now that Obama has learned about this extraordinary abuse of power, he’s not doing a thing about it. “We are not involved at the White House in any decisions made in connection with ongoing criminal investigations,” Carney argued.

Reuters correspondent Jeff Mason asked how Obama felt about “being compared to President Nixon on this.”

The press secretary laughed. “People who make those kinds of comparisons need to check their history,” he said.

Carney had a point there. Nixon was a control freak. Obama seems to be the opposite: He wants no control over the actions of his administration. As the president distances himself from the actions of “independent” figures within his administration, he’s creating a power vacuum in which lower officials behave as though anything goes. Certainly, a president can’t know what everybody in his administration is up to — but he can take responsibility, he can fire people and he can call a stop to foolish actions such as wholesale snooping into reporters’ phone calls.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-obama-the-uninterested-president/2013/05/14/da1c982a-bcd7-11e2-9b09-1638acc3942e_story.html

[GG]

I get that a lot. TPS I am not.

 

I've been trying to stay away from politics and this forum but this administration is a disgrace.

 

Ahem, even in this forum, talking about admins is a violation of ToS

[IDBillzFan]

Dear Barry,

 

Screw you for throwing me under the bus.

 

Sincerely,

 

Charlie Rangel

 

http://www.politico....1398.html?hp=r6

 

Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday that he believes President Barack Obama owes the American public explanations for both the seizure of Associated Press phone records by the Department of Justice and the IRS targeting of conservative groups.

 

“I don’t think anyone truly believes that the president has given us a sufficient answer for America, much less the press,” Rangel said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “I think this is just the beginning and the whole idea of comparing this with Nixon, I really think is just, it doesn’t make much sense. But the president has to come forward and share why he did not alert the press they were going to do this. He has to tell the Americans, including me: What was this national security question? You just can’t raise the flag and expect to salute it every time without any reason and the same thing applies to the IRS.”

[DC Tom]

And now that Obama has learned about this extraordinary abuse of power, he’s not doing a thing about it. “We are not involved at the White House in any decisions made in connection with ongoing criminal investigations,” Carney argued.

 

That's actually entirely appropriate. The real issue would be approving the seizure to begin with; ex post facto interference would be a further abuse of power in and of itself.

[Chef Jim]

In my business I'm in deep trouble if one of my reps !@#$s up. It's called failure to supervise. With the President he can get by with "I had no idea." It's been shown time and time again that the leader of the "free world" is far from any kind of leader. Man this guy sucks at his job.

[KD in CA]

In my business I'm in deep trouble if one of my reps !@#$s up. It's called failure to supervise. With the President he can get by with "I had no idea." It's been shown time and time again that the leader of the "free world" is far from any kind of leader. Man this guy sucks at his job.

 

What are you crazy? He got re-elected and will be filthy rich for the rest of his life!

 

Oh, wait....that wasn't in the job description, was it?

[DC Tom]

In my business I'm in deep trouble if one of my reps !@#$s up. It's called failure to supervise. With the President he can get by with "I had no idea." It's been shown time and time again that the leader of the "free world" is far from any kind of leader. Man this guy sucks at his job.

 

Yes, but that just means you're responsible...it's still quite possible for you to have no idea what's going on, and still get hammered for it. In the case of the President, that's more the rule than the exception. As president, it is impossible to supervise every decision made in your name by every government apparatchik. It's a perfectly valid excuse for failure of leadership, the response to which, to anyone who uses it, should be "So the government should be smaller, to avoid such failures of leadership?"

 

Of course, now if you give that response, the IRS crawls up your ass with a microscope...

[Chef Jim]

Yes, but that just means you're responsible...it's still quite possible for you to have no idea what's going on, and still get hammered for it. In the case of the President, that's more the rule than the exception. As president, it is impossible to supervise every decision made in your name by every government apparatchik. It's a perfectly valid excuse for failure of leadership, the response to which, to anyone who uses it, should be "So the government should be smaller, to avoid such failures of leadership?"

 

Of course, now if you give that response, the IRS crawls up your ass with a microscope...

 

Of course, let me clarify. Even though a leader cannot completely supervise every action by every agency or underling they are responsible at some point. A good leader would come out and say "though I was unaware of what was going on because it's impossible to know all of what is going on in government as the President I take full responsibility and will do whatever it takes to see that those involved will face certain consequences." That would be a huge step in Obama growing up and becoming an adult. It's a tough thing to take responsibility for things we didn't do but that's what a good leader does. Didn't a famous President say many years ago "The buck stops here"?

[DC Tom]

Of course, let me clarify. Even though a leader cannot completely supervise every action by every agency or underling they are responsible at some point. A good leader would come out and say "though I was unaware of what was going on because it's impossible to know all of what is going on in government as the President I take full responsibility and will do whatever it takes to see that those involved will face certain consequences."

 

Kinda like the previous administration did...

[GG]

Kinda like the previous administration did...

 

He was the decider, and I don't recall him stepping aside from things that happened under his watch.

[Magox]

 

Holder said Justice Department can’t find a record of his recusal

 

Holder’s recusal (and the lack of a record of it) is starting to become an issue.

Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.), a former prosecutor, pressed Holder on why there is no written record of his recusal from the case involving the secret seizure of AP phone records.

Holder admitted that the Justice Department has been unsuccessfully searching for a copy of his recusal and acknowledged that it may not exist.

“That’s something we were looking for, and nothing has been found,” Holder said, before acknowledging: “That actually might be a better policy to have.”

Conservatives are questioning why Holder wouldn’t have put such a recusal in writing. Holder has cited the recusal as the reason he can’t provide specifics on the case.

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/05/15/holder-testimony-live-updates/#liveblog-entry-41427

 

 

Really? They don't have documentation of his recusal?

[B-Man]

 

 

 

http://www.washingto...log-entry-41427

 

 

Really? They don't have documentation of his recusal?

 

 

Just great Magox,

 

Now you've hurt his feelings, he thinks that we don't trust him.

 

[Magox]

Just great Magox,

 

Now you've hurt his feelings, he thinks that we don't trust him.

 

 

It's always MY fault

[DC Tom]

 

 

 

http://www.washingto...log-entry-41427

 

 

Really? They don't have documentation of his recusal?

 

Complete bull ****. MY requirements for document retention are insane at my level.

[OCinBuffalo]

It's always MY fault

No. It's your fault, until it's someone else's fault.

[meazza]

I wouldn't be surprised if they wiretapped fox.

 

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2013/05/15/baier_fox_news_could_have_been_wiretapped_by_obama_admin.html

 

Or perhaps put a camera to follow the blondies working there

Edited May 16, 2013 by meazza

[Ralonzo]

The thing that amuses me most is the indignance. They still do not realize that if they ever succeeded in their quest to elevate the Left to total power, that they themselves will be the first marched to dig their own graves. As with all utopians, the belief is, "it'll be different this time." Or perhaps, "we're in with the in crowd, it won't happen to us."

 

Give them a day, a week, a month. They will rationalize this whole kerfuffel to themselves, and gladly regather the yoke of the useful idiot.