Only three days after my post entitled Scandal Quest, wherein I discussed the only significant White House scandal, President Obama caved faster than a Bourne Ultimatum Jenga match. Sorry to drone on about this, but do you know why Obama is addressing my concerns? (Hint: they’re real.) Do you know why he’s not addressing the GOP’s concerns? (Hint: they’re not.)

The real issue is—and has been—the gross expansion of executive power that occurred post 9/11. Yeah, I’m done following Republican “logic”. It’s like watching my screen saver on ‘shrooms…and I’m never doing that again.

12 Hours Later:

Was that a unicorn? Anyway, I am sick of the GOP’s version of reality. Hell, I get more real meat off the Del Taco value menu.  And I’m not alone, it seems the White House has also been unable to crack the GOP’s Liable Code. Here’s my related cartoon this week:

Acronym Scandal Kit Score (ASKS): Benghazi: WTF? Solyndra: MGEIP (More Green Energy Investments, Please) Fast & Furious: HST (Happening Since Truman) NSA: MPB-GOP (Made Possible By GOP) AP: MPB-GOP (Made Possible By GOP) IRS: NLWH (No Link to White House) Scandal Score Meter Reaches “Meh”

Sullivan weighed in on the IRS scandal:

“Watching Bill O’Reilly argue – with no evidence whatsoever – that the Obama administration had decided after the 2010 mid-terms to target Tea Party groups by using the IRS as a politicized bludgeon. This utterly unsubstantiated claim is now the dominant meme, the working assumption of the propagandists at Fox News.”

—Andrew Sullivan

There is no link between the IRS’s behavior and the White House. My funny take here. Listing this alongside the rest of your bullshit scandals is….(see: bullshit).

I am not protecting Obama; this is simply an accurate assessment of the facts as we know them. I still marvel the GOP isn’t curled up in a ball sobbing somewhere. Talk about collective wrongness. They’re like the emotional support Borg. Consistence is futile! And I can’t believe some of the comments from the Bushies on this shit. Politics on the far right continues to be surreal². Case in point, Yoo weighed in on Obama’s drone program:

“Neither of these standards — near certainty of the identity of the target or of zero civilian casualties — applies to wartime operations. President Obama is placing impossible conditions on the use of force for what can only be assumed to be ideological reasons.”

—John Yoo

So we shouldn’t strive to protect the innocent? I was initially in favor of our drone program, hell, I thought police action/surgical military strikes were the only way to go in the Middle East. The Biden model…you know, “the moron” who just happened to voice the only sane approach to the War on Error.  Yeah, that guy.

Meanwhile, Greenwald looks back at a rare voice of reason—a person who Fox News-types crucified at the time:

“Barbara Lee’s lone vote against the 2001 AUMF (Authorization to Use Military Force)—three days after the 9/11 attack—was an act of incredible and rare courage that is worth commemorating in its own right. But it was also prescient and wise, using America’s past bad acts to warn of the dangers likely to be unleashed by enacting it. If Dick Durbin wants to acknowledge his gross error in voting in favor of such a blank check for presidential war-making—one that led to 12 years of war in numerous nations with no end in sight—he should do so honestly.”

—Glenn Greenwald

The GOP doesn’t acknowledge “gross errors”. They’re position simply “evolves” into the gross error of the moment (GEMs).  And by evolve, I mean, stumbling around in a semi-decomposed state craving brains.

“All things are treasonous under Obama…even the shit we did.”

—John Q. Republican

Not three days after my post, Obama showed regret about his new powers, which is not a coincidence….okay it is, but Gallaher has a worthy read on the matter over on slate:

“Obama seemingly acknowledged that his administration has come down too often on the side of secrecy over transparency, and of excessive security over liberty.”

—Ryan Gallagher

Is Obama going to restore anything? No. Such invasions of privacy will remain the law of the land. See Winslow’s take here. But again, I appreciated aspects of Obama’s speech. It is, once again, a step better than the GOP’s stance of:

“We haven’t quite figured out yet—nearly a decade later—that we created this problem.”

—John Q. Republican

Liberals are not likely to fix this. No one is. But I appreciate a meaningful discussion. The GOP seems ever more devoid of this ability. They remain reminiscent of, well, this says it best:

Look GOP, you can’t have it both ways, on each and every issue, regardless of the facts or the outcomes. Lately I’m finding less spin over at the coin-op laundromat on Mad Dog. The GOP, particular Dick Cheney, warned Obama if he didn’t use these tools and we got hit again, the blame would be all his. Could you imagine the outcry of a major terrorist attack on U.S. soil after Obama rolled back this expansion of executive power? I am not condoning any of it, but I predicted all of it. It’s not rocket surgery. Besides, I believe there is at least a chance that Obama will create some oversight for these programs.

As for the latest problem, Syria, there are no good options, aka, the GOP demands action! Hell, I liked inaction. It’s a much better move 9 times out of 10. The GOP will charge in where angels fear to tread…not because they’re brave, but rather because they’re certifiable. I really blame Clinton on this one. You’re going to have the GOP advocating for the wrong move, every time (see: history). They are very easy to ignore at this point.  But apparently the international pressure and the recent Dem pressure became too much. Obama was dragged kicking and screaming into this cluster, but I will not kid myself, the fault will be placed on him…and rightly so.

Final Rant Alert (FRA):

Sorry, but I watched 8-years of mind-numbingly poor decisions/scandals under Bush—after which I predicted our country would never be the same—but now during our fragile, improbable recovery, the GOP has the balls to spend their scant political capital either making shit up or pointing to their own pile of dookie and crying foul? Really?

“If society lacks the unity based upon the commitment of men’s wills to a common objective, then it is no more than a pile of sand that the least jolt or the slightest puff will suffice to scatter.”

—Émile Durkheim