The ‘Domino Theory’ in the IG Scandal
White House officials who fired whistleblower Gerald Walpin last week have sparked a series of investigations that pose both political and policy threats to the Obama administration.
Describing the probe into the dismissal of the AmeriCorps inspector general Gerald Walpin, one Capitol Hill source on Thursday compared Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley’s demand for facts in the case to a row of dominoes ready to tip over.
Grassley is asking questions, a team of Senate investigators is poring over documents in the case, and where the investigation proceeds now “depends on what dominoes fall next,” explained the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Already, the FBI is looking into charges that Sacramento, Calif., Mayor Kevin Johnson deleted e-mails relevant to an investigation by Walpin, whose dismissal appears to have violated a law passed last year (and co-sponsored by then-Sen. Barack Obama) to protect inspectors general from political retribution. Meanwhile, Grassley has expanded his own probe to include questions of whether the administration is undermining the independence of other government watchdogs.
Beyond the legal and political ramifications, Republicans in Washington acknowledge that the potential scandal could aid their policy battle against the effort by the White House and congressional Democrats to push sweeping new proposals on health care, energy and financial regulation.
In background discussions Thursday, several GOP strategists spoke of the contrast between Democrats’ effort to impose new government “reforms” while, at the same time, the Obama administration appears to be muzzling inspectors generals, who are tasked with providing independent oversight to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse in federal agencies.
The timing of the Walpin firing and the resulting Grassley probe could hardly have been worse for President Obama. On Wednesday — the same day the president unveiled an ambitious plan to overhaul regulations on the nation’s financial system — Grassley fired off a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner asking questions about documents reportedly withheld from auditors in the office of Neil Barofsky, special inspector general for the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP).
Grassley has long been a champion of the inspectors general program and has supported numerous government whistleblowers during his five terms in the Senate. Grassley’s team on the IG probe is led by Charles Murphy, a veteran Capitol Hill investigator. Both Grassley and Murphy were unavailable for comment Thursday, but sources with knowledge of the investigation expressed confidence in the meticulous research of Murphy’s team.
When there’s this much smoke in Washington, there’s usually a scandalous fire, and reporters have raced toward the Grassley investigation like firefighters scrambling for their trucks on a three-alarm blaze. Just one week after Walpin was fired, the IG probe has already generated extensive news coverage:
- Byron York of the Washington Examiner has filed multiple reports on Walpin and the Grassley investigation;
- Michelle Malkin devoted her weekly syndicated column to outlining the Walpin case;
- Walpin was interviewed by Glenn Beck on Fox News and by Lou Dobbs on CNN;
- ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper reported on the conflict between Barofsky and Geithner;
- Top talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh did a long segment about the Walpin case during his Thursday show, citing accounts by York, Matthew Vadum of the American Spectator, bloggers Dan Riehl, John Hinderaker, and others;
- The Washington Times interviewed a witness who contradicted White House claims that Walpin was “confused and disoriented” during a May meeting; and
- The Chicago Tribune, the Sacramento Bee and the Washington Post, among other newspapers, have produced major stories about the case.
Dozens of reporters from various news organizations are now turning the Grassley investigation into front-page headlines, and other members of Congress — including California Rep. Darrell Issa — are beginning to pay attention to Grassley’s IG probe. Administration officials are being forced to deploy defensively during a summer when they had expected to be on offense, advancing their legislative agenda.
Polls show voters increasingly skeptical of the administration’s policy agenda, and even the popular new president’s job-approval ratings have declined slightly in recent weeks. If the IG investigation uncovers a serious scandal, it could do permanent damage to public perception of Obama as a reformer who promised to bring “Change We Can Believe In.”
Depending on “what dominoes fall next,” Republicans on Capitol Hill may have discovered in the 75-year-old Walpin the one domino that topples the whole stack.
As it should be. The inspectors general exist to fulfill the purpose that Obama laid out for himself in being a force for transparency and fighting corruption. The only grounds to remove one are gross incompetence or criminality, neither of which applies to Walpin.
This corruption within the White House must stop. We have a bunch of nutcases running this country who care nothing for prudent review of the spending they are doing. I hope all of Congress start to feel the pain of middle class Americans and start leading responsible. This has got to stop!
TO: Robert Stacy McCain, et al.
RE: Gee….
…..Ya THINK!!!?!?!?
In the last six month, i.e., in the first six months of this ‘administration’, we’ve seen MORE corruption amongst the Democrats than in the last eight years, i.e., the entire administration, of George W. Bush. That includes the Haiiburton allegations.
It used to be that the Grant administration was considered the most corruption-riddled in US history.
I’m getting the distinct impression that Obama’s equalled, if not surpassed that.
Grant was merely a great general who was incompetent in dealing with civilian.
Obama has no such excuse…..his corruption is as plain as the ears on his head….to anyone with eyes to see…..and more than two synapses to rub together.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
[The Truth will out.....]
Didn’t I see this in a “Get Smart” script? KAOS agents do something blatantly wrong… Right in front of Smart…
Smart: “You broke that!!!”
Ziefried: “No I didn’t.”
S: “Yes you did… I saw you reach over and break it!”
Z: “No I most certainly did not. I broke nothing… I touched nothing… I haven’t moved from this spot. And I am not actually talking to you now…”
S: “Oh.. well I see.. Then why didn’t you say so?”
Z: “I told you… I am not talking to you now…”
Which all leads up to my final conclusion. Don’t waste your breath. There will be exactly nothing done about this. Nothing will come of it… The Government Controlled Media will merely accuse the “Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy and Nut Fringe media lead by the Evil Rush Limbaugh and his toady Sean Hannity” of stirring up trouble and inflaming the nuts who shoot abortionists and hate everyone.
Sorry guys. The One is unaccountable, unaccredited, and doesn’t actually exist in this plain of reality. He could be caught with “Cold Cash” Jefferson’s money, the GCM would smile sweetly note that the fridge is an “Energy Saver” and remind us all to Live Green.
Chaos might be the right description for the times in which we exist.
r/John – TMF
That was Siegfried but you get the point…
:-\
TO: John, et al.
RE: Sooooo….
….is this just a polite way of saying “Shut Up!”?
Regards,
Chuck(le)
[All that is necessary for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.]
The Republicans will be blamed, and then some minor event will be blown out of proportion, like the Senator Ensign affair, and Republicans will be Maddowed about being hypocrites.
The firing of an inspector general starts a probe that could topple the Democrats’ agenda and seriously damage the president’s credibility. — Robert Stacy McCain
~~~~~
That would be a good thing. A very good thing even. I’m too cynical to get excited at the prospect of it actually getting that far, as this is a very corrupt bunch, with very questionable ties and no signs of any scruples.
All the corruption of Grant, and all the incompetence of Carter.
Congratulations on the first “African American” POTUS, America. I hope the thrill up the leg was worth it.
Like Mark Levin says Barry “Milhous” Obama may he follow in the footsteps of Tricky Dicky! Looks like Team Obama may be preping for a trip under da Bus!
An administration as corrupt as this one will eventually do something that is so blatantly illegal that even the lamestream media will have to report it. Once that happens, the bloom will be off of the rose.
Obama has never had to deal with a hostile media. On the flip side, the media have never really had to deal with a hostile administration, which is most likely where his administration will go once the media starts actually asking real questions.
We’re in for a treat, because there is nothing more fun then watching libs attack libs.
6. Chuck Pelto:
TO: John, et al.
RE: Sooooo….
Which all leads up to my final conclusion. Don’t waste your breath. — John
….is this just a polite way of saying “Shut Up!”?
~~~~
I think he was saying “don’t get your hopes up of this going anywhere. The system supports the corruption”.
John, didn’t you click any of the links? Chicago Tribune, ABC News, Washington Post — this story’s getting the kind of coverage that tells me it’s not going to go away any time soon. At some point, a scoop is a scoop and a scandal is a scandal.
BTW, be sure to watch Glenn Beck at 5 p.m. today. Investigative journalist Matthew Vadum is going to be a guest. And in case you’re wondering, every time I use the phrase “investigative journalist Matthew Vadum” online, Matt owes me a beer. Matt’s a bachelor, and being an investigative journalist in D.C. is like being Elvis. Chicks go crazy for that stuff.
Professional ethics . . .
Gotta agree with John. You could have Zero on video strangling his wife and nothing would come of it. We have entered the twilight zone.
You could have Zero on video strangling his wife and nothing would come of it.
Besides the spectacle of fashion rags telling us blue is the “in” color for lips this season – breathless coverage of the literally breathless – and Maxim putting its first corpse in the Hot 100.
“Don’t waste your breath. There will be exactly nothing done about this. Nothing will come of it . . .”
Barack Obama is quickly becoming politically impotent. Guilt tripped whites are hesitant to rebuke him—but they no longer have faith in his policies. This is what we probably really have to worry about: will Obama become psychologically unhinged? Is this narcissistic individual able to handle much lower poll numbers and constant setbacks? I am convinced that Obama has had a very easy life since his teen years. Those previously mentioned guilt tripped whites handed him everything on a silver platter. He has had to put in very little effort to get so much in return. There may even be a 50/50 chance that Obama resigns before his term is completed.
TO: ked5
RE: John’s Statement
Then he should say THAT. But what he does say is, in my honestly held opinion and understanding of English, “Shut Up!”
Albeit more politely than some idiots around here.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
P.S. And I’m NOT getting my ‘hopes’ up. But my ire is getting ‘up’……
Thanks, RSM, for the nice run down on this IG domioes array. If it really does start to cascade, it will from the equivalent of the Saturday Night Massacre, yet another Obama parallel to Richard Nixon.
TO: David Thomson, et al.
RE: Heh
I think I witnessed that the other day while in check-out at the local grocery.
A fellow in my neighborhood association who’s wife is a staffer for the newly appointed Senator from Colorado—three guesses as to the party affiliation….first two don’t count—was rather ‘reluctant’ to talk with me. He knows my ‘conservative-christian’ political views.
He seemed almost ashamed in his comportment…..
Or maybe, because I’m a {HORROR!} conservative-christian with military training, he’s reluctant to talk to me because he considers me a threat to national security…..
Regards,
Chuck(le)
[....shame shall be the promotion of fools. -- Proverbs]
@John(5), @Scott(14)
Your conclusion reminds me of the predictions of those who profess today that the present Iranian counter-revolution will lead nowhere, because so much brute force is against the unarmed crowds in the street. In both cases, there is so much at stake, and so much emotional capital invested, it is impossible to predict the outcome with any degree of certainty.
The Gerald Walpin story cannot be pushed back into a black box anymore, it’s just too big and too incandescent.
This is only because Gerald Walpin is a man of courage, and his stand is a great act of leadership in these troubled times. He will inspire many others, and there comes a point where the number of courageaous whistle blowers (a.k.a. potential victims) facing the huge bullying entreprise is overwhelming. It’s like these species of insects who suddenly emerge from their larvae state in such great numbers that their predators gorge themselves, and quickly become unable to consume the rest.
The bullies prevail only because everybody else is afraid to confront them, but this mechanism is true only in a statistical sense, not an absolute sense. Once in a while, the bullies are confronted with sufficient determination, and back up, because that’s really their only option. Probability is against it, but that does not make it impossible. It has happened before, and it makes history when it happens. It can turn tragic, too, but you can understand this and still be an optimist at the same time.
This is being covered on the Rush Limbaugh show at this moment. One thing that got brought up is that Senator Obama himself co-sponsored the legislation that explicitly forbids what he just did! The legislation requires 30 days notice to congress, firing for cause only, and so forth.
When you have MSM covering this story too things are looking up in my book! Blood is in the water now, its only a matter of time – finally.
Robert Stacy McCain:
What was that phrase again? Investigative something? I can’t quite recall.
- Quinn
This will blow over in about a week, if that. They’re lucky they got fired; one more year and they’d be put in prison, the year after that they’d be shot.
“The firing of an inspector general starts a probe that could … seriously damage the president’s credibility.”
Haha! ha! HoHa ha ha! [holds belly] Hahahahaha! [chuckle] [bangs fists on table and wipes tear from eye] Hahahahaha! Hahahahaha! ….
Barack and his gang have brought corrupt local Chicago style politics to a national level.
“The Gerald Walpin story cannot be pushed back into a black box anymore, it’s just too big and too incandescent.”
Barack Obama is simply too beholden to the Acorn type scoundrels. They may even be able to blackmail the president. It would not even be slightly surprising if they possess videos of Obama putting his foot into his mouth—if not worse. We can this for granted: the radical leftist “community organizers” know where the bodies are buried. And if a number of these folks are indicted, they won’t hesitate to throw Obama under the bus. None of this should stun anyone who was paying attention before the election. One only had to invest some modest effort to learn the truth regarding Obama. Oh well, it’s nobody’s problem but their own.
Stacey and Quinn… wow… both of you…
Cheers to you.
Stacey my good fellow resident of the almost Beltway… I see the links.. I see the stories… yes…
I remember a tale my old man once told me about life at LZ-Uplift in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. It seems his tent was next to a 105mm howitzer position. He told me that it fired about once every 10 minutes… sometimes more… sometimes less. It was fired so often and so regularly that well, he really didn’t notice it much anymore.
My point was (for the benefit of all commenting) that this is almost farcical since no matter the circumstances of the action, the result is that it will amount to largely nothing. This is because the levers of power are all controlled by the interested parties. I submit to you that eventually it will get buried in the ground clutter of other more “pressing” news, like drowning polar bears, and squalls being named as oceanic storms.
By pattern, what will then happen is at some time in the future, during the election, when the GOP candidate points back to the incident, and tries to use it against the Democrat candidate, the GCM will merely point to the few stories that proceeded exactly nowhere. “See… all of that was vetted, and reported on. Nothing came of it, the man was obviously confused and probably a vengeful holdover of the Bush administration.”
Isn’t the science of Agitative Propaganda lovely? It works like a champ. Every time.
I in no way telling folks to shut up. No… I am WARNING those of us who comment on such things; and care about them deeply, that the going is bound to be tough. The media is NOT going to get a clue, and it is definitely NOT going to turn its back on “The One” without such massive cause that the Elephant in the Parlor can no longer be ignored.
I am just not holding my breath waiting for the clue bat to strike the malignantly ignorant.
Mr. McCain your article is most interesting. One would hope that someone somewhere will prove me wrong. PLEASE.
r/John – The Mighty Fahvaag
TO: John
RE: Not “Shut Up!”
Thanks for the clarification.
RE: The Media
Certainly the media has a ‘clue’. But it’s the wrong one. Indeed. All they are are graduates of the Goebbels’ School of Journalism. The vast majority—if not all of them—are abject liars not to be trusted with anything important.
I heap scorn on the lot of them…..
Regards,
Chuck(le)
P.S. Everyone else should too….
“Isn’t the science of Agitative Propaganda lovely? It works like a champ. Every time.”
The polling data cannot be ignored. Most Americans are no longer confident regarding Barack Obama’s leadership. The legacy media cannot provide him with sufficient coverage. Also, a large number of culturally left-wing yuppies are starting to pay attention. These are the libertines who primarily vote on behalf of abortion choice and gay marriage. Their affluent lifestyles were perceived as something of an entitlement. Money was rarely a problem. These same people are now often worried sick about the economy.
I wonder if Obama believes that he transcends the law, so there is no need to worry about the IG firing. The impropriety is not only apparent, it is tangible.
The liberal blogs loathe to address the Walpin firing, despite the importance of the matter, which is their way of implicitly acknowledging that illegal acts occurred.
I have to agree with #23, except I think it will be a dead issue in less than a week. Why? Because the media have too much invested in their creation, Lord Obama (Peace Be Upon Him). To press the issue will suggest that they might have been wrong. Any bets that will happen?
for those of you who think this is nothing….
You or someone in your family may be OBAMA’s next target….
Pleae God, help us do what is right NOW!!!
Consider for a moment:
1 – $650 Million in campaign donations with no accountability whatsoever and demonstrated fraud (Mickey Mouse donations)
2 -”I will not allow lobbyists to serve at the White House”
3 – The takeover of the Census Bureau
4 – His Czar’s – (this should be a FOIA issue – secret policy meetings)
5 – His strong arming of GM & Chrysler and payoffs to the UAW while screwing widows and orphans
6 – His trampling of the rule of law in the GM & Chrysler cases.
7 – His firing of inconvenient IG’s
8 – His hiring of a long list of tax cheats
Folks, that sounds like an upcoming RICO action to me.
Yeah, I wouldn’t get to excited. Fidel Castro has people murdered and the state run media, out of fear of the same, still touts him as Cuba’s savior. All it takes here for the media to ignore wrong doing in the White House is the fear of not being able to bask in BO’s glowing aura. So with the fourth estate in the bag and suppressing or spinning information, hang on its going to be a long, long ride down the hill.
“Any bets that will happen?”
It’s all about the poll numbers. Barack Obama’s personal popularity is not helping him to get his programs through the houses of congress. The legacy media elites are like most people—they worry about themselves, first, last, and foremost. They will want to jump off a sinking ship. It’s called self preservation.
Whistle blower?
The man was the IG, not a whistle blower.
Yup. That’s going to be his downfall. People in Che shirts still expect their 401(k)s to keep rising. Even Chris Tingle said he was getting pi$$ed.
They really thought he was going to improve capitalism. Absolutely astonishing. Their understanding of economics is about what the blood-letters’ understanding of medicine was. Egad. I just figured out how they’re going to control medical costs with nationalized health care: leeches. And I don’t mean community organizers, I mean the actual slimy…er… the little things that live in muddy lakes.
One can but hope for change – the sooner, the better.
Of course, with Slow Joe and Fancy Nancy next in the succession, perhaps we need to obliterate Washington. Sad when my goals start to align with those peaceful proponents of pederast prophecy (boy, I gotta strain for alliteration – how do you do it?).
“At some point, a scoop is a scoop and a scandal is a scandal.”
Well actually, according to the mainstream media, a “political scandal” is when a Republican is accused of wrong doing. When a Democrat is accused of wrong doing, the mainstream media calls is a “political witch hunt”. The Monica Lewinsky affair was deemed a witch hunt, but the media was still forced to cover it. If they’re forced to cover this, they’ll find some angle to try to spin it so Chuck Grassley is the villain, like Linda Tripp.
I’ll swear on a stack of Bibles that I predicted that Obama would step in it in this exact manner. I predicted that in addition to all his grand plans to remake America in Bernadine Dorn’s image, he’d also give in to the temptation of engaging in Nixonian tactics on all the little stuff as well.
So what we have here is the worst of Carter (bad liberal policies) and Nixon (brazen dishonesty) all rolled into one. I was never fooled by this guy for one second. And what I really resent is all the genteel “soft” conservatives and moderates who felt that if they didn’t buy into some of the hype about Obama then they’d be labeled as fringe conspiracy theorists.
32.TERE
It’s my sense that it is not that people “think this is nothing”. We know very well that we or someone in our familiy may be obama’s next target.
We are desperately doing what is right–right now.
We have mailed and called our Congressional representatives until we are blue in the face.
We are participating in online discussions and learning how to fight back.
We are attending protests.
However, it still remains to be seen WHO he has paid off,
People about to lose their lives who go silent do not do so because they no longer care. Maybe they just figured out that the police chief is on the murderer’s payroll.
This whole thing continues to remind me of the dynamics in an abusive family:
1. Those being abused are afraid to speak up.
2. When they do speak up and are abused again as a result of speaking up, they become less willing to speak up.
3. Their hope of getting free of the abusive family declines in direct proportion to their increasing knowledge of the communication lines between the abusers and the authorities in the community.
We have yet to see clearly WHO he has paid off, HOW MANY OF THEM will “stay paid off”, WHAT he is holding over their heads, WHO has paid HIM off, WHAT is being held over his head, etc.
The BEST thing that can happen is that he has a blithering, sobbing, yelling, complete mental breakdown in the Rose Garden at a press conference; Joe Biden takes office and resigns 7 days laters; Nancy Pilosi takes office and is impeached in a 4 days; and we’ll take it from there.
God bless Gerald Walpin, an American MAN. Do you have any idea of the depth of courage that it has required for him to STAND instead of caving?
Re: John #4:
Given the administration’s method of dealing with criticism during the campaign, a better analogy might come from the movie Role Models, after Ronnie is seen kicking over the tent. “What? Because I’m black, you think I did it?”
John
Good grief.
Why don’t you just finish off that half-empty glass and get it over with.
Whistle blower on the improper procedure used to remove him.
Let me guess, you think James Hansen is a “whistle blower”. Right?
If, and that’s a big if, this thing appears to have staying power and Obama’s poll #’s really start to slip badly, watch out for the “wag the dog” gambit to be played. North Korea would be a good prospect to serve as a distraction I’m thinking.
Each day this administration does something that makes another American angry – even those that voted for our “president”. Like a drop of water on a granite stone, more and more of the veneer of “hope and change” washes away, and we see the socialist/marxist behind the mask. Eventually there will be a tipping point, just as there was in the Nixon presidency, in the Carter presidency, and in the Clinton presidency. When that point is reached, it’s all over for Barrack Hussein Obama and those he’s appointed to office. No one will survive – not Barry, not Biden, not Hillary, nor any of the other hundreds who have contributed to the corruption. Look at Iran – a strict mullocracy – to see what happens when the average citizen looses faith in his or her government. I doubt seriously that Barrack Obama will survive his first term as president. He will either be impeached, or forced to resign, a la Richard M. Nixon. He’s just too corrupt, and too obviously corrupt. If he does survive to the end of his first term, it will be as a lame-duck president like Bill Clinton in his second term, but I doubt he’ll survive.
Wonder how ABC (Always Barack Channel) will cover this? Any guesses?
As a sidenote: With a N.Korean ship about to be intercepted by a US ship (the USS JOHN MCCAIN Navy Destroyer no less), N. Korea threatening to launch a rocket towards Hawaii on July 4 and Iran in a meltdown, our TOTUS is currently giving a speech about the “Importance of Fatherhood”. I think God forgot to flip his sense-of-urgency switch when he was born.
TO: Meryl, et al.
RE: Indeed….
….God bless him.
But we should bless him too, by standing with him and denouncing every violation of the truth and the law and, most especially, the Constitution being perpetrated by these heinous cretins.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
[Our safety, our liberty, depends upon preserving the Constitution of the United States as our fathers made it inviolate. The people of the United States are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution. -- Abraham Lincoln]
Folks, this is why he picked “say it ain’t so” Joe as his running mate. Insurance. The legacy media CAN’T possibly cover up for that Asshat. They’re NOT gonna bail on “The One”. For then, they would truly be exposed as being in the tank for him. That, in turn, leads to no credibility, which in turn, leads to no readers/veiwers, which in turn, leads to no advertisers, which in turn, leads to no jobs in the MSM, which in turn, leads to no f–kingway!
It’s all about insurance.
“Each day this administration does something that makes another American angry”
Many guilt tripped white liberals will never get angry at Barack Obama. They will simply become “uncomfortable” with his economic policies—and punish other Democratic Party politicians. The Democrats can ill afford a loss of even 10% of the yuppie vote. That alone would spell disaster in many “purple” areas of the country.
I found it humorous when someone recently mentioned a Microsoft fund raising event they attended on behalf of Al Gore, Jr.’s 2000 run for the presidency. Economically speaking, these yuppie tech people should have despised him. However, they were thrilled by Gore’s cultural war leftism. Their own financial status was perceived to be a done deal. They supposedly had nothing to worry about. I don’t think that’s the case any longer—for at least 10% of them.
It’s true that Obama co-wrote the legislation (which menns that someone else wrote it, and he signed his name to it), but maybe he hadn’t actually read it. No one actually reads these things, y’know.
TO: Butters Dad
RE: Actually….
….I’d rather have that idiot than this—as I understand him—illegitimate, ineligible, Muslim who seems to be bent on destroying this country as president.
The idiot can’t do as much damage as outright malice.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
P.S. If you doubt this understanding of ‘President’ Obama, remember this….
[1] For twenty years his spiritual mentor cursed America.
[2] His political science mentor planned to murder 25 million Americans who refused to follow their ‘plan’.
I’m amazed that so many of y’all think that Obama could literally get away with murder and the press would ignore it.
Only Hillary could do that. But let’s not revisit the Vince Foster “suicide” . . .
An impressive post– thank you for collecting all those links.
For more info(not just opinion– facts and links– go to my blog:
http://rasmusen1.blogspot.com/2009/06/walpin-stephen-goldsmith-americorps-and.html
I hope you can expand on this info.
The Daily Kos had a pathetic defense of Gerald Walpin’s firing. They totally ignored the phoned in illegal attempt to get him to resign in a hour nor did they address the whole implication by the White House that Mr. Walpin is somehow senile. Do you really want to know what confused and disoriented look like? That is what happens to Obama when his teleprompter stops working. That guy couldn’t ad-lib a speech to save his life. In any case, this hardly looks like an appropriate move from someone who says he is so interested in the concepts of empathy and compassion to try to force somebody to resign if he thinks Walpin is no longer mentally up to the job. One would think the normal response would be to ask him if he needs to take some time off to see a doctor to make sure he is okay. Judging by all the interviews I have seen it is clear to me that there is nothing wrong with Mr. Walpin and I find it disgraceful that Obama is using this as an excuse to fire somebody with such impeccable credentials. And it is hardly noteworthy that the Americorps board of directors wanted to see him go as well. They cannot have a guy like Walpin around when they are involved in corruption…
TO: Robert Stacy McCain
RE: Well…..
….he’s getting away with everything else.
Can ‘murder’ be far behind?
Regards,
Chuck(le)
P.S. It’s more than the Vince Foster thingie. It’s Airman Womack and the four Treasury Department former security detail for Bill Clinton who all died in the initial assault on the Davidians. All head-shots as I understand it.
Who knew that a bunch of rank-amateurs of a ‘religious’ background were THAT good in their first ever fire-fight?
John has a point, although he’s a tad too pessimistic, but just a tad. We may have to watch a whole parade of corruption scandals get swept under a very lumpy rug before anything substantive is done and/or the media react with sufficient alarm.
Unfortunately, corruption often doesn’t get dealt with until it has done very visible damage to society, particularly economic damage that is dramatically obvious to everyone. When that happens, it’s not the media that takes the lead.
P.S. Not to forget Ron Brown….
We’re getting a little too close to Area 51 for my comfort.
Let’s all don our tinfoil caps, now…
TO: Self-hating Boomer
RE: Heh
Does it count if I’ve got bits of metal implanted in my body….here and there?
Heck! I’m an early proto-type of the ‘Borg’…..
Regards,
Chuck(le)
P.S. And I owe it [almost] ALL of it to you taxpayers……
The FBI is investigating Johnson, huh?
Well, that’s reassuring. I’m sure the Department of Justice under Holder would never do anything politically motivated. That investigation is as secure as the voter intimidation case against the New Black Panthers.
P.P.S. Or are you supposing that a president doesn’t have people who will ‘kill’ for him on ‘order’?
I found it particularly ‘interesting’ that on one day, a bit after the Waco Massacre, three Special Forces personnel ALL died in ‘training accidents’. All on the “same day”. Very odd that. Two separate ‘incidents’ too. Which makes it even more the ‘oddity’ for so highly trained personnel.
Then again, I’m a tad more familiar with Special Fecees types than most others.
Are you an SF or ‘commando’ type, Self-hating Boomer? Maybe even a paratrooper? Trained at the Command and General Staff College? Decades of work in the Army?
Lets see what is next to come with this idiot of a president we now have. What must happen is the IMPEACHMENT of him.
Chicago thugs seem to have an aura of being bulletproof.
There’s no way to pin anything on any of them short of catching them in the act.
And even then you have to have a PA and a Judge with the guts to see them in court.
Heck… we have Roland Burris caught on the tapes being involved with Blago… and the PA won’t even charge him with perjury.
America is now Chicago; Al Capone Chicago, not Al Bundy Chicago.
TO: JBS, et al.
RE: I ‘Suspect’….
….the the Republicans are waiting for an overt violation of the Bill of Rights to move such.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
[All in due time.....God willing.....]
Strange silence from the trolls …
No, but I’ve stayed at Holiday Inn Express.
I’m definitely no attorney, I’ve got scruples*, but, could this be the foundation for an impeachment further down the line when Barry is exposed?
If nothing comes of this now, at some point the truth about the corruption in this administration will win out. It’s just a matter of when exactly and if at that time America will still be recognized as the land of the free and home of the brave.
Hey you people voted for this. I told you not to vote democrat in 2008 but you did. Now look what you have. Thanks to you we have Obama and Biden in the whitehouse and Pelosi ready to take over for both of them. It is time people take back the country.
David Thomson: >>There may even be a 50/50 chance that Obama resigns before his term is completed.
I keep sayin’, when his inept administration triggers some cataclysm he’s gonna try something illegal to fix it or cover it up. Why not? He holds himself above the law. And when his lies and evasions reach critical mass, the press is going to say, “What does he take us for? Our viewers?” Then the game’s up.
Chicago politics comes to D.C. Expect more of the same.
Gotta run, “The Goode Family” is on!
64. David Govett:
“America is now Chicago; Al Capone Chicago, not Al Bundy Chicago.”
That was freakin’ hilarious but scarily true. How much corruption ‘the one’ gets by with right in front of our eyes will probably be something for the history books.
TO: Self-hating Boomer
RE: Where You Stayed
Looking forward to your appearance on America’s Funniest Home Videos…..
….where you cuff an Alaskan Grizzly on its ears.
Hopefully, Ssrah will be there with an EMT, as well as a camera crew.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
P.S. Personally? In that sort of situation, I’d recommend an M1911A1 and two additional clips of ammo….all hollow-point…..
P.P.S. Be sure to go for a head or heart shot….
Sooner or later the birth certificate issue is going to come back into play. THe MSM of course had covered for him on this and will continue to do so. But I am sure that Hillary has the goods on this imposter, and it would not surprise me if her operatives outed him on it just as Hussein’s 2012 re-election bid is getting into high gear.
19. Chuck Pelto:
Or maybe, because I’m a {HORROR!} conservative-christian with military training, he’s reluctant to talk to me because he considers me a threat to national security…..
~~~
Not even the “independents” in my extended family worry about national secruity. He was probably more concenred about his own assests. (If he’s worried about you, he’s looking in the wrong direction . . .)
Attorney Walpin comes off as highly credible when he interviews. This is in stark contrast to the President’s and Justice Department’s various spokes people who come off as political and incredible.
I was struck by the administration’s use of the old Bolshevick tactic of declaring a political opponent to have mental defects. Eventually, this tactic will be employed again against the wrong person and a patern will emerge that will erode credibility. When the Obama administration’s repeated incompetence and fecklessness veers our country into further difficulty the MSM will eventually begin to attempt to save it’s self by turning on this coalition of misinformed and misguided ideologues. Liberals attacking modern day Clement Atlee wanabes. We are just starting to see this regarding the socialized health care debacle which is unraveling on the President as I type.
So far, President Obama has lived a somewhat charmed existence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with the assistance of a compliant media. There are strong indications( Cap and Tax, Socialized Health care, continued negative economic growth) that the tide is beginning to run against his agenda. The IG scandal will disipate, but it will weaken the President as other negative events overtake him.
The election campaign was all talk intended to convince naive voters that Barack Obama was the solution to all the country’s problems. Now that he is the President his conduct is subect to judgment by people more critical of the details. It is in this area that the shortcomings of the President are increasingly obvious. What is of great concern also is his vanity. He cannot sit down and negotiate with the man who holds the office of President of Iran, the reason being that such person holds no actual authority whatsoever, and irrespective of that the President will get his pockets picked at the expense of he people he purports to represent.
Well, this story could matter politically IF it becomes an “official” news story, not a “typical product of the blogs and Right-Wing media.” Some “serious” media are on the list you cite, so you may be right that the story could become “official” and thus have an impact. I think you place too many hopes on this in a political sense, however, when that will depend entirely on whether the story is taken seriously by the public. That’s the test.
Very real constitutional questions about Obama’s qualification to hold the office of President, due to uncertainty over his citizenship, are being ignored. Yet they are well-publicized in “alternative media,” suspiciously evaded by Obama, and, I think, widely-known to the public. That’s an “authority” problem: the public seems to believe that if something is not an issue to the “official” media then it’s just not important–even if true.
Somewhere, something has to give on who has the authority to declare an important national “story” that the public should notice. Credibility has already been established by alternative media exposing significant national stories(such as presidential candidate Edward’s extra-marital affair and illigitimate child), but despite strong stories broken by alternative media, for some reason nothing has altered the current news “authority” equation. The habits of the public mind in this regard are clearly hard to break. Maybe it’s cumulative and we are working towards a tipping point.
37. Self-hating Boomer:
Yup. That’s going to be his downfall. People in Che shirts still expect their 401(k)s to keep rising. Even Chris Tingle said he was getting pi$$ed.
~~~
Whoopi was complaining about her taxes going up back in March. Guess she isn’t in his cabinet.
The wind is shifting, could there be a storm approaching, first on the National Health Care bamboozle… the Admin insisted it had to be over by Jul 4. That there had to be a Public policy along with the Private has evaporated after Daschle made this concession yesterday.
CBO dorpped the T (for Trillion or was that 2 Trillion, God knows) Bomb this week and the air is seeping out of the legislation to the point that even the Dems are saying December or later or never. The polls are saying fiscal conservation is more important than national health care.
The magic will wear off on Cap and Trade Tax because its cost is coming to the surface and then the summer will end and all those Summer Jobs that were supposed to give us 8% Unemployment will evaporate and up goes the Unemployment rate.
What thread runs thru all this???
MONEY. America’s Measuring Stick. The Holy Grail of Politics and Purpose in the USA.
Paying for all the fantasy programs is freaking out the taxpayers. More important than the economy says Rasmussen etal this week. Uh Oh…
The hyperbole can never outrun the money in this world and “Elmer Gantry” is the quintessential parallel opera to Obama that tells that tale. Or the reality show ala the demise of the USSR. It was gradual then suddenly broke and gone.
Watch the money trail. That’s the line that will lead the Admin to ruin. They cannot produce the buckaroos and that means they cannot deliver on their campaign promises. The fantasy football game of taxing the rich has been debunked – we are running out of rich people. Financial Times had a great expository on that fantasy where they extrapolated that if the famous 5% were taxed at 110%, it would not make a dent. But Bloomberg said that months ago and was ignored. That’s like ignoring gravity as the 52 floor passes you going down the fenestration of the Empire State Building.
Wonder what the odds are in Vegas about the admin’s denouement by Christmas?
#81 Whoopi also backed Palin on the Letterman jokes. They all did on The View. At first, it was only Hasselbeck, but later they all realized it was really, really wrong. Gotta hit ‘em where they live. “A Conservative is a Liberal who was mugged yesterday.”
Speaking of which, off-topic here, Hannity had an Hispanic comedian (Richardson?) on tonight. It was hilarious! Here was this Dem comedian who had repeatedly mocked Hannity. Now, he comes begging desperately, and I do mean begging(!), for Hannity’s help.
Apparently, they have shut off the water to the farmers in the San Jaoquin valley to save the minnow fish, and these 80,000 farmers and workers are watching their crops wilt before their eyes! They are desperate! So desperate, that you could see it in this guy’s eyes. They are so desperate, that these guys who admit that they were huge Obama supporters, come begging to Hannity. They want him to use his huge megaphone to get this fixed immediately. This guy promises no more Hannity ridicule ever again.
Hannity was, of course, very understanding. I’m not sure I would have been. It would have been very tempting to tell them that this is “change you can believe in”. It would have been petty and short-sighted, but oh so tempting! He did say that he had “Hannitized them”, and the guy was humble enough, and desperate enough, to admuit it. I guess that was humiliation enough.
There’ll be a follow-up next week, probably on location. Watch for it. It’ll be great to see all the desperate Obama supporters/victims. Great Schadenfreude, if that’s your thing. I’m serious. These guys are so desperate, they are talking of blocking the freeway with trucks and resorting to violence. We could look like Tehran next week.
#13 Robert Stacy McCain – I did try the links and couldn’t get anywhere. Is the Internet czar freezing/breaking links to protect The One already?
#16 David Thompson – ah, we are thinking along the same lines. The scene I keep replaying in my head, albeit, modified, is the one in “A Few Good Men” where the good Colonel being questioned in court blows a fuse and says, “the Truth? Don’t tell me the truth! I can’t handle the truth!” I’d love to see Jack Nicholson do that one!
Yes, this guy is certainly full of himself. He has defined his own job as President. He hasn’t even bothered to read “his” job description. And laws, those are for the common people. He has work to do redressing all the sins of the past, both real and imagined. His job is to remake America into the righteous land of Alinsky and to punish Americans for their abuse of the worlds resources, regardless of the contributions made to the world at large. The sad part is that the Congress, so far, is giving their blessing to his works. But the day of reckoning will harken, and when it does you will hear a mighty wail from Our Fearless Reader.
I will be amazed if the Democrats aren’t able to bury this before it becomes much trouble to BO. They have managed to keep the various Democratic senators scandals below the radar with the acquiescence of the leftist, legacy media such as the NY Slimes and Washington Compost.
CNN’s Campbell Brown, All Bull, All Bias, cleverly edited Sarah’s interviews to take some stings out, but she couldn’t ignore the Letterman Disaster. Spin they will, but the story will crack the MSM wall. The Chicago Thug violated his own legislation. That’s just too juicy. And Timmy the Tax cheat wants another pass on obeying the law. And Michelle Bachman is raising hell about the ACORN Census Bureau. Bambi will need a vacation soon: Wow, He splashes, wow, He swims, wow, He walks on the beach…
It’s remarkably enjoyable watching Democratic Congresspersons decide whether to burn up all of their political capital for this inexperienced, arrogant young poseur President. Obama’s attempts to disable governance of the Federal Government has been remarkable — while at the same time, he is saddling the private sector with impossible burdens. For those of you with credit cards, you’re either going to lose it or be saddled paying for the high risk payers whom Obama will require the financial services industry to bear the expense of (“no redlining” provisions have been written to require all deadbeats who meet minority status will continue to ring up debts they cannot pay, while you few card customers who won’t be canceled will be made to pay for their losses).
Sounds like sub-prime all over again, doesn’t it? Of course, Obama needs to keep the crises coming. So will the rest of the Democratic Congress allow themselves to be used and consumed for this man’s ascent to power? Will their elites accept table scraps in exchange for their loyalty?
Whoopi isn’t one of my favorite people, but one thing she’s not is stupid. I think that she, unlike the academic feminists who sided with Letterman, understood how allowing this kind of a double standard could come back and hit liberal women hard. She also has a candid and independent streak that’s rare in her business. I’m sure that many others understood that this was destructive, but chose to not be the nail that pops up.
Note that this scandal first appeared on and is being investigated by the new media. The new media is doing the job the old dinosaurs no longer do–exposing what the powerful want hidden.
I do so enjoy the rantings of the misguided wingnuts. However, this story will be fizzle out and you wingnuts will be left wanting yet again. Sorry to burst your bubble. http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/americorps_board_member_we_initiated_ig_firing.php
It is my opinion that as long as Obama controls Congress,the MSM and the Census Bureau which he does, then there is no threat to him remaining in the oval office indefinitely.
Obama’s has changed his slogan.
It’s now: Change You Can Bereave In!
I expect that by 2012 Obama will also control the Supreme Court.
So he will then have it all under his power.
1. Legislature
2. Court System
3. Voting Control
This will make is impossible to remove him from the oval office once he gets the 2 term limit removed, which I suspect he will.
What will be interesting about this investigation is if they find Michelle’s fingerprints on it.
Hmmm. Her brother is a basketball coach, Kevin Johnson is a former NBA player, Big “O” likes the game. Naaahhh. What am I thinking???
Yes, Mike. That’s what we libs want. Obama for life. Eight years to remove the Bush/Neocon stink from America will be good enough. Sonny, please stop sipping the Fox News Koolaid. It’s bad for your mental health.
The probe could “seriously damage the president’s credibility”? What credibility?
Finally, we get a troll. What took so long?
If Obama starts trying to eliminate political opponents, we’ll have a full blown civil war, and rightly so. People aren’t going to buy the cover story of Mike Huckabee dying in a car accident, Sarah Palin committing suicide or Bobby Jindal being a traitor.
TO: myth buster
RE: What If….
….he just has them ‘institutionalized’ as suffering from the newly defined mental illness of “pathological bias”?
Thank you American Psychologist Association (APA) for putting THAT one into the new and improved DSM-V.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
[The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane. -- Marcus Aurelius]
P.S. Redefining what is ‘insane’ is a clever ploy on the part of the APA. And just in time for the Obama administration to begin applying it.
We saw their first effort with Walpin…..”confused and disoriented”…..
P.P.S. I do believe that Obama’s political science mentor, Bill Ayers, even discussed plans to ‘institutionalize’ 25 million Americans who resist this ‘New Order’……
i predict obama will be assassinated.
Mr Ogletree don’t forget, he’s also the greatest comedian ever. The only problem is only the reporters thought he was funny.
This man is nothing more than a liar. Obama is not a born citizen of this country. He is a racist, a socialist, and a radical. He is anti-American. anti-military. He is like a malignant cancer. If you look back at all the people he became closed friends with, all the things he has said and done, you know these are all true. He is a muslim. That is why, he goes to the Arab world and said all the things that he said. Palsy Walsy with Hugo Chavez, his icon. He wants to be like Chavez. His administration are full of crooks. The Democrat congress are full of crooks. And Edward Kennedy the first senator to endorsed him, God only knows what he really did back then when that woman drowned in his car.
And you know what I am a minority who believes that the illegals should be kicked out of this country. Then watch the health spending go down drastically. We won’t be needing a national healthcare program.
We ain’t seen nothing yet. True history books will be written about how screwed up and corrupt this administration is. All must remember this is the culmination of close to 100 years (in this country) of corruption by politicians, bankers, socialists, eugenicists, atheists, communists, fascists and the general haters of all that is good. Now they have their messiah, their little c christ and they are on the march towards destruction.
We have been at war with this evil these last 100 years and many millions of human beings have been murdered, while millions of others have willingly given their lives as a sacrifice to defeat this evil and preserve freedom and liberty on the Earth all in the hope of securing a better future for the next generation.
We have fought two world wars and many smaller wars trying to defend ourselves from these haters, these socialists, these atheists, these communists,those who despise the freedom and liberty that God gave to mankind.
Our enemies want to take away our freedoms, shear us like sheep and then lead us to the slaughter and they have been very serious about this while we always cannot quite comprehend the level of the evil arrogant malice directed towards us.
Yes all of the corruption will be exposed and we shall never go down this road again.
The tares are being gathered together for their final destruction while the wheat is being brought into the barn to delight of the farmer who planted and watered it all these generations. There is still time to receive Him and change your destiny while it is still called today.
Notice how the recent troll isn’t concerned about the right or wrong of the IG affair — jut that it’s forgotten so that conservatives will suffer. Nice love of “justice” there. Typical.
Where is Obama’s mamma? I have not heard about what she is up to. As for this story, Obama did not do anything wrong. He was elected, he can make the rules as he goes along. He is the President, get used to this you conservative up tight people, Obama is now in charge, conform or miss out on the most greatest American elected President since Carter. Wait until Obama fixed this countries health care. We people who are on welfare, we finally have a man in the White House who is taking back our country. We deserve a bigger government to help us. We need this man to fix the banking and auto industry. He has done a great job so far. So what if he breaks some rules along the way, he is doing a great job. I am sick and tired of paying my bills, it is about time that the rich people help people like me. Work stresses me out, besides I do not like getting up in the morning to go to work. Obama is the man, he is making it so I am stress free. It is great that fires these old guys who are way too efficient in keeping track of money. Obama needs to be able to work the system to help people like me. Let him alone, he is doing a great job.
TO: conservababe
RE: Fear Not
Not sure of your particular beliefs about this sort of think, but….
He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD.
I’m confident that God can deal with Obama and these other cretins.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
[But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.]
Looks like somebody (cough**101**) is trying to push the envelope, and bring some attention that might not be good. Just a heads up.
Hey Kelvin, I am one of those Fox News drinking kool-aid. But you know what it tasted really good. Not like the kool-aid MSNBC had to offer. Once an alcoholic always an alcoholic Chris Matthews gets tinkly feelings running up and down his legs whenever Obama talks to his teleprompter. Or Keith Oberman the Farmer in the Dell whose big veins pop out while yelling on his show at the top of his lungs to those few viewers who enjoyed watching him suffer each night. Or how about the distasteful Anderson Cooper the teabagger. I never knew what teabagging meant until two liberals Jeanine Garofulo and Andersen Cooper brought it up. Heard it on my kool-aid drinking Fox News channel. I guess Jeanine and Andersen are both expert on the subject. And here I am 65 years old. Where have I been?
TO: Self-hating Boomer
RE: Heh
Just another Godless agent provocateur. Ignore it…..
Regards,
Chuck(lehis
[Yes, he is an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.]
Ooops….
…that tag-line SHOULD read….
Yes, he is an agent of Satan, but HIS duties are largely ceremonial.
TO: Rosita E. Asano
RE: Say WHAT!!?!????!!!
He wets himself?
Why am I not surprised?
Regards,
Chuck(le)
[We are born naked, wet and hungry. Then things get worse.]
It’s about time!
Was th IG any more confused then the Vice President. If confusion was the reason for the IG firing the the VP should be asked to resign
Hurray for Chuck Grassley. I hope it is the start to show what is going on. Chicago politics have definitely gone to Washington.
I am from Iowa, but have not been a fan of Vilsack as he was lobbiest and has a history of lack of ethics and transparency. I found his wrath when I was in a civil lawsuit with a long time friend of his.
Dixie Burkhart
Facts Don’t Matter
http://www.eloquentbooks.com/FactsDontMatter.htm
http://www.squidoo.com/Dixie-Burkhart
Let’s just hope and pray we don’t get hit again i.e., 9/11 style – this president will impose martial law as sure as I sit here typing this, that will be the “crisis” he needs to take over as dictator in chief.
TO: Connmarkey
RE: Oh Boy!
A Reichstag Fire? Or another OKC Bombing.
Oddly enough….there was this interesting ‘omnibus anti-terrorism’ bill moving through Congress at the time of that latter incident.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
[I don't believe in 'coincidence'.]