Right Turn

Time to come clean, Mr. President

Jennifer Rubin — Wed, 22 May 2013 19:58:52 GMT

The White House tried the line that the current spate of scandals aren’t scandals. The administration tried the excuse that it is all a GOP witch hunt. Hillary Clinton on Benghazi tried, “What difference does it make?” The president has repeatedly … Continue reading →

Is Senate slipping away from Dems?

Jennifer Rubin — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:08:38 GMT

Obama's scandals are Democrats' problem. Continue reading →

Benghazi turns out to be a big deal, and not for just Republicans

Jennifer Rubin — Wed, 22 May 2013 14:30:40 GMT

Benghazi is not an inconsequential issue for Americans, and they expect the administration is up to no good. Continue reading →

Iran and Congress rebuke Obama’s Syria policy

Jennifer Rubin — Wed, 22 May 2013 14:00:26 GMT

Two significant events yesterday suggested the president’s position on Syria — inert — is getting more untenable by the day. ABC News reports: The United States has new evidence that Iran and Hezbollah have direct involvement with the Syrian regime, … Continue reading →

The press vs. the White House

Jennifer Rubin — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:45:07 GMT

The Obama administration has a particularly ineffective and ham-handed approach to the media. It has launched an unprecedented attack on journalists, going so far as to label James Rosen’s ordinary newsgathering as a criminal. It sought from its first days … Continue reading →

Gang of Eight’s immigration bill passes Judiciary [Updated]

Jennifer Rubin — Wed, 22 May 2013 12:45:12 GMT

In a significant step forward for comprehensive immigration reform, the Senate Judiciary Committee, after wading through hundreds of amendments, passed the Gang of Eight’s immigration plan with the help of Republican Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.), Jeff Flake (Ariz.) and … Continue reading →

Morning Bits

Jennifer Rubin — Wed, 22 May 2013 11:45:25 GMT

Headline you don’t want to see if you work in the White House: “White House defends keeping Obama in dark on IRS.” Or this one: “Carney: White House, Treasury strategized how to tell public.” Or this one: “Bring back Ken … Continue reading →

White House meltdown: A truth deficit

Jennifer Rubin — Tue, 21 May 2013 21:30:03 GMT

There seems to be bipartisan consensus that whatever the White House is doing to fend off scandal is making things worse. Howard Fineman sounds a lot like Right Turn these days: “White House aides are tempting fate with their reluctant, … Continue reading →

Breakthrough on immigration reform?

Jennifer Rubin — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:23:32 GMT

The Hill reports: “Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) struck a deal Tuesday on visas for high-skilled workers, a major breakthrough for the Senate immigration reform bill.” The importance of the deal can’t be overestimated: “Now Democrats have … Continue reading →

False equivalences, leaps of illogic

Jennifer Rubin — Tue, 21 May 2013 16:00:01 GMT

In our hyper-partisan politics and media environment, it is not enough to take words at face value. The impulse to make analogies and jump to conclusions while making inferences about the speaker or writer is overwhelming. To be clear: You … Continue reading →

Clinton’s role in the Benghazi fiasco and blame-shifting

Jennifer Rubin — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:00:56 GMT

The latest blockbuster story on Benghazi tells us that one of State Department employees disciplined in connection with Benghazi claims to have been scapegoated at the hands of higher ups and that the bad news was delivered by Hillary Clinton’s … Continue reading →

What does the president actually know?

Jennifer Rubin — Tue, 21 May 2013 13:45:38 GMT

Jay Carney now says the White House chief of staff knew about the Internal Revenue Service scandal weeks ago but never told the president. The Post reports: “The White House has said that President Obama did not learn of the … Continue reading →

What to do about Obama’s war on the media

Jennifer Rubin — Tue, 21 May 2013 12:45:02 GMT

The revelation that Fox News reporter James Rosen (along with other Fox News employees) was not only extensively surveilled but identified by the administration as a lawbreaker (in an affidavit to obtain, among other things, his personal emails), an accessory … Continue reading →

Morning Bits

Jennifer Rubin — Tue, 21 May 2013 11:45:10 GMT

Standing up for the First Amendment. “Fox News: ‘We Will Unequivocally Defend’ Rosen Against ‘Chilling’ DOJ Investigation.” Speaking up. Another permanent foreign service employee points the finger at higher-ups like Hillary Clinton and Thomas Pickering: “Following the attack in Benghazi, … Continue reading →

Iran policy reaches day of reckoning

Jennifer Rubin — Mon, 20 May 2013 19:46:02 GMT

Events are proceeding on several tracks with regard to Iran. What is happening is as significant as what is not happening. In the “not happening” department, even the administration no longer insists diplomatic progress is being made to end the … Continue reading →

The Virginia GOP blows it

Jennifer Rubin — Mon, 20 May 2013 17:30:06 GMT

The Virginia Republican Party was already taking a risk, dumping a gubernatorial primary election in favor of a convention, in order to assure the ideologically emphatic Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II the nomination. Then on Saturday, a small turnout of … Continue reading →

Shredding the Constitution: Obama’s attack on the media

Jennifer Rubin — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:00:10 GMT

The president hasn’t attempted to distance himself from the Associated Press snooping campaign. To the contrary, he offered “no apologies.” To be blunt, he approves the most invasive breach of the First Amendment against any news organization in the history … Continue reading →

A Middle East policy train wreck

Jennifer Rubin — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:00:12 GMT

As unsuccessful and tumultuous as Hillary Clinton’s stewardship of Middle East policy was, her successor at the State Department seems to be doing a worse job. That’s the take of the left-leaning, pro-peace process Israeli paper Ha’aretz: About one thing, there’s … Continue reading →

The worst effort at damage control ever?

Jennifer Rubin — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:00:11 GMT

When a White House aide says something isn’t “relevant” you can bet it actually is, and there is no good explanation for it. So it was with White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer, who got hammered again and again on the … Continue reading →

Ups and downs

Jennifer Rubin — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:45:19 GMT

Which are gaining traction and which are not? UP: President Obama clueless about his own administration. DOWN: Obama the most brilliant president ever. UP: Media watchdogs. DOWN: Media lapdogs. UP: Liberals defending leak investigations. DOWN: Liberals concerned about the Constitution. … Continue reading →

Morning Bits

Jennifer Rubin — Mon, 20 May 2013 11:45:24 GMT

Kirsten Powers or Bill Kristol? On the Obama administration scandals: “These are all bad — it’s bad behavior by people in the government. In each of these situations. I mean, nothing about Benghazi imputes anything bad upon liberalism. This is … Continue reading →

Sunday wrap

Jennifer Rubin — Sun, 19 May 2013 18:30:54 GMT

Who said it? 1. “The law is irrelevant.” 2. “[W]hat we do now know is that for roughly two years, the IRS was targeting Americans based upon their political beliefs. What we do now know is that the IRS misled … Continue reading →

Obama’s budget is another instance of lost credibility

Jennifer Rubin — Sun, 19 May 2013 17:00:14 GMT

It turns out that President Obama’s Office of Management and Budget is no more trustworthy than the rest of his administration. His budget, unsurprisingly to conservatives, is not “balanced” and does not deliver on its promise to cut $1.8 trillion … Continue reading →

The Treasury connection: Not merely an IRS scandal

Jennifer Rubin — Sun, 19 May 2013 16:00:41 GMT

The Internal Revenue Service scandal may be the worst of all the current Obama administration fiascoes. It is an easily understood gross misuse of the powers of government to target opponents of the president. What is more, the administration’s supplicants … Continue reading →

Distinguished pol of the week

Jennifer Rubin — Sun, 19 May 2013 11:45:24 GMT

This week’s distinguished pol, Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.), can speak for himself (from Friday’s hearing on the Internal Revenue Service scandal): Well done, congressman.