Posted on 12/16/2005 6:49:49 AM PST by doesnt suffer fools gladly
Report Could Torpedo Hillary Clinton's Prez Plans
Two Washington pundits are warning that Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential plans may depend on whether congressional Democrats can continue to keep Independent Counsel David Barrett's final report on IRS abuses during the 1990s under wraps.
"Prominent Democrats in Congress have spent much of the last decade in a campaign to suppress Barrett's report," columnist Robert Novak reported yesterday. "Its disclosures could dig deeply into concealed Clinton administration scandals."
Notes Fox News Radio's Tony Snow: "By all accounts, the 400-page Barrett report is a bombshell, capable possibly of wiping out Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential prospects. At the very least, it would bring to public attention a scandal that would make the Valerie Plame affair vanish into comical insignificance."
When he launched his probe in 1994, Mr. Barrett's initial focus was former Clinton Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros. But his investigation quickly zeroed in on allegations that the Clintons were using the IRS to persecute their political enemies - including scandal witnesses against them.
Reports Novak: "An IRS whistleblower told Barrett of an unprecedented coverup. The informant said a regional IRS official had formulated a new rule enabling him to transfer an investigation of Cisneros to Washington to be buried by the Justice Department. Barrett's investigators found Lee Radek, head of Justice's public integrity office, determined to protect President Bill Clinton."
Though the Clinton White House dismissed it as "coincidental," one witness after another against the then-first couple found themselves under IRS scrutiny - with a particular focus on Mr. Clinton's female accusers.
Before the 1990's were over, Gennifer Flowers, Paula Jones, Juanita Broddrick and Elizabeth Ward Gracen had all been targeted by audits. Mrs. Jones, whose sexual harassment lawsuit led to Mr. Clinton's impeachment, even had her confidential tax returns leaked to the press in 1997.
At the time of the Jones audit, Clinton press secretary Mike McCurry insisted that it was crazy to suspect any political connection.
"We may do dumb things from time to time," he told reporters, "but we're not certifiably insane."
Advance word on the Barrett report, however, suggests suspicions at the time were right on the mark - and that would mean that the Clinton White House had perpetrated one of the worst abuses of power in presidential history.
Hillary is said to be particularly vulnerable to the Barrett report's exposure, since her old college chum, Margaret Milner Richardson, ran the IRS at the time.
But Novak reports that "hardly any of Barrett's allegations will remain" in the report when the final version is released, thanks to maneuvering by Senate Democrats - despite a previous agreement to the contrary.
Longtime IRS critic Sen. Charles Grassley had hammered out a deal with Sen. Byron Dorgan to amend a Treasury appropriations bill that would have closed down Barrett's office - as long as "all portions of the final report" were made public.
But the Senate-House appropriations conference slipped through a critical change that authorized the three judge panel overseeing Barrett's probe to keep most of his findings under wraps.
Sen. Grassley, says Novak, is the last hope to get critical information that could change the course of the next presidential race into the public domain.
"A stubborn Iowa farmer who often drives the White House and Republican leaders to distraction, he has said that if the Barrett report finally emerges as a mutilated remnant in order to protect the IRS, he will press for legislation to change that."
Come on! How difficult would it be for just one person to leak the report anonymously on the web?
... Why can't thsi be leaked, like so much other stuff?...
Because the MSM is enemy number one of the Republic.
They will hold the lid down on this with all their might.
Doesn't matter. A leaked FBI report that says Republican congressman Smith beat his ex-wife, committed adultery, didn't pay child support timely, or is an in-the-closet homosexual will be played in the press as worse 'crimes' than the four murders committed by Tookie Williams. When the event happened doesn't matter. Look at what they did with forged documents against Bush in '04 backdated thirty years ago...and the drunk driving claim made right before the election in '00.
Full report or final report?...could be 2 very different things.
Bump. I agree with term limits, but how could that happen exactly?
Well I agree with you, but I think it would sink Hillary's chances if it were proven that she had done so. But then, I have never understood how any sentient American could vote for Clinton after Filegate came down - and he was reelected in '96.But we know Hillary instituted the "bimbo eruptions" suppression unit, and that is more relevant to the article which started this thread.
Guaranteed to finish her off, especially with the only real swing vote, the demographic she MUST get, white women.
Let's make a real fuss about the Barrett Report. This is outrageous.
hillary dumps Geena for Maggie,1 and when that doesn't fly,2 she dumps Maggie for bill. Without missing a beat. It's the old Dick Morris Hail Mary pass, (when in trouble, triangulate3), the once trusty play that for eight years kept two clumsy kleptocrats4 in the Oval Office and out of the slammer (even as it placed America and Americans in ever-increasing peril.)5 That missus clinton has managed, thereby, to stake out Iraqi territory occupied apparently by no one6 seems to have escaped her notice. Nonetheless, this constituency of zero is the least of her troubles. IMPERIOUS HILLARY
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December 7, 1941+64 RE: a not-so-modest proposal concerning hillary clinton
Hillary Clinton's revisionist tome notwithstanding, 'living history' begets a certain symmetry. It is in that light that I make this not-so-modest proposal on this day, exactly 64 years after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The context of our concern today--regardless of political affiliation--is Iraq and The War on Terror, but the larger fear is that our democracy may not survive. We have the requisite machines, power and know-how to defeat the enemy in Iraq and elsewhere, but do we have the will? In particular, do we have the will to identify and defeat the enemy in our midst? Answerable to no one, heir apparent in her own mind, self-serving in the extreme, Hillary Clinton incarnates this insidious new threat to our survival. What we decide to do about Missus Clinton will tell us much about what awaits us in these perilous new times. COMPLETE LETTER |
Wouldn't it be a shame, particularly since the Dems and their associate Dems in the news media are doing everything they can to torpedo the Bush Administration?
bump
Does this fit somewhere into the Peter Paul/fundraising issue?
thanx bump
"At the time of the Jones audit, Clinton press secretary Mike McCurry insisted that it was crazy to suspect any political connection."
Anyone who enjoys working as Press Secretary to the Clintons is not to be trusted.
Why not just leak the report, like all the CIA information that is coming out. That would solve the problem.
I'm still waiting for him to name the 'leaker'.
Just one question - if this report is such a bombshell, why didn't its findings lead to any criminal charges being filed?
NO, and after having my hopes dashed a zillion times over one too many huge scandals and thinking each one would be the death nail in their coffins, I'll not put too much hope in this one either.
I think they're grooming Barak Obama.
For the Veep slot on the Dim '08 ticket.
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