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."
save
Also audited were conservative organizations like The American Spectator, National Review and Heritage.
Don't count on it, Tony. After all, we elected a known rapist to be president - TWICE!!
And two-thirds of the votes he received were from women.
Go figure.
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.
I would like to know how... with the GOP controlling both houses of congress and the presidency... how the hell this happened?
The DC mutual protection racket writ large... AGAIN?
We've got to dump all these corrupt, ugly, power-hungry careerists and get some good people in Washington.
Huh?
With that defeatist attitude, I am surprise you even joined FR.
Probably because he is a realist.
Sen. Chuck Grassley is one of the finest Senators this country has ever seen.
He makes me proud to be from Iowa.
There is a difference between dreaming and reality.
Back about ten years ago The Clintons took IRS tax deductions for donations of their old clothes.
No, he is a defeatist. You have no chance of winning a battle if you believe you will lose before the battle has even begun.
You have to have faith for something to happen.
This needs to come out. Thanks.
The Republican party is spineless. You even said that the party "started" to grow a spine three weeks ago.
Nothing will torpedo her Majesties run. Nothing. Dim's see her majesty as the next coming...
Not to be too dispirited, tho. My informal surveys of Lefty women indicate
THAT THEY DON'T KNOW ABOUT THE CLINTON RAPES AND PREDATION!
We must, therefore, inform the only swing vote,
the demographic missus clinton MUST get:
WHITE WOMEN
the clinton-clinton-Broaddrick kind of rape, according to Susan Estrich
CLINTONS' DOCUMENTED ABUSE OF WOMEN
STRANGE BEDFELLOWS: ED KLEIN AND SUSAN ESTRICH AGREE ABOUT HILLARY
HEAR SUSAN ESTRICH: hillary plays 'the victim' for votes
retrograde feminist fraud positions herself as victim (again) in order to win White House
[FOOL ME ONCE, SHAME ON YOU! FOOL ME TWICE, SHAME ON ME!]
WHY HILLARY MUST NOT WIN. WHY HILLARY CANNOT WIN.
AN OPEN LETTER TO TIM ROBBINS, DAVID GEFFEN, CHRIS MATTHEWS, MAUREEN DOWD + JEANINE PIRRO
RE: a not-so-modest proposal concerning hillary clinton
December 7, 1941+64
IMPERIOUS HILLARY
(THE REPORTS OF HER DEATH ARE GREATLY UNDERSTATED)
IS DICK MORRIS AN IDIOT? OR IS HE STILL ON THE CLINTON PAYROLL?
The Old Media, yeah. But not so with the New Media. That's why Hitlary! said we needed a "gatekeeper" on the Internet, remember?
He has a number with that same defeatist attitude here. Nothing new.
"I am looking at history. I will buy you a 6 pack of your choice if this report is released without being cut down to a one page summary with every reference to the klintons removed."
I'm not taking that bet. We don't have patriots in congress, we have politicians.
By all means, let's start plastering the facts all over this nation.
.............Hillary was probably behind it all. Remember it was she who hired Craig Livingstone..............
.........Well I agree with you, but I think it would sink Hillary's chances if it were proven that she had done so.........
I don't think Hillary was behind Craig Livingstone.
Remember the pic of Livingstone with Gore and Tippsey dating from the early eighties? I think that Livingstone was Gore baggage, but maybe Hillary waved her sword and annointed him.
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