AHh....an ashtray hurled at hyper-velocity....
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."
No, I said "The Republicans in DC in that last three weeks are growing spines". The Republican conservative party (which includes most of the members of FR) is NOT spineless and has never been spineless.
Do not twist my words out of context.
Republicans, if they know about this report, would wait till a week before the election and then leak it. I know that is what I would do if it were out there. Why spill it now? Our attention span is so short that it will be "ancient history" by 2008.
What can we do to get this out???
Has Bush signed the legislation?
He should have been impeached AND turned out of office for many, many things. Let's remember he was protected and kept in office by a Democratic-sympathetic Senate.
Maybe we can kick him out of his presedential library???
Let's consider the death of Vincent Foster, then!!!!
The point, surely, is that until the actual provenance of the hiring of Craig Livingstone is publicly known, anyone and everyone with any authority in the Clinton WH is politically tainted by Filegate.And it's known that Hillary exercised authority in the Clinton WH.
That was during the height of the Clintons' power, when the only press at the time worshipped at the alter of Clinton.
It does not. This is a separate issue but very, very dangerous for Hillary. Maybe a double barreled shot from Barrett and Peter can end it once and for all.
I maintain that Bill and Hill still have enough friends in high places to deep-six this report. I'm not happy about that but it seems to be the way things work.
.....Hillary exercised authority in the Clinton WH........
Oh, absolutely, and surrounding them (Clinton's) with weak livered toadies like Livingstone, Foster, Reno, Christopher, Albright, Podesta, Espy, Brown, Cisneros, Gorelick, Tenent,(oh-the list is too onerous) to their beck-and-call, just forced their devious corruption down throughout the organization, without their presidue-ential hands smeared with the evidence of their filth.
course the Dems are going to win this one, the GOP are cowards
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].
The Clinton Administration was the closest we have come to having an organized crime syndicate running the country.
[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.]
How convenient. Make no mistake about it. This was not a "mistake". The Bush Whitehouse wants none of this to come forward. The Two-Card Monty game is in full play in DC.
AHh....an ashtray hurled at hyper-velocity....
"What can we do to get this out???"
DC Address: The Honorable Charles E. Grassley
United States Senate
135 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-1501
DC Phone: 202-224-3744
DC Fax: 202-224-6020
Email Address: http://grassley.senate.gov/webform.htm
WWW Homepage: http://grassley.senate.gov/
Chief of Staff: Ken Cunningham
Scheduler: Leah Shimp
Legislative Director: Colin Davis
Communications Director: Jill Kozeny
If the repubs don't force this report into the public realm, they don't have a hair on their collective ass. I'm not hopeful.
The last time DC RINOs had a spine was during the Carboniferous Age.
No, I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn last night, but there were a couple of great shows on Discovery Channel!
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