Posted on 05/25/2013 5:17:04 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
Just as the Obama administration continues to reel from three major scandals, Republicans are zeroing in on yet one more this one involving Obamacare as it nears implementation.
GOP legislators are targeting Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and the solicitations she made to some of the nations top insurance companies and other groups for donations to Enroll America, the nonprofit group charged with selling Obamacare to the public.
Our guys on the Hill think this is the fourth scandal, Republican strategist Matt Mackowiak told Reuters this week. It fits into that narrative Republicans are building not only about incompetence in the executive branch but also dishonesty.
This is a good issue for Republicans, he added. We want to maximize it.
Now under question are forays by Sebelius to two private entities, H&R Block Inc., the tax preparation company, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a philanthropic entity devoted to public health issues.
Republicans say the practice, which if not unprecedented, is at the very least unusual.
Federal law bars officials from soliciting any organization or individual with whom they do business or regulate though neither entity is regulated by HHS.
"People are watching it very closely, GOP Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, told Reuters. We're hearing about it from constituents, people who are incredibly concerned.
An HHS statement last week disclosed the two solicitations, Reuters reports. The agency this week declined to provide the news organization with a list of all solicitations before or after March, when Sebelius began approaching groups by telephone.
We received a phone call from the secretary during which the secretary discussed supporting Enroll America," H&R Block told Reuters in a statement. "While we took her suggestion under consideration, we have made no commitment.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
“Enroll America” shakedown ping
The Obama house of cards is coming down. Questions are multiplying as revelations about Benghazi, IRS targeting and AP phone records come flying in from every direction. The Obama Syndicate has been beset with scandals. From Fast and Furious, the Acorn money laundering scandal, the recruitment of illegal aliens to receive food stamps as a means of gathering votes for Obamas re-election, the "Green Scandals," the New Black Panther Party voter intimidation scandal, the Brookfield Asset Management scandal, the Pigford v. Glickman lawsuit settlement, Holder's involvement in the Press Leaks Scandal and others too numerous to list. This places the Obama Syndicate as the most dishonest and criminal presidencies in U.S. history.
Many are comparing Obama's corruption to the Nixon administration. Nixon's second article of impeachment was abuse of the IRS. Nixon was a piker compared to Obama who has done impeachable offenses that Nixon only planned to do.
Repeal and ABOLISH Obama’care.’
Another one!
FLASHBACK: Did Obama Bully Roberts Into Upholding Obamacare?
(UPDATE: It All Makes Sense Now With IRS and AP Scandals)
May 24, 2013
Originally Posted on June 29, 2012
(Keith Koffler) — Was Supreme Court John Roberts intimidated by President Obama and his allies into writing a startling, incomprehensible opinion that preserved Obamas signature achievement as president?
Is it possible that the august corridors of the Supreme Court were trampled by Chicago-style political tactics, that the Constitution was shredded by the dog-eared playbook of bullying activist Saul Alinsky, the guiding light of Obamas political operation?
There is no way to prove that Chief Justice John Roberts was intimidated into upholding Obamacare as constitutional, no way to conjure his thoughts. Even Roberts may not fully understand why he made the decision he did.
But there is evidence to suggest that the brewing outcry that the Court had become a political weapon run by a cabal of Republican legal hacks the liberal Justices, who walk in lockstep, were under this theory clinging united to principle weighed on Roberts, along with the likelihood that Obama would make this a theme of his reelection campaign.
Back on April 2, Obama helped ignite the recent focus by politicians and commentators on the politicization of the Supreme Court when he menaced:
Ultimately, Im confident that the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress. And Id just remind conservative commentators that for years what weve heard is, the biggest problem on the bench was judicial activism or a lack of judicial restraint that an unelected group of people would somehow overturn a duly constituted and passed law. Well, this is a good example. And Im pretty confident that this Court will recognize that and not take that step.
Remarks that could have been written by a Brooklyn Wise Guy: Im confident youll do the right thing, see?
All of this was theater. Theres nothing unprecedented or extraordinary about the Supreme Court overturning a law, and Obamacare was not passed by a strong majority. What was extraordinary was the sight of a president, standing in the Rose Garden, leaning on the Supreme Court.
Obama had inappropriately gone after the Court before, of course, criticizing the Justices to their faces during the 2010 State of the Union for having reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests in the Citizens United case and calling on Congress to pass a bill that helps to right this wrong.
Is there anyone who seriously doubts that Obama would have made denigrating the Supreme Court and promoting himself to fix it with second term appointments a central plank of his campaign?
The first suggestion that Roberts may have been influenced by all this is that it appears he may have changed his mind after initially supporting the four conservatives who voted to strike down Obamacare.
The Wall Street Journal writes today:
http://redflagnews.com/headlines/did-obama-bully-roberts-into-upholding-obamacare
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