Posted on 03/07/2014 9:10:06 AM PST by SeekAndFind
As the Obama administration’s coverup of former IRS official Lois Lerner’s wrongdoings moves into high gear, Democrats are doing everything they can to direct public attention away from the scandal and tamp down growing calls for the president’s impeachment.
Lerner may soon be compelled to testify or be cited for contempt of Congress. After a hearing concluded Wednesday at which Lerner refused to answer questions, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) indicated that Republicans are growing tired of the former IRS executive’s shenanigans. “At some point, I believe that she has to testify, or she should be held in contempt,” he told reporters.
Democrats are also desperate to use theatrics and sideshows to change the subject from the slow-motion 100-car pile up that is Obamacare. To make matters worse for Democrats, President Obama’s already low public approval ratings are cratering in a new Fox News poll whose results have been echoed in recent media-conducted polls.
Obama’s overall approval/disapproval numbers hit an all-time low of 38 percent to 54 percent. A mere 28 percent of Independents, 39 percent of women, and 38 percent of young voters gave the president a thumbs-up for his performance in office. When respondents were asked, “Do you think the country is better off than it was five years ago, or not?” just 34 percent answered yes, compared to 60 percent responding no.
At a Wednesday hearing of the House Government Reform Committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), who has been dining out for a half century on his civil rights activism in the Sixties, pulled a well-publicized publicity stunt calculated to make committee chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) look mean-spirited.
The days when Cummings courageously stood up to oppressive government measures are long gone. Now he leads the charge on behalf of Big Brother and our increasingly out-of-control federal government.
At the hearing, which was a continuation of a hearing started last year, Issa asked witness Lois Lerner a series of questions about IRS targeting of conservative and Tea Party 501c4 nonprofit advocacy groups during the 2010 and 2012 election cycles. In what may ultimately turn out to be a tacit admission of wrongdoing, Lerner invoked her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination each time, refusing to answer any questions.
Issa soon gave up. The chairman gaveled the proceedings to a close after saying it was clear that Lerner would not testify at the hearing that was convoked specifically for her testimony. In a gimmicky, premeditated act of political theater, Cummings then exploded at Issa, demanding an answer to a procedural query. Issa listened to Cummings but it was clear that the lawmaker was only interested in spewing pro-Obama administration propaganda, accusing Issa of conducting a one-sided investigation — of all things — of the improprieties at the IRS.
Cummings then said he had a question to ask but refused to actually state a question, preferring instead to use the opportunity to engage in grandstanding by making a statement for the media and low-information voters to lap up.
“We’re better than that as a country,” Cummings shouted indignantly during his televised temper tantrum. “We’re better than that as a committee,” he continued. As his microphone was muted, Cummings yelled, “I want to ask a question. What are we hiding? What’s the big deal?”
Of course Issa and House Republicans haven’t been hiding anything. It is the executive branch that has been doing the hiding. President Obama has laughably claimed that there was not even “a smidgen of corruption” in his administration’s handling of the IRS affair but anyone with eyes knows the Obama administration has been stonewalling and intimidating witnesses who know the ugly truth.
To add insult to injury, Democratic lawmakers moved a resolution in the House yesterday that condemned Issa for daring to shut down his hearing without allowing Cummings to make a spectacle of himself for the TV cameras. Amazingly, House GOP leadership refused to bow to Democrats. Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) moved to table the resolution and his motion was approved on a vote of 211 to 186.
Among Democratic lawmakers trying to sweep IRS abuses under the rug, Cummings is arguably the worst offender in Congress. He has steadfastly cheered on Obama’s obfuscations and engaged in thug tactics against his political adversaries.
A month ago the indomitable Catherine Engelbrecht, founder of True the Vote and King Street Patriots in Houston, Texas, accused Cummings of an “abuse of power” and filed a formal complaint against him with the Office of Congressional Ethics.
“Congressman Cummings on three separate occasions sent letters on letterhead from this committee, stating that he had concerns and felt it necessary to open an investigation on True the Vote,” Engelbrecht said during a congressional hearing on IRS misbehavior.
After she sought tax-exempt status from the IRS, “an assortment of federal entities including law enforcement agencies, and Congressman Cummings came knocking at my door,” Engelbrecht said.
Cummings is also one of the worst race-baiters in Congress. In order to facilitate the Democrats’ electoral fraud efforts every election, Cummings and his ilk routinely accuse anyone who supports voter ID laws of racism.
Cummings’s publicity stunt this week is reminiscent of the bogus racism charge that Rep. Andre Carson (D-Ind.) hurled at the Tea Party at the height of the Obamacare debate in Congress. Carson flat out lied, saying that on March 20, 2010, Obamacare opponents in a crowd outside the U.S. Capitol shouted the N-word while Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) walked by. The late Andrew Breitbart put up a $100,000 reward for video and audio evidence that the event happened. No one claimed the reward.
Democrats correctly view Tea Party groups, that is, right-wing populist groups, as an existential threat to the Left. These nonprofits tend to be Republican-leaning organizations and they have been successful so far in derailing, or at least slowing, parts of President Obama’s ongoing transmogrification of America.
Democrats don’t want any conservative nonprofits to enjoy tax-exempt status. Such nonprofits are all working against the Left, standing in the way and preventing America from becoming a leftist utopia.
Using the IRS to hurt right-of-center groups is fair game, according to left-wingers.
And to his everlasting shame, Elijah Cummings is part of that egregious assault on the American democratic process.
They have the power but not the will to use it.
The word is unix or is it eunuch?{I used to sell UNIX don't bash me for a joke}.
Not a chance. Republicans would gather an even larger voting bloc should they actually hold someone in contempt or jail them. They don’t want to do this. It does defy logic. Anywho, Why do Republicans insist on pushing Immigration issues when it can only hurt them(and will) and they could bring up immigrantion AFTER they win the MidTerms?
I actually think they don’t want to win or look into any criminal activity.
TREASON - continuous, in-your-face, agenda-driven, agency-abetted, media-complicit, representative-enabled, court-sanctioned, ongoing…
“Charter of negative liberties” - hiding behind it, while destroying it. Tactics of totalitarians/socialists/criminals.
U.S.A. - United Socialists of America
korny.
>> The house has the power to hold her in contempt and to send their own marshals to have her arrested and brought in for confinement.
Absolutely correct!
There’s two sets of rules...None for the elite class and the rest for us. We’d be thrown in jail. Make no mistake, we are in tyranny....
Absolutely correct!
Except it hasn't been done since 1934. For good reason.
I believe the arrest authority of the Sergeant at Arms is now restricted to Capitol Hill, period. And the Congressional jail is merely a temporary holding tank for any rowdy demonstrators -- and isn't equipped to feed or handle overnight guests.
Accordingly, while Congress might have the authority to arrest and confine people under an "inherent contempt" charge, they no longer have the ability to do so (nor the will, evidently).
Don't shoot the messenger...
Why is there a question about this?
You have a high profile case in which the IRS is accused of using its power against the political opponents of the President. This is not a meaningless violation of law that is being investigated.
My only question is why this wasn’t turned over to a Special Prosecutor months ago. Do these Republicans really think they can investigate in hearings or are they just looking for TV face time.?
If so, they’ve had their fun, now the should get out of the way and let a Special Prosecutor get on with the damn job.
If she was going to be then she would have been by now.
Wske up folks! This is ALL Kabuki theater for YOUR entertainment.
This contemptuous turkey neck will keep her ugly mouth shut till this is over. Then she will get a high-paying low-effort job, thanks to the democrat party.
What difference does it make? Eric Holder would have to make the decision to prosecute her,what do you think the chances of that are? Especially since Lois Lerner has already been interviewed by the Justice dept. And actually answered questions!She did not take the fifth there?
of course The justice dept. Takes its orders from Obama and they have already labeled this a phony scandal,so Lerner knows nothing is going to happen,
never mind the movies folks,we are witnessing in real time,the perfect crime,the crooks control the whole apparatus in Government,and more importantly the MEDIA,who are supposed to expose this corruption but they are in this perfect crime,a participant
>> I believe the arrest authority of the Sergeant at Arms is now restricted to Capitol Hill, period.
Still peddling your OPINION in the face of facts to the contrary?
The Supreme Court says the authority of the Sergeant at Arms extends throughout the United States
“And, as to the distance to which the process might reach, it is very clear that there exists no reason for confining its operation to the limits of the District of Columbia; after passing those limits, we know no bounds that can be prescribed to its range but those of the United States.” Anderson v. Dunn - 19 U.S. 204
A fact. Not an opinion.
Because CONgress is a repository of gutless wonders.
You have not substantiated your claim that “arrest authority of the Sergeant at Arms is now restricted to Capitol Hill”
I have cited the Supreme Court which says you are mistaken.
I have fact, you have opinion.
I have cited the Supreme Court which says you are mistaken.
Ray, I have never argued that Congress didn't have the authority. My argument has been limited to whether they have the ability.
I have heard -- from a reliable, though unremembered, source -- that, some years ago, the Congress agreed to restrict the S-a-A's authority in return for the DOJ taking over responsibility for any arrests or confinement.
And, indeed, the Congress' authority in this regard has not been exercised for eighty years! Why?
You do realize that Anderson vs Dunn traces to 1821, don't you?
Obviously, something has happened since then to alter the equation. What do you suppose it could be?
American private sector tax paying peons, who were held in contempt and actually went to jail for such things as yawning and cell phone ringing in court, are no doubt watching...
>> I have never argued that Congress didn’t have the authority.
You in post 27:
“I believe the arrest authority of the Sergeant at Arms is now restricted to Capitol Hill, period”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.