Cirque du GOP . . .

In The Gadfly's humble opinion, of the trifecta of "scandals" currently dogging the Obama administration, and which are being flogged like a quarter horse being buggy whipped on his way to the finish line, only the AP phone records subpoena event is even semi-worthy of the dreaded term "scandal."

The Gadfly refuses to designate the AP story a full-fledged scandal for two reasons.  One - contrary to the uniformed puppetoon talking heads on Fox "News" and the right wing media screechers, what the DOJ did in this case is in no way, shape or form unprecedented.  I've heard a bunch of wingnut blowhards on teevee and the radio foaming at the mouth claiming that this is the worst scandal ever and wondering what the dire ramifications would have been had such a dastardly deed occurred during the Bush/Cheney regime.  Oops - hold there just a moment, somebody is calling The Gadfly on the Wayback Bat Phone with an update. . . . . .

. . . .  well - that call was from someone who kindly reminds The Gadfly that this exact same subpoenaing of reporters phone calls did indeed occur on Bush's watch.  Observe:

The Federal Bureau of Investigation improperly obtained calling records for more than 3,500 telephone accounts from 2003 to 2006 without following any legal procedures, according to a newly disclosed report by the Justice Department’s inspector general.

Instead, according to the 289-page report, F.B.I. agents informally requested the records from employees of three unidentified telephone companies who were stationed inside a bureau communications office.

Based on nothing more than e-mail messages or scribbled requests on Post-it notes, the phone employees turned over customer calling records, the report said.

On some occasions, the phone employees allowed the F.B.I. to upload call records to government databases. On others, they allowed agents to view records on their computer screens, a practice that became known as “sneak peeks.”

Moreover, the report found that the F.B.I. improperly uploaded into its databases large numbers of calling records without determining whether they were relevant to an investigation.
On four occasions, the bureau made inaccurate statements to a court that authorizes national security wiretaps about how it had obtained calling records, the report said.

And agents twice improperly gained access to reporters’ calling records as part of leak investigations.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/21/us/21fbi.html?_r=0


The Gadfly willfully acknowledges that just because Bush did it too, it does not at all excuse the Obama administration's comparable transgressions.  The matter needs to be looked in to - but not by the likes of that ratfucking greaseball Darrell Issa (R - Car Thief; Arsonist).

As it is, the primary question The Gadfly has for his right wing, conservative friends is -- can any one of you finger pointers tell The Gadfly how many Congressional hearings were held investigating the Bush phone records subpoenas and how many people were prosecuted for those abuses of power?

♫♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ [CRICKETS CHIRPING] ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫♫

That's what The Gadfly fucking thought.

Meanwhile --- while the GOP is busy as bees trying to ratfuck Obama, this bit of news came out:

After years of trillion-dollar annual deficits, federal red ink is lessening – and pace of the decline now looks much quicker than forecasters thought it would be.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/2013/0515/Why-federal-budget-deficit-is-falling-faster-than-CBO-expected

It sure is convenient that good news about the national debt is being drowned out by the screeching of partisan political banshees marching down Pennsylvania Avenue with their pitchforks and torches - dontcha think?

So that my wingnut pals can fully understand the meaning of CS Monitor article, The Gadfly will type this explanation extremely slowly.  Simply put - the big, bad federal deficit is shrinking faster than the few remaining percentage points that still constitutes Dick Cheney's approval rating.

Which begs the question of course - since the deficit is shrinking and forecast to continue shrinking, is there any possibility of Congress (led by the GOP) perhaps spending some of the people's time and money working on legislation to get Americans back to work?  Or on legislative remedies to shore up Social Security and Medicare?  Or putting the money back from the draconian cuts of the sequester which have harmed the livelihoods of many?  Or possibly working with out President on fixing our economy?  Or passing a sensible gun background checks law?  Restoring the devastating sequester cuts?  Immigration reform?  Hell - The Gadfly would even settle for the bastards holding a few hearings grilling the bankers and Wall St. honchos about their mafioso criminality in crashing the world economy!?

But none of that is going to happen is it?  The bottom line is -- it's going to be a long, long, hot summer -- a summer not at all dissimilar to The Great Clinton Penis Hunt of 1998.

Just watch.





----TFG