When will Democrats learn that the best “defense” is offense?

There is nothing better to get my juices flowing again than hypocrisy with a capital H. I have to admit that I am “outraged” that Republicans and their stooges in the “mainstream” media would have the audacity to tell a well-informed person such as myself what I should be “outraged” at. What I am outraged about at the moment is the media’s failure—outside Bill Moyers and Comedy Central’s politicos—to have educated the public in regard to the legitimate reasons why right-wing groups have been “singled-out” for investigation by the IRS in regard to the tax evasion—not surprising, given these groups stated anti-government and anti-tax “message.” As I stated the other day, it is almost exclusively Tea Party and other right-wing organizations that have sprung-up like noxious weeds that are nothing more than front groups for wealthy extremists to funnel money and spread their noxious “message.” As I noted the other day, many of these groups have been accused of abusing the tax code known as 501(c)(4), falsely claiming nonprofit—and thus untaxed—status. 

I am also outraged by the fact that the media doesn’t think it is an outrage that the Associated Press did break the law in accepting and disseminating classified information, especially in potentially exposing an undercover Al-Qaeda operative in Yemen to physical danger for no valid reason save for its own aggrandizement. Given past history, it was foolish to expect that less than “patriotic”—let alone morally responsible—reporters would be willing to expose their law-breaking sources (see Judith Miller of the New York Times), and the Justice Department had no alternative but to conduct their investigation into phone records if they wanted to uncover the mole in the CIA.  Should we be repeatedly forced to accept the media’s argument of First Amendment “rights” as an excuse to break the law? 

And I am outraged by the fact that once more the Benghazi incident is cynically being recycled, despite the fact there has already been an “independent” investigation and Congressional hearings. Even the History Channel is muddling the issue by airing a show on Benghazi as a “presidential cover-up.” What is ironic about this is that a talking head claims that the Benghazi station did not serve a diplomatic purpose, but was in fact a CIA front; given the “secret” activities of that organization, it stands to reason that the CIA preferred not to advertise what it was doing there, and the insinuation was that the Libyan ambassador, Christopher Stevens, was serving as a “cover” for the goings-on there. I find this somewhat difficult to believe, but the fact that the Benghazi “mission” was lightly staffed might infer some truth to this. And if true, this would hardly qualify as a “presidential” cover-up. If you want to talk “cover-up” and media pandering, some people believe that the Cheney/Rove/Rumsfeld triumvirate should all be behind bars for the various crimes they committed during the Bush administration; curiously, the Republicans seem to have no “appreciation” for the fact that the Obama administration angered many on the left by refusing to conduct investigations into their activities. 

One thing the media and all the rabids on the right have not admitted is that regardless if the Obama administration has acted fairly, its actions have only reflected an accurate appraisal of greater likelihood that those being investigated are engaging in illegal and extralegal activities—and nothing that the Obama administration or the IRS has done in these so-called “scandals” is illegal. They did not break the law. On the other hand, no one in the Bush administration was called to account for the sacking of eight federal prosecutors who either refused to follow orders and target Democrats for prosecution—or at least no one in the media thought that was illegal.

Let’s be honest, if that is even a possibility given the fact the Right has made it clear from the very being that their agenda has been to destroy Barack Obama’s presidency, which frankly has more racial overtones that few in media want to admit. This country has serious issues it needs to address, like immigration reform and the debt “crisis,” yet it is now apparent that Republicans and their media stooges are hoping to create a circus of obfuscation in the hopes that they can regain the U.S. Senate in 2014 and completely disrupt government operations. That is ultimately the real “outrage” being perpetrated here.

Unfortunately, President Obama once again is exhibiting a jelly spine in the face of these manufactured “scandals.” The responsible elements of the media need to hit back now and hard at the fact that there is considerable justification for the Justice Department and the IRS to conduct their investigations. Furthermore, Democratic lawmakers need to demand that hearings be held jointly on extensive evidence of illegal tax-exempt claims by right-wing PACS that are abusing the tax code in order to serve as fronts to pervert the election process; as noted before, these shadow groups paid for three-quarters of pro-Romney/anti-Obama campaign ads, far more than the 20 percent of the Obama campaign ads paid for by Democratic PACS. That is an issue that should be investigated—and yet the media plays the Republican sob-sister. Enough of this scatological baloney.