Republicans finally get a scandal they can love
A TPM reader nailed the reason why the GOP has fallen in love with this pitiful excuse for a scandal. Unlike birth certificate claims, or college transcript nuttiness that can be easily debunked and laughed off, this scandal comes complete with shoals of red herrings and over a half-dozen movable goalposts. It is perfect for wingnut Senators who are addicted to being interviewed on TV.
It’s kind of a scandal that means whatever its proponents want it to mean: failure to secure the consulate, attempts to cover up nature of attack, attempts to downplay its significance, failure to call it terror. Related but distinct charges that get refreshed each day by people who know there’s no there there. Frankly it makes me nervous. The made-up scandals are hardest to resolve and most likely to expand in scope.
"This is a president unusually focused in the present on what his legacy will be in the future. With Obama's reelection, one foundational element of that legacy has been secured: the Affordable Care Act, which, had he been defeated, would not only likely have been repealed but retrospectively reduced to one of the causes of his loss. Now, with a second term ahead of him, among Obama's paramount goals, say his advisers, is to add another glittering trophy to his mantle: at least one more domestic-policy reform tantamount in importance to near-universal health care."
"The shiniest such prize would be the achievement of a grand bargain on entitlements and tax reform: a bipartisan agreement that would put the nation's fiscal house in order for years, and maybe decades, to come. The extent to which Obama pines for this was illustrated by his ardent pursuit of such a megadeal in 2011, which ultimately fell apart when House Speaker John Boehner proved unable to move the tea-party faction in his caucus to accept new revenues."