Frank James

Black Caucus Leader: We Disagree With Presidents, Even Obama

Frank James — Thu, 23 May 2013 21:51:00 +0000

During his time as the first black president in the White House, President Obama has occasionally been criticized by a group he once belonged to as a U.S. senator — the Congressional Black Caucus — for not doing more to ameliorate the difficult lives of many African-Americans.

But Rep. Marcia Fudge, an Ohio Democrat who was elected in November to head the CBC, doesn't see why criticism should be surprising.

Lois Lerner's Brief And Awful Day On Capitol Hill

Frank James — Thu, 23 May 2013 17:00:56 +0000

The public got its first look Thursday at Lois Lerner, who has gone from faceless IRS bureaucrat to the face that launched what feels like 1,000 congressional hearings and conspiracy theories.

But it was only a brief sighting since she didn't stay long at a House hearing to further probe her role in how some IRS workers came to target conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status.

The night before the hearing Lerner, who heads the IRS tax-exempt operation at the scandal's heart, made it known through her lawyer that she would invoke her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and

Former IRS Head To Senate: It Wasn't My Fault

Frank James — Tue, 21 May 2013 22:13:00 +0000

It was the Senate's turn Tuesday to grill the Internal Revenue Service, or more accurately, former agency officials, about its handling of the scandal involving the targeting of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status.

Unlike last week, when House lawmakers got to beat up only on Steve Miller — until recently the IRS' acting director whose "resignation" President Obama reported at a hastily called appearance before news cameras last week — this time Miller was joined by Douglas Shulman, the former commissioner who left that post in November. They were joined by J.

Why The IRS Scandal Is Built To Last

Frank James — Sun, 19 May 2013 15:54:15 +0000

Of all the controversies swirling around the Obama White House, the Internal Revenue Service scandal seems likeliest to have the longest shelf life.

While the Benghazi affair has long been in the news, it's never really taken off as an issue beyond the Republican base.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration's position that national security considerations justified the Justice Department's gathering of journalists' phone records in a leak investigation may be enough to remove fuel from the outrage.

A New Front in the War on Obamacare: Twitter

Frank James — Thu, 16 May 2013 22:25:00 +0000

A simple idea: attack Obamacare tersely.

On the same day House Republicans scheduled their latest symbolic vote to repeal Obamacare, as part of their full-court press against the law they also took to Twitter to say, in three words, why they oppose the legislation.

Speaker John Boehner led the GOP tweet slaps that used the trending hashtag #ObamaCareInThreeWords: "Repeal for jobs" and "Scares small businesses" showed up on his timeline.

Hou

Ten Things We Learned From the IRS-Inspector General Report

Frank James — Wed, 15 May 2013 21:19:00 +0000

Scintillating isn't how you'd describe the report issued by the Treasury inspector general's report on the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of conservative groups.

It was written, after all, by government bureaucrats for government bureaucrats.

Controversies Risk Starving Obama's Agenda Of Air

Frank James — Tue, 14 May 2013 19:53:00 +0000

This was the critical moment, the brief time between his inaugural and when the nation's collective focus turns to whom his successor will be, when President Obama had to make real progress on his second-term agenda and thus forge his legacy.

Instead, the president finds his administration, the public, Congress and the news media distracted by controversies over Benghazi, the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of conservative groups and a leak investigation in which the Justice Department secretly obtained months of phone records of Associated Press journalists.

The result?

Clinton White House Crisis Manager Dings Obama's Message Team

Frank James — Mon, 13 May 2013 22:55:00 +0000

Lanny J. Davis, a former special counsel for President Clinton, is a man who knows something about managing a White House crisis. And he isn't exactly impressed by how President Obama's aides have handled the fallout from numerous crises, from Solyndra to Benghazi and now with the Internal Revenue Service controversy.

"Honestly, I voted for Obama.

IRS's Tea Party Scrutiny Adds To Conservatives' Case Against Obama

Frank James — Fri, 10 May 2013 23:09:00 +0000

Benghazi move over, make room for IRS-gate.

As if the Obama administration's conservative critics didn't have enough fodder with last year's attacks on a U.S.

Do GOP's Benghazi Charges Harm Hillary Clinton For 2016?

Frank James — Thu, 09 May 2013 16:40:33 +0000

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hasn't said whether or not she's running for president in 2016.