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Jun 10Molehills.
Dave Weigel identifies some conservative “flashpoints“:
The Obama administration simply hasn’t been dogged by scandals the way that the Clinton administration was. Many conservatives believe that it should be. They point to the unresolved (but resolving in a Chicago courtroom right now) questions over what ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D-Ill.) told members of the administration, why the DOJ didn’t pursue a case against the New Black Panther Party, why an Americorps inspector general was fired, and precisely what was offered to some U.S. Senate candidates in order to get them out of their races. Have these stories failed to take off only because Republicans don’t have subpoena power? Perhaps. But it’s hard to imagine a scenario where an electorate, angry about the economy, hands Republicans the reins of power, and endorses a series of fishing expeditions about scandals that (“jobgate” aside) never got much traction outside of the Washington Times.
This is reaching, and obviously, these weak efforts won’t gain any momentum. There’s nothing pointing to Obama in the Blago scandal1, the public finds Black Panthers about as scary as Marxists these days, and if firing US attorneys for not intimidating your political opponents doesn’t get you axed, nothing will.
Also, if a large minority of the country thinks that torturing people you don’t like is cool, then you can probably get away with a lot of things.
- I love that the Wikipedia article titled “Rod Blagojevich corruption charges” leads with “Not to be confused with Rod Blagojevich controversies.” ↩