Saturday, May 18, 2013

The strange contours of Republican outrage

Apparently Governor Bobby Jindal is going to give a speech to Virginia Republicans today and (surprise, surprise) Politico got a scoop on what he's going to say. A couple of quotes stood out to me.
“It won’t do to have a few lower-level staffers in the Tucson field office lose their executive washroom privileges,” he’s planning to say. “This is much bigger than that.”...

“The President of the United States must have the moral authority to go around the globe and call out tyranny when he sees it,” he’s slated to argue. “He must be able to be freedom’s evangelist. He cannot do that if he tolerates basic constitutional violations right under his own nose.”
I couldn't help but think that perhaps Jindal is referring to something like this:


But no, he's talking about how a few overworked IRS agents engaged in what might be best referred to as "political profiling" to determine whether or not a tax exempt organization could keep their donors a secret.

It comes down to the difference between manufactured outrage and the real thing. 

4 comments:

  1. I know it's irrational to expect rational thinking and behavior from irrational people, but it still astounds me that we can't agree that Abu Ghraib was horrific. Jindal wouldn't equate the two because in his mind, somehow Abu Ghraib was necessary? Or because they just want to find something, anything to stop President Obama in his tracks. Luckily;y the latest poll shows president Obama up 2 points.

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  2. I am not even buying the profiling. At first I did, but now I think the idiots filed forms that they didn't need to file and MADE THEMSELVES the subject of scrutiny. Also, the end result was that only a couple of left leaning organizations were declined.

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  3. I'm sick of republicans' stupidity and lying, and I find it ironic that the same RW politician who told the GOP that it must stop being the stupid party is spreading more stupidity. I taught U.S. History, civics, and economics for 33 years in public high schools. The IRS, like the Post Office, was created by Congress and answers only to Congress. All any president can do is nominate administrators of these agencies. What republicans don't want Americans to grasp is that it failed to provide proper oversight of the IRS. The president has no authority to police these agencies.

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  4. Ms. Smartypants, I had to publish under anonymous because for some reason, my new laptop wouldn't allow me to publish under majii. Sent this to FB with same message. It's time for some Americans to stop allowing themselves to be manipulated by unscrupulous politicians into believing lies. The get angry and don't even know the person(s) at whom they should direct that anger. In this case, it shouldn't be directed at PBO. The fact that it is demonstrates how little they know about their own government.
    majii

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