Phony Scandals?

[Foxfyre]

Another recent newsworthy item that deserves scandal status in my opinion in that Obama's signature Obamacare program is falling apart at the seams:

1. Some requirements for businesses due to go into effect have been delayed to stop companies from laying off people and/or cutting their hours. Wouldn't you think they would have thought of that before they made the requirement in the first place?

2. This week Obama unilaterally and without a vote of Congress, exempted federal employees, appointees, and members of Congress and their staffs from having to participate in Obamacare. They can keep their cadillac healthcare systems paid for by who else? Us.

3. And now it appears the pre-existing conditions provision of Obamacare--you know that wonderful thing they used to sell the program to the gullible?--has been suspended because they are out of money and are scrambling to find billions of taxpayer dollars necessary to refund it. But they are not taking any new enrollees with pre-existing conditions into the program at present. . . .

But those of us who say this turkey should never have been passed in the first place and, because of the unworkability and serious harm it is doing, it should be rescinded immediately before it dismantles the rest of the U.S. healthcare system, are accused of being hard hearted, greedy, and terrible.

 

[Edgetho]

In a Prepared Statement, the lying-motherfucker-in-chief said,

Obama: IRS report's findings 'intolerable and inexcusable' - First Read

"[T]he report’s findings are intolerable and inexcusable," Obama said in a statement. "The IRS must apply the law in a fair and impartial way, and its employees must act with utmost integrity. This report shows that some of its employees failed that test."

So was the lying piece of shit lying then, or is he lying now when calls the IRS Investigation a, "Phony Scandal".


I hate dimocraps

 

[Foxfyre]

In a Prepared Statement, the lying-motherfucker-in-chief said,

Obama: IRS report's findings 'intolerable and inexcusable' - First Read

"[T]he report’s findings are intolerable and inexcusable," Obama said in a statement. "The IRS must apply the law in a fair and impartial way, and its employees must act with utmost integrity. This report shows that some of its employees failed that test."

So was the lying piece of shit lying then, or is he lying now when calls the IRS Investigation a, "Phony Scandal".


I hate dimocraps

He is absolutely the most inept and incompetent President we have EVER had in his understanding of how government and the economy works and/or the consequences of what government does. . . .or. . . .

He is dumb like a fox and is doing it on purpose.

It is a toss up which way that might fall.

In this case he might not have had a clue what he was talking about when he gave the press announcement on camera--when he gave the first statement. And THAT is a HUGE scandal that he wouldn't know what he was talking about, that he AGAIN was 'out of the loop' and clueless about what those agencies he is responsible for are doing.

And if he DID know and now is back pedaling trying to deflect and bury the evolving scandal, that too is a scandal. Richard Nixon was forced to resign for far less.

But the standards of the public for ethics, conduct, honesty, and integrity as well as accountability in government are waaaaaay lower now than they were then. And that is why Obama expects to get away with it.

 

[boedicca]

All that chart may mean is that you had a disproportionate number of conservative groups of a political nature applying for non-political status.

Given the 'boom' of tea party activity at the time, that would be expected.

You are right, there were more, but the average questions asked is single digit for the libs and not so for the conservatives. Plus out of all the lib groups no one was turned down?

The point is that no Progressive groups likely had "Tea Party" or "Patriot" or any other patriotic designation in the name of their group. The scandal was that the IRS specifically targeted those groups that DID have such patriotic designations in their group. The 7 progressive groups singled out most likely did have some political aspect to their names, but once they were identified as 'progressive' they were treated as any other applicant. Tea Party and Patriot groups were not.

Even Lois Lerner admitted that conservative groups were specifically targeted as have others. But she said it was not government 'policy' but rather one or two rogue employees in the Cincincatti Office which we now know was a flat out lie. (And highly resented by the Cincinatti Office I might add.)

The total applications during roughly the same period:

501(c)4 vs 501(c)3 vs 527
(I couldn't get the photo of the chart to load at USMB)

Note that 9108 groups applied for 501(c)(4) status.

But those 104 with 'conservative', 'tea party', 'patriot' in their group names were the ones singled out for special scrutiny and who had their applications snarled in red tape and delayed for months/years?

The scandal is even bigger than that. It's now becoming clear that their was interagency cooperation between the IRS and the FEC in order to target conservatives and impede their participation in the 2012 election...and it's continuing for the 2014 one as well.

We have a Coup D'Etat underway by the Political Class. It's far worse than Watergate.

 

[007]

In a Prepared Statement, the lying-motherfucker-in-chief said,

Obama: IRS report's findings 'intolerable and inexcusable' - First Read

"[T]he report’s findings are intolerable and inexcusable," Obama said in a statement. "The IRS must apply the law in a fair and impartial way, and its employees must act with utmost integrity. This report shows that some of its employees failed that test."

So was the lying piece of shit lying then, or is he lying now when calls the IRS Investigation a, "Phony Scandal".


I hate dimocraps

He is absolutely the most inept and incompetent President we have EVER had in his understanding of how government and the economy works and/or the consequences of what government does. . . .or. . . .

He is dumb like a fox and is doing it on purpose.

It is a toss up which way that might fall.

In this case he might not have had a clue what he was talking about when he gave the press announcement on camera--when he gave the first statement. And THAT is a HUGE scandal that he wouldn't know what he was talking about, that he AGAIN was 'out of the loop' and clueless about what those agencies he is responsible for are doing.

And if he DID know and now is back pedaling trying to deflect and bury the evolving scandal, that too is a scandal. Richard Nixon was forced to resign for far less.

But the standards of the public for ethics, conduct, honesty, and integrity as well as accountability in government are waaaaaay lower now than they were then. And that is why Obama expects to get away with it.

 

[007]

You are right, there were more, but the average questions asked is single digit for the libs and not so for the conservatives. Plus out of all the lib groups no one was turned down?

The point is that no Progressive groups likely had "Tea Party" or "Patriot" or any other patriotic designation in the name of their group. The scandal was that the IRS specifically targeted those groups that DID have such patriotic designations in their group. The 7 progressive groups singled out most likely did have some political aspect to their names, but once they were identified as 'progressive' they were treated as any other applicant. Tea Party and Patriot groups were not.

Even Lois Lerner admitted that conservative groups were specifically targeted as have others. But she said it was not government 'policy' but rather one or two rogue employees in the Cincincatti Office which we now know was a flat out lie. (And highly resented by the Cincinatti Office I might add.)

The total applications during roughly the same period:

501(c)4 vs 501(c)3 vs 527
(I couldn't get the photo of the chart to load at USMB)

Note that 9108 groups applied for 501(c)(4) status.

But those 104 with 'conservative', 'tea party', 'patriot' in their group names were the ones singled out for special scrutiny and who had their applications snarled in red tape and delayed for months/years?

The scandal is even bigger than that. It's now becoming clear that their was interagency cooperation between the IRS and the FEC in order to target conservatives and impede their participation in the 2012 election...and it's continuing for the 2014 one as well.

We have a Coup D'Etat underway by the Political Class. It's far worse than Watergate.

It's even bigger than that, they now know the trail leads all the way back to the white house.

But Boe... it's PHONY don't ya know...

 

[Foxfyre]

You are right, there were more, but the average questions asked is single digit for the libs and not so for the conservatives. Plus out of all the lib groups no one was turned down?

The point is that no Progressive groups likely had "Tea Party" or "Patriot" or any other patriotic designation in the name of their group. The scandal was that the IRS specifically targeted those groups that DID have such patriotic designations in their group. The 7 progressive groups singled out most likely did have some political aspect to their names, but once they were identified as 'progressive' they were treated as any other applicant. Tea Party and Patriot groups were not.

Even Lois Lerner admitted that conservative groups were specifically targeted as have others. But she said it was not government 'policy' but rather one or two rogue employees in the Cincincatti Office which we now know was a flat out lie. (And highly resented by the Cincinatti Office I might add.)

The total applications during roughly the same period:

501(c)4 vs 501(c)3 vs 527
(I couldn't get the photo of the chart to load at USMB)

Note that 9108 groups applied for 501(c)(4) status.

But those 104 with 'conservative', 'tea party', 'patriot' in their group names were the ones singled out for special scrutiny and who had their applications snarled in red tape and delayed for months/years?

The scandal is even bigger than that. It's now becoming clear that their was interagency cooperation between the IRS and the FEC in order to target conservatives and impede their participation in the 2012 election...and it's continuing for the 2014 one as well.

We have a Coup D'Etat underway by the Political Class. It's far worse than Watergate.

Yes. I touched on that yesterday here: http://www.usmessageboard.com/politics/305541-phony-scandals-11.html#post7632773

And Lois Lerner's fingerprints seem to be all over it. No wonder she took the Fifth.

But our Progressive friends will shrug it off and won't care. They don't CARE that their government is dishonest, overreaching, using gestapo tactics to squash or disable any opposition to its agenda, and agree with the President that conservatives and Republicans are the worst thing to ever happen to America.

That is scariest part of all. That we have set the bar so low, too few even care any more and justify it with "Republicans are worse."

 

[boedicca]

I think the political class realizes the jig is almost up, so they are desperate to loot what they can before the economy and society collapse.

 

[Foxfyre]

And more on the new unfolding story on the 'phony' Benghazi scandal:

From The Atlantic Monthly (tilts left)

CNN's Jake Tapper reported on Thursday night that there were 21 CIA operatives in the diplomatic post the night of the attack, and that the CIA is polygraphing operatives working in Libya as often as once a month to stop them from leaking to the press or Congress. If the CIA wants to keep what it was doing in Benghazi a secret, the theory goes, then it must be hiding something the American people need to know. The speculation is that the secret is the CIA was shipping arms to Syrian rebels through Benghazi. But despite the story's three evolutions, the scandal has not moved beyond the modal verb phase — a lot of ifs and maybes and mights.

The Benghazi scandal seemed dead enough that White House press secretary Jay Carney identified it a "phony scandal" this week. But after the CNN report aired, Benghazi was back. Look how swiftly the blogger Allahpundit discards the Benghazi Version II for Benghazi Version III
The Benghazi Scandal Is What You Make It - Elspeth Reeve - The Atlantic Wire

From Commentary Magazine (that tilts right):

President Obama has been a broken record lately claiming over and over again that Republicans are promoting “phony scandals,” the chief of which is the effort to keep asking questions about the Benghazi terror attack that left four Americans dead last September.

The White House has continued to insist that the notion that there was anything sinister about the administration’s conduct during or after attack is simply a political red herring not based in fact. Though many are still troubled by the failure to provide adequate protection for Americans in Benghazi, the decision not to send help as the attack unfolded as well as by the clearly false “talking points” that led current National Security Advisor Susan Rice to put out a false story about the incident being a case of film criticism run amok, for the most part the mainstream media has agreed with the White House’s conclusions and dropped the issue entirely.

But thanks to CNN’s Jake Tapper, there are new questions being raised about Benghazi that can’t be dismissed by presidential scorn or a catch phrase:

Sources now tell CNN dozens of people working for the CIA were on the ground that night, and that the agency is going to great lengths to make sure whatever it was doing, remains a secret.

CNN has learned the CIA is involved in what one source calls an unprecedented attempt to keep the spy agency’s Benghazi secrets from ever leaking out.

The main focus of this effort is to prevent their personnel from speaking not just to the media, but also to members of Congress. While it must be acknowledged that the spy agency is entrusted with our nation’s secrets, the all-out push described in Tapper’s report seems to speak more to a desire to silence whistle-blowers and to cover up any possible wrongdoing than anything else. If Benghazi is a “phony scandal,” Americans are entitled to ask why the government is behaving so suspiciously.​

If Benghazi?s No Scandal, Why a Cover-Up? « Commentary Magazine

And the rumor alluded to by Tapper and some in the 'underground' media is that those CIA operatives were funneling weapons to Syria--shades of Iran/Contra yes? We all know history DOES repeat itself. So were the four Americans and their associates in Benghazi made sacrificial lambs to avoid impeding an illegal operations in progress? There is no evidence of this at this time, but it definitely gets curiouser and curiouser.

 

[depotoo]

And the tangled web gives up a few more secrets in the IRS scandal and, if the WSJ got this right yesterday, it goes all the way back to the original Obama campaign and now includes the FEC:

Congressional investigators this week released emails suggesting that staff at the Federal Election Commission have been engaged in their own conservative targeting, with help from the IRS's infamous Lois Lerner. This means more than just an expansion of the probe to the FEC. It's a new link to the Obama team.

In May this column noted that the targeting of conservatives started in 2008, when liberals began a coordinated campaign of siccing the federal government on political opponents. The Obama campaign helped pioneer this tactic.

In late summer of 2008, Obama lawyer Bob Bauer took issue with ads run against his boss by a 501(c)(4) conservative outfit called American Issues Project. Mr. Bauer filed a complaint with the FEC, called on the criminal division of the Justice Department to prosecute AIP, and demanded to see documents the group had filed with the IRS.

Thanks to Congress's newly released emails, we now know that FEC attorneys went to Ms. Lerner to pry out information about AIP—the organization the Obama campaign wanted targeted. An email from Feb. 3, 2009, shows an FEC attorney asking Ms. Lerner "whether the IRS had issued an exemption letter" to AIP, and requesting that she share "any information" on the group. Nine minutes after Ms. Lerner received this FEC email, she directed IRS attorneys to fulfill the request.

This matters because FEC staff didn't have permission from the Commission to conduct this inquiry. It matters because the IRS is prohibited from sharing confidential information, even with the FEC. What the IRS divulged is unclear. Congressional investigators are demanding to see all communications between the IRS and FEC since 2008, and given that Ms. Lerner came out of the FEC's office of the general counsel, that correspondence could prove illuminating.

It also matters because we now know FEC staff engaged in a multiyear effort to deliver to the Obama campaign its win against AIP. . . .
Kim Strassel: New Links Emerge in the IRS Scandal - WSJ.com

And Lois Lerner yet is drawing her full salary and all her lucrative benefits on administrative leave. But they can't fire her, can they. She knows where all the bodies are buried.

You Obama supporters--are you still convinced that we should move along? There is nothing to see here?

don't forget Steve Miller as well. He got to retire.

 

[boedicca]

So were the four Americans and their associates in Benghazi made sacrificial lambs to avoid impeding an illegal operations in progress? There is no evidence of this at this time, but it definitely gets curiouser and curiouser.

Occam's Razor says yes.

 

[Foxfyre]

I think the political class realizes the jig is almost up, so they are desperate to loot what they can before the economy and society collapse.

Which in itself is a scandal; i.e. my post re the collapsing Obamacare earlier this morning.

 

[Foxfyre]

The point is that no Progressive groups likely had "Tea Party" or "Patriot" or any other patriotic designation in the name of their group. The scandal was that the IRS specifically targeted those groups that DID have such patriotic designations in their group. The 7 progressive groups singled out most likely did have some political aspect to their names, but once they were identified as 'progressive' they were treated as any other applicant. Tea Party and Patriot groups were not.

Even Lois Lerner admitted that conservative groups were specifically targeted as have others. But she said it was not government 'policy' but rather one or two rogue employees in the Cincincatti Office which we now know was a flat out lie. (And highly resented by the Cincinatti Office I might add.)

The total applications during roughly the same period:

501(c)4 vs 501(c)3 vs 527
(I couldn't get the photo of the chart to load at USMB)

Note that 9108 groups applied for 501(c)(4) status.

But those 104 with 'conservative', 'tea party', 'patriot' in their group names were the ones singled out for special scrutiny and who had their applications snarled in red tape and delayed for months/years?

The scandal is even bigger than that. It's now becoming clear that their was interagency cooperation between the IRS and the FEC in order to target conservatives and impede their participation in the 2012 election...and it's continuing for the 2014 one as well.

We have a Coup D'Etat underway by the Political Class. It's far worse than Watergate.

It's even bigger than that, they now know the trail leads all the way back to the white house.

But Boe... it's PHONY don't ya know...

To the White House but not specifically to Obama. . . .yet. That of course is what keeps the researchers/investigators/historians digging, and almost certainly why the frantic attempts to now deflect and divert attention from that effort. The President seems almost desperate to get these scandals out of the media.

I suspect we can expect a 'wag the dog' moment any day now. Bill Clinton was a master at that technique and Obama had to be taking at least some notes.

 

[Foxfyre]

And the tangled web gives up a few more secrets in the IRS scandal and, if the WSJ got this right yesterday, it goes all the way back to the original Obama campaign and now includes the FEC:

Congressional investigators this week released emails suggesting that staff at the Federal Election Commission have been engaged in their own conservative targeting, with help from the IRS's infamous Lois Lerner. This means more than just an expansion of the probe to the FEC. It's a new link to the Obama team.

In May this column noted that the targeting of conservatives started in 2008, when liberals began a coordinated campaign of siccing the federal government on political opponents. The Obama campaign helped pioneer this tactic.

In late summer of 2008, Obama lawyer Bob Bauer took issue with ads run against his boss by a 501(c)(4) conservative outfit called American Issues Project. Mr. Bauer filed a complaint with the FEC, called on the criminal division of the Justice Department to prosecute AIP, and demanded to see documents the group had filed with the IRS.

Thanks to Congress's newly released emails, we now know that FEC attorneys went to Ms. Lerner to pry out information about AIP—the organization the Obama campaign wanted targeted. An email from Feb. 3, 2009, shows an FEC attorney asking Ms. Lerner "whether the IRS had issued an exemption letter" to AIP, and requesting that she share "any information" on the group. Nine minutes after Ms. Lerner received this FEC email, she directed IRS attorneys to fulfill the request.

This matters because FEC staff didn't have permission from the Commission to conduct this inquiry. It matters because the IRS is prohibited from sharing confidential information, even with the FEC. What the IRS divulged is unclear. Congressional investigators are demanding to see all communications between the IRS and FEC since 2008, and given that Ms. Lerner came out of the FEC's office of the general counsel, that correspondence could prove illuminating.

It also matters because we now know FEC staff engaged in a multiyear effort to deliver to the Obama campaign its win against AIP. . . .
Kim Strassel: New Links Emerge in the IRS Scandal - WSJ.com

And Lois Lerner yet is drawing her full salary and all her lucrative benefits on administrative leave. But they can't fire her, can they. She knows where all the bodies are buried.

You Obama supporters--are you still convinced that we should move along? There is nothing to see here?

don't forget Steve Miller as well. He got to retire.

Could you elaborate a bit on this please?

 

[depotoo]

And the tangled web gives up a few more secrets in the IRS scandal and, if the WSJ got this right yesterday, it goes all the way back to the original Obama campaign and now includes the FEC:



And Lois Lerner yet is drawing her full salary and all her lucrative benefits on administrative leave. But they can't fire her, can they. She knows where all the bodies are buried.

You Obama supporters--are you still convinced that we should move along? There is nothing to see here?

don't forget Steve Miller as well. He got to retire.

Could you elaborate a bit on this please?

the guy that was acting head they let go only to find out he was actually retiring anyway and that is what he did.


Acting IRS Commissioner Steps Down, Obama Announces

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ervative-groups-sought-tax-exempt-status.html

 

[depotoo]

and this -
IRS Commissioner: I Did Not Mislead The Committee | RealClearPolitics

 

[Foxfyre]

and this -
IRS Commissioner: I Did Not Mislead The Committee | RealClearPolitics

Ah okay. Brain fart. I didn't link the name. But you are right.

I did watch Miller's testimony before Congress though and, while quite unsatisfying as most of these things are, there was one remarkable revelation. While other forms of government inappropriate behavior targeting conservative groups go back to 2008, remember that the Tea Party and Patriot groups didn't start organizing until late in 2009 after the unconscionable appropriations bill, the stimulus package, the takeover of the auto industry, and the introduction of Obamacare. The intentional harrassment of conservative groups began in 2010, just as the mid term elections were gearing up. Steve Miller testified before Congress that he was briefed on the practice in May 2012, however he did not advise the Congressional oversight committees of the situation even though members of Congress sent at least eight letters to the IRS over the two year period asking about complaints from conservative groups and he had at least one sessions with the House Ways and Means committee.

When he was asked last month why he had not advised the appropiate oversight committees, he simply said he had answered all the questions that were asked, and technically no laws had been broken.

So how do the Obama supporters feel about that? They shrug and don't care. It wasn't their groups being targeted and it's now over, supposedly, so let's move along. Nothing to see here.

How do the Obama supporters feel about four Americans being murdered, dozens of others injured, and to this date we don't know who the injured people are, where they are, or why the administration has a gag order on everybody associated with the Benghazi attack? They shrug and say it's now over. That's old news. So let's move along. Nothing to see here.

How do the Obama supporters feel about Congress and federal employees wasting mega millions, even billions, of tax payer dollars on fun and games in this time of super high unemployement, underemployment, and economic stresses we haven't seen since the Great Depression? They shrug and don't seem to care.

How do the Obama supporters feel about the Justice Department harrassing a reporter for no reason other than he asked questions reporters ask? About going after private information from AP reporters? From stockpiling the private records of millions of American citizens? They don't seem to get excited or care about that at all either.

It makes you wonder just how much the current administration will be allowed to get away with before anybody will stand up and say stop!!! Unfortunately, it appears they have a blank check to do any damn thing they want to do to anybody.

Does that mean we are already a totalitarian state?

 

[antiquity]

Notice the vote on the OP is now 34-7, so I guess from the results that many people care and only a few Obama defectors want them to go away.

Says more about the ratio of tea baggers to Liberals on this message Board

That being said, the mainstream media has dropped the phony scandals, and even FOX NEWS is mostly ignoring them.

That leaves FOX Hate Radio carrying the water for the tea party ....

I think you underestimate the Tea Party if you didn't you wouldn't keep bring them up.
I also think some but not all liberals and maybe democrats in general have concerns with these scandals including some democrats in congress.

MSM never give the scandals in the Obama administration a second thought as they will protect Obama at all cost. That is one reason readership and viewer are down. But I am glad you keep informed by watching FNC.

I have never heard of FOX Hate radio, enlighten me? The only reason you are against the Tea Party is because they are a threat to you and your agenda.

 

[gallantwarrior]

The point is that no Progressive groups likely had "Tea Party" or "Patriot" or any other patriotic designation in the name of their group. The scandal was that the IRS specifically targeted those groups that DID have such patriotic designations in their group. The 7 progressive groups singled out most likely did have some political aspect to their names, but once they were identified as 'progressive' they were treated as any other applicant. Tea Party and Patriot groups were not.

Even Lois Lerner admitted that conservative groups were specifically targeted as have others. But she said it was not government 'policy' but rather one or two rogue employees in the Cincincatti Office which we now know was a flat out lie. (And highly resented by the Cincinatti Office I might add.)

The total applications during roughly the same period:

501(c)4 vs 501(c)3 vs 527
(I couldn't get the photo of the chart to load at USMB)

Note that 9108 groups applied for 501(c)(4) status.

But those 104 with 'conservative', 'tea party', 'patriot' in their group names were the ones singled out for special scrutiny and who had their applications snarled in red tape and delayed for months/years?

The scandal is even bigger than that. It's now becoming clear that their was interagency cooperation between the IRS and the FEC in order to target conservatives and impede their participation in the 2012 election...and it's continuing for the 2014 one as well.

We have a Coup D'Etat underway by the Political Class. It's far worse than Watergate.

Yes. I touched on that yesterday here: http://www.usmessageboard.com/politics/305541-phony-scandals-11.html#post7632773

And Lois Lerner's fingerprints seem to be all over it. No wonder she took the Fifth.

But our Progressive friends will shrug it off and won't care. They don't CARE that their government is dishonest, overreaching, using gestapo tactics to squash or disable any opposition to its agenda, and agree with the President that conservatives and Republicans are the worst thing to ever happen to America.

That is scariest part of all. That we have set the bar so low, too few even care any more and justify it with "Republicans are worse."

Oh, they'll care...just as soon as the government they have foisted upon the rest of us turns its attention to them. They'll care a great deal then.

 

[Foxfyre]

Notice the vote on the OP is now 34-7, so I guess from the results that many people care and only a few Obama defectors want them to go away.

Says more about the ratio of tea baggers to Liberals on this message Board

That being said, the mainstream media has dropped the phony scandals, and even FOX NEWS is mostly ignoring them.

That leaves FOX Hate Radio carrying the water for the tea party ....

I think you underestimate the Tea Party if you didn't you wouldn't keep bring them up.
I also think some but not all liberals and maybe democrats in general have concerns with these scandals including some democrats in congress.

MSM never give the scandals in the Obama administration a second thought as they will protect Obama at all cost. That is one reason readership and viewer are down. But I am glad you keep informed by watching FNC.

I have never heard of FOX Hate radio, enlighten me? The only reason you are against the Tea Party is because they are a threat to you and your agenda.

That's it. And if the Obama supporters CARE that the media sucks or people are being killed and rights are being violated or huge amounts of money are being wasted, they sure don't act like it. I am certain you're right that some Democrats care about the scandals because of the remote possibility it might screw up their re-election chances. Sadly some Republicans only care about the scandals because of the remote chance it might help theirs.

But for those of us out here in fly over country, it breaks my heart. Not only that it is going on, but because so many people don't care.