Lately all I hear about
is how bad the latest scandal from the Obama administration is. It’s bigger than Watergate and Iran-Contra
combined! Impeachment is imminent! The current
frothing at the mouth shows that Republicans in Congress think that the
American people have so little historical knowledge that they cannot tell a
garden-variety scandal from a serious one or that they just don’t care.
For those of you who
are too young to remember the scandals of the past, but have enough integrity
to care, here is my comparison.
Benghazi
What Happened: . A mob in Cairo attacked the U.S. embassy
there because they were upset about a clip on You Tube suggesting that someone
was making a movie that made the prophet Mohammed look bad. The same day terrorists attacked the U.S.
consulate in Benghazi. The U.S. ambassador
and another diplomat were killed. The
terrorists regrouped and attacked a CIA safe house killing two security contractors. Prior to the attacks occurring, there had
been requests for more security which were turned down by the State Department,
the Republicans in Congress and even Ambassador Stevens.
Shortly after the
attack, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice went on the Sunday talk shows and recited
talking points indicating that the attack was based on the You Tube video that
inspired the riots in Cairo. The
talking points were extensively massaged in a bureaucratic battle between the
State Department and the CIA because neither one of them wanted to look
bad. The true story came out within a
few days (four I think).
Why It Matters: An American Ambassador died as a result of
a terrorist attack due to inadequate security. The administration tried to sugarcoat the
facts on the Sunday morning talk shows in the months leading up to the election
but the truth came out quickly.
Comparison to Prior
Scandals: In Watergate, the President
approved break-ins and other violations of the law in order to ensure his
re-election. The President resigned
rather than face impeachment. Many
members of his re-election team and cabinet went to jail. In the Monica Lewinsky affair, President
Clinton lied under oath about having sex with an intern. The President was impeached but not
convicted and lost his law license.
Unlike Watergate or Lewinsky,
there is no credible evidence that the President was involved or that the law
was broken. It was, sadly, politics as
usual. While the attack on the consulate
was a black eye for America, it is worth noting that there were thirteen
attacks on American embassies and consulates resulting in 94 deaths during the
Bush administration.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-cesca/13-benghazis-that-occurre_b_3246847.html. If one consulate attack was a super colossal
scandal to end all scandals, what would you call thirteen attacks? Apparently not much if you are a
Congressional Republican.
The
IRS Scandal
What Happened: Congress amended the tax code to allow 501(c)(4)
educational organizations to be tax exempt so long as they were not primarily
engaged in politics. Given an upsurge
in 501(c)(4) applications, the IRS looked the other way while large 501(c)(4)s
on the right and the left received tax exempt status. However, approximately 75 tea party or
patriot groups had their applications placed on indefinite hold based on the
use of the words tea party or patriot in their names. The Acting Commissioner of the IRS was
asked to resign and the head of the tax exempt group at the IRS wisely chose to
retire. By the time the scandal came
out, the targeting had been over for about a year.
Why It Matters: The IRS is the most feared government agency
next to the FBI and Homeland Security.
Once the IRS gets their teeth into you, life can be very
unpleasant. On top of that, the IRS
has virtually no legitimate reason to make political judgments. They exist to enforce the tax laws and that’s
all.
Comparison to other
scandals: During Watergate, President
Nixon ordered that his political enemies and journalists be audited by the IRS.
There is a huge difference between
government bureaucrats abusing their power and being ordered to do so by the
President. There is also a huge
difference between being audited vs. not getting tax exempt status. The former is a personal and financial
attack, while the latter constitutes failure to get a benefit from the government. It is at least a little bit ironic that the
tea party groups that claim they were getting picked on by the government had
their hands out for government benefits.
That’s no excuse for what was done, but I guess that it shows that the only thing worse than a wasteful governmental program is not getting your share of the government treats..
The
AP Reporters Scandal
What Happened: Someone
disclosed classified information to an AP reporter. As a result of the story, the U.S. and
foreign governments were not able to use a valuable informant any more. The Justice Department launched an
investigation to identify the leaker.
It issued a subpoena for phone records for 20 phone lines at the AP for
a period of two months. The subpoenas
disclosed what calls were placed, but did not allow the government to listen to
the calls themselves. The Justice
Department did not tell the AP about the subpoena even though its policies said
that it should. Both Republicans and
Democrats got upset. The Democrats were
upset that the First Amendment had been lightly creased, while the Republicans
were upset that the Democrats were not more upset.
Why It Matters: The freedom of the press has more importance
in the United States than anywhere else in the world. We consider it to be a cornerstone of our
democracy. As a result, when someone
threatens the press, they indirectly threaten democracy.
Comparison to other
scandals: Under the First Amendment, we
have a never-ending tension between government officials trying to keep people
from violating the law by leaking classified information and reporters who want
to disclose that information for the benefit of the public or perhaps to get a
bigger byline. Here, the Justice
Department was doing what it was supposed to do, which is to enforce laws on
classified information. Remember that
during the Bush administration, Scooter Libby went to jail for leaking the
identity of an undercover CIA agent who the administration did not like. The Justice Department did not violate the
law by requesting the information but should have points deducted for bad form
for failing to inform the AP.
These scandals pale in comparison
to past ones. While the Obama scandals
involved government people behaving badly, they did not involve perjury, break-ins, bribery or threats to
national security. Also, there is no
evidence so far (I stress so far because there is always room to be
disappointed) that any of these scandals were orchestrated at the highest
levels of government. By comparison,
here are some real scandals.
Real
Scandals
Here is a short list of
the top real scandals in the past century:
1.
Watergate (1972-73).
The President arguably lost the 1960 election due to vote rigging in
South Texas and Chicago. To make up
for it, he decided to do the same thing to ensure his re-election in 1972. The Committee to Re-Elect the President
hired burglars to break into the Democratic National headquarters and plant
bugs. They got caught and the trail led
all the way to the White House. The
President and his cronies were also violating other laws left and right. To make things worse, the President had
recorded all of the incriminating conversations. When the Supreme Court ruled that the
President had to turn over the tapes, he chose to resign rather than being
impeached. The scandal was serious because
it involved many, many violations of the law, involved attempted tampering with
an election (which Nixon would have easily won without dirty tricks), lots of
people went to jail and the President was forced to resign.
2. Iran-Contra (1985-86). The Iranians took over our embassy and held
our diplomats hostage for over two years.
Later the Iranians took other hostages.
It was against the law to sell arms to the Iranians. However, the administration of Ronald Reagan
made a deal for Israel to deliver arms to the Iranians (which the U.S. would
replace) in return for release of the hostages. The administration then used the funds
received from sale of the arms to supply weapons to the Contras who were
fighting to overthrow the Communist government in Nicaragua. This was also against the law. Eleven members of the administration were
convicted. It was never proven that
President Reagan knew of or approved the deal, although it was widely
suspected. Although the President
escaped consequences, he could have been impeached. This one was bad because it involved the
Executive Branch willfully violating laws passed by Congress. While we respect a little fooling around
along the edges, this scandal involved an all-out assault on the rule of law.
3. The Monica Lewinsky Affair (1998). President Clinton liked to have sex with
women who he was not married to.
Ordinarily his would have been between him and the First Lady. However, another woman sued President Clinton
for sexual harassment based on conduct when he was Governor of Arkansas. When President Clinton gave a deposition in
that case, he denied having sex with Monica Lewinsky, which was not completely
true. The House voted Articles of
Impeachment but the Senate did not vote to convict. The State of Arkansas took away the
President’s law license because he had committed perjury. This is perhaps the dumbest scandal in
history. If the President had just told
the truth and asked forgiveness, he might have faced judgment for poor taste in
adultery partners but would not have come close to losing office. This scandal pointed out that while
politicians may lie, it is more serious when they do it under oath (as opposed
to on the Sunday morning talk shows).
4. The Invasion of Iraq (2003). This is one that Republicans and Democrats
will never agree on. However, as an
independent, I deem it to be a worthy scandal.
After taking out the Taliban in Afghanistan, President Bush wanted to
rid the world of other evil governments.
He gave a speech about the Axis of Evil referring to Iran, Iraq and
North Korea. The President sought approval
from the United Nations to invade Iraq.
The thing is that Iraq had actually possessed biological weapons, had
used them in the past and refused to allow U.N. inspectors to look at chemical
weapons sites. While that might be
pretty convincing evidence that Iraq had chemical weapons, the administration
did not know. As a result, they
stretched the evidence and may have made up a few points. After the invasion, it turned out that
Saddam Hussein had destroyed his chemical weapons but did not want arch-enemy
Iran to know. Thousands of U.S. troops
were killed in an invasion predicated on fibbing and a poorly executed
occupation.
5.
Lyndon Johnson (1948-1969). Lyndon Johnson was elected Senator as a
result of vote fraud in South Texas. In
1948, he won the Democratic primary by 87 votes out of a million cast. Box 13 in Duval County reported its vote
after Johnson knew how many votes he needed to win. It included 200 fictitious votes. Johnson also entered public life as a
pauper and was a millionaire by the time he left office. It is rumored that much of his wealth came
from abuse of his governmental positions.
Also, the Gulf of Tonkin incident was probably staged as a pretext to
get us more heavily into the Vietnam War with the result that many American
troops died for a hopeless cause.
While LBJ was a fellow Texan and I have enjoyed taking tours of his
ranch, committed crimes that were actually as serious as the ones imagined by
Fox News.
6. The Teapot Dome Scandal (1920-23). This is one you don’t hear about every
day. I like it because no one has ever
tried to attach the word “gate” to it.
President Harding’s Secretary of the Interior was bribed to sell federal
leases of Navy Petroleum reserves located at Teapot Dome to private oil
companies without bidding and at unusually low rates. He was convicted of accepting bribes. Prior to Watergate, it was the biggest
scandal in American history.
I realize that any good
list should have ten items on it.
However, this is the best I’ve got.
Perhaps you can suggest some others.
