Barack Fires Back 

Under fire all week from critics and even allies, the Obama White House shifted gears and fired back yesterday. Attorney General Eric Holder delivered an award-winning performance on Capitol Hill on theAP phone records controversy. President Obama spoke to the nation about the IRS scandal. And the White House tried to tamp down Benghazi by releasing nearly 100 pages of emails. Here's our take. 

The IRS Scandal 

The damning IRS inspector general's report has been known all week and Barack Obama has been telling us how angry he was going to be if its findings were true. After reviewing the report, President Obama last night announced to the American people, "I will not tolerate this kind of behavior in any agency." Really? Virtually every government agency has been grossly politicized in recent years. 

Tens of millions of your hard-earned tax dollars were spent by the government promoting Obamacare. Hundreds of millions of stimulus dollars were given to well-connected donors. Obama distorted hisappointment powers to gain control of the National Labor Relations Board to benefit Big Labor. He abused his executive authority to circumvent our immigration laws pandering to the pro-amnesty crowd. 

So what did the now angry president do about the IRS scandal? He demanded the resignation of Acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller, who was leaving in a couple of weeks anyway. As Charles Krauthammer said last night:

Obama also said he would cooperate with Congress on additional fixes so long as they were done "in a way that doesn't smack of politics or partisan agendas." Wait a minute! For the past three years the IRS engaged in a campaign to intimidate the Tea Party movement, Christians and pro-life organizations. And he has the chutzpah to warn Congress about politics and partisan agendas! 

Now the latest line from the administration is that they are focusing on a few "rogue employees" who may face criminal prosecution. I'd hate to be those guys because the "big boys" in Washington are desperate for a sacrificial lamb. 

But guess what? The "rogue employees" are insisting that they only followed the orders of their superiors! One of their bosses donated $2,000 to Obama's campaign. This scandal has not been put to rest! 

Holder To The Hill 

Eric Holder testified yesterday before the House Judiciary Committee. Taking a page from Hillary's playbook, the substance of his remarks was overshadowed by a testy exchange he had with Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA). Believe it or not, Holder had the audacity to challenge the integrity of Rep. Issa. 

Beyond that, Holder offered virtually no answers yesterday. Asked about the unprecedented seizure of phone records from the Associated Press, Holder said he couldn't answer any questions because he had recused himself from the investigation when it began. 

Asked when he recused himself, he couldn't remember. And when asked to provide a letter or a memo with the formal recusal, Holder said he had nothing to offer because there was nothing in writing. 

As you can imagine, Holder's evasiveness (watch it here) did not sit well with some members of Congress. Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) blasted Holder for showing up to the committee completely unprepared.

Commenting on the various scandals today and the administration's reaction to them, Speaker John Boehner said: 
 

Benghazi Email Dump 

Responding to demands from major media outlets for more details on the Benghazi talking points, the White House released nearly 100 pages of emails yesterday. But once again, the emails raise nearly as many questions as they answer.

For example, the released messages begin 67 hours after the attacks. The parallels to Nixon just keep coming. One of the things that brought down Nixon was an 18-minute gap of Oval Office tape recordings. Here we've got two days of missing information!

Do the emails exonerate the administration from charges it tried to manipulate the talking points? Not at all. The Weekly Standard writes: "Benghazi Emails Directly Contradict White House Claims," whileABC News declares, "Talking Points Changed at State Dept.'s Request." And the emails reinforce how much the Obama White House and State Department watered down the talking points with then-CIA Director General David Petraeus concluding, "Frankly, I'd just as soon not use this." 

Taken together, President Obama's counterattack was enough to cause some of his media allies to back down and insist it was time to move on. I'm not convinced. 

Every day we learn more. Like the fact that the IRS was running interference for Planned Parenthood, targeted as many as 500 organizations and even went after a Catholic professor over a few columns she had written. 

Again, something like this didn't happen by accident. Some liberal apologists are trying to suggest that there is no scandal here because there is no "smoking gun" connecting it to the Oval Office. But you don't need one. 

Consider the IRS "rogue employees." Think back to 2009 and 2010 and all the horrible things that were said about the Tea Party or religious conservatives being bigots, accused of spitting on members of Congress, and referred to as the "American Taliban." 

If a group applies for tax exempt status and the group has been compared to the Taliban and smeared as racist and dangerous, is it surprising that leftists at the IRS would harass it and prevent it from getting tax-exempt status? 

The White House did not have to send official orders to discriminate against conservatives. As Senator Marco Rubio said, it is all part of a bigger "culture of intimidation."