Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus on Tuesday promised that "this is just the beginning" of Republicans in Congress investigating President Barack Obama.

Priebus explained to Fox News host Gretchen Carlson that Republicans like Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) would continue their probes into scandals involving Benghazi, the IRS and the Department of Justice's targeting of reporters until witness came clean about how the president was involved.


http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/priebus-has-good-feeling-issa-will-have-quit

A House Republican group is launching an ad campaign against four incumbent Democrats this week that aims to tie the lawmakers to the Internal Revenue Service, a government agency under scrutiny after officials admitted earlier this month to targeting conservative groups applying for nonprofit status.
The National Republican Congressional Committee will dispatch thousands of trucks to drive around the districts of Democratic Reps. Ann Kirkpatrick and Ron Barber of Arizona, Collin Peterson of Minnesota and John Barrow of Georgia on Tuesday with versions of this billboard:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/embattled-irs-makes-debut-house-gop-attack-ads-112054152.html

The I.R.S. is already separately reviewing roughly 300 tax-exempt groups that may have engaged in improper campaign activity in past years, according to agency planning documents. Some election lawyers said they believed a wave of lawsuits against the I.R.S. and intensifying Congressional criticism of its handling of applications were intended in part to derail those audits, giving political nonprofit organizations a freer hand during the 2014 campaign.



http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/27/us/politics/nonprofit-applicants-chafing-at-irs-tested-political-limits.html?hp&_r=3&

This morning the bill was to be debated in the Senate, but Jeff Sessions raised a budget point of order, which halted the debate until the Senate could vote to override it. His argument was the usual Republican claptrap about how we don't have a budget, how spending bills have to originate in the now-recessed House of Representatives, and on and on. You've heard it. There's nothing new.

Here's what it would have done, via The Hill:

The Veterans Jobs Corp Act would have created new job-training programs to help veterans find work in targeted fields such as national park conservation, historic preservation projects, police work and firefighting, among others.

Those are jobs we need, and jobs veterans need. But the Senate fell 2 votes short of the usual Senate supermajority they need to pass anything these days, despite Senators Snowe, Brown, Collins, Heller, and Murkowski voting with the Democrats.


http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/gop-kills-veterans-jobs-bill-grants-themsel

There is a breathtaking scope of competition out there, but Gateway Pundit Jim Hoft is generally regarded to be one of the dumbest men on the internetz for a reason. Man, does he hate it when those in the reality-based community come up with photographic proof of his stupidity:


http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/gateway-pundit-issues-challenge-then-

Arizona-based Republican consultant Eddie Mahe said finding a charismatic candidate is more important than tweaking policies. Given Americans' low opinion of politics, he said, "to sell the party as a party is nonsensical."

Instead, Mahe said, Republicans must pick a nominee who appeals "to the non-voters, disinterested voters, the uninformed — whatever you want to call them — who are attracted to a personality, someone they feel good about."

The Republican who comes closest to that description, he said, is Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, a tea party favorite. But Mahe said he doubts she could win a general election.



http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/us_politics/2013/05/gop_dilemma_draw_new_voters_without_irking_base

The amount is a matter of debate, but by any measure significant: between $1.2 billion, projected by Gov. Jerry Brown, and $4.4 billion, the estimate of the Legislature’s independent financial analyst. The surplus comes barely three years after the state was facing a deficit of close to $60 billion. (left from the GOP administration.)



http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/us/californias-new-problem-too-much-money.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130526&_r=0

The inquiry led by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee into the slaying of four Americans at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, last year has been attention-grabbing, but some senior GOP aides are worried that the partisan overtones are diverting Congress from identifying and addressing the real lessons learned from the attack.

In particular, these aides say key staffers have been overly consumed with chasing down or addressing inaccurate or unfounded accusations emerging from the inquiry.

“We have got to get past that and figure out what are we going to do going forward,” a GOP aide stressed. “Some of the accusations, I mean you wouldn’t believe some of this stuff. It’s just — I mean, you’ve got to be on Mars to come up with some of this stuff.”

http://occupyamerica.crooksandliars.com/diane-sweet/gop-aides-frustrated-house-republicans

Trickle Down Corruption As Far As the Eye Can See

The corrupt cronyism of the Republican Party is utter and complete, encompassing the Executive Branch and both branches of Congress.

Now, you might read that and think, oh, that’s just a bit excessive, I’m sure that there are good people in the Republican party. Even if I disagree with their methodology, they are trying their best.

This time it’s different. This time it’s far worse than anything we’ve seen in quite a while. You judge people in life on the company they keep — who people choose to associate with tells you a lot about them. In politics, judge people on the leaders that they choose to follow — the example set by political leadership sets a tone and an agenda.

So let’s summarize where we are today. In the Executive branch, Karl Rove is STILL in charge. In any other White House (other than Nixon), Karl Rove would have been long fired for his ties to the Plame investigation where he sacrificed national security at a time of war because his petulant side needed to be fed. This is the man that the President wants his administration follow? What Bush tells the rest of the administration and the public as a whole by keeping Rove in charge is really simple: the rules don’t apply to me.

http://americablog.com/2005/11/trickle-down-corruption-as-far-as-the-eye-can-see.html

Republican party chairman Reince Priebus said on television this morning that impeachment is coming over Benghazi.

“You have to allow the evidence to come into play,” Priebus said. “You have to connect the dots. I said a week ago, look, you don’t call for impeachment until you have the evidence.”

Interesting frame: Impeachment is coming, folks, but first some evidence! (emphasis in the original)



http://americablog.com/2013/05/gop-chairman-priebus-suggests-impeachment-is-coming.html