Vindication

By Jim Thompson
HCP columnist

In an address at the National War College on December 19, 1952, President Harry S. Truman said, "You know, it's easy for the Monday morning quarterback to say what the coach should have done, after the game is over. But when the decision is up before you – and on my desk I have a motto which says 'The Buck Stops Here' – the decision has to be made.”

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“But our current best assessment, based on the information that we have at present, is that, in fact, what this began as, it was a spontaneous — not a premeditated — response to what had transpired in Cairo.

In Cairo, as you know, a few hours earlier, there was a violent protest that was undertaken in reaction to this very offensive video that was disseminated.” Susan Rice on ABC’s “This Week” (September 16, 2012).

There are four more similar conversations, should you care to hear them.

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“The top U.S. diplomat in Libya after the death of Ambassador Chris Stevens says there was no question the mission was under a terrorist attack and that military officials refused to send in a second team of soldiers to help diplomats in jeopardy.

“Gregory Hicks, the deputy chief of the U.S. mission to the country, also said he believes the administration of President Barack Obama misled Americans about the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks, a point Republicans have stressed and continue to probe.

“Asked how he reacted when he saw U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice initially blame the attack on an anti-Muslim video, Hicks said he was ‘stunned.’

“‘My jaw dropped,’ he said. ‘And I was embarrassed.’” (Salt Lake City Tribune, May 8, 2013.)

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“Internal Revenue Service officials in Washington and at least two other offices were involved with investigating conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status, making clear that the effort reached well beyond the branch in Cincinnati that was initially blamed, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.

“IRS officials at the agency’s Washington headquarters sent queries to conservative groups asking about their donors and other aspects of their operations, while officials in the El Monte and Laguna Niguel offices in California sent similar questionnaires to tea-party-affiliated groups, the documents show.” (May 13, 2013 “WP Politics—Washington Post on line.”)

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“…Gary B. Pruitt, AP president and CEO, said in a letter to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. that federal prosecutors under the direction of Washington prosecutor Ronald C. Machen Jr. obtained records covering a two-month period in early 2012 that not only included the wire service's headquarters but also bureaus in New York; Hartford, Conn.; Washington; and the House of Representatives. It also included cellphones and home phones of AP journalists…” (Newsday, May 13, 2013.)

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September 7, 2011: [Attorney General Eric] Holder says in a news conference that Fast and Furious "was clearly a flawed enforcement effort," and adds that investigations will find involvement did not reach "the upper levels" of the Justice Department. (CNN, June 21, 2012.)

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“An Internal Revenue Service auditor said on Tuesday that a top Washington official, when she learned that agents were targeting conservative groups for extra scrutiny of their tax status, immediately changed the policy to a non-partisan criteria, but that low-level employees reversed the policy.” (Reuters, May 14, 2012 as reported by CNBC.)

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“Lois Lerner, who heads the IRS unit that oversees tax-exempt groups, said organizations that included the words “tea party” or “patriot” in their applications for tax-exempt status were singled out for additional reviews.

“Lerner said the practice, initiated by low-level workers in Cincinnati, was wrong and she apologized while speaking at a conference in Washington.” (as reported by Michelle Malkin on May 10, 2013.)

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My gosh, I am sure glad the president never makes these decisions and that he hears about them in the newspapers about the same time we do.

It does worry me, though, that all these low-level employees have such a free hand. Oh, Harry, can you please return and bring adult supervision to Washington, D.C.?

And don’t ever call me paranoid again.

Jim Thompson, formerly of Marshall, is a graduate of Hillsboro High School and the University of Cincinnati. He resides in Duluth, Ga., following decades of wandering the world, and is a columnist for The Highland County Press.