Shock, distract -- Obama Administration shows pattern: Hide and deceive

The Obama Administration has a full house of trouble this week -- and all of it stems back to a fundamental problem.

Honesty -- or more specifically -- the decision that officials somehow have the right to distort, to distract and to otherwise hide the truth when it suits their purpose.

As if the fiasco in Benghazi did not smell bad enough -- really? no one knew the true nature of the attack on the consulate even though there was a State Department report calling it a terrorist attack right after? And, really, this had nothing to do with an election that was two weeks away?

Simplified, yes, but no less scary.

Now, we find out that allegedly some rogue employees in Cincinnati decided to target conservative and Tea Party organizations' applications for tax-exempt status while the president's own group sailed through the process.

Well, not quite true it turns out, either -- seems the Internal Revenue Service officials knew about the concerns more than two years ago.

And it is not as if anyone really believes this was just an isolated pocket of IRS employees acting on their own either.

And, as if this were not enough, now the Associated Press has found out that the Administration was checking the phone records of reporters.

Now, if that one doesn't scare you -- nothing will.

This is not some Republican witch hunt -- and although there is a bunch of spin going on in the White House, it is not just some minor distraction either.

It is evidence that there is something wrong in Denmark and it starts with the free flow of information and the freedom of the citizenry.

That is a serious charge.

It is one that should not be allowed to be dismissed or to be swept under a rug.

It matters that much.

Published in Editorials on May 14, 2013 11:57 AM