FROM THE BLOGS:

Republicans shouldn’t let the facts speak for themselves
Daily Intel's Jonathan Chait says the conventional wisdom — that Republicans should soberly approach the three potential scandals facing the White House — should be ignored

White House scandals will help immigration reform
Slate's Dave Weigel argues the trio of controversies will give House Republicans cover to compromise on an comprehensive plan

Strange goings-on at the White House
National Review's John Fund says the president remains disengaged even as his inner circle plays politics

Five questions about the AP surveillance
Right Turn's Jennifer Rubin details her questions about the subpoena of reporter phone records

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:

Issa subpoenas Benghazi auditor Thomas Pickering
The House Oversight Committee chairman subpoenaed the co-author of the report after a heated exchange over public versus private testimony, The Hill's Julian Pecquet reports.

IRS chief defends targeting as not illegal
Acting IRS chief Steven Miller said the scrutiny was "obnoxious" but not against the law, The Hill's Bernie Becker and Peter Schroeder report.

FROM THE BLOGS:

From Watergate to Lewinksy to Benghazi
National Journal’s Ron Brownstein says President Obama is joining a long line of presidents impacted by scandals in their second terms.

What Benghazi and the IRS scandals have in common
Townhall’s Michael Barone says both scandals show the White House attempting to win approval under false pretenses.

Generation Liberal
The Guardian’s Harry Enten says Millennials are liberal but haven't overtaken the electorate yet.

Can Big Government be ever stopped?
The American Conservative’s James Bovard reviews a new book by James Antle that looks at how politicians and activists can work to curb federal spending.

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:

Obama nominates new IRS commissioner
The Hill’s Amie Parnes reports that President Obama has appointed the OMB’s Danny Werfel to be acting director of the IRS.

New rules for fracking
The Hill’s Ben Geman looks at the Interior Department’s revised proposal to regulate the oil and gas development known as “fracking.”

FROM THE BLOGS:

Destabilizing Syria in the name of stability
The American Conservative's Daniel Larison describes Rebeccah Heinrichs' demand for more meddling in Syria as 'wonderfully incoherent.'

IRS scandal goes nationwide
Kaylin Bugos of The American Spectator reports on Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to make the targeting of conservative groups by the IRS a nationwide criminal investigation.

Ex-IRS Director: Tea Party groups deserved scrutiny, but IRS bungled the job
Mother Jones' Andy Kroll discusses his interview with lawyer Marcus Owens.

Notes on a trumped up scandal
The New Republic's Noam Schreiber says the only real sin the IRS committed is the sin of political incorrectness — that is, of not even pretending it needed to vet all the new groups that wanted tax-exempt status.

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:

Obama summons top Treasury officials to discuss IRS scandal
President Obama will meet Wednesday afternoon with leaders from the Treasury Department to discuss the administration's response to the IRS scandal, reports The Hill's Justin Sink.

Senate panel to vote on arming Syrian rebels
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee panel is expected to vote next week on arming vetted Syrian rebel groups - the first time lawmakers have voted to approve arming Syrian rebels, reports The Hill's Julian Pecquet.

FROM THE BLOGS:

CIA warned of 'Jihadist' threat to Cairo Embassy
The Weekly Standard's Thomas Joscelyn says that one of the consequences that resulted from the changing of the Benghazi talking points is that it is now less clear what led to the attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.

Why big abortion shares Gosnell's guilt
Jeanneane Maxon writes in The Washington Times that common-sense regulations should be imposed on abortion clinics.

Planned Parenthood launches ads against Ken Cuccinelli, Virginia Gubernatorial Candidate
The Huffington Post's Laura Bassett reports that Planned Parenthood is attacking on womens' rights issues Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) in a series of new web videos.

The IRS 'scandal' -- all smoke, no fire
Mark Sumner of the Daily Kos thinks that the extra scrutiny given to Tea Party groups by the IRS cannot accurately be classified as a witch hunt.

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:

White House asks Schumer to reintroduce media shield law
The Obama administration wants Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) to reintroduce legislation that provides additional legal protections to journalists, according to The Hill's Justin Sink.

Dems mull 'nuclear option' on filibuster to move EPA nominee McCarthy
Some Senate Democrats are now in favor of circumventing Republicans in order to get Gina McCarthy confirmed as EPA head, The Hill's Zack Colman reports.

FROM THE BLOGS:

The bogus Obama administration "low-level" employees argument
Town Hall's Katie Pavlich says the Obama Administration blames low-level government employees for each scandal that occurs under its watch.



Understanding the politics of the IRS scandal
Talking Points Memo's John Marshall says that the recent IRS scandal will rile up the base of the Republican Party just in time for next year's congressional elections.



Obama's leak hypocrisy
Commentary's Jonathan Tobin says the Obama administration is politicizing both sides of the argument when it comes to security leaks.

CIA's Russian spy flap: dumb and dumber
The Nation's Bob Dreyfuss notes that the capture of an American spy in Moscow couldn't come at a worse time for the Obama administration.



OTHER NEWS SOURCES:

White House: GOP fabricated leaked Benghazi email
White House press secretary Jay Carney blamed Republicans for falsifying emails to two media organizations that attempted to further frame the Obama Administration in a negative light for its handling of the terrorist attack at the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, The Hill's Justin Sink reports.



Hagel announces Pentagon furloughs
The Defense Secretary says that the furloughs replace other cuts that could have jeopardized national security, The Hill's Jeremy Herb reports.



FROM THE BLOGS:

This is what the gender gap in Congress looks like
Salon's Katie McDonough highlights an infograph illustrating the gender disparity among elected officials

How the IRS just handed the Tea Party its biggest victory
Slate's Dave Weigel argues the scandal has validated concerns raised by the conservative groups.

Jay Carney's Waterloo
National Review's Charles C.W. Cooke says the press secretary has floundered in recent days

Outrageous and intrusive IRS questions
The Gateway Pundit's Jim Hoft highlights questions of Tea Party groups by the IRS he sees as harassment 

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:

Russia orders expulsion of accused spy
Russia called the actions of American Ryan Fogle "provocative" and reminiscent of the Cold War, The Hill's Julian Pecquet reports

Justice Department launches IRS probe
Attorney General Eric Holder ordered an investigation into the targeting of conservative political groups, The Hill's Daniel Strauss reports

FROM THE BLOGS:

Karl Rove targets Hillary Clinton with new Benghazi video
The Daily Beast's John Avlon says the video is a preemptive strike against the potential 2016 presidential candidate.

Conservatives aren't the only ones having an existential crisis
Z Magazine's Edward S. Herman asks if Democrats are advancing enough 'positive values' in this quickly changing political landscape.

The IRS: the internal retaliation service
Town Hall's Tony Katz says that since the IRS was targeting Tea Party groups during the 2012 election, it was, by every standard, electioneering.

Graduation season raises new questions about gender on campus
The American's Mark J. Perry questions why there are numerous women's centers on college campuses even though men are now the 'second sex' in higher education. 

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:

Obama calls IRS's targeting of conservative groups 'outrageous'
President Obama said Monday that he would 'not tolerate' political targeting by the Internal Revenue Service, report The Hill's Justin Sink and Bernie Becker.

Benghazi review chief defends decision to not interview Clinton
Retired U.S. Ambassador Thomas Pickering said his probe was aimed at finding out who made the decisions on Benghazi, Libya, and that Clinton was not involved, reports The Hill's Jonathan Easley.

FROM THE BLOGS:

Top conservative publication defends linking Hispanics to low IQ
Thinkprogress's Zack Beauchamp goes after National Review's defense of Jason Richwine's dissertation on IQ and race.

Two cheers for the elite policy consensus
Our society is becoming more and more humane, argues Josh Barro at Bloomberg View.

Obama is not weak on terrorism
At The Week, Paul Brandus pushes back on the argument that President Obama is an unusually weak president on terrorism.

The WaPo keeps fighting on food aid
Simon Lester at Cato-at-Liberty praises a Washington Post editorial on foreign aid and "domestic agricultural interest."

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:

Carney: White House lawyers knew of IRS investigation in April
Press secretary Jay Carney said Monday that the White House had been informed in April that the IRS's Cincinnati field office was being investigated for applying extra scrutiny to Tea Party groups, according to The Hill's Justin Sink.

Ways and Means sets hearing on IRS
The powerful House Ways and Means committee has scheduled a hearing to investigate the IRS targeting Tea Party groups, reports The Hill's Peter Schroeder.

FROM THE BLOGS:

Finally, a real scandal for conservatives to chew on
Mother Jones's Kevin Drum says that with the IRS's recent admission of audit targeting, conservatives are right to make a fuss.

Why does the press still take the Heritage Foundation seriously?
The Nation's Reed Richardson advises the media that it’s the time to start treating the Heritage Foundation like "the permanent political campaign shop" that it is.

Obama burned by 'tanning tax'
Newsmax's Dick Armey says ObamaCare's 'tanning bed tax' does not live up to expectation.

Rise of the Republican governors
City Journal's Steven Malanga is not convinced of the 'new liberal era.'

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:

IRS admits targeting Tea Party
The IRS is apologizing for flagging Tea Party groups for a higher level of scrutiny but says its employees were not targeting conservative outfits for partisan reasons, report The Hill's Bernie Becker and Cameron Joseph.

Obama to tout health law amid Democratic worries over 2014
President Obama will make a public defense of his signature healthcare law Friday, using Mother's Day as a backdrop, reports The Hill's Sam Baker.