Day's End Round-Up

FROM THE BLOGS:

Political scandals don’t reach the Heartland
The Week’s Paul Brandus thinks the only Americans obsessed with Washington scandals live in Washington.

Bridging divide between two Americas
The Fix’s Chris Cillizza analyzes what polls say about how two sides of the nation reacted to recent political scandals

Politics is a rich man’s game
Mother Jones’s Andy Kroll reports on how a few key bankrollers are already influencing the 2016 election

Is conservatism a form of depressive realism?
The American Conservative’s Rod Dreher looks at how conservative thought has shaped various civilizations.

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:

AFL-CIO wages war against Facebook over immigration
The Hill’s Jennifer Martinez reports on how the nation’s largest labor group thinks the tech industry is harmful to the American worker.

White House knew about IRS targeting
White House officials knew about an inspector general report on the IRS applying a higher level of scrutiny to Tea Party groups prior to news on the matter becoming public but those officials did not inform president Obama, according to The Hill's Jonathan Easley.

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:

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:

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:

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.

FROM THE BLOGS:

Benghazi truths and lies
The American Enterprise Institute’s Norman Orstein says that Congress acted “like moths to a flame” in going after the truth on Benghazi, Libya.
 
News on Benghazi not fit to print?
Commentary’s Rick Richman argues that the latest congressional hearing on Benghazi was not the front-page story some thought it was.

Should labor leaders go after big banks?
The American Prospect’s Sarah Jaffe says that union workers victimized by the bad economy should “stick it” to the financial institutions that are responsible for their condition.

Delaying Medicaid expansion an Obamacare bargaining chip
The Washington Examiner’s Yevginey Feyman looks at the states that have put the brakes on expanding Medicaid and their options for the future.

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:

Obama calls for $9 minimum wage
The Hill’s Amie Parnes reports that the president advocated for raising the federal minimum wage to $9 in Austin, Texas, on Thursday.

Lawmakers scold OMB on missed deadline
The Hill’s Ben Goad looks at how the Office of Management and Budget has drawn the ire of the House Oversight Committee.

FROM THE BLOGS:

Chris Christie wants to be president
Jon Walker of Firedoglake believes that Christie's secret surgery means he want to run for President

The Heritage Foundation's problematic immigration study
Aviva Shen of Think Progress says the study categorizes all immigrants as “takers,” and ignores their gains in wages and education after legalization

Turning on Obama
Ross Kaminsky of The American Spectator welcomes the recent change in the media's consistently positive portrayal of the President

The most incorrigibly political and America-bashing president
David Limbaugh of Human Events claims Obama is the most 'partisan' and 'ideological' President we've had in a long time

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:

Boehner suggests House will take its time on Internet sales tax
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) implied that the online sales tax legislation that easily cleared the Senate this week was not one of the House's top priorities, report The Hill's Bernie Becker and Mike Lillis.

Rubio calls Heritage study 'flawed'
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) criticized a Heritage Foundation study on immigration reform legislation, reports The Hill's Daniel Strauss

FROM THE BLOGS:

Wanted: Adult supervision for the gun nuts
Kevin Drum of Mother Jones is not amused with the new National Rifle Association president's pro-gun conservative tactics.

Was it the Syrian rebels that used chemical weapons?
Ed Morrissey of Hot Air says the United Nation has determined that rebel forces used chemical weapons.

Obama and marijuana: then and now
The New Yorker's Hendrik Hertzberg notes that President Obama is the first president to openly consider himself an "enthusiastic" stoner.

Rand Paul toasts famous loner Henry David Thoreau
Scott Galupo of The American Conservative deliberates over the "negative liberty" found in the woods versus the "positive freedom" found in the city.

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:

Republicans ride on Cruz control
Republican colleagues are divided over whether Sen. Ted Cruz's (R-Texas) personality is magnetic or divisive, reports The Hill's Alexander Bolton.

Obama hits the links with GOP senators
President Obama played golf Monday with Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), and Mark Udall (D-Colo.), according to The Hill's Justin Sink and Daniel Strauss.