America is falling apart. The IRS abuses reveal that the government does not work. It is too big. It is politicized. There is no true professional class. And the structural decay is now apparent; the federal government is as corroded as the New Jersey bridges. Detroit is dead. Parts of Baltimore are dead and Philadelphia. That former American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took the initiative in “sealing the deal” for Lady Gaga to perform at a gay pride rally in Rome, Italy, the vortex of Roman Catholicism, is a symptom. Former Rep. Andrew Weiner  (D-N.Y.) is a symptom. Benghazi is a symptom. The creepy desire for monarchy, and dynastic ruling families are a symptom. The embedded press is a symptom. The future is bleak, says former Rep. David Stockman (R-Mich.), because the United States is broke “ fiscally, morally, intellectually.” And when the latest bubble pops, “there will be nothing to stop the collapse." Possibly today we are on the edge of free fall.

What happened?

For Texas Democrats, national Democrats and Senate Democrats, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is a dream come true, and the gift that keeps on giving. Now the talkative and ubiquitous Cruz has denounced the entire Republican leadership, presumably including Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), as being untrustworthy. Should Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the former boxer, land another blow to the political chin of Cruz, or send him thank-you notes for doing his part to make Republicans look so radical and weird that more Democrats will be elected to the Senate in 2014?

When it rains, it pours.

The combined weight of the three growing Obama administration scandals is weighing down the White House and overwhelming its ability to control the story or advance its agenda.

In hospital triage, this is the equivalent of not having enough bed space.

Each scandal, if it occurred by itself, could potentially be dealt with. But their combination is forming a narrative that the White House is not being honest amid a culture of “scandal.”

The three controversies, the IRS targeting of conservative groups, the Benghazi, Libya, terrorist attack and the Justice Department's targeting of AP reporters, are unique. They will ebb and flow on their own terms and in their own way, as news develops.

But each poses a serious political threat to the administration.

With a season of dissent circling Washington, reporters now, the infamous mainstream media — especially those associated with the White House Correspondents' Association dinner — will begin to bail and join the revolution. 

Once again it may begin to mean something to be a writer as it did to Ida Tarbell and Carl Bernstein and young'uns may flock again to journalism schools as they did after the Woodward and Bernstein days. An era is upon us, and a new generation, always an equal and opposite counterpoint of the last, will rise with it.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) was one of the first officials in Washington to know of the existence and substance of the inspector general's report on the Internal Revenue Service. 

For some time Issa maintained his silence about it, stating that it was important to have a nonpartisan and objective investigation before leveling criticism. Should Issa be subpoenaed and put under oath? 

I’m tired.

Under Bill Clinton we had to endure the Republicans’ obsession with so-called "scandal" Whitewater, the death of Vince Foster, the travel office, and finally Monica Lewinsky and impeachment.

It was all so exhausting and so useless and so far from doing the people’s business.

Nevertheless, Bill Clinton had one of the most successful presidencies in modern times.

Ever since Barack Obama was elected, various elements of the Republican Party have engaged in nothing but petty character assassination, false accusations and partisan political attacks designed to undermine his presidency.

The Hill's A.B. Stoddard takes your questions on the recent controversies surrounding the Obama administration. 

Why Sarah Palin? Because when I write a blog here on Jeb Bush or President Obama, it will bring in maybe 10 comments. A piece on Sarah Palin last week brought 135. Same every time. She strikes a chord which runs deep.

She has a purpose here. She may be today the most important person in American culture and politics. She may always have been.

The flak you draw tells of your truth and importance, and no one has taken more flak than Palin. Most has been neutralized now as Tea Party meets the mainstream with the IRS affair in particular, but with Kentucky’s Sen. Rand Paul (R), Utah’s Sen. Mike Lee (R) and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R) acceptance to the common culture as well. Cruz is smart as paint. Rand is folkloric. Others are just ahead. Kristi Noem (R-S.D.) may run for Senate and Alaska's Joe Miller, a former magistrate and 2010 candidate, is right behind.

It's easy to get caught up in the firestorm — Benghazi, the IRS, the fishing expedition the Department of Justice carried out within The Associated Press. But political junkies shouldn't miss what is developing with the all-but-declared candidacy of Sen. Rand Paul and his tour of the early presidential nominating states.

On Monday he will be with Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Prieubus in New Hampshire. He has already spoken at the Iowa Republican Party's Lincoln Dinner and is making stops in South Carolina as well. He isn't just traveling but transitioning from libertarian to "libertarian Republican" as he seeks enough establishment support to move beyond the reputation of his dad's Ron Paul brand to his own Rand Paul brand.