do you remember

[Yuri Zhivago]

how all-consuming the “Obama scandals” once were? This was a turn of events so dramatic it defined Obama’s entire second term — he was “waylaid by controversies,” or at least “seriously off track,” “beset by scandals,” enduring a “second-term curse,” the prospect of “endless scandals,” Republicans “beginning to write his legislative obituary,” and Washington had “turned on Obama.” A ritualistic media grilling of Jay Carney, featuring the ritualistic comparisons of him to Nixon press secretary Ron Ziegler, sanctified the impression of guilt.

It has come and gone, having left barely a trace. To be sure, the Obama scandals live on in the conservative world, where the evidence of deep corruption and venality grows stronger and stronger. But that is merely the confirmation of suspicions of “Chicago politics,” ACORN and so on, that predate recent events and don’t require any particular facts to survive.
om/daily/intelligencer/2013/06/obama-scandals-used-to-be-a-thing.html


The IRS “scandal” is especially interesting. Issa asked for a narrow investigation and the Bush appointed head of TIGTA was only too happy to oblige

 

[Colorforms]

President Barack Obama’s job rating remains upside-down -- no big change there. Yet for the first time in a Fox News poll, more than half of voters find Obama unlikeable.

In addition, only about a third of voters say they trust the federal government, and most want Congress to continue to investigate Benghazi, the IRS, the government’s electronic surveillance program and the Justice Department’s monitoring of journalists.

The new Fox News national poll of registered voters was released Tuesday.

More voters disapprove than approve of Obama’s job performance on every issue save one: terrorism (on that the president receives positive marks -- 52 percent approve, while 41 percent disapprove).

In contrast, majorities disapprove of his handling of the deficit (63 percent disapprove), the economy (58 percent), gun control (57 percent), health care (55 percent) immigration (53 percent) and foreign policy (50 percent).

Voters are also unhappy with the president’s handling of the National Security Agency’s surveillance (61 percent disapprove) and the treatment of conservative groups by the IRS (55 percent).

Overall, Obama’s job rating is underwater by eight percentage points: 43 percent of voters approve and 51 percent disapprove of his performance. That’s close to his previous rating of 44-50 percent in mid-June. A year ago the president’s rating was in positive territory: 48-43 percent (June 2012).

Approval of the president has rarely been lower among Democrats (78 percent) and liberals (73 percent). And Obama’s 31 percent approval among independents matches previous lows established August and September 2011.

Meanwhile, the president’s personal popularity is down to 47 percent favorable. And at 51 percent unfavorable, this is the first time more than half of voters have had a negative opinion of Obama.

The negative sentiment carries beyond the White House: 71 percent think the government in Washington has too much power, and 62 percent say they don’t trust the federal government -- matching a previous record high (July 2011).

Seventy-seven percent give a thumbs-down to Congress. Just 15 percent of voters approve of the job lawmakers are doing. Approval of Congress hit a record low 10 percent in August 2011.

Even so, there’s consensus that Congress should continue to investigate the IRS targeting of conservative groups (73 percent), the administration’s handling of Benghazi (71 percent), the NSA collecting the phone and Internet records of Americans (71 percent) and the Justice Department monitoring of certain journalists (70 percent).


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...gs-suffer-as-scandals-continue/#ixzz2XWXheXN2

It will be interesting to see how all of this translates in the mid-terms

 

[NightSwimmer]

It will be interesting to see how all of this translates in the mid-terms

I agree. It will also be interesting to see if Republican efforts to prevent voting backfire again like they did in the 2012 election. Turnout tends to be lower in mid-terms anyway.