President Barack Obama said in one of his speeches that there is an “endless parade of distractions and phony scandals.”

I think the families of the four Americans killed in Benghazi, Libya, and the numerous seriously injured consulate employees deserve answers to what happened to their loved ones and why we did not protect them. Mr. Obama owes these families answers. These people are not “phony.”

I think most people who are paying attention think the IRS has lost what little credibility it may have had after it abdicated its authority by following the directions of Obama appointee William Wilkins to target Tea Party and conservative groups. Who knew Joan Baez got it right after all when she refused to pay federal taxes? This issue is not “phony,” either.

Nor do I think the Associated Press and Fox News’ James Rosen, who had their phones tapped by the Justice Department because they were asking difficult questions, are insignificant. Don’t we pride ourselves on freedom of the press? Remember, Joseph Goebbels’ job as minister of propaganda in Nazi Germany was to control the press and the message. It seems like Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. has taken a page from Goebbels’ playbook. I feel like I have fallen down the rabbit hole and that this is 1933, not 2013. The AP and Fox News scandals are not “phony.”

As an American, a taxpayer and an informed citizen, I not only want answers; I want apologies for the dishonor of Benghazi, the discredit of the IRS and the disgrace of the Justine Department.

 

Mike Gordon
Albert Lea