Scandals like the I.R.S. targeting the Tea Party in recent years are custom made for cable news and its network equivalents, the Sunday morning talk shows. Add in the revelation about the Justice Department's seizure of the records of nearly 100 people at The Associated Press, and oh yes, Benghazi, and let's just say that programming decisions weren't a challenge for Sunday show producers this week.
Doing the "full Ginsberg" today was White spokeman Dan Pfeiffer, who seemed to have his talking points down cold to take on the slings and arrows of an assortment of news anchors – some more hostile than others.
President Obama's supporters say he's not directly involved in any of the scandals (which critics said was the problem with Benghazi), and that he learned about what was happening at the IRS at the same time as everyone else – thru the media 10 days ago. That's led for some to say that he's out of touch, or even incompetent, but Pfeiffer's message to all the talk show hosts was that it was actually a good thing.
"No President would get involved in an independent I.R.S. investigation, that would be wholly inappropriate," Pfeiffer told Fox News Sunday's Chris Wallace. "For very good reasons in this town, the White House needs to stay as far away from the IRS and let them do their business."
This article appears in May 16-22, 2013.
