Report: McConnell's alleged 'bugger' visited the White House days earlier

It would appear that Watergate 2.0 may be more aptly named for the bugging of Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell's campaign headquarters than was previously thought. The leader of the accused group met with White House officials days before the bugging.

Via Buzzfeed:

The head of a group accused of illegally taping private meetings of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's campaign visited the White House days before the group's Twitter account began actively attacking the Kentucky Republican, according to White House visitors logs.

White House logs and the Twitter feed of Shawn Reilly, one of two men at the heart of the McConnell wiretapping scandal, show he met with White House officials on Dec. 5, just days before his organization Progress Kentucky began a messaging blitzkrieg against the Republican leader.

Reilly and Curtis Morrison are currently under investigation by the FBI for illicitly taping a campaign conversation between McConnell and a handful of his advisors. During the conversation McConnell and his aides discussed the potential candidacy of actress Ashley Judd — including using her mental health problems against her.

Unlike Watergate, the potential for complicit actors to incriminate themselves is greater in today's social media age. Such appears to be the case with Reilly, who appears to have tweeted all about his meetings at the White House and with none other than George Soros' Center for American Progress (CAP) as well as a photo of what he claimed was the White House meeting.

This too is interesting, in light of the fact that the mainstream media has attempted to focus on McConnell's guys laughing at Ashley Judd's mental problems instead of on the act that isn't the least bit dissimilar from what happened in Watergate - save for confirmation of who ultimately was behind it or supported it.

On Dec. 13, eight days after Reilly's meeting with the White House, Progress Kentucky tweeted: "The single most important thing we want to achieve: Electing a new US Senator to represent Kentucky," which started a daily barrage of often more than a dozen tweets and retweets directly aimed at McConnell.

Over the next several months the pace of their Twitter attacks, and the vitriol, escalated. The organization hammered McConnell over his positions on fiscal issues, questioned his personal wealth before moving into more personal territory — at one point, Progress Kentucky sent a series of tweets accusing him of favoring China because of her ethnicity and claiming McConnell is a closeted gay man.

Yes, we are talking about public figures here but that would be called libel and slander, something that McConnell's people did not do to Judd. They didn't publicly mock her, nor did they accuse her of something libelous or slanderous publicly.

Moreover, the visitor log signed by Reilly was also signed by a Valerie Jarrett assistant named Victoria McCullough. Don't worry, though. The White House has an explanation:

Although the White House declined to comment, a source familiar with the situation said Reilly was one of 83 other people from Kentucky and Tennessee who attended the event. An administration official addressed the attendees, discussing the then-looming fiscal cliff fight and other items on the White House's upcoming agenda.

Neither Reilly nor any of the other people in attendance had "intimate" one on one meetings with Jarrett or other senior White House officials, according to this source.

Still, Republicans pointed to the evidence of the visitors logs to argue that Reilly is far more connected to the Democratic establishment than leaders would have the public believe.

The differences between Watergate and Watergate 2.0 appear to be increasingly fewer. To this point though, there are at least two. First, the mainstream media opposed the criminals Watergate while they are running interference for the alleged criminals in Watergate 2.0. Another difference is that Republicans don't seem to be raising their game on this issue. They will have to in order to overcome the media bias.

h/t WZ

Republicans blowing another huge opportunity (Mitch McConnell scandal)

Republicans are blowing a huge opportunity relative to what far left-wing wacko bird David Corn of Mother Jones did when he bugged Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell's campaign headquarters. No, this scandal isn't nearly as big as Benghazi or Fast and Furious. It's not even as big as Solyndra, which have all been said to be bigger than Watergate.

McConnell-gate ain't bigger than Watergate and it ain't smaller than Watergate.

It's exactly the same. Yet, there is no outrage from the left. In fact, they're pointing to what was said on the recordings as being the big infraction.

Meanwhile, Republicans are playing defense on Immigration and gun control, instead of showing a united front on this issue.

The words coming out of McConnell's mouth here are not the problem; his lack of passion is. In fact, he comes across as being so dispassionate that he doesn't even come across as having been violated.

Lack of fire on the Republican side of the aisle is their biggest problem.

Problem with Republican Leadership: Lack of Self-Respect

There is a fine line between taking the high road and losing your self-respect by not fighting back. If the 2012 elections taught us anything, it's that the Republican establishment doesn't know where that line is.

The leadership vacuum on the Republican side of the aisle keeps getting larger, louder, and even more obvious. If there is one common message from conservatives when it comes to the establishment, that message is to fight. The unwillingness to fight is why Mitt Romney lost to Barack Obama in the election; the base didn't turn out.

The Obama administration knows this and is banking on its Republican opposition doing the same thing in the 2014 midterms so the Democrats can take back the House.

There comes a point when refusing to fight only garners more contempt from your opposition and even less respect from your own side. Planting their flag on what they perceive to be the moral high ground didn't work in the last election and it won't work in the next one. It's becoming increasingly obvious that while Republican leaders in Congress think they are better positioned by not lowering themselves to the left's level, they are also losing self-respect by not standing up for themselves. It's antithetical to leadership and when you don't lead, you lose followers.

Two incidents took place at Obama's second inauguration that illustrate this anecdotally.

First, Paul Ryan, the Republican vice presidential nominee was booed and it was allegedly initiated by a Department of Justice Attorney named Dan Freeman. By the way, that charge was alleged by Freeman himself:

Via BizPac Review:

Second, House Speaker John Boehner got the Michelle Obama eye-roll. Watch the body language. At the :02 mark, Boehner taps Michelle on the left arm to jokingly get her attention about something. She then proceeds to put that left arm on the table, as if to say, 'don't touch me'. Boehner then says something else at which the first lady rolls her eyes.

h/t WZ:

The Democratic Party views the Republican Party leaders with contempt, sheer and utter contempt. The Obama agenda, as enunciated by David Plouffe is to so divide the Republican Party that the Democrats take the House in 2014.

Via the Daily Caller:

President Barack Obama’s top political aide used an Inauguration Day interview to sketch out a provocative political strategy intended to split the Republican Party in time to impact the 2014 midterm elections.

“The barrier to progress here in many respects, whether it is deficits, measures to help economy, immigration, gun safety legislation … is [that] there are factions here in Congress, Republicans in Congress, who are out of the mainstream,” White House advisor David Plouffe said on CNN’s “State of the Union with Candy Crowley.”

“We need more Republicans in Congress to think like Republicans in the country who are seeking compromise, seeking balance,” he claimed.

Granted, the two inauguration day incidents involving Ryan and Boehner mean nothing in and of themselves but they speak volumes when it comes to an unwillingness to fight on the part of Republican leadership. The administration is clearly banking on being able to continue bullying the leaders of their opposition.

This will serve two purposes. It will cause Republican leadership to continue rolling over, giving Obama what he wants and it will cause the conservative / Tea Party wing to sour on their Party's leadership. A consequence of that disenfranchisement will be staying home on election day in 2014. This will de-energize, de-motivate, and depress the conservative base in 2014. Why wouldn't Team Obama go that route? It worked for them in 2012.

Conservative voters carried all the water in 2010 and Republican victories were sweeping but Republican leaders prevented the Party from doing what it was put in power to do. That is why the base didn't turn out.

Team Obama knows that and will attempt to replicate it.

Consider the case of Ashley Judd running against Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell. Last month, she trailed him by four points. Yes, four points! If she wins, it will be because McConnell will have chosen not to fight. It won't be because he wasn't moderate enough.

The Republican Party leadership continues to let the schoolyard bully take its lunch money.

If it is going to actually lead, it will have to stand up to the bully sometime between now and November, 2014: