"The White House's success in last year's election hinged in part on its liberal activists, who played a big role in getting the base out to vote. That's the model Mr. Obama and his Organizing for America political-support group are betting on for the 2014 midterms, too. So you can bet the White House is concerned about the fury coming from these allies now.  

"That's why, of all the scandals, the White House is pouring the most effort into damage control on Justice. ... 

"The left and the press have always been with Mr. Obama when it really mattered, and that may well remain the case. The particular significance of Justice's press scandal is that it has deprived Mr. Obama of support at a time when he is vulnerable on so much else. Who knows what will come of that?"

"During his recent Naval Academy commencement address, Obama said: 'It's no secret that in recent decades many Americans have lost confidence in many of the institutions that help shape our society and our democracy. But I suggest to you today that institutions do not fail in a vacuum. Institutions are made up of people, individuals. And we've seen how the actions of a few can undermine the integrity of those institutions.' 

"Mr. President, meet your attorney general."

“As legendary Marine Gen. James Mattis has said, ‘No war is over until the enemy says it's over. We may think it over, we may declare it over, but in fact, the enemy gets a vote.’ 

"That line came immediately to mind last week when President Obama declared that history tells us the war on terror must end. As an objective statement of fact, that is of course true. The war on terror must end. So must all life on this planet. But saying so doesn't make it so. Some things must end on their own timetable. ... 

“A lot remains unknown about what Obama actually intends to do -- or will be able to accomplish regardless of his intentions. He is very fond, at least rhetorically, of treating terrorism as a law-enforcement issue. If we aren't attacked for a while, his new approach will seem wise. If we are attacked, it will seem like folly. 

“And that's basically the point. We know that there are plenty of Islamists eager to murder Westerners, even cut off our heads in broad daylight. No one doubts that they'd use something more lethal than a rusty machete if given the opportunity. And so the success or failure of Obama's grand strategic vision depends entirely on what our enemies do next. That's because they get a vote, and they vote ‘nay.’”

"It's too early to tell if May will be remembered as marking the beginning of a failed second term for President Obama, but it is clear the atmosphere in Washington has changed. We don't yet know the full impact of new revelations about last September's attack in Benghazi, the political abuse of the Internal Revenue Service, and the Justice Department's secret surveillance of journalists, but we do know there are questions in Congress and among a suddenly energetic Washington press corps, questions likely to affect the president's agenda and legacy. ... 

"Will all this lead to impeachment, as some have speculated recently? Probably not, and certainly not now. But not being guilty of an impeachable offense is a low hurdle for a president focused on his legacy. For a man who came to office with the goal of expanding the role of government to better our lives, it would be quite a comedown to leave office with the main accomplishment of increasing the nation's distrust of government."

"Nowadays, many Americans have forgotten the meaning and traditions of Memorial Day. At cemeteries across the country, the graves of the fallen are sadly ignored, and worse, neglected."

"The Fifth Amendment privilege is not designed to protect the innocent. The innocent do not need protection from the truth (just from the IRS). The privilege is designed to protect the bedrock principle that the burden of proof is always on the government and, derivatively, that a person is never required to prove his innocence. (No surprise, I suppose, that an IRS official is unfamiliar with these foundational pillars of Anglo-American law.) And though Lerner, ever mindful of the cameras, went out of her way to avoid saying so, the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination can be asserted in good faith only if the person has reason to believe a truthful answer could tend to incriminate her. 

"Hopefully, Chairman Issa learns how to do this dance. The music doesn’t sound like it will be stopping any time soon."

"What’s the difference between keeping President Obama 'updated throughout the night' on a deadly terrorist attack in Benghazi and keeping him 'updated throughout the night' on a deadly tornado in Oklahoma? 

"The president could have actually done something about Benghazi."

"First they came for Fox News, and they did not speak out — because they were not Fox News. Then they came for government whistleblowers, and they did not speak out — because they were not government whistleblowers. Then they came for the maker of a YouTube video, and — okay, we know how this story ends. But how did we get here? 

"Turns out it’s a fairly swift sojourn from a president pushing to 'delegitimize' a news organization to threatening criminal prosecution for journalistic activity by a Fox News reporter, James Rosen, to spying on Associated Press reporters. In between, the Obama administration found time to relentlessly persecute government whistleblowers and publicly harass and condemn a private American citizen for expressing his constitutionally protected speech in the form of an anti-Islam YouTube video. 

"Where were the media when all this began happening? With a few exceptions, they were acting as quiet enablers."

"Chilling effect. That's the term lawyers and judges use to describe the result of government actions that deter people from exercising their right of free speech. 

"There have been plenty of examples in the past 10 days. ... 

"The IRS is assigned a lot of work by the Obamacare law. It will impose penalties on Americans who can afford health insurance but choose not to buy it. ... 

"The IRS was given these tasks by the drafters of Obamacare because no other government agency had the capability to gain access to people's personal financial information. They may have thought that taxpayers would trust an agency that they had gotten used to dealing with. 
 
"That level of trust may not be as high as it was 10 days ago. Chilling effect, indeed."

"We are in the midst of the worst Washington scandal since Watergate. The reputation of the Obama White House has, among conservatives, gone from sketchy to sinister, and, among liberals, from unsatisfying to dangerous. No one likes what they're seeing. The Justice Department assault on the Associated Press and the ugly politicization of the Internal Revenue Service have left the administration's credibility deeply, probably irretrievably damaged. They don't look jerky now, they look dirty. The patina of high-mindedness the president enjoyed is gone.

"Something big has shifted. The standing of the administration has changed.

"As always it comes down to trust. Do you trust the president's answers when he's pressed on an uncomfortable story? Do you trust his people to be sober and fair-minded as they go about their work? Do you trust the IRS and the Justice Department? You do not."