"Congressional investigators this week released emails suggesting that staff at the Federal Election Commission have been engaged in their own conservative targeting, with help from the IRS's infamous Lois Lerner. This means more than just an expansion of the probe to the FEC. It's a new link to the Obama team. ... 

This matters because FEC staff didn't have permission from the Commission to conduct this inquiry. It matters because the IRS is prohibited from sharing confidential information, even with the FEC. What the IRS divulged is unclear. Congressional investigators are demanding to see all communications between the IRS and FEC since 2008, and given that Ms. Lerner came out of the FEC's office of the general counsel, that correspondence could prove illuminating."

"Every part of ObamaCare is a growing political burden on the Democrats. But it’s the hypocrisy that will fuel resentment among voters and drive turnout in November 2014. It will be interesting to see what August brings, and what vulnerable Democratic members of Congress, particularly those in the Senate, will witness for themselves in town hall meetings during recess, as victims of the calamity that is ObamaCare begin to show up and vocalize their disapproval. Will they follow Obama’s lead and adopt the president’s 'remain oblivious' strategy, or will they begin to demand some political relief?  For the Democrats on the ballot in 2014, it’s only going to get worse."

"[S]ometimes lawmakers really should stand for something more important than their own reelection. Obamacare is such a fundamental transformation of the American health-care system, and its consequences for patients, providers, taxpayers, and the economy are so grave, that if this is not an issue that Republicans are willing to lose their jobs over, what is? ... 

"At the very least, Republicans ought to try something. As Senator Lee told Fox News, 'Maybe we can’t repeal [Obamacare] right now, but we can delay its funding. And if we can delay it, we can stop its consequences, at least for now.'"

"The sequester has 'cost jobs,' says President Obama, and 'gutted investments in education and science and medical research.' But somehow he's earmarked $500 million for Hamas terrorists.

"Circumventing Congress and with no fanfare, President Obama last week issued an executive order enabling him to send an additional $500 million directly to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank — much of which you can bet will wind up going to the Iranian-backed Hamas terrorist organization.

"According to Obama, 'it is important to the national security interests of the United States to waive the provisions of' Congress' legislative restrictions 'in order to provide funds . .. to the Palestinian Authority.'"

"The German writer Goethe once said, 'With knowledge comes more doubt.'  

"That’s certainly the way Americans are reacting to the approach of ObamaCare. ... More Americans want the law repealed than want to keep it. ...  

"It wasn’t supposed to work this way. The idea was Congress would pass the bill; we’d then learn what was in it — and react more favorably as ObamaCare kicked in. But barely two months before the Oct. 1 roll-out, it appears the more Americans learn, the more worried they become. With good reason."

"When Anthony Weiner and Eliot Spitzer announced they were running for two of this city’s most important positions — mayor and comptroller — they confirmed themselves to be men beyond embarrassment. Unfortunately, their presence in these races is making New York the punchline of a national dirty joke. We call on these men to end their campaigns. ...   

"We’d like to think that these men would simply spare the New York they claim to love the indignity of their campaigns and withdraw. The available evidence, alas, suggests that if they had that regard they never would have entered. So if they are going to go, they will likely need to be pushed."

"Second term scandals may intensify in part because presidents invariably dismiss them as unimportant, just as Obama yesterday referred to his troubles as 'phony.' But he likely won't be any more convincing with that line than Nixon was in calling Watergate 'a second-rate burglary.' Similarly, Obama's exasperated 'I am here to say this needs to stop' recalled Clinton's finger-wagging order, 'I want you to listen to me ... I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky ...'

"But a presidential dalliance with an intern is a far cry from using the IRS to silence political opponents or covering up incompetence that killed four brave Americans in Libya, nor is there anything phony about the potential consequences for Obama."

"Have you noticed that the Internal Revenue Service scandal seems to be getting ever closer to the White House? The IRS originally tried to set up 'rogue employees in Cincinnati' as fall guys. But in congressional testimony, they revealed that the targeting of dissenting groups was directed from Washington. ... 

"As this column has argued before, the higher this scandal goes, the better it is for the country. We say that not because we don't care for Barack Obama -- let's be honest, a President Biden would be no bargain either -- but because the president can be held accountable if it turns out he or his top aides essentially instructed the IRS to steal the 2012 election. A corrupt administration can be dealt with, as Richard Nixon's was 40 years ago. 

"By contrast, if career IRS employees acted on their own, it means the integrity of American democracy itself is threatened by an out-of-control administrative state. In that case, how to solve the problem is not at all clear."

"Amid a lot of buildup and raised expectations, the White House has announced that it is going to return to returning to the economy. That’s right: This week President Obama is going to make a series of high-profile speeches promoting his economic policy du jour in Illinois, Missouri and Florida. It’ll be interesting to see if any of these speeches highlights the glaring deficiencies of his previous plans for the economy. I don’t expect the White House to admit failure, but hopefully even it realizes that more of the same is undesirable. We’ve tried Obama’s stimulus. We’ve watched as this president has raised taxes, heaped regulations on businesses, been a friend of trial lawyers, declared war on coal and discouraged oil drilling whenever he thought he wouldn’t get caught. And the cascading calamity of Obamacare has united private employers and labor unions in their near-panic to avoid the crippling realities of the job-killing, so-called health care plan."

"The Department of Health and Human Services is about to hire an army of 'patient navigators' to inform Americans about the subsidized insurance promised by Obamacare and assist them in enrolling. These organizers will be guided by the new Federal Data Hub, which will give them access to reams of personal information compiled by federal agencies ranging from the IRS to the Department of Defense and the Veterans Administration. ... 

"This spring, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee lawyers were also told by HHS that, despite the fact that navigators will have access to sensitive data such as Social Security numbers and tax returns, there will be no criminal background checks required for them. Indeed, they won’t even have to have high-school diplomas. Both U.S. Census Bureau and IRS employees must meet those minimum standards, if only because no one wants someone who has been convicted of identity theft getting near Americans’ personal records. ... 

"'Giving community organizers access to the Federal Data Hub is bad policy and potentially a danger to civil liberties,' House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan told me recently. 'But it’s one of the most underreported stories I’ve seen. If people only knew about this Data Hub program, it would touch off a huge public outcry.'"