On CNN, National Journal's Fournier: Obama Administration Either 'Incredibly Incompetent' or 'Crooked'

Brad Wilmouth
June 24th, 2014 10:52 AM
Font Size

During the regular "Inside Politics" segment of Tuesday's New Day on CNN, Ron Fournier of the National Journal declared that he was "naive" last year in giving the Obama administration the "benefit of the doubt" over the IRS scandal, and called for an independent prosecutor to investigate as he reacted to the recent congressional testimony of IRS commissioner John Koskinen.

A bit later, he asserted that the administration was either "incredibly incompetent" or "crooked" regarding both the IRS and V.A. scandals. Fournier:

The one thing both these scandals have in common is, for a party that wants to establish the fact that good government can do good things, they're now giving the public two choices. One, either we're incredibly incompetent, both the the IRS and with the V.A. scandal, or we're crooked. Pick your poison. It's not a good place to be.

The segment began with CNN's John King showing a clip of the IRS commissioner's unapologetic appearance before Congress. When Fournier's turn to speak came, he began:

I mean, look, just now with that clip, he said I'm innocent, but if you have evidence that I'm not, I'd like to see it. That's not a good position for a public figure to be in.

He added:

A year ago exactly tomorrow, I called for a special prosecutor in this case while giving the President the benefit of the doubt. I now realize how naive I was to give the administration the benefit of the doubt. This needs to be investigated by an independent prosecutor.

A bit later, King showed clips of several members of Congress complaining about the administration's handling of the V.A. scandal and posed:

What happens at this point in an administration when you have one Democrat in that montage there -- Democrats are just as mad about this -- what happens at this point in an administration when even your own party is starting to not trust the answers they're getting, whether it's from the White House itself or from the Cabinet agencies?

Fournier responded:

Oh, it's obviously a bad sign. The one thing both these scandals have in common is, for a party that wants to establish the fact that good government can do good things, they're now giving the public two choices. One, either we're incredibly incompetent, both the the IRS and with the V.A. scandal, Or we're crooked. Pick your poison. It's not a good place to be.