Al Armendariz

Another Obama Official Resigns After Ginned Up Conservative Outrage: A Timeline

Ryan J. Reilly and Brian Beutler | May 1, 2012, 4:52AM

From the moment President Obama took office, conservatives have made a small sport of attacking obscure functionaries within his administration -- surfacing old, often out-of-context statements and actions that make his political appointees appear extreme. Over the past three years, they've taken aim at a handful officials, and almost without exception, they've felled their targets. The goal isn't really to root bad actors out of the executive branch, but rather to amass a pile of scalps and contend that Obama is radicalizing the government.

Al Armendariz is the latest victim. He resigned from the EPA on Sunday after conservative media latched on to comments he made years ago about deterring bad actors in fossil fuel industries by making examples of -- or 'crucifying' -- those that get caught breaking the law. In context, his remarks were harmless, if a bit hyperbolic. Most reports ignored the context -- he said the word "crucify," after all.

His undoing differs from the Shirley Sherrod fiasco in two key respects: Armendariz insists he was not pressured to step down by the administration, and despite the harmless nature of his comments, he never proffered a defense of himself -- he apologized for his remarks, and insisted they ran counter to the spirit of the EPA's mission. But the timeline of events leading up to his resignation follows a pattern that will be familiar to anybody who watched Sherrod or Van Jones lose their jobs.

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Topics: Al Armendariz, Barack Obama, EPA, Environment, James Inhofe, Shirley Sherrod, Van Jones, White House

Pat Buchanan

Pat Buchanan: 'Militant Gay Rights Groups' And Van Jones Behind My MSNBC Troubles

Jillian Rayfield | January 11, 2012, 12:54PM

Pat Buchanan's explanation for his problems at MSNBC is exactly what you might expect: "Militant gay rights groups" and "people of color, Van Jones" are responsible.

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Topics: Color Of Change, MSNBC, Pat Buchanan, Racism, Van Jones