FNC contributor Charles Krauthammer tore into President Obama's rhetorical dance at today's Rose Garden press conference Thursday on "Special Report."

Krauthammer said Obama's deflection when asked if he knew about the IRS scandal was indicative of someone who is parsing words in a way even exceeding former President Bill Clinton:

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: The firing was a farce. It was the minimal he could do, it turned out it didn't really have any meaning. And, that's not the guy who's behind all this. If you want to win back the trust of the American people you've got to answer the question where do these Cincinnati guys and people in Washington get the idea that, or authorization or instruction and who knows? Did they wake up and decide they were going to target the Tea Party all on their own? I mean this is highly implausible. And I agree with what Jonah said, the president's answer to that question, it wasn't Nixonian, it was Clintonian. He was being asked if anybody in the White House knew? He doesn't answer the "anybody in the White House," he just said "I." If there was nobody in the White House he should have said nobody one knew. But he didn't, he said just I. He didn't say he was asked about the IRS actions. He didn't say I didn't know about the IRS actions. He says I didn't know about the IG report. Well, if you didn't know about this, never heard any complaints, then he would have said I don't know anything about this at all. The IG is a peculiar answer by a guy who has now, we have seen for weeks now, he and his spokesman have been parsing words in a way that would make Clinton look unsophisticated. So I think it really is a question. But the other question which he did not answer, if his own counsel learns about this three weeks before how can the counsel – when any of us heard about this, we knew instantly it's a massive scandal. So his counsel hears about this and doesn't tell the president for three weeks about what is obviously a massive scandal?

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