From today’s IRS hearings, we have Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) getting an informative update from FBI Director Robert Mueller on the status of the investigation.
It’s good to see the IRS is really taking this seriously.
Meanwhile, it seems the NSA’s anti-terrorism surveillance program hasn’t been as frighteningly far-reaching as all those “voices” warning us about “government tyranny” have been making it out to be. Why, it even turns out that some of us aren’t being snooped on at all.
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This IRS scandal is an affront to democracy. As documented by the New York Times, dozens of Tea Party groups were principally involved in organizing for and against political candidates, yet flouted the tax laws by fraudulently claiming to be social welfare organizations. However, the IRS did not deny a single bogus claim made by these groups, while a progressive group was the only one to lose privileged tax status. This is shocking! How could the IRS exhibit such flagrant favoritism towards Tea Party groups? As a concerned citizen, I can only conclude that the Bush appointees who ran the IRS were out to suppress left-leaning groups, while letting their pals in the Tea Party get off scot-free.
troll v.intr.
To fish by trailing a line.
[Middle English trollen, to wander about, from Old French troller, of Germanic origin.]
Pah. If the situation was reversed – left-leaning groups were asked to submit documentation to substantiate bogus claims, they all received privileged tax status, and a right wing group was denied exemption – we would hear right wing heads explode about that, claiming it to be proof positive of government overreach and harassment.
Much ado about nothing.
IRS Director Robert Mueller
Uhm, Malcolm …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mueller
Whoops. I can’t seem to write a post these days without some inattentive error.
Thanks.
And now it seems the link is broken too.
Fixed all round.
I’m not biting, Pete. Even the President acknowledges malfeasance here.
Thanks for fixing the link.
I actually watched that somewhere’s else – one thing not shown on your clip I found more interesting was when Jordan pointed out to the Director that Jordan submitted his questions to the Director in advance. The Director then dissembled in the finest DC traditions.
Really? Good grief. What a farce.
Obama had a Hobson’s choice when the news first broke about the IRS “scandal.” He could wait until the facts came out (and be slammed for a “cover-up”) or he could come out swinging (and risk being proven wrong). He did what any politician would do: distance himself from a scandal he had nothing to do with.
Now that we know that the scrutiny of Tea Party groups originated with a self-described conservative Republican — and that political pressure had nothing to do with it — the right wing narrative completely falls apart.
I am sure that Peggy Noonan, Darryl Issa, Dave Camp, and the others who made false and reckless accusations about political vendettas and a White House “enemies list” will set the record straight with celerity, and apologize to the nation for wasting everyone’s time with their uninformed calumny.
Right, right, that’s why Lois Lerner took the Fifth.
Peter, I know how dearly you wish wish wish this would just go away, but it isn’t going to. The cumulative effect of all of this malfeasance — Benghazi, Fast & Furious, preferential targeting of conservative groups (and others) by the IRS (who by the way is now giving out $70 million in bonuses to its employees, sequester be damned), PRISM, Pigford, and on and on — has got a lot of people’s Irish up. I know that you and Chris Matthews continue to think this administration can do no wrong, but that simply isn’t the way the rest of us see it any more.
Oh, and speaking of Irish, just today there’s this.
What a shallow, loathsome, superhumanly arrogant man.