One Straight Out of the Issa Playbook

[Andrew D]

It turns out that the IRS was also applying heightened scrutiny to 402(c)(4) applicants with terms such as "progressive" and "occupy" in their names.

Committee chairman Darrell Issa has known this all along. But he selectively released documents purporting to show that the IRS was targeting right-wing organizations, while he concealed documents showing that the IRS applied the same heightened scrutiny to centrist organizations.

Just more proof that right-wingers have no place in serious political discourse ....

[Sue U]

Help! Help! I'm being repressed!

[Long Run]

It doesn't change the basic charge that conservative groups were targeted in 501(c)(4) reviews. If close to 100% of every group with a certain word denoting a conservative ideology in its name was subject to heightened review, but the same type of profiling was not done for liberal groups -- and this is what happened -- then the IRS violated its duty of impartiality.

Obviously, a certain amount of liberal, neutral and conservative groups would and should be subject to higher level review based on a description of their political activities. And that is what happened with liberal groups -- some were reviewed based on their application materials. That is not what happened to conservative groups. The IRS screwed up. Finding out who, how and why is all part of the fun and games of politics.

[Sue U]

Now we see the violence inherent in the system!

[Sue U]

It doesn't change the basic charge that conservative groups were targeted in 501(c)(4) reviews. If close to 100% of every group with a certain word denoting a conservative ideology in its name was subject to heightened review, but the same type of profiling was not done for liberal groups -- and this is what happened -- then the IRS violated its duty of impartiality.

Obviously, a certain amount of liberal, neutral and conservative groups would and should be subject to higher level review based on a description of their political activities. And that is what happened with liberal groups -- some were reviewed based on their application materials. That is not what happened to conservative groups. The IRS screwed up. Finding out who, how and why is all part of the fun and games of politics.

Except that's not really what happened; that's just Darrel Issa prevaricating in order to manufacture a "scandal." Here's the hilarious letter in which ranking Committee Member Elijah Cummings sets the record straight calls out Darrell Issa as the lying sack of shit that he is, because really, he is.

Oh, and look, what's going on over here?

Dems have more questions for IRS audit author Russell George

By Greg Sargent, Published: June 27, 2013 at 1:44

Congressional Democrats have sent a letter to House Republicans formally demanding that they call the author of the now-infamous audit on IRS targeting of conservative groups to come back to the Hill and testify under oath — where he’ll be pressed to explain why the audit failed to detail that progressive groups had also been targeted.

The letter signed by every Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee – which was sent over by a source — ratchets up the stakes in the battle over the direction of the probe into IRS targeting, at a time when news outlets have cast doubt on claims that the targeting of conservative groups was politically motivated or had any ties to the White House.

***

But if George returns to the Hill, Dems will likely point out that his latest letter does, in fact, acknowledge that progressive groups were designated on the BOLO, and ask him why that was not mentioned in the initial audit. They will also ask him why, when previously asked at a hearing whether some of the groups were progressive, he claimed that “we were unable to make that determination.”

Dems are also likely to press George on the fact that an Inspector General spokesman previously told reporters that progressive groups were not mentioned in the audit specifically because Darrell Issa’s committee asked for a focus only on the targeting of conservatives. This claim was seemingly contradicted in George’s new letter, which says “we did not limit our audit to allegations related to the Tea Party.” Dems will ask for an explanation for the discrepancy.

Dems will likely also ask George to account for his claim that only six progressive groups were scrutinized. They will ask him whether other political groups with liberal leanings that did not have “progress” or “progressive” in their names were targeted, and how many of these groups are in the category of 202 groups vaguely marked “other” that the original IG audit says were originally signaled out as political.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plu ... ll-george/

[Long Run]

By all means, let's get the whole story. At this point, according to the Inspector General, only conservative groups were targeted and liberal groups were reviewed in the normal course. Several high ranking IRS officials have admitted that the IRS made a mistake in targeting conservative groups. Beyond that, we have speculation, which is fed by the attempt of many responsible people at the IRS to apparently cover things up with vague and evasive answers when they aren't taking the 5th and not testifying at all.

[rubato]

Clearly the Issa investigation was even more slanted and distorted than anything the IRS actually did.

and none of these groups deserve tax-exempt status at all.

yrs,
rubato

[Scooter]

It doesn't change the basic charge that conservative groups were targeted in 501(c)(4) reviews.

And whose fault is it that so many conservative groups were stupid enough to name THEMSELVES in such a way that made their true agenda (i.e. political activity) so obvious?

If there were a bunch of 501(c)(4) applicants with "Communist" in their name, or who called themselves "Friends of Bill and Hillary Clinton", would you expect the IRS to simply let such applications pass without giving them a closer look? Why then should groups with "Tea Party" in their name have been immune from the natural consequences of their own actions?

[Andrew D]

Sue U has put her incisive finger on a real scandal:

... Darrell Issa’s committee asked for a focus only on the targeting of conservatives.

The IRS pseudo-scandal was manufactured by a Republican acting dishonestly in the service of a partisan interest. That is the scandal that ought to be investigated.