IRS Sent Same Letter to Democrats That Fed Tea Party Row

[dbackjon]

Talk about a mountain out of a molehill.

Faux outrage, the right-wing media jumping the gun to crucify Obama, with NO REASON.


The Internal Revenue Service, under pressure after admitting it targeted anti-tax Tea Party groups for scrutiny in recent years, also had its eye on at least three Democratic-leaning organizations seeking nonprofit status.http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-1 ... y-row.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[kalm]

[D1B]

Conks

Obstructionracism is all they have. Lazy, cynical fuckheads.

[ASUMountaineer]

Talk about a mountain out of a molehill.

Faux outrage, the right-wing media jumping the gun to crucify Obama, with NO REASON.


The Internal Revenue Service, under pressure after admitting it targeted anti-tax Tea Party groups for scrutiny in recent years, also had its eye on at least three Democratic-leaning organizations seeking nonprofit status.http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-1 ... y-row.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

3 liberal groups. Were confidential documents from those three sent to conservative groups?

If only Obama had an "R" beside his name, you would be the one with the outrage. Take off the party blinders and be objective. The "he did it first" argument is effective on the playground, not so much with adults.

[CID1990]

More Media Matters.


Sent from the center of the universe.

[kalm]

More Media Matters.


Sent from the center of the universe.

Well his link says Bloomberg.

I don't see you complaining when BDK continuously posts articles from the Daily Caller/ExaminerBreitbartWSJ etc.

[CID1990]

More Media Matters.


Sent from the center of the universe.

Well his link says Bloomberg.

I don't see you complaining when BDK continuously posts articles from the Daily Caller/ExaminerBreitbartWSJ etc.

Media Matters posted extensive talking points for correspondents today. They are being aped verbatim by a number of outlets this afternoon. Mind you- none of this is defending the administration - only pointing fingers elsewhere.

As for BDK- I don't spend a lot of time in those threads. This one interests me regardless of the politics.

You guys can run interference all you want, but the IRS thing is going to lead to the West Wing. Maybe not to Obama himself, but to someone close.

By the way- which narrative are you guys planning to stick to? The "Bush did it too" one, or the one from Axelrod this morning where he said that the government is "so vast" that Obama can't possibly be on top of it all? Seems to me those two narratives are in opposition to each other.

The next few weeks are going to be amusing as the talking points try to keep up with the ground truth.


Sent from the center of the universe.

[DSUrocks07]

It's good that this is FINALLY being outed, even if its just in an effect to protect Obama. The fact is that THEY'VE ALL been using the IRS as a political weapon for decades now. This bullshit shouldn't be allowed to stand no matter which side is doing it.

[kalm]

Well his link says Bloomberg.

I don't see you complaining when BDK continuously posts articles from the Daily Caller/ExaminerBreitbartWSJ etc.

Media Matters posted extensive talking points for correspondents today. They are being aped verbatim by a number of outlets this afternoon. Mind you- none of this is defending the administration - only pointing fingers elsewhere.

As for BDK- I don't spend a lot of time in those threads. This one interests me regardless of the politics.

You guys can run interference all you want, but the IRS thing is going to lead to the West Wing. Maybe not to Obama himself, but to someone close.

By the way- which narrative are you guys planning to stick to? The "Bush did it too" one, or the one from Axelrod this morning where he said that the government is "so vast" that Obama can't possibly be on top of it all? Seems to me those two narratives are in opposition to each other.

The next few weeks are going to be amusing as the talking points try to keep up with the ground truth.


Sent from the center of the universe.

1) Sorry I haven't kept up with Media Matters

2) Agreed on the talking points and amusement...especially if you realize both sides are already doing it.

3) Who are these "you guys" you keep referring too?

[CID1990]

It's good that this is FINALLY being outed, even if its just in an effect to protect Obama. The fact is that THEY'VE ALL been using the IRS as a political weapon for decades now. This bullshit shouldn't be allowed to stand no matter which side is doing it.

One of Nixon's charges was over this exact thing.

People and organizations get audited. That's a fact. No matter who is in the White House, someone is going to get IRS scrutiny who isn't in the reigning party's camp.

The issue in this case is that Tea Party and other similar groups were SPECIFICALLY targeted through key words in their names and charters. The left can spin this all they want, but the smoking gun is right upfront and there is no question what happened.

There's more to come, too. HuffPo published a piece back before the election critical of Romney's donation to a group called the National Organization for Marriage. They called their source a "whistleblower". As it turns out, they got Romney's name from a donor list leaked directly from the IRS. NOM was one of the organizations scrutinized by the IRS. The Obama campaign derived direct political benefit from this. Someone at IRS is going to jail. As soon as they uncover the "obamafanboi@gmail.com" back door email addresses (like the one the EPA chief used) they will find out where the orders came from, too.


Sent from the center of the universe.

[DSUrocks07]

Many Republicans are enraged over revelations in recent days that the Internal Revenue Service targeted conservative nonprofit groups with a campaign of audits and harassment. But of all the troubles now dogging the Obama administration—including the Benghazi fiasco and the Justice Department's snooping on the Associated Press—the IRS episode, however alarming, is also the least surprising. As David Burnham noted in "A Law Unto Itself: The IRS and the Abuse of Power" (1990), "In almost every administration since the IRS's inception the information and power of the tax agency have been mobilized for explicitly political purposes."

President Franklin Roosevelt used the IRS to harass newspaper publishers who were opposed to the New Deal, including William Randolph Hearst and Moses Annenberg, publisher of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Roosevelt also dropped the IRS hammer on political rivals such as the populist firebrand Huey Long and radio agitator Father Coughlin, and prominent Republicans such as former Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon. Perhaps Roosevelt's most pernicious tax skulduggery occurred in 1944. He spiked an IRS audit of illegal campaign contributions made by a government contractor to Congressman Lyndon Johnson, whose career might have been derailed if Texans had learned of the scandal.

President John F. Kennedy raised the political exploitation of the IRS to an art form. Shortly after capturing the presidency, JFK denounced "the discordant voices of extremism" and derided people who distrust their leaders—President Obama didn't invent that particular rhetorical line. Shortly thereafter, JFK signaled at a news conference that he expected the IRS to be vigilant in policing the tax-exempt status of questionable (read: conservative) organizations.

Within a few days of Kennedy's remarks, the IRS launched the Ideological Organizations Audit Project. It targeted right-leaning groups, including the Christian Anti-Communist Crusade, the American Enterprise Institute and the Foundation for Economic Education. Kennedy also used the IRS to strong-arm companies into complying with "voluntary" price controls. Steel executives who defied the administration were singled out for audits.

A 1976 report by the Senate Select Committee on Government Intelligence on the Kennedy program noted: "By directing tax audits at individuals and groups solely because of their political beliefs, the Ideological Organizations Audit Project established a precedent for a far more elaborate program of targeting 'dissidents.'"

James Bovard: A Brief History of IRS Political Targeting

[kalm]

This is looking more and more like it's simply business as usual and nearly as big a deal as the right makes it out to be. Turns out, Obama is as slimy and machiavellian as the rest. Shocker!

“It’s also worth noting that the IRS has been used as a political tool throughout history,” asserted MSNBC host Alex Wagner. She noted that the IRS has targeted NAACP, Green Peace, and Planned Parenthood.

“Brian Williams interviewed me on television after Hurricane Katrina,” Dyson said. He noted that he was critical of Bush and Williams played that clip for the president the following day. “For the next five years I was audited by the IRS.”

“I’m sure it’s coincidence,” Dyson concluded sarcastically.

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/msnbc-contri ... zing-bush/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[GannonFan]

Man, I could see dback jumping through hoops to try to deflate this growing scandal for Obama, but I didn't think Kalm would be right there with him. When you sink back into history and excuse current behavior because such behavior happened at some point in the past, you're simply abdicating your duty to the present. I don't care what happened in this past - the behavior of the IRS now has not been good and that needs to be addressed and that shouldn't even be arguable. Knowledge of history is fine, and useful. Using history as a crutch to avoid taking responsibility to fix things in the present is not constructive. Dback has always been a partisan, I don't think anyone would argue that. But watching Kalm turn into a similar partisan is discouraging - it's getting lonely in the political center.

[TheDancinMonarch]

This is looking more and more like it's simply business as usual and nearly as big a deal as the right makes it out to be. Turns out, Obama is as slimy and machiavellian as the rest. Shocker!

Business as usual eh? When we condone todays wrongdoing with the fact that it has happened in the past, we just swirl down the drain faster.

[kalm]

Man, I could see dback jumping through hoops to try to deflate this growing scandal for Obama, but I didn't think Kalm would be right there with him. When you sink back into history and excuse current behavior because such behavior happened at some point in the past, you're simply abdicating your duty to the present. I don't care what happened in this past - the behavior of the IRS now has not been good and that needs to be addressed and that shouldn't even be arguable. Knowledge of history is fine, and useful. Using history as a crutch to avoid taking responsibility to fix things in the present is not constructive. Dback has always been a partisan, I don't think anyone would argue that. But watching Kalm turn into a similar partisan is discouraging - it's getting lonely in the political center.

Discouraging? It's downright disgusting!!!

I didn't excuse anything, I simply stated that the situation is probably a bit overblown from a political standpoint. Should this shit happen? He'll no. Is it surprising? Sadly no.

Relax Ganny, I'm just trying to provide some balance from the fence and prevent you from sliding any further into conkhood.

[GannonFan]

Man, I could see dback jumping through hoops to try to deflate this growing scandal for Obama, but I didn't think Kalm would be right there with him. When you sink back into history and excuse current behavior because such behavior happened at some point in the past, you're simply abdicating your duty to the present. I don't care what happened in this past - the behavior of the IRS now has not been good and that needs to be addressed and that shouldn't even be arguable. Knowledge of history is fine, and useful. Using history as a crutch to avoid taking responsibility to fix things in the present is not constructive. Dback has always been a partisan, I don't think anyone would argue that. But watching Kalm turn into a similar partisan is discouraging - it's getting lonely in the political center.

Discouraging? It's downright disgusting!!!

I didn't excuse anything, I simply stated that the situation is probably a bit overblown from a political standpoint. Should this **** happen? He'll no. Is it surprising? Sadly no.

Relax Ganny, I'm just trying to provide some balance from the fence and prevent you from sliding any further into conkhood.

Come on, you jump into a thread where dback calls these scandals molehills and "no reason" to criticize Obama, and you agree with it. Hey, I acutally voted for this guy and I'm ashamed of how he's performed. There's no need for balance here - errors were made by this administration and they should be held to task for them. That should be the response from everyone across the political spectrum.

Instead, we have whackos on the right calling for impeachment, whackos on the left saying there's nothing wrong here that isn't Bush's (or Rush's) fault, and then you have the happy center where I reside who's just calling a spade a spade. You're welcome to come back to the center when you're done with your flirtation with the whacko left crowd. Don't worry, dback has plenty of company over there already.

[ASUMountaineer]

This is looking more and more like it's simply business as usual and nearly as big a deal as the right makes it out to be. Turns out, Obama is as slimy and machiavellian as the rest. Shocker!

“It’s also worth noting that the IRS has been used as a political tool throughout history,” asserted MSNBC host Alex Wagner. She noted that the IRS has targeted NAACP, Green Peace, and Planned Parenthood.

“Brian Williams interviewed me on television after Hurricane Katrina,” Dyson said. He noted that he was critical of Bush and Williams played that clip for the president the following day. “For the next five years I was audited by the IRS.”

“I’m sure it’s coincidence,” Dyson concluded sarcastically.

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/msnbc-contri ... zing-bush/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Does that make it right?

[DSUrocks07]

It's sadly ironic that the same groups who were raising hell about this years ago are now so quiet and looking the other way bow its THEIR guy doing it. And vice versa. Smh...politics as usual. The GOP is only trying to score points with their radical fringe with all this.

Sent from my HTC One V using Tapatalk 2

[CID1990]

Discouraging? It's downright disgusting!!!

I didn't excuse anything, I simply stated that the situation is probably a bit overblown from a political standpoint. Should this **** happen? He'll no. Is it surprising? Sadly no.

Relax Ganny, I'm just trying to provide some balance from the fence and prevent you from sliding any further into conkhood.

Come on, you jump into a thread where dback calls these scandals molehills and "no reason" to criticize Obama, and you agree with it. Hey, I acutally voted for this guy and I'm ashamed of how he's performed. There's no need for balance here - errors were made by this administration and they should be held to task for them. That should be the response from everyone across the political spectrum.

Instead, we have whackos on the right calling for impeachment, whackos on the left saying there's nothing wrong here that isn't Bush's (or Rush's) fault, and then you have the happy center where I reside who's just calling a spade a spade. You're welcome to come back to the center when you're done with your flirtation with the whacko left crowd. Don't worry, dback has plenty of company over there already.

I think calls for impeachment are as goofy as the people defending the administration, I agree with you on that.

I'm nowhere near "impeach the bastard" yet, but I have to tell you- he's looking a hell of a lot like Nixon these days.


Sent from the center of the universe.

[kalm]

Come on, you jump into a thread where dback calls these scandals molehills and "no reason" to criticize Obama, and you agree with it. Hey, I acutally voted for this guy and I'm ashamed of how he's performed. There's no need for balance here - errors were made by this administration and they should be held to task for them. That should be the response from everyone across the political spectrum.

Instead, we have whackos on the right calling for impeachment, whackos on the left saying there's nothing wrong here that isn't Bush's (or Rush's) fault, and then you have the happy center where I reside who's just calling a spade a spade. You're welcome to come back to the center when you're done with your flirtation with the whacko left crowd. Don't worry, dback has plenty of company over there already.

I think calls for impeachment are as goofy as the people defending the administration, I agree with you on that.

I'm nowhere near "impeach the bastard" yet, but I have to tell you- he's looking a hell of a lot like Nixon these days.


Sent from the center of the universe.

I agree completely with this post. See Ganny? It's really not all that difficult.

[houndawg]

I think calls for impeachment are as goofy as the people defending the administration, I agree with you on that.

I'm nowhere near "impeach the bastard" yet, but I have to tell you- he's looking a hell of a lot like Nixon these days.


Sent from the center of the universe.

I agree completely with this post. See Ganny? It's really not all that difficult.

Obama is smarter than Bush, and meaner than Cheney, and the irony is that the Bush Administration's war on civil liberties made it a hell of a lot easier for these guys. Smfh at these Stupid conk fvcks getting ugly-sticked with their own unnecessary Patriot Act and useless Department of Homeland Security.

[CID1990]

I agree completely with this post. See Ganny? It's really not all that difficult.

Obama is smarter than Bush, and meaner than Cheney, and the irony is that the Bush Administration's war on civil liberties made it a hell of a lot easier for these guys. Smfh at these Stupid conk fvcks getting ugly-sticked with their own unnecessary Patriot Act and useless Department of Homeland Security.

All the liberals are flailing and angry! Look at you. Lashing out.

USAPatriot has absolutely nothing to do with the AP spying. DoJ threw a blanket net without even a sealed order, which would have been required under the Patriot Act.

Blame Bush isn't going to provide any more mileage for you guys. Seriously you should take a step back and listen to yourself;

Bush caused the AP scandal!

IRS chief was a Bush appointee!

If the GOP hasn't cut funding for security, Benghazi wouldn't have happened!

You are being a parrot, HD.


Sent from the center of the universe.

[AZGrizFan]

Obama is smarter than Bush, and meaner than Cheney, and the irony is that the Bush Administration's war on civil liberties made it a hell of a lot easier for these guys. Smfh at these Stupid conk fvcks getting ugly-sticked with their own unnecessary Patriot Act and useless Department of Homeland Security.

All the liberals are flailing and angry! Look at you. Lashing out.

USAPatriot has absolutely nothing to do with the AP spying. DoJ threw a blanket net without even a sealed order, which would have been required under the Patriot Act.

Blame Bush isn't going to provide any more mileage for you guys. Seriously you should take a step back and listen to yourself;

Bush caused the AP scandal!

IRS chief was a Bush appointee!

If the GOP hasn't cut funding for security, Benghazi wouldn't have happened!

You are being a parrot, HD.


Sent from the center of the universe.

5 years later and it's STILL Bush's fault.

[houndawg]

Obama is smarter than Bush, and meaner than Cheney, and the irony is that the Bush Administration's war on civil liberties made it a hell of a lot easier for these guys. Smfh at these Stupid conk fvcks getting ugly-sticked with their own unnecessary Patriot Act and useless Department of Homeland Security.

All the liberals are flailing and angry! Look at you. Lashing out.

USAPatriot has absolutely nothing to do with the AP spying. DoJ threw a blanket net without even a sealed order, which would have been required under the Patriot Act.

Blame Bush isn't going to provide any more mileage for you guys. Seriously you should take a step back and listen to yourself;

Bush caused the AP scandal!

IRS chief was a Bush appointee!

If the GOP hasn't cut funding for security, Benghazi wouldn't have happened!

You are being a parrot, HD.


Sent from the center of the universe.

Show me where I said Bush caused the AP scandal, the IRS chief is a Bush appointee, and that Benghazi wouldn't have happened if not for Bush.

My point is that this stuff is business as usual and that regardless of who gets elected, more surveillance, more drones, and the continuing war on civil liberties are whats for supper and that the way has been cleared for the DHS by the so-called Patriot Act.

All some government piece of shit has to do is say they think you're a terrorist and you disappear and there ain't no due process for, what, a decade or more, in Gitmo?

[CID1990]

All the liberals are flailing and angry! Look at you. Lashing out.

USAPatriot has absolutely nothing to do with the AP spying. DoJ threw a blanket net without even a sealed order, which would have been required under the Patriot Act.

Blame Bush isn't going to provide any more mileage for you guys. Seriously you should take a step back and listen to yourself;

Bush caused the AP scandal!

IRS chief was a Bush appointee!

If the GOP hasn't cut funding for security, Benghazi wouldn't have happened!

You are being a parrot, HD.


Sent from the center of the universe.

Show me where I said Bush caused the AP scandal, the IRS chief is a Bush appointee, and that Benghazi wouldn't have happened if not for Bush.

My point is that this stuff is business as usual and that regardless of who gets elected, more surveillance, more drones, and the continuing war on civil liberties are whats for supper and that the way has been cleared for the DHS by the so-called Patriot Act.

All some government piece of **** has to do is say they think you're a terrorist and you disappear and there ain't no due process for, what, a decade or more, in Gitmo?

Again, the AP scandal was not/not USAPatriot compliant.


Sent from the center of the universe.