The IRS stumbles, and the GOP pounces
It is a rare state of affairs when you find the sane people of the United States agreeing with the Republican reactionary establishment on any point, but it is difficult (or at least politically inexpedient) to come out on the side of censorship in the United States. On Friday officials at the IRS admitted that, as early as March of 2010, the agency made the mistake of overly vetting 501©4 applications for organizations with words like patriot, tea party and 9/12 in their titles. It would later be revealed that the IRS also scrutinized any group that claimed to educate U.S. citizens on the Constitution or drew attention to federal spending and the public debt. The IRS continues to maintain that this was done as a “shortcut” to flag applications for review and not an out-and-out attempt to deny Republican/conservative/Tea Party groups from expressing their views.
The travesty of Citizens United is really at the core of this problem. When the conservative-dominated Supreme Court decided to allow corporations to spend unlimited funds on political causes they essentially created the avalanche of new (and probably largely fraudulent) 501©4s the IRS would need to deal with. Add to this the fact that a major Koch Brothers/Big Tobacco, err, I mean Republican political movement often collectively known as the Tea Party came into being around the same time. So while the tsunami of applications for 501©4 status were overwhelmingly from conservative causes, just a few years earlier it just as easily could have been Obama-inspired non-profits that would have been targeted by the IRS.
However, this does not excuse the IRS’ indefensible behavior. The left has hucksters and tax-dodgers hiding in its ranks as well, after all. The rightly increased scrutiny of new 501©4 applications should have been evenly applied to every submission, not just ones with the popular keywords.
8 Comments
This too shall pass.
The GOP is good at hair-on-fire hysteria and accusations, but always fall short when it comes to factual evidence. Typically they fall back on just making stuff up that won’t hold up in a court of law, but remain useful to the right-wing media in their endless propaganda campaigns.
“Scandals” such as Fast and Furious, ACORN, New Black Panthers, and Obama’s birth certificate are examples that come to mind. They create a lot of noise and distraction but nobody is ever successfully prosecuted because that is not the point. The point is to create narratives for the right-wing propaganda machine that can be used over and over while never having to actually prove anything.
They aren’t prosecuted because Eric Holder won’t prosecute. The Obama administration is the cover-up administration, aided and abetted by the left-wing media propaganda machine. One news channel does not a right-wing propaganda machine make, but on the left there is the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, CBS, ABC, NBC, MSNBC, HuffPo, The Nation, New Republic, Slate, MTV, etc. That’s a real propaganda machine, not your imaginary left-wing wet dream one-channel machine.
The problem with lemmings like you is that you don’t demand enough action from the Republican politicians that you support.
They whine to their supporters (while seeking donations) that the Obama administration is the most corrupt since Watergate. They compare Benghazi!! to Watergate. They even dragged out old Darth Cheney, who was actually there for Watergate and the original 911 attacks, to say that Benghazi!! is the worst thing he’s ever seen in his life.
That’s great, that’s a lot of inflammatory talk to fire up the party faithful and bring in the political contributions. That’s a lot of talk. A LOT of TALK. Now, what are they going to do about it? They control the House of Representatives where the articles of impeachment against federal officials are drawn. All they have to do, is DO IT.
Why don’t the Republicans impeach Holder and Obama and Clinton?
I’ll tell you why, because they have NOTHING but a lot of inflammatory accusations. They don’t have any evidence unless they start manufacturing it, which oops, they actually tried that with the leak to Jonathan Karl at ABC News, and we saw how that turned out.
I’ll tell you what pal, instead of crying and moaning that Eric Holder won’t prosecute the criminals, why don’t you pressure Republicans in Congress to do their job and hold those who you think are guilty to account? I guarantee that it will never happen. It’s all smoke and mirrors my friend. An impeachment trial requires actual evidence that inform the result of the trial, but false accusations go on forever in right-wing world. And that’s all they really want.
The problem with sycophants like you is that you cover up and deny one obvious case of corruption after another.
As for your silly challenge, maybe you didn’t notice, but (A) the Republicans in Congress ARE holding hearings, and (B) the Senate is controlled by Democrats. By the way, where has Darth Biden been lately? Fumbling and bumbling, I’m sure. Probably doesn’t need to hang around since Emperor Obama covers things up as he tries to destroy the opposition. Before impeachment hearings can be held there has to be public reports made that detail all the evidence. So far there is just the IG report. IRS agents in Cincinnati have been threatened with losing their jobs if they speak out and have not been subpoenaed to testify before Congress. That will happen soon enough. Then there will be prosecutions.
Even if there is a mountain of damning evidence most of the Democrats will stand fast as left-wing obstructionists and refuse to do anything to harm their Beloved Leader. Do you seriously think that Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer or Nancy Pelosi would ever say anything negative about their Fuhrer? He could shoot up a kindergarten and they’d still worship him, as I’m sure sycophant screed writers such as Lucy Raed would too. He could drop nukes on the Dalai Lama and they’d still excuse whatever he did.
In the meantime Emperor Obama goes around the country begging for donations and complaining about those wascally Wepublicans in his continuing plan of turning this formerly great nation into a third world country. Audit the opposition to make sure donors are afraid to give to Republicans. Never give approval (nor even an answer) for conservative 501(c)(4) applicants so they can’t even appeal denials while give fast approvals to left-wing applicants, so opposition groups cannot form or meet. Sick the DOJ after FOX news reporters and threaten them with prison while allowing the left-wing lemmings (see, I used your word) in the press to continue to sing his praises unabated.
But when all is said and done I don’t know why you are asking me questions about Republicans since I am not a Republican. You just assumed it since I don’t defend corrupt Democrats. I used to consider myself a Kennedy Democrat, but I found out how he illegally used the IRS to go after his enemies. Turns out that illegally using the IRS to harass enemies is a longstanding Democrat tradition going back to FDR.
I’ll say it again, pressure Republicans to impeach. According to you it’s one obvious case of corruption after another. So, bring it on! Don’t Republicans have any courage in their convictions? Or, are they afraid that an impeachment would expose the fact that they have no evidence of crimes? All they have is a hatred for Obama that knows no bounds. It’s put-up, or shut-up time for Republicans. They are all talk and no action. Do-nothing Republicans.
Why don’t you pressure Democrats to impeach? Don’t Democrats have any courage? It would be the most courageous thing Democrats could do to impeach a corrupt president — especially when it’s one of their own. Put aside the partisanship and do what’s right. We know that their hatred for George Bush — who still gets blamed for everything — knows no bounds, but now it’s time to step up and do what’s right. But they won’t. All talk and no action. They don’t really care about justice. Do-nothing Democrats.
What are you, 12? Your response falls under the category of, I know you are, but what am I. Grow up.
Why would Democrats impeach the president? Are you presuming that they believe that there is truth to GOP accusations of malfeasance? Virtually no one outside of the right-wing bubble believes that.
No, jazz, I’m an adult. See, adults can recognize right and wrong. Adults can recognize corruption. Children don’t. If you had grown up then you’d be able to see something so plainly obvious. Since you don’t, it’s clear that you haven’t.
Contrary to your assertions an increasing number of Democrats in fact ARE recognizing malfeasance. As of late Rachel Maddow, Tom Brokaw, Maureen Dowd, Woodward AND Bernstein and others have all commented on it, going so far as to call it criminal. Get your head out of your left-wing bubble and see the light, man.