The Black Note

The real IRS scandal

This should be the last word in the so-called “IRS scandal” which is getting smaller with each detail I hear about it. It won’t be, because Benghazi is revealing itself to be an old fashioned failure of intelligence and not an Iran-Contra style liefest, so certain segments of the population devote a lot of time to bringing a president down. And I get that, I spent the 8 years of Bush 2 mired in what the Onion called outrage fatigue. I was concerned about spending, defense, America’s place in the world. But that’s also because Bush 2 increased spending, got us caught in our nations longest war, saw 13 American embassy attacks occur (in Yemen! Greece! Pakistan! Countries far more stable than Libya!).  If you’re all of a sudden concerned with spending and safety of our troops, you need to ask yourself what’s different about this President.

Some big points that need to be made:

- eventually, after the ‘tea party’ classification was deemed unfair, groups that were interested in “limiting/expanding government” were targeted (italics mine). Doesn’t sound like they’re JUST going after conservative groups.

- Congress’ bi-partisan complicity: “The IRS was swamped by the wave. The number of groups seeking C4 status from the agency rose from 1,500 in 2010 to 3,400 last year. Meanwhile, the agency was being pulled in two directions. In February last year, seven Democratic senators complained that the IRS was too “permissive” with its rules, which judged a C4 not to be engaged “primarily” in electioneering as long as no more than 49% of its spending went to such activities. In August, 10 GOP senators warned the agency to deep-six any efforts to tighten the rules on C4s.” Nice to see those guys agreeing on something.

- The Koch brothers backed Citizens United, the court decision that makes such organizations viable. And the Koch brothers are bidding for the LA Times, so enjoy this kind of journalism while it lasts.

(via johnrossbowie)