IRS Selectively Targeting

[Ed W]

Like the boy who cried wolf, the Republicans should not be taken seriously every time they try to drum up another supposed scandal involving the Obama administration. Sure, it energizes their base and keeps those advertising dollars flowing to Fox News and Rush Limbaugh. 

The Republicans should be treated with contempt and sarcasm.  They've earned it.

   

[guido911]

This pretty much sums up this round of faux outrage:

Here ya go...

[AquaMan]

Kind of like your response:

FAIL

[Hoss]

Like the boy who cried wolf, the Republicans should not be taken seriously every time they try to drum up another supposed scandal involving the Obama administration. Sure, it energizes their base and keeps those advertising dollars flowing to Fox News and Rush Limbaugh. 

The Republicans should be treated with contempt and sarcasm.  They've earned it.

   

They all sound like screeching girls with their knees skinned up.  Where was the outrage when NAACP and other progressive groups were targeted in 2004.  Guess the screeching is loudest when the baggers are getting looked at.

[Ed W]

Reg Henry wrote this about the scandals. And no, I didn't crib the boy-cries-wolf bit from him:

And so it goes. From the moment President Barack Obama was inaugurated, the hate machine was cranked up. This happened with the last occupant of the White House, too, but that was a Model T hate machine compared with the super-duper, industrial-strength lie mixer rolled out for Mr. Obama. No other president in memory has had to fend off claims that he was not actually an American -- and that was just for starters.

...These scandals took off to the extent that a squadron of concrete balloons takes off. For this, the usual suspects blamed the mainstream media, not the more obvious fact that the people pushing these scandals for their own political advantage had about as much credibility as used-car salesmen on a shabby lot. That's still the problem.


http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/reg-henry/obamas-opponents-do-a-lot-of-crying-wolf-687665/#ixzz2TkoAyF4u

Ezra Klein has a nice summary of these supposed scandals in the Washington Post:

On Tuesday, it looked like we had three possible political scandals brewing. Two days later, with much more evidence available, it doesn’t look like any of them will pan out. There’ll be more hearings, and more bad press for the Obama administration, and more demands for documents. But — and this is a key qualification — absent more revelations, the scandals that could reach high don’t seem to include any real wrongdoing, whereas the ones that include real wrongdoing don’t reach high enough.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/05/16/the-scandals-are-falling-apart/

Finally, there's a piece about the President's approval rating. Short version: It hasn't changed. It seems to me that people are either tuning out the Republican's message or they're simply not engaged.

The poll, from CNN and ORC International, found that 53% of Americans approve of the job Obama is doing, while 45% disapproved. This number remains virtually unchanged from polls taken before the scandals hit.

The poll was taken on May 17th and 18th, and has a 3% margin of error.

A CNN poll taken in early April showed Obama's approval rating to be 51%. According to a Gallup poll taken in early May, the president's approval rating was 50%.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/19/obama-approval-rating_n_3302580.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

[Hoss]

Reg Henry wrote this about the scandals. And no, I didn't crib the boy-cries-wolf bit from him:

And so it goes. From the moment President Barack Obama was inaugurated, the hate machine was cranked up. This happened with the last occupant of the White House, too, but that was a Model T hate machine compared with the super-duper, industrial-strength lie mixer rolled out for Mr. Obama. No other president in memory has had to fend off claims that he was not actually an American -- and that was just for starters.

...These scandals took off to the extent that a squadron of concrete balloons takes off. For this, the usual suspects blamed the mainstream media, not the more obvious fact that the people pushing these scandals for their own political advantage had about as much credibility as used-car salesmen on a shabby lot. That's still the problem.


http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/reg-henry/obamas-opponents-do-a-lot-of-crying-wolf-687665/#ixzz2TkoAyF4u

Ezra Klein has a nice summary of these supposed scandals in the Washington Post:

On Tuesday, it looked like we had three possible political scandals brewing. Two days later, with much more evidence available, it doesn’t look like any of them will pan out. There’ll be more hearings, and more bad press for the Obama administration, and more demands for documents. But — and this is a key qualification — absent more revelations, the scandals that could reach high don’t seem to include any real wrongdoing, whereas the ones that include real wrongdoing don’t reach high enough.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/05/16/the-scandals-are-falling-apart/

Finally, there's a piece about the President's approval rating. Short version: It hasn't changed. It seems to me that people are either tuning out the Republican's message or they're simply not engaged.

The poll, from CNN and ORC International, found that 53% of Americans approve of the job Obama is doing, while 45% disapproved. This number remains virtually unchanged from polls taken before the scandals hit.

The poll was taken on May 17th and 18th, and has a 3% margin of error.

A CNN poll taken in early April showed Obama's approval rating to be 51%. According to a Gallup poll taken in early May, the president's approval rating was 50%.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/19/obama-approval-rating_n_3302580.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

And of course, now there's this from the Heritage Foundation to Speaker Bronzer.

http://heritageaction.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130516-Heritage-Action-re-oversight.pdf

Here's the article about it.  I must say, it's not surprising given that we've known this was their strategy all along.  They could care less about governing.  They're still mad they lost the election, and instead of trying to correct the things they did or didn't do to give them a better chance (less alienation of women and minorities), they decide to focus on scandals.  Most of which are, quoting a famous poster on here, 'straw men'.

[Red Arrow]

They could care less about governing. 

How much less?

[patric]

How much less?

Enough to squander a bipartisan opportunity to reform the runaway federal tax bureaucracy.

[Gaspar]

White House struggles to prove that President Obama is not a vampire.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/photo/2013/05/president-barack-obama-reflected-mirror

[heironymouspasparagus]

There's no faux outrage here.  Every single American should be concerned that the IRS can selectively target groups or people simply because either there's a systemic bias (which it's appearing this ran much further than two rogue agents in Ohio) or the actions of individuals within the department could carry out actions based on political bias or an outright personal vendetta on their neighbor.  The IRS is the most powerful bureaucracy in the United States.  Abuses within that agency need to be taken serious.

So where was your non-faux outrage during Baby Bush's time??  (see above.)

[Conan71]

Keep it classy, Julian:

Julian Bond, former chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said during a Tuesday interview on MSNBC that it’s only right and just that the federal government and the IRS target tea party groups.

Tea party groups are, after all, “overtly racist” and the “Taliban wing of American politics,” Mr. Bond said, Mediaite reported. The IRS ought to look over these groups’ shoulders, he said — at the same time condemning former President Bush, for what he alleged was that administration’s biased push for the IRS to investigate the NAACP.

SEE RELATED: MILLER: Conservatives aren’t paranoid, the IRS really is out to get them

The NAACP was investigated for improper political activities in 2004 after Mr. Bond made a speech that was highly critical of Mr. Bush, Mediaite reported. The group was later cleared of any wrongdoing. But Mr. Bond hasn’t forgotten, and said his group was “unfairly targeted,” Mediaite said.
He denied holding a double standard with today’s IRS targeting of tea party groups and yesteryear’s IRS investigation of the NAACP.

“I don’t think there’s a double standard at all,” he said, in the MSNBC report. “I think it’s entirely legitimate to look at the tea party. I mean, here are a group of people who are admittedly racist, who are overtly political, who tried as best they can to harm President Obama … They are the Taliban wing of American politics and we all ought to be a little worried about them.”

(Editor’s note: The story has been corrected to reflect that Julian Bond is the former chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.)


Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/may/14/naacps-julien-bond-its-ok-irs-target-racist-tea-pa/#ixzz2Tqe2Srlg
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

[guido911]

Keep it classy, Julian:

Now now. Let's not let the facts get in front of the dismissive hyperbole. Obviously the tea party deserves the extra scrutiny, because the pee party, Sierra Club, NARAL, and the leftist/progressive organizations were given heightened scrutiny by the IRS as well.

 I am loving the "but...but...but.. George Bush", "but...but...but...what about governing", "but...but...but...(fill in the blank with anything other than the issue)".

[AquaMan]

Me too. Hypocrisy is the issue.

[Hoss]

Me too. Hypocrisy is the issue.

You mean politicians are hypocrites?  You don't say!

[AquaMan]

Politicians? Without a doubt.

Its the general populace of Okies that doesn't seem to care when a conservative Republican is serving as president during such activities, but howl when a Democrat is in office.

Frankly, I'd be surprised if the IRS didn't get interested when such large numbers of tax exempt organizations suddenly started coming in.