Issa saved by the news cycle
Another lying miss for the Oversight Committee chair, though this one couldn't have fallen apart at a better time
Thursday, Jun 27, 2013 07:27 AM CSTThere has been so much news this week, from the Supreme Court to the racist television cooking lady to the return of Crossfire, that some of the political media’s old favorite stories have almost entirely disappeared from cable news and the blogosphere. Victims of the news cycle include the trio of “scandals” that gripped official Washington for weeks beginning last month. In particular, the controversy over IRS scrutiny of Tea Party groups has largely disappeared from the headlines. Considering how much of a political gift that particular controversy was to Republicans, you’d expect them to be upset about this fact. But recent revelations have actually given them cause to celebrate the nation’s short attention span.
It was revealed this week, in fact, that the entire scandal was essentially a set-up. First, acting IRS commissioner Danny Werfel testified that the IRS also scrutinized and challenged groups with names that included “Occupy” and “progressive.” IRS documents released by House Democrats supported his testimony. The IG didn’t uncover targeting of liberal groups because it wasn’t asked to.The article ends with more humor:
The spokesman for the Treasury inspector general noted their audit acknowledged there were other watch lists. But the spokesman added: “We did not review the use, disposition, purpose or content of the other BOLOs. That was outside the scope of our audit.”We then learned that the entire reason the Treasury Inspector General highlighted IRS scrutiny of conservative groups, but not liberal groups, was because the IG had been instructed to do so by Issa.
Conservatives will still trust Issa. They didn’t give up on him when Fast & Furious failed to lead to impeachment, and they certainly won’t give up on him now. And like I said, the scandal already sort of served its purpose: It hurt Obama politically. The question, still, is whether the objective press will continue to treat Issa’s claims seriously, after a month in which he trumpeted the results of a purposefully limited IG audit, released selectively edited transcripts of testimony and generally took everyone for a ride that led nowhere. Alas, you can lie to the political press dozens of times over the course of years and still remain a trusted source, so don’t expect much additional skepticism the next time Issa promises something huge.
Now we leave the leftist spin machine at Salon and head back to reality.
Treasury IG: Liberal groups weren't targeted by IRS like Tea Party
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06/27/13 09:06 AM ET
Liberal groups seeking tax-exempt status faced less IRS scrutiny than Tea Party groups, according to the Treasury inspector general.
Russell George, Treasury’s inspector general for tax administration, told Rep. Sandy Levin (D-Mich.) in a letter dated Wednesday that the IRS did not use inappropriate criteria to scrutinize groups with “progressives” in their name seeking tax-exempt status.
“Our audit did not find evidence that the IRS used the ‘progressives’ identifier as selection criteria for potential political cases between May 2010 and May 2012,” George wrote in the letter obtained by The Hill.
The inspector general also stressed that 100 percent of the groups with “Tea Party,” “patriots” and “9/12” in their name were flagged for extra attention.
“While we have multiple sources of information corroborating the use of Tea Party and other related criteria we described in our report, including employee interviews, e-mails and other documents, we found no indication in any of these other materials that ‘progressives’ was a term used to refer cases for scrutiny for political campaign intervention,” George wrote to Levin, the top Democrat on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee.
George and his office have faced criticism in recent days after it emerged that its audit was tasked with looking into merely whether conservative groups faced tough IRS scrutiny. Documents released this week showed other groups — including liberal and non-partisan organizations — also received scrutiny from the IRS, and Democrats have suggested this wasn't noted in the ensuing scandal because of the IG's focus on conservative groups.
George insisted that his office did not limit its audit to Tea Party groups.
Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/domestic-taxes/308131-ig-liberal-groups-not-targeted-like-tea-party#ixzz2XQcXixJY
Other Links on the IRS Scandal
Obama's IRS Targets Conservative Groups-Leaks Info
IRS approved liberal groups while Tea Party in limbo
Trust in government continues to plummet so leave it up to the leftist praetorian media and apparatchiks to distract and dis-inform for the Obama administration and continue to provide cover for a BIG government that targets American citizens.
