Tag: irs

Americans increasingly deciding Barack Obama really WOULD use the IRS against his foes.

I believe that this was the CNN/ORC poll question that made David Plouffe freak out earlier today:

CNNpoll

The percentage of people who think that the IRS story is very important dropped from 55% to 51% in the last month, sure – but in that same time period the reaction to it has solidified.  Half the country thinks that the IRS was ordered by the White House to target conservative groups.  And guess what?  It’s including parts of the country that the administration was kind of hoping wouldn’t be susceptible: Continue reading Americans increasingly deciding Barack Obama really WOULD use the IRS against his foes.

Is the IRS *unduly* targeting pro-Israel groups for scrutiny?

(H/T: Instapundit) Because let me be clear about something:

Applications of pro-Israel groups for tax-exempt status are routinely routed to an antiterrorism unit within the Internal Revenue Service for additional screening, according to the testimony of a Cincinnati-based IRS agent.

[snip]

Asked by investigators whether “all pro-Israel applicants went to the terrorism unit,” Muthert responded, “Probably . . .  foreign activity, pro-Israel — if it is any type of foreign activity, it will go to the antiterrorism area.” Screeners like Muthert must consult the list of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the Treasury Department office that enforces economic and trade sanctions, and “the terrorist list . . .  because a lot of organizations will create charities to funnel the money to terrorist countries.”

Continue reading Is the IRS *unduly* targeting pro-Israel groups for scrutiny?

The IRS and Barack Obama: mission, as they say, accomplished.

(H/T: Instapundit) Annnnnnd here we go.  Two meaty bits from a Fox News poll:

irs poll 1

Translation: people don’t particularly believe that the Executive Branch didn’t know about the IRS targeting Tea Party groups all along. Continue reading The IRS and Barack Obama: mission, as they say, accomplished.

IRS lectures pro-life group on acceptable speech, practice of religion.

By the way, and for the record: IRS Agent Sherry Wan is full of… is incorrect in her understanding of the First Amendment to the Constitution, and should be made aware of this at the earliest opportunity.

The transcript is here: it relates a conversation between Pro-Life Revolution’s Ania Joseph and IRS Agent Wan.  The agent’s thought processes are perfectly summed up by this part: Continue reading IRS lectures pro-life group on acceptable speech, practice of religion.

The IRS, Obamacare, and other pains in Barack Obama’s tuchis.

There’s something that I am quite happy to point out about the Obamacare jam (H/T: Hot Air) that Democrats are finding themselves in right now…

Conservative groups are preparing to use the deepening public distrust of the Internal Revenue Service to discredit the Affordable Care Act, and the Democrats who support it, in the 2014 election cycle.

Now that the IRS has admitted to unfairly targeting conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status, Republicans plan to make the agency, which is responsible for carrying out much of President Obama’s health care law, the poster child for dysfunctional government, and a giant liability for Democrats.

Continue reading The IRS, Obamacare, and other pains in Barack Obama’s tuchis.

The IRS’s rank and file may not be understanding their problem. Yet.

Maybe I am just being too idealistic, but I have a real problem with this Tim Carney theory about why IRS targeted conservative groups:

There’s a fairly innocent — and fairly probable — explanation for what the IRS did, and it boils down to the natural suspicion people have of those with opposing views.

The public servants figuring out which groups qualified for 501(c)4 “social welfare” non-profit status were mostly Democrats surrounded by mostly Democrats. Democrats received 75 percent of the campaign contributions I could trace to employees of the IRS Cincinnati office over the last three election cycles. In the 2012 election, every donation traceable to this office went to President Obama or liberal Sen. Sherrod Brown.

This is an environment where even those trying to be fair could develop a disproportionate distrust of the Tea Party.

Continue reading The IRS’s rank and file may not be understanding their problem. Yet.

Lois Lerner to take the Fifth tomorrow on role in IRS attacks on Tea Party.

Well, this should be fascinating to watch.

A letter obtained by The Los Angeles Times reveals that Lois Lerner, the IRS official in charge of overseeing requests for tax-exempt status who first broke the news of that division’s targeting of conservative groups, plans to invoke her right against self-incrimination in scheduled testimony before a House committee on Wednesday.

And here’s your moment of comedy! Continue reading Lois Lerner to take the Fifth tomorrow on role in IRS attacks on Tea Party.

It has been a long day in a long week in what is already a long month…

…and  I’m not even on the side that’s getting beaten with sticks, for a change.

I will say this: there seems to be one hell of a disconnect between the inside-the-Beltway left-punditry and the rest of the country right now.  The former seem to be determinedly telling themselves that everything is about to blow over… in a milieu where NFL players are now feeling comfortable with Instagramming pictures of themselves urinating on IRS signs.

Or fake-urinating. The point is… you’d think that the Other Side would be realizing that they’re just telling each other stories, at this point. Then again, you’d think that I would have figured that out myself in 2006, 2008, & 2012 – so what do I know?

Moe Lane

So, basically, Barack Obama is now TROLLING the press over the IRS thing.

Well, he’s not trolling either myself, or the PJ Tatler:

Steven Miller, the now resigned acting commissioner of the IRS, is telling staff that the abuse scandal is not the reason he’s leaving.

It is with regret that I will be departing from the IRS as my acting assignment ends in early June,’ Miller wrote. “This has been an incredibly difficult time for the IRS given the events of the past few days, and there is a strong and immediate need to restore public trust in the nation’s tax agency.”

 Basically, he’s saying that he’s just leaving a couple weeks early, no big deal. Incredible.
…after all, neither of us are particularly surprised anymore at the insufferable pap that this administration considers to be Deep Thinking.  But if I was a mainstream media personality I’d be deeply, deeply insulted…