How many here think that the IRS "Scandal" is a set-up?

[Hubert Flottz]

I think the tea party(Dick Armey and the Koch brothers) Issa and Karl are doing this to try and pull the fangs out of the IRS. I think they expected the "Citizens United" decision to blow Obama out of the water last time. And when that didn't work, the think tankers decided it was the IRS that crashed their election buying party in 2012. I believe this entire "Scandal" is a monster created to totally discredit the IRS. I think the people left at the IRS from the Bush administration were part of the plan too.

I think the GOP wants to buy the next election and every other election after that and that there is nothing they won't do to see to it that nothing or nobody stops them.

[gcomeau]

1. I think you're thinking too hard.

The GOP saw a chance to point a finger at a government agency lots of people are inclined not to like and scream "SCANDAL!" at the top of their lungs and blame Obama for it and they took it like they do every week, regardless of whether there's anything scandalous actually happening or not.

That simple.

[Hubert Flottz]

2. The best place to hide things is right out in the open.

They used the Bush Justice department to campaign for Bush didn't they?

[brooklynite]

13. Unless, that's what they WANT you to think...

...I think.

[Wellstone ruled]

3. Oh My!!!!

This is just another WTF moment for the Rethugs. If you throw enough sh*t against a wall,some always sticks. Remember this,the only true stories are being reported on Social Media and then one has to check the source. With the smack down today by David Plouffe on the Izza Criminal,things will change. The Rethugs are channeling Gingrich and Tom Delay,notice all the push back by some Rethugs,they see the end game and it isn't pretty for them.

Remember you can't cure STUPID!!!!

[Egalitarian Thug]

4. Less a set up than a distraction. n/t

[SammyWinstonJack]

25. +1

[Lasher]

5. Of course it is.

Teabagger groups should be targeted. They are clearly political organizations that deserve a long hard look by the IRS - if not outright rejection - whenever they apply for tax exempt status. The IRS would be negligent if they would play it any other way.

It's two mints in one for the tax cons: They make progress toward turning us into their Utopian tax-free United States of Somalia; they get tax-exempt status for their wingnut political organizations; and they cook up a perpetual witch hunt against Obama. Well OK, three mints in one.

[Hubert Flottz]

9. Dick Armey should be investigated 24/7 for...

the rest of his days above ground.

[Lasher]

17. Remember when he was implicated in the Plame treason?

Everybody in Congress, the Executive Branch, and the Press gave him an unqualified pass so fast it made my head swim. Like he was above reproach. Yet again I was reminded how widespread the corruption is.

[librechik]

6. yes, I agree.

[tularetom]

7. If you wanted to destroy a government departments credibility who would you go after?

I mean, nobody likes the IRS. Nobody will defend them. Middle of the road uninformed voters will agree with anything negative they hear about the IRS.

They did it because it's a cheap shot. The IRS is low hanging fruit.

[kentuck]

8. There is a "scandal" there but not where they are pointing?

The scandal is the way so many conservatives and many liberal groups also, have taken advantage of the tax-free 501(c)4 statute, knowing that it is not black and white in its legality. "Everybody does it" is no excuse for breaking the law. Either obey the law or change it. The scandal is not that some people were "targeted" - the scandal is that they all were not targeted.

[Hubert Flottz]

10. More subterfuge than "Scandal" methinks.

Subterfuge is one of the GOP's big "secret weapons."

[Nictuku]

12. I'm hoping this will backfire on the GOP

... and shine a bright light on these so-called "social welfare - tax exempt" organizations. They use 501(c)4 so they do not have to disclose donors as they use the tax loophole to launder political money anonymously.

[Hubert Flottz]

14. I'd like to see an enraged IRS take on the churches that

preach politics to their flockers.

[Lasher]

18. Me too.

It always pisses me off to see how often the IRS lets them slide.

[Skittles]

11. oh of COURSE it is

[Hubert Flottz]

15. GTSY

[jimlup]

16. I think it is a partial setup ... yes

I wouldn't agree with all of your reasoning but I think the dems bent over a bit too fast on this one. They should have held the line a bit by pointing out that the TEA PARTY is not a non-profit and should be suspect.

They didn't get that jab in and they needed to. Whatever the eventual political cost, it will be somewhat bigger now because we are represented by a mainstream party that apparently has no courage.

But yes, I think with the Reptilian controlled house the Rovians floated this one as a setup. They basically knew what would happen from the start (probably without knowing exactly how they would play out the eventual details) and yes, that is why they did it.

[davekriss]

19. Repeating GOP's 2000 strategy

The GOP is digging and digging to find any and all dirt that can be thrown at the Democrats ahead of 2016.

They did similar digging ahead of the 2000 election with the Post Office scandal, Fostergate, Whitewater, until finally they got something on Clinton they thought (correctly) would work for them: The Monica Lewinsky scandal. It probably swayed enough voters in 2000 to make the election close enough to steal.

Expect the digging and scandal-mongering to continue right up to November 2016.

[bemildred]

20. Totally.

Keeping it on ice for the right time. When the deficit and the debt ceiling started to recede all of a sudden we got three new scandals, none of them impressive, but maybe with enough of them it might work ...

[siligut]

21. I agree in general

But not with the idea that the GOP believes the IRS is responsible for their 2012 loss.

[ThomThom]

22. thye were just doing their job

the hearings now that is the scandal, wasting everyone's time

[NancyDL]

23. I think you're right on the button...

I mean really, thousands of winger outfits applying for tax exempt status as social welfare organizations?

[hedda_foil]

24. I am almost sure it's a setup.

- Who asked for the investigation of IRS delays in approving the applications of only small right wing groups in the first place? (But NOT the enormous orgs like KKKarl's, which didn't seem to bother formally applying.)

- How might the House Republicans, who asked for the IG investigation, have learned that the IRS team used certain search terms to find many of the obviously political tea party and"patriot groups?

- Who was keeping tabs on the investigation from the get go?

- Who managed the timing of when each "scandal" broke?

And who wants to weaken the IRS and implement a "flat tax"?

Finally, is water wet?

[nadinbrzezinski]

26. But, but, but they spent all this money in conferences....

You are correct and people are falling for the bait

[grasswire]

27. the fact that Lerner ARRANGED a fake leak to blow this up...

....ought to be a clue.

[defacto7]

28. Beyond a doubt...

and another rather bad setup at that.

[graham4anything]

29. It is the same as the Dan Rather/Mary Mapes -of course, Dan was set up. Info in memo=true.

But there is NO scandal, and the public isn't biting on it,

and regardless, Hillary will win in 2016, so their attempt fails big time.

But what it shows is any protest votes like 2010 all they do is give Darrell Isaa power.

Just vote straight democratic and Isaa is rendered obsolete again