IRS scandal is Republicans’ zombie

[DonViejo]

Using a letter from the Treasury Inspector General, the GOP revives the scandal for another day -- but barely

BY ALEX SEITZ-WALD

Like a “zeke” in “World War Z” that just won’t die, the IRS scandal lives another day. We declared it dead on Monday — based on the information we had at the time — after we learned that the IRS had targeted progressive and Occupy groups in addition to Tea Party ones.

But today, Treasury Department Inspector General Russell George explained in a letter to lawmakers that while some liberal groups got extra scrutiny, they weren’t systematically targeted like conservative ones were. “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,” the IG wrote. While 100 percent of applications for groups with “Tea Party,” “Patriot” or “9/12? in their name were processed as “potential political cases,” just 30 percent of progressive ones were.

So were Republicans right all along? Conservatives blogs certainly think so, writing that the report “obliterat[es] the Left’s shiny, new, and perfidious talking point.” A spokeswoman for the Republican-controlled House Ways and Means Committee, which oversees the IRS, said: “The evidence shows us that conservative groups were not only flagged, but targeted and abused by the IRS.”

Maybe, but this ignores the reality that progressive groups still were targeted along with conservative ones (the only group actually denied tax-exempt status was a progressive one), that some Tea Party groups deserved the extra scrutiny, and that the focus on conservative groups makes some sense in a historical context.

-snip-

http://www.salon.com/2013/06/27/irs_scandal_is_republicans_zombie/

[Proud Liberal Dem]

1. Progressive groups were targeted as well

Last edited Fri Jun 28, 2013, 01:22 PM - Edit history (1)

But didn't make a stink about it that conservatives did. The *new* meme doesn't invalidate anything IMHO. It's definitely becoming another "Zombie lie" like *Benghazi!*