Those of us who were around during the fall of Richard Nixon remember that his impending impeachment was brought about by three illegalities. First, there was the Watergate break and the attempted cover up. Second, was the harassment and stalking of Daniel Ellsberg and the break in of his physiatrist's office. Third, Mr Nixon was charged with using the Internal Revenue Service to punish his political enemies. Today it's beginning to look as if Mr. Obama is two thirds of the way toward his own hat trick. The old military axiom that initial reports are all ways wrong, that truth is the first causality, has been sustained by today's revelation that the IRS's criminal behavior was limited to low level staff in the Cincinnati field office. That is more than an understatement. It's a goddam lie.
Jay Sekulow of American Center for Law and Justice reveals that the harassment of Tea Party was a nationwide effort with apparent coordination between regional offices. As the Hillary might say it was a "systemic failure". Yeah, long, wide and deep. Furthermore ACLJ has been fighting this harassment for over a year and to date the IRS has only backed off on only 14 of the 27 cases in which ACLJ is involved. In other words it's still going on. The IRS demanded to know not only the groups' donors but also the membership and what sort of conversation went on at the meetings.
This morning, an IRS official named Lois Lerner apologized for agency's malfeasance. Well sorry don't get! Has the IRS inspector general gotten involved? Has a U.S. attorney been apprised of this matter, which can only be considered an act of political intimidation and therefore would fall under the aegis of various federal criminal statutes? If not, why not?
Congressman Darrell Issa has stated “The fact that Americans were targeted by the IRS because of their political beliefs is unconscionable. The Committee will aggressively follow up on the IG report and hold responsible officials accountable for this political retaliation.”
One can bet the Congressman will keep his word and with a vengeance. Two stars on his Oversight Committee, Jason Chaffetz and Trey Gowdy serve in Congress because of Tea Party backing.
Were I more than a foot soldier in the Tea Party I would call for a nationwide demonstration in front of every IRS office in the country, followed by an informational picket line on each office until somebody was fired and indicted. Come on Tea Party man up!
Update: The House Ways and Means
Committee announced it would hold a hearing on the Internal Revenue
Service practice of targeting applicants for tax-exempt status based on
political leanings. In announcing the hearing, Ways and Means Committee
Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., said, “The IRS absolutely must be
non-partisan in its enforcement of our tax laws. The admission by the
agency that it targeted American taxpayers based on politics is both
shocking and disappointing. The Committee on Ways and Means will
thoroughly investigate this matter and will soon hold a hearing to get
to the bottom of this situation. We will hold the IRS accountable for
its actions.”
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