axelrod knew Obama would not get the turnout he and in 08. from the very beginning the goal was to suppress the R vote. A vital absolutely vital part of that strategy was to suppress the teap party... because of the turnout they created in 2010. Hence in a meeting with Axelrod and probably only Axelrod the issue would have been discussed because you can't use the IRS to target without risk. Obama had to ok it. It was probably one of those indirect assents. Do whatever you need to do kind of thing. So Obama will have deniability the rest of his life. But we all know your underlings don't risk your presidency without getting the nod.
Exactly! Do you remember how many times obama commented on the fact that he thought he could be out fundraised? Pretty much all of his fundraising emails went along the lines of...."we can win this election but romney and the evil tea partiers are out raising us, send me money" So they really want me to believe this had nothing to do with obama when he was well aware of the fact that the only thing that could beat him is money, and shockingly that issue got taken care of. give me a break. The same gimmels who believe obama had nothing to do with it, are the ones who have no problem with the government spying on them, because in their eyes it will only be used for good.
That certainly points to his extremely political nature. I'd like the real Obama to stand up. That's a despicable part of his record as far as I'm concerned.
Pad, it doesn't seem to me there is any "scandal" at all here. The way I see it is there were 292 groups that used the term tea party (you know, as in political "party") and 20 other groups that were also most likely political organizations that were misrepresenting themselves to the IRS as "social welfare" organizations. The IRS got carried away and asked some inappropriate, but for the most part entirely appropriate, questions in an attempt to see if these organizations were misrepresenting themselves -- the propublica folks have shown that they were. Then along comes this asshole Darrel Issa who decides to try and use this fuck up by the IRS to make political hay. The point is, and I know you will agree with me because you are a reasonable person, that none of these organizations were social welfare organizations, and none of them qualified under the law as such. Lets just leave it at that and move on. When you watch those hearings, and you can't not agree with this, those Representatives are, with a very few exceptions, just using the hearing as an opportunity to grandstand and rail against the IRS because they know how unpopular the IRS is among the general population. It's disgraceful when you think about the fact that the IRS is a creature of Congress. Congress are the ones who make the tax laws, which are so convoluted that it's impossible to enforce them consistently and fairly without spending most of what is collected on enforcement. It's a G.D mess. I know it, and you know it. We all know it.
Absolutely i agree with this, while i consider my self a libertarian or a conservative, im not naive enough to believe that republicans are looking out for me, as opposed to themselved. I actually agree that from the politicians standpoint this whole thing is about scoring points for themselves, the only thing these dirtbags care about is getting re elected, none of the rules they set ever apply to them anyways, so why would they care? 292 conservative groups got attacked, compared to 6 progressive groups, must be a coincidence, the IRS probably just went on a hell of a lucky streak when they flipped the coin and it came up heads at a 50-1 rate.
LOL Somebody here is trying to paint an unrealistic picture of what is going on with the IRS targeting. I wonder who that could be? A person with some sort of ties to the IRS or the Obama administration maybe? Hmmm.
btw I forgot to address this, you are right, as a whole i do agree with you that these organisations are detrimental and it is all bullshit, but it doesnt change the fact that one side was able to operate freely under bullshit rules, while the other one was not.
Assuming your arguments are correct Piezoe, there is still one nagging question; Why did the IRS even admit they were targeting anyone? Perhaps you addressed this and I missed it. My thought out of the gate was this was an attempt to take Benghazi off the radar. Your thoughts? There are others that claim Propublica is carrying water for the admin. Iâm not prepared to make that claim yet, but it is out there.
piezoe, You keep saying the tea party groups weren't entitled to the tax status they were applying for, based on some propublic propaganda. Since the groups were basically strangled in the crib before they had an opportunity to engage in any political activity, I am curious how you can be so sure they weren't qualified. Because they had "Tea Party" in their name? I am afraid you are assuming your conclusion and it undermines your whole argument. This is particularly true when the same IRS officials were rubberstamping applications from liberal groups, like the infamous Barrack Obama Foundation. These conservative groups were clearly targeted for their assumed viewpoint, a fact made clear by the intrusive followup interviews and harrassing demands. Far from being justified, the facts indicate this was a sophisticated vote suppression effort, carried out by the obama campaign and Treasury Employees Union goons. IRS employees should pay withtheir jobs and pensions and probably be sent to jail. A special prosecutor is needed to get to the bottom of the WH involvement. Rep. Issa is doing exactly what he should be doing. His committee is charged with investigating government misconduct, and this is one of the biggest scandals in decades.