http://www.washingtonpost.com/politi...1f9_story.html

Internal Revenue Service officials in Washington and at least two other offices were involved with investigating conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status, making clear that the effort reached well beyond the branch in Cincinnati that was initially blamed...

Huh. Go figure.

Originally Posted by JDG 66

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politi...1f9_story.html

Internal Revenue Service officials in Washington and at least two other offices were involved with investigating conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status, making clear that the effort reached well beyond the branch in Cincinnati that was initially blamed...

Huh. Go figure.

Let's admit it, these groups need to be srutinized closely, regardless of their particular poliical bent. 501(c) 4 is a license to obstruct the political process and hide while you do it. There are more than a few billionaires who might find that enjoyable. That makes playing by the rules more important than it is typically.

Now, on the actual case before us, I might be a bit cynical thinking that the focus on TP groups may have been a ruse to get the TP 501(c) 4s an undue exemption. That's at least as likley an explanation as a group of rogue IRS agents doing exactly what they were specifically told not to do. It's bizarre in any case.

Originally Posted by Marx & Lennon

Let's admit it, these groups need to be srutinized closely, regardless of their particular poliical bent. 501(c) 4 is a license to obstruct the political process and hide while you do it. There are more than a few billionaires who might find that enjoyable. That makes playing by the rules more important than it is typically.

Now, on the actual case before us, I might be a bit cynical thinking that the focus on TP groups may have been a ruse to get the TP 501(c) 4s an undue exemption. That's at least as likley an explanation as a group of rogue IRS agents doing exactly what they were specifically told not to do. It's bizarre in any case.

They were specifically targeted, Liberal groups did not get the same type of scrutiny. Conservatives complained about this 3 years ago and were being told they were just being paranoid...This is Nixonian and has done great damage to the Obama Regime...

Originally Posted by Weave

They were specifically targeted, Liberal groups did not get the same type of scrutiny. .

Oh really?

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-0...party-row.html

IRS Sent Same Letter to Democrats That Fed Tea Party Row


One of those groups, Emerge America, saw its tax-exempt status denied, forcing it to disclose its donors and pay some taxes. None of the Republican groups have said their applications were rejected.

Progress Texas, another of the organizations, faced the same lines of questioning as the Tea Party groups from the same IRS office that issued letters to the Republican-friendly applicants. A third group, Clean Elections Texas, which supports public funding of campaigns, also received IRS inquiries. ...

and apparently this has been going on for a while -

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...rss_ezra-klein

Before the IRS harassed the Tea Party, it harassed gay rights groups

And how about Greenpeace, the NAACP, and a liberal church -

http://ataxingmatter.blogs.com/tax/2...-liberals.html

Remember When the IRS Targeted Liberals?

Oh, and the guy who was the IRS Commissioner when the 2012 tea baggers were targeted? That would be a Bush appointee who has since left. Too bad for Marc Rubio who was calling for the firing of the guy who was in charge -

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/...-who-already-l

Rubio Calls for IRS Commissioner Who Already Left Department to Resign

- Rubio better improve his staff's work before 2016 - Hilary will make mincemeat with him.

That's what I like about GOP morons, so disperate to make something stick to Obama that they constantly step in it. Just a matter of time.

Originally Posted by Weave

They were specifically targeted, Liberal groups did not get the same type of scrutiny. Conservatives complained about this 3 years ago and were being told they were just being paranoid...This is Nixonian and has done great damage to the Obama Regime...

... and this leads to what? Are you arguing that this was a rogue action? OK, it was. Are you arguing that it was a liberal action? That's still TBD. The fact that you and others had Nixonian talking points ready to go makes me wonder.

That said, I'm hoping this is a case of galloping stupidity. In any case, the entire paragraph needs to be excised, and every affected group told to find a new status.

Originally Posted by playwrite

Oh really?

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-0...party-row.html




and apparently this has been going on for a while -

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...rss_ezra-klein



And how about Greenpeace, the NAACP, and a liberal church -

http://ataxingmatter.blogs.com/tax/2...-liberals.html



Oh, and the guy who was the IRS Commissioner when the 2012 tea baggers were targeted? That would be a Bush appointee who has since left. Too bad for Marc Rubio who was calling for the firing of the guy who was in charge -

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/...-who-already-l




- Rubio better improve his staff's work before 2016 - Hilary will make mincemeat with him.

That's what I like about GOP morons, so disperate to make something stick to Obama that they constantly step in it. Just a matter of time.

You can stop the spin, the IRS has admitted to specifically targeting conservatives. There is no "if". They did it. There were complaints 3 years ago. They denied it continually until they no longer could. Then they said "sorry" and now are trying to blame "2 rogue" workers.

Originally Posted by Marx & Lennon

The fact that you and others had Nixonian talking points ready to go makes me wonder.

The media has an incredible power to influence many peoples' opinions, and it is especially true of older folks who think that the TV is the only real source of authority.

I mean, it only took PW about 24 hours to repeat the "cartoonish view of the military" meme, and we can see how quickly the "Nixionian" meme has spread, as well.

It's an incredibly effective partisan distraction from the things that our politicians can agree on, like using their position to loot wealth from the country's productive workers.

Originally Posted by Marx & Lennon

... and this leads to what? Are you arguing that this was a rogue action? OK, it was. Are you arguing that it was a liberal action? That's still TBD. The fact that you and others had Nixonian talking points ready to go makes me wonder.

The posting history of Weave should leave no doubt -- It's OK if You Are a Republican. The objective of the Corporate Right is consolidation of total power. It's no problem to him if groups like Greenpeace, the NAACP, LULAC, unions, etc. have their wings clipped. But organizations that spur people into right-wing protests on behalf of the Best People whose personal gain and indulgence is more precious than the life of any common person... Of course that has been tried and proven objectionable in the extreme.

The Hard Right as persons cannot think outside of the vocational specialty of the person except as talking points typically from such poseurs as Limbaugh, Savage, Coulter, O'Reilly, Hannity, etc.

That said, I'm hoping this is a case of galloping stupidity. In any case, the entire paragraph needs to be excised, and every affected group told to find a new status.

The problem is that people can supply huge amounts of money into political causes without accountability.

It seems the "2 rogue" workers had orders, who knows how far this will go.

http://www.fox19.com/story/22265631/...ted-to-scandal

Sorry but I wasn't following any "memes". It is well known Nixon used the IRS against his enemies. So did Johnson and FDR, in fact Paula Jones, Clintons accuser was audited even thought she earned a measly 35,000 a year. This is nothing new for the Dems....

Originally Posted by Weave

You can stop the spin, the IRS has admitted to specifically targeting conservatives. There is no "if". They did it. There were complaints 3 years ago. They denied it continually until they no longer could. Then they said "sorry" and now are trying to blame "2 rogue" workers.

Sorry, dude, I know facts are tough on you guys.

But of the nearly 500 entities looked at only about 1/3 were baggers.

Also, the only group to be denied tax-exempt status was a liberal group -

One of those groups, Emerge America, saw its tax-exempt status denied, forcing it to disclose its donors and pay some taxes. None of the Republican groups have said their applications were rejected.

This is going to peter-out pretty quickly with pressure from Karl Rove and the Koch Brothers - they sure don't want this notion about tax exemptions for political manipulation getting out of hand - they know where this will go - to their doorstep and Citizen United.

Originally Posted by Weave

It seems the "2 rogue" workers had orders, who knows how far this will go.

http://www.fox19.com/story/22265631/...ted-to-scandal

Sorry but I wasn't following any "memes". It is well known Nixon used the IRS against his enemies. So did Johnson and FDR, in fact Paula Jones, Clintons accuser was audited even thought she earned a measly 35,000 a year. This is nothing new for the Dems....

Sorry dude again, I know how you all have a fetish for conflating things, but Nixion actually ORDERED IRS (as well as FBI) probes of his target list. There has NOT been, and there will not be, any link between what these 2 IRS agents did and Obama, not even within a dozen layers of the management chain. You guys are gong to look increasingly desperate in making these comparisons - well, at least to those who don't get all their 'info' of the world from Faux News.

Originally Posted by pbrower2a

...It's no problem to him if groups like Greenpeace, the NAACP, LULAC, unions, etc. have their wings clipped...

-Your comparison is bogus. See below.

Originally Posted by playwrite

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-0...party-row.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...rss_ezra-klein

http://ataxingmatter.blogs.com/tax/2...-liberals.html

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/...-who-already-l

...

-Looks like PW is leaving something out. These groups were directly condemning one candidate in a presidential election, which is a no-no; the All Saints church had acted improperly:

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?se...cal&id=5671114

...Federal tax codes prohibit churches and other tax-exempt institutions from endorsing or opposing political candidates. In a letter dated Sept. 10, the IRS said the church continues to qualify for tax-exempt status but that Regas' sermon amounted to a one-time intervention in the presidential race. the liberal groups were questioned after they'd already gotten tax exempt status for thungs they did which called their statues into question...
...but they got away with it since it was a one time event. IOW, PW would agree that an investigation was called for.

As for the gay groups, PW is bringing up stuff which was settled in the 1990s?
Anyway, Obama's IRS was doing a blanket hit job on ALL Tea Party groups which simply trying to get tax exempt status in the first place; none got approved in 27 months:


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...-hold/2159983/

...In the 27 months that the Internal Revenue Service put a hold on all Tea Party applications for non-profit status, it approved applications from similar liberal groups, a USA TODAY review of IRS data shows...

...meanwhile, the IRS let "progressive" groups slide by, including one very special one:

http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/14/ir...thers-charity/

Lois Lerner, the senior IRS official at the center of the decision to target tea party groups for burdensome tax scrutiny, signed paperwork granting tax-exempt status to the Barack H. Obama Foundation, a shady charity headed by the president’s half-brother that operated illegally for years...

...The National Legal and Policy Center filed an official complaint with the IRS in May 2011 asking why the foundation was being allowed to solicit tax-deductible contributions when it had not even applied for an IRS determination... Nevertheless, a month later, the Barack H. Obama Foundation had flown through the grueling application process. Lerner granted the organization a 501(c) determination and even gave it a retroactive tax exemption dating back to December 2008...


IOW, the Barack H. Obama Foundation wasn't even tax exempt but was allowed to treat it's donations as tax exempt. So PW is making an awesome comparison there...

Obama's IRS hit conservative Jewish groups, too:

http://shoebat.com/2013/05/15/contra...uslim-brother/

...the Jewish group known as Z Street had its tax exempt status application held up because it was “connected to Israel”... not only is the group’s 2009 filing still not approved but that the reason given for the delay had to do with terrorism taking place in Israel. Of course, that explanation left out one important point. While there might be terrorism taking place in Israel, it’s coming from Muslim groups like Hamas.

Originally Posted by playwrite

...Nixion actually ORDERED IRS (as well as FBI) probes of his target list. There has NOT been, and there will not be, any link between what these 2 IRS agents did and Obama...

-And PW knows this because, Obama has learned from Nixon's mistakes?

The first guy to use the IRS to persecute his enemies was FDR. A little history:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/lis...tml?state=stop

http://www.foreffectivegov.org/node/2940

NAACP Releases Information on IRS Audit


Seven Republican members of Congress filed complaints with the IRS in 2004, claiming the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) engaged in partisan electioneering, leading to an IRS probe, according to agency documents released to the NAACP under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The NAACP has asked the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) to review the IRS's failure to fully respond to its FOIA requests.The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) launched an examination of the NAACP on Oct. 8, 2004, claiming a speech Chairman Julian Bond made during the organization's annual convention that criticized President George Bush's education and foreign policies crossed the line from issue advocacy to partisan electioneering. On May 17, the NAACP publicly released over 500 pages of documents the IRS has gathered since it began the audit. The documents (all 85 megabytes worth) are available at the NAACP's website.

The documents include letters sent from members of Congress on behalf of their constituents, including Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Susan Collins (R-ME), Rep. Jo Ann Davis (R-VA), the late Senator Strom Thurmond (R-SC), and former Reps. Larry Combest (R-TX), Joe Scarborough (R-FL) and Robert Ehrlich (R-MD).

Ehrlich, the current governor of Maryland, forwarded to the IRS a letter December 2000 written by Richard Hug, chief fundraiser for Ehrlich's current re-election campaign, requesting "the IRS investigate the non-profit status of the NAACP." The letter claims that "[t]his organization has become increasingly political in recent years, particularly under its present leadership, and I would suspect much of its contributed funds are being used for political purposes."

Thomas J. Miller, the technical advisor to the IRS Exempt Organizations division, responded in a letter, assuring Ehrlich that the agency would follow up: "We have forwarded the information you provided to that office of appropriate action.".

And I'm sure everyone remembers the outrage back then! Right?

Bueller? Bueller?

I do hope that this won't blow up into another Watergate, yet I am afraid that it just might.

Originally Posted by playwrite

http://www.foreffectivegov.org/node/2940

And I'm sure everyone remembers the outrage back then!

-Huh. PW must have missed the part about where the NAACPs tax exempt status is dependent on not sticking it's nose in elections, as his own example of the All Saint's church makes clear:

Originally Posted by JDG 66

... These groups were directly condemning one candidate in a presidential election, which is a no-no; the All Saints church had acted improperly:

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?se...cal&id=5671114

...Federal tax codes prohibit churches and other tax-exempt institutions from endorsing or opposing political candidates. In a letter dated Sept. 10, the IRS said the church continues to qualify for tax-exempt status but that Regas' sermon amounted to a one-time intervention in the presidential race. the liberal groups were questioned after they'd already gotten tax exempt status for thungs they did which called their statues into question...
...but they got away with it since it was a one time event. IOW, PW would agree that an investigation was called for...

...and PW obviously hasn't bothered to consider that the NAACP had a tax exempt status to debate, unlike the TP groups:

Originally Posted by JDG 66

...Anyway, Obama's IRS was doing a blanket hit job on ALL Tea Party groups which simply trying to get tax exempt status in the first place; none got approved in 27 months:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...-hold/2159983/

...In the 27 months that the Internal Revenue Service put a hold on all Tea Party applications for non-profit status, it approved applications from similar liberal groups, a USA TODAY review of IRS data shows...

...or this Jewish group:

Originally Posted by JDG 66

...
http://shoebat.com/2013/05/15/contra...uslim-brother/

...the Jewish group known as Z Street had its tax exempt status application held up because it was “connected to Israel”... not only is the group’s 2009 filing still not approved but that the reason given for the delay had to do with terrorism taking place in Israel. Of course, that explanation left out one important point. While there might be terrorism taking place in Israel, it’s coming from Muslim groups like Hamas...

..while the Obama IRS gave this a pass:

Originally Posted by JDG 66

...
http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/14/ir...thers-charity/

Lois Lerner, the senior IRS official at the center of the decision to target tea party groups for burdensome tax scrutiny, signed paperwork granting tax-exempt status to the Barack H. Obama Foundation, a shady charity headed by the president’s half-brother that operated illegally for years...

...The National Legal and Policy Center filed an official complaint with the IRS in May 2011 asking why the foundation was being allowed to solicit tax-deductible contributions when it had not even applied for an IRS determination... Nevertheless, a month later, the Barack H. Obama Foundation had flown through the grueling application process. Lerner granted the organization a 501(c) determination and even gave it a retroactive tax exemption dating back to December 2008...

Bueller?

Bueller?

---

Originally Posted by JDG 66

...
The first guy to use the IRS to persecute his enemies was FDR. A little history:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/lis...tml?state=stop

Originally Posted by playwrite

If you meet a magic pony on the road, kill it...

-So when is PW going to run over MMT?

- let's see how quick this 'scandal' dies out now with the GOP clown show if the truth gets out there.

As now noted in a NYT editorial -

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/op...-irs.html?_r=0

Take Politics Away From the I.R.S.

the legislative language for 501(c)(4) organizations requires them to be

"EXCLUSIVELY for the promotion of social welfare,” and not engage in politics.

Ever since 1959, the IRS has defied that legislative language and the common dictionary to equate "exclusively" with "primarily" - that is what is in the tax code that is the Administration's (starting with Eisenhower) interpretation and execution of Congressional intent. It is also why the IRS waxes and wanes with varying degrees of scrutiny of 501c organizations to determine if they are "primarily" about social welfare.

Obviously, if the IRS went back to the original meaning of "exclusively" (both in legislation and in the dictionary), it would be pretty much of a cakewalk to determine who gets a exemption and who doesn't. Hint, if your organization has the word "Party" (like in say, "T-bagger Party") and your not exclusively throwing birthday parties, you might not just qualify. Gee, imagine that.

The beauty of this is that the switch back to original purpose can be done with a stroke of the pen by the IRS, not even Obama has to sign the change let alone Congress having to get involved. Let's see if that becomes well-know just how fast the currently outraged morons know as the GOP clown show clam up on this issue.

It may take a little more time for some of our local 'brighter lights' to catch on. For a while, they'll wonder why this disappeared from the talking points on Faux News, but then they'll always have their cartoon land Benghazi with the absence of Captain America timely showing up in their clown car to be outraged over.

I have no sympathy whatsoever for the Kochsuckers, who my oh my can dish it out, but they can't take it (see what they did to ACORN).

Originally Posted by playwrite

- let's see how quick this 'scandal' dies out now with the GOP clown show if the truth gets out there.

As now noted in a NYT editorial -

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/op...-irs.html?_r=0

the legislative language for 501(c)(4) organizations requires them to be...

1) Then why is PW whining about an investigation of "progressive" political groups (NAACP, All Saints) which directly inserted themselves into elections?

2) This isn't about investigating organizations, this is about denying them from even getting started. Tea Party and Jewish groups were held up for 27 months while the Barack H. Obama organization slid through in a month after it had been illegally taking tax exempt donations. No comparison, as even CBS admits:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_16...are-angry-too/

...Cohen answered nine IRS questions, many of them about the politics of his website, but he was approved after 18 months.
By contrast, tea party groups faced dozens of questions and many are still waiting for approval after two-and-a-half years...
Specialists in charge of denying tax exemptions to groups whose mission is primarily political began screening applications using three search terms: "tea party," "9/12" and "patriot."

Oh, the Obamanation has found a scapegoat:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-...ama-announces/

...what happened to Lois Lerner, the bureaucrat who was in charge of the tax exempt team?

Originally Posted by JDG 66

...
http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/14/ir...thers-charity/

Lois Lerner, the senior IRS official at the center of the decision to target tea party groups for burdensome tax scrutiny, signed paperwork granting tax-exempt status to the Barack H. Obama Foundation, a shady charity headed by the president’s half-brother that operated illegally for years...

...The National Legal and Policy Center filed an official complaint with the IRS in May 2011 asking why the foundation was being allowed to solicit tax-deductible contributions when it had not even applied for an IRS determination... Nevertheless, a month later, the Barack H. Obama Foundation had flown through the grueling application process. Lerner granted the organization a 501(c) determination and even gave it a retroactive tax exemption dating back to December 2008...

Originally Posted by '58 Flat

I have no sympathy whatsoever for the Kochsuckers, who my oh my can dish it out, but they can't take it (see what they did to ACORN).

-Bad analogy. ACORN was caught in corrupt practices. That is not true of any of the groups (Tea Part, Jewish, et al) which Lerner's group was persecuting.

As for the Koch brothers, I imagine the totalitarian stylings of George Soros are more to your likling?

Originally Posted by JDG 66

-Bad analogy. ACORN was caught in corrupt practices. That is not true of any of the groups (Tea Part, Jewish, et al) which Lerner's group was persecuting.

Actually, ACORN was slandered out of existance. This is an old RW tactic, which is being emplyed on the IRS issue even as we speak. The only thing that ACORN was accused of doing that actually happened was the fake pimp-hooker scam, and that was a single individual at one location who was summarily fired. All the supposed manipulation of voter rolls was shown to be without merit ... not that it mattered any. ACORN was already dead by the time the report was released. I assume you coudnt that as a win.

Originally Posted by JDG 66 ...

As for the Koch brothers, I imagine the totalitarian stylings of George Soros are more to your likling?

It appears that the Kochs have their many fingers in a lot of pies, some fingers hidden and others not. Soros seems to enjoy the limelight, so I assume his involvemnts are all known ... but maybe not. In any case, forcing the 501(c)4s back into social activity, and out of politics, would be a plus all around. If oyou wan to do politics, do a 527.

Originally Posted by Marx & Lennon

Actually, ACORN was slandered out of existance... The only thing that ACORN was accused of doing that actually happened was the fake pimp-hooker scam...

-Yeah, how many charities abet criminal activity?

What crimes have any of these TP or Jewish groups been accuse of? Oh. Nothing.

Originally Posted by Marx & Lennon

...and that was a single individual at one location who was summarily fired...

...Fired after they got caught in the act.

Originally Posted by Marx & Lennon

... All the supposed manipulation of voter rolls was shown to be without merit...

-Says you. But the important thing, is that ACORN scam was able to finance their pack of thugs for a while.

Originally Posted by Marx & Lennon

...It appears that the Kochs have their many fingers in a lot of pies, some fingers hidden and others not...

-With their own money, and legally.

None of your complaints add up to the persecution at the IRS.

Oh. One other thing. The IRS is going to be the enforcement arm of Obamacare.

Sleep well.

Endowing a hospital for treating children with cancer is social welfare. Giving money to establish and stock a library on an Indian Reservation with horrible demographics is either education or social welfare.

Giving money to organize protest movements, whether anti-tax, anti-war, or anti-fur is not social welfare. The Hard Right wants complete freedom to buy the political system from the People so that America can have the sort of economic inequality and labor discipline (as in "strike and die, slow down on the job and go to a concentration camp") one associates with a fascist dictatorship with demands for first-world productivity on third-world compensation.

Originally Posted by pbrower2a

...Giving money to organize protest movements, whether anti-tax, anti-war, or anti-fur is not social welfare...

-Many of the TP organizations were organized to teach the US Constitution. Real menaces to society...

If you rule out the Leftie organizations which are really just protest groups, you don't have much left (including Mr. Horn's beloved ACORN).

That's not the argument anyway, if you've been paying attention. The TP, conservative, and Jewish groups never even got the chance to show what they were, because they got denied for 27 months, while nonsense like this:

Originally Posted by JDG 66

...
http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/14/ir...thers-charity/

Lois Lerner, the senior IRS official at the center of the decision to target tea party groups for burdensome tax scrutiny, signed paperwork granting tax-exempt status to the Barack H. Obama Foundation, a shady charity headed by the president’s half-brother that operated illegally for years...

...The National Legal and Policy Center filed an official complaint with the IRS in May 2011 asking why the foundation was being allowed to solicit tax-deductible contributions when it had not even applied for an IRS determination... Nevertheless, a month later, the Barack H. Obama Foundation had flown through the grueling application process. Lerner granted the organization a 501(c) determination and even gave it a retroactive tax exemption dating back to December 2008...

...got an easy pass.

Explanation, PBR?

Originally Posted by pbrower2a

...the Hard Right wants complete freedom to buy the political system from the People so that America can have the sort of economic inequality and labor discipline (as in "strike and die, slow down on the job and go to a concentration camp") one associates with a fascist dictatorship with demands for first-world productivity on third-world compensation.

-Ho hum. Bad analysis. The free market made America the best society on the planet.

Oops. Almost forgot this:

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics...care-official/

Despite her congressional testimony, the Internal Revenue Service today denied that the former commissioner of tax exempt and government entities – now running the agency’s health care office – was in charge of the unit’s day-to-day operations after Dec. 2010.

Sarah Hall Ingram retained the title of commissioner, with oversight over tax-exempt groups, but the IRS says she moved to the agency’s Affordable Care Act office full time by the end of 2010, six months after the tax agency began selectively scrutinizing conservative groups...

Great.

Originally Posted by pbrower2a

Endowing a hospital for treating children with cancer is social welfare. Giving money to establish and stock a library on an Indian Reservation with horrible demographics is either education or social welfare.

Giving money to organize protest movements, whether anti-tax, anti-war, or anti-fur is not social welfare. The Hard Right wants complete freedom to buy the political system from the People so that America can have the sort of economic inequality and labor discipline (as in "strike and die, slow down on the job and go to a concentration camp") one associates with a fascist dictatorship with demands for first-world productivity on third-world compensation.

i

There you go with your Fascism crap again. Of course when thuggish, fascistic tactics are employed by your hero Obama you look the other way, make excuses, obfuscate and make wild charges against the "hard right". You and your ilk had no problem painting the Bush admin with the brush of Abu Graib, yet when the IRS abuses conservatives for political reasons such as when large donors of the conservative stripe suddenly find themselves being audited after making a donation you guys are all "nothing to see here folks". .

Originally Posted by Weave

i

There you go with your Fascism crap again. Of course when thuggish, fascistic tactics are employed by your hero Obama you look the other way, make excuses, obfuscate and make wild charges against the "hard right". You and your ilk had no problem painting the Bush admin with the brush of Abu Graib, yet when the IRS abuses conservatives for political reasons such as when large donors of the conservative stripe suddenly find themselves being audited after making a donation you guys are all "nothing to see here folks". .

Sicking the IRS on political adversaries sounds pretty fascist to me.

Originally Posted by playwrite

Sorry dude again, I know how you all have a fetish for conflating things, but Nixion actually ORDERED IRS (as well as FBI) probes of his target list. There has NOT been, and there will not be, any link between what these 2 IRS agents did and Obama, not even within a dozen layers of the management chain. You guys are gong to look increasingly desperate in making these comparisons - well, at least to those who don't get all their 'info' of the world from Faux News.

Without the support of the press, you're right, Obama walks away free. However at that point, the damage will be done and the result will be an even greater divide in America because government credability and whatever faith that's left in it is going to be lost. I don't expect Obama to be smart enough to think big picture or contemplate the future impacts this could have on him and the progress of his party and the people who are associated with his party or rely on the party. Obama's skin tone doesn't grant him a pass with people like me. Sorry dude, you're guy has some serious character flaws that I don't like regardless of the persons skin tone.