Posted on 05/14/2013 11:47:16 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Yesterday, Barack Obama tried to get ahead of the IRS scandal by promising a full investigation into the policy of targeting the administration’s opponents for extra scrutiny and harassment when applying for tax-exempt status for their groups. Color House Oversight chair Darrell Issa … unimpressed. Appearing on CBS News this morning, Issa told Charlie Rose that there is no way the House will allow the executive branch to conduct the only investigation into the systematic targeting of conservatives:
House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) on Tuesday blasted President Obama for suggesting the administration could fairly investigate claims the IRS unfairly targeted conservative political groups.
“How dare the administration imply that they’re going to get to the bottom of it,” said Issa in an interview on CBS’s “This Morning.”
“This was the targeting of the president’s political enemies effectively and lies about it during the election year so that it wasn’t discovered until afterwards,” he added. “The fact is this is the kind of investigation that has to be open and transparent to the American people.”
Issa also calls out Lois Lerner for her bizarre attempt to spin the Inspector General report ahead of time. I’ve been writing about that since the weekend. She insisted that the issues were located only in one office (a lie) and that it was restricted to low-level workers (another lie).
Today, IRS Commissioner Steve Miller — who knew about this since May 2012 and didn’t inform Congress — tried apologizing for a “lack of sensitivity” in investigating conservative groups:
The IRS acting chief acknowledged Tuesday that the agency demonstrated “a lack of sensitivity” in its screenings of political groups seeking tax-exempt status, but he said those mistakes won’t be repeated.
In his first public comment on the case, Steven Miller said there was “a shortcut taken in our processes” for determining which groups needed special screening.
Miller has emerged as a key figure in the controversy over the IRS’ singling out of conservative groups for extra scrutiny. President Barack Obama said Monday that if the agency intentionally targeted such groups, “that’s outrageous and there’s no place for it.”
In an opinion piece in Tuesday’s editions of USA Today, Miller said conceded that the agency demonstrated “a lack of sensitivity to the implications of some of the decisions that were made.” He said screening of advocacy groups is “factually complex, and it’s challenging to separate out political issues from those involving education or social welfare.”
“The mistakes we made were due to the absence of a sufficient process for working the increase in cases and a lack of sensitivity to the implications of some of the decisions that were made,” Miller wrote.
Er, sure. It was just “a lack of sensitivity” to the fact that the IRS targeted the administration’s political opponents while they were attempting to organize effectively during not one but two election cycles, and Miller and other officials never told Congress about it. That’s practically Lerneresque in terms of spin.
No wonder Issa has zero confidence in the White House.
Update: One former IRS commissioner told CBS News that the agency “absolutely did the wrong thing,” but notice how CBS News emphasizes a sinister sense about these groups first:
Maybe the DoJ is looking into CBS’ phone records, huh?
Let’s face it, I think the Republic is lost. Issa has not been very aggressive in anything he’s investigated and the majority of Repubs in the House and Senate have been a major disappointment and continue to be. Boehner is an obstructionist. Whatever is coming, and we know it can’t be good, it must be a very powerful motivator to cause so many seemingly good men to become compromising turn coat Republicans. It can’t just be their lack of a spine as the temptation to fold seems so great to most all of them. A black time for our country for sure. Make no mistake, this is the final test. If Obama survives these latest scandals or is not compromised badly in the process, we are lost.
First, they came for the Tea Partiers but I was not a gun and Bible clinger so I did not object. Next they came for the moderates and independents but I did not object for I was an Obama loving liberal fool. Then they came for my food stamps and forced me into slave labor. All private property (not that I had any) has been confiscated by the government and the execution of political enemies on TV has begun. Now I understand.
The outcome is always so predictable when they investigate themselves....
The list, Ping
Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list
I would hope not given the way Obama Gerry ridged the Benghazi investigation.
We ;ve got to pick 1 or at most 2 things to focus and hammer.
I say it is the IRS scandal and stopping the big brother Amnesty bill
I think the AP “scandal” coming out at the right time to distract from the IRS scandal(as it was breaking) was planned by the news media to distract from the IRS scandal
Like every thing else that the repubs do it will be half assed and dropped after they look like idiots. I have no faith in the repubs doing anything but roll over so the dems can rub their bellies and say good boy.
I will just keep buying ammo so I can defend myself and my family when the dictator rises to the top.
I’m sorry but Issa means nothing. all I ever hear is Issa investigations but i have yet to see one head roll in this very target rich environment.
Issa and the House aren’t the problem... look to the demonic-rat Senate.
So who is left pursing the treason and malfeasance in Benghazi?
Mission accomplished?
Time to abolish this criminal organization and put every employee that works for them in the streets!
RE: DEFUND IT!
How do we collect taxes from now on?
(I just now saw your pings!!)
OKay......LOL.
Thanks so much!!!!!
There’s a bigger one on the FReepathon thread.
Either a national sales tax or a flat tax. Either way would be better than the criminal organization called the IRS.
Issa has not been very aggressive in anything he’s investigated and the majority of Repubs in the House and Senate have been a major disappointment and continue to be.
Good for Issa...
“”””Issa and the House aren’t the problem... look to the demonic-rat Senate.””””
He has not accomplished anything yet, and I don’t expect him to. If we had the senate, presidency and house nothing would get done. We had all three and SSN reform was not done and niether was the reform of Fanny and Freddy mac. The repubs knew something had to be done and yet folded under pressure. I expect the same thing again.
In other words I expect the current set of repubs to fail as is their normal behavior. You can believe, but I will hold my breath hoping for the best while preparing for failure.
That SOB Black Panther should've been FIRED after Fast & Furious.
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