IRS Confidential

Wall Street Journal ^ | August 27, 2003 | REVIEW & OUTLOOK Staff

[John Beresford Tipton]

Most Americans know behavior that deserves to be called "poor judgment" when they see it. But at the Justice Department, the definition evidently doesn't include smearing innocent taxpayers or throwing a stink bomb in the middle of a contentious gubernatorial race.

[John Beresford Tipton]

Your government at work- no matter how bad the misconduct no one ever gets fired.

[heleny]

Did the release of Mr. Simon's name in connection with an allegedly illegal tax "scheme" spell the difference between victory and defeat? We'll never know.

That linking with illegal tax shelters, plus the tainted jury decision (which was later overturned) against his company, hurt Simon a lot. I think those two things, combined with some of Simon's own campaign inexperience, cost him the election. The first two hurt his image so much, despite his less-publicized subsequent vindication, that he had very high negative ratings and his potential political career may have ended already.

[gunnedah]

Communist or Dictatorship! You make the choice,this all started under the Clinton Administration and GW went in there and kept Clintons minions and now we are paying for it.
Remember the FBI files and "Travelgate"? Remember how all those people that caused Clinton problems were randomly audited. But you never saw any house cleaning when Bush went in.
The liberal Democrats still have their machine in place ready to roll when they get back in office and whether America wants to face up to it or not our government is being overthrown.
One or two more liberals on the US Supreme Court and America is gone.
No telling how many people are being blackmailed or manipulated for the upcoming electios and it would not suprise me if a lot were in Congress!

[ThirstyMan]

Election politics are getting more and more unscrupulous.

No question this charge was a dart to the heart of the Simon campaign. The "rats" are doing whatever it takes now to win elections. No scruples at all.
Fund raising? use the oval office! Abuses are tolerated and encouraged. Why? Because they aid the individual when they are needed most! And the consequences? They can be dealt with after the election is over by writing a remourseful check of apology. How often have we heard the defense "We returned all their money" ?

That's not campaign integrity. That's winning at any and all costs.
Too bad we can't figure out a way to punish these offenders in such a way that their unscrupulous antics would alter the future validity of an election's outcome.

[lepton]

FYI

[eno_]

NOtice how the WSJ doesn't have the balls to name the names of the IRS people responsible for actually leaking the information.

Bahhh, bahhh, bahhh, say the sheep as they read our "free" press.

[unixfox]

Your government at work- no matter how bad the misconduct no one ever gets fired.

That's why WE THE PEOPLE need to take our country back and throw all of these low life assholes(FEDERAL JUDGES INCLUDED) out of office and abolish the IRS.

[Protagoras]

IRS= American Gestapo

[Theodore R.]

Is Bush really trying to convert these clintoid holdovers into supporting his reelection? If so, such an attitude is likely to lead to a fourth or more of his base failing to show up at the polls in November 2004.

[gunnedah]

I am sure it has something to do with politics but sometime it is hard to place people in some of these positions because of ongoing things.Bush has some negatives and I myself wish we had more of a choice.But I dont know of anyone with a (D) beside their name I can vote for and it is a known fact you have to be Republican or Democrat to win.
I think Mugabe would be a preference over anyone the Democrats will offer. There are some moderate Democrats I could vote for but the liberals will pick the next nominee from the Dems and we cant afford to stay at home. The Democrats are taking us toward a Communist state or even a dictator.

[BureaucratusMaximus]

That's why WE THE PEOPLE need to take our country back and throw all of these low life assholes(FEDERAL JUDGES INCLUDED) out of office and abolish the IRS.

Oh yeah? You and what army? /heavy sarcasm

[ElkGroveDan]

That this impacted the Simon campaign was NOT incidental. One of the liberal hacks in there saw that name and made a point of realsing the information. No one is ever going to convince me otherwise.

[upchuck]

Overall I think President Bush is doing a pretty good job. I'll likely vote for him in Nov 2004.

But I fault him big time on a couple of items. One, related to this thread, is leaving way too many Clintonites in power positions in the gubament.

The other, unrelated to this thread, is having, for all intents and purposes, no policy on arresting and deporting criminal aliens invading our country.