Letters We Wish We'd Written Dept., Followed By a Sad Trombone

From today's once great Washington Post Kaplan Daily:

Still another article in The Post ["House GOP bills intended to push White House on scandals," The Fed Page, July 10] used the phrase 'the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of conservative political groups."

Notwithstanding IRS official Lois Lerner's disastrous and inexplicable "admission" to the contrary, there has been no evidence yet adduced that the IRS "targeted" conservative groups. To the contrary, the facts so far tell us that the IRS's exempt organizations division did exactly what it is supposed to do.  It must attempt to implement properly a 100-year-old provision of the tax code that requires the service to differentiate between organizations that are primarily "social welfare" organizations, hence properly exempt under the statute, from ones that are primarily political -- conservative or not -- and hence not exempt.

Regrettably, repeated use of phrases such as "targeting conservative organizations" and "IRS scandal" implants those notions in the public consciousness, and subsequent revelations are unlikely to change that.  The only scandal is the way the news media leap on incomplete "facts" and parrot unsupported accusations to churn controversy. Good people's jobs and reputations have already been damaged, if not destroyed.  Words matter.  But then you don't need me to tell you that.

Conrad Rosenberg,
Silver Spring
The writer is a retired branch chief of the exempt organizations division of the Internal Revenue Service.

Regular readers of the Kaplan Daily see this all the time in the reportage, not just with the IRS nothingburger, but with of every bit of undigested barf that it disgorged from the right-wing media and finds its way uncritically into "mainstream" outlets like the Kaplan Daily.   It's all about sales, hits, "winning the morning," whatever you wish to call it -- just don't call it journalism.

Of course, it's not just the print media that engages in this endless, mindless rock-turning.  Sadly, some deranged souls don't even remember rocks they turned over earlier.  Cue the sad trombone.

Quote of the Day - IRS Hearings Division

Bravo, Rep. Jim McDermott (D- WA), schooling the tea baggers at the IRS hearings the other day :

“But as I listen to this discussion, I’d like to remind everyone what we are talking about here. None of your organizations were kept from organizing or silenced.  We are talking about whether or not the American taxpayers would subsidize your work. We are talking about a tax break.

“I get the feeling that many of you and my Republican colleagues don’t just believe you should be free from political targeting, but that you should be free from scrutiny of any kind.

“The purpose of C3 and C4 tax exemptions is to enable easier promotion of public good, not political work. It is the responsibility of the IRS to determine which groups are choosing the correct exempt status and which are trying to manipulate the system to avoid taxes and hide political organizations and their campaign donors. Without oversight, a status meant for charities becomes a machine for political money laundering. And if you think that’s farfetched, you can talk to Speaker Gingrich. He was fined $300,000 by the Ethics Committee for funneling money from a C3 to his Political Action Committee.

“Each of your groups is highly political. From opposing the President’s healthcare reform, to abortion restrictions, to gay marriage, you’re all entrenched in some of the most controversial political issues in this country – and with your applications you are asking the American public to pay for that work. Many of you host and endorse candidates. The line between permitted political activity and non-permitted political activity can be very fine, and it’s important that tax payers know which side you fall on."  (our emphasis)

More Democrats need to get out of their crouch (h/t Mr. Pierce) and lay these points out in clear terms, over and over, whether the cameras are rolling or not.

The IRS and the Tea Party Scammers

From the New York Times yesterday:

When CVFC, a conservative veterans’ group in California, applied for tax-exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service, its biggest expenditure that year was several thousand dollars in radio ads backing a Republican candidate for Congress.

The Wetumpka Tea Party, from Alabama, sponsored training for a get-out-the-vote initiative dedicated to the “defeat of President Barack Obama” while the I.R.S. was weighing its application.

And the head of the Ohio Liberty Coalition, whose application languished with the I.R.S. for more than two years, sent out e-mails to members about Mitt Romney campaign events and organized members to distribute Mr. Romney’s presidential campaign literature.

Representatives of these organizations have cried foul in recent weeks about their treatment by the I.R.S., saying they were among dozens of conservative groups unfairly targeted by the agency, harassed with inappropriate questionnaires and put off for months or years as the agency delayed decisions on their applications.

But a close examination of these groups and others reveals an array of election activities that tax experts and former I.R.S. officials said would provide a legitimate basis for flagging them for closer review. (our emphasis)

Do those groups sound like "social welfare organizations" to you?

Charles Pierce has a pithy analysis and suggestion which we heartily endorse:

... a lot of what is being called a "scandal" is plainly an attempt to police a scam designed by people who are trained to game any campaign-finance system, and who have made their careers doing precisely that. Maybe it's time for the IRS — and the administration — to come out of a crouch on this.

Yeah, we'd like to see the Obama Administration stop being on the defensive about the IRS trying to police these teatard scam outfits' gaming the tax system.  Come out of a crouch and take the offensive.

BONUS:  Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog has another example of the game-playing.

Letters We Wish We'd Written - IRS "Scandal" Edition

From today's once great Washington Post Kaplan Daily:

The May 20 front-page article “How the IRS seeded the clouds for a political deluge” buried inside the paper the following sentence: “Many liberal-leaning and nonpolitical groups were also caught up in the effort.”

Oh? The entire thrust of the Internal Revenue Service “scandal” being pushed by Republican and tea party groups is that President Obama had the IRS target them for special mistreatment because of their political leaning. If that were true, one would have expected that tax-exemption applications from left-leaning “social welfare organizations” would have sailed through the IRS at warp speed.

For the past week, I have read many articles online of similar problems encountered by progressive groups seeking 501(c)(4) status. But there has been far less about this in what the GOP and tea party groups like to call the “liberal lamestream media.”

The fact that applications from groups of all political stripes met with similar problems from the IRS belies the Republican narrative. Therefore, it belonged on the front page, not buried inside.

Henry Cohn, Gaithersburg

A long time ago, they used to practice journalism at the Kaplan Daily.  Now, it's just easier to follow the herd and copy Rethuglican talking points.

Sunday Cartoon Trifecta - "Scandal!" Edition

(Steve Breen, Arizona Republic, via gocomics.com)

(Jim Morin, Miami Herald, via gocomics.com)

(Tom Toles, once great Washington Post Kaplan Daily, via gocomics.com)

A Note on the IRS "Scandal"

The storm of outrage that the Rethuglicans and their friends in the Beltway media are stoking over the IRS' scrutiny of conservative 501(c) (4) groups that were applying for tax exempt status might note this.
At least three progressive groups were also scrutinized over whether they were a "social welfare" group, as required by the above-mentioned IRS code.

If you consider that the outpouring of right-wing corporate money into conservative 501(c) (4) groups has overwhelmed similar progressive groups since Citizens United came along, you'll understand why the vast majority of groups examined were right-wing and not progressive.  So when you hear some boob on, say, Morning Joke, wax indignant over the IRS' blundering, remember that it was the Rethug-backed Citizens United case that opened the door to gaming the tax code to fund sleazy political ads, and the IRS has been walking a tightrope ever since.

New Shoes Drop

Just as the public is beginning to see the Benghazi! BENGHAZI!! frenzy as a transparent attempt to preempt a run by Secretary Hillary Clinton in 2016, the Obama Administration can't seem to stop stepping on its own shoelaces.  The story of the IRS "targeting" tea party and other right-wing outfits for review who received tax exemptions under the IRS code, coupled with the breaking story of the Associated Press' phone records being examined in an investigation of Executive Branch national security leaks, are sadly giving new legs to the wingnut scandal-mongers.  Talk about self-inflicted wounds.

The President and Dems can't afford to let the Rethugs and their front groups spin the narrative for political purposes.  They need to do thorough and independent investigations of what happened and if wrongdoing was committed, hold those responsible to account.