So once again, President Obama gets up before the mic and says the following:
"We will get to the bottom of it."
"We will hold those responsible accountable."
"We will make sure it never happens again."
Heard this song before? Can you say "Benghazi"?
Once again, the administration will find a convenient scapegoat to fall on his or her sword. This time it is acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller. No Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. No ex-Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. No Sir. Attorney General Eric Holder is on the job conducting the appropriate investigation, just as the DOJ Inspector General investigated Operation Fast and Furious and the Accountability Review Board investigated Benghazi for the State Department. Once again, the top dogs are found to be not involved-not aware of the malfeasance.
As for Miller, let me say this; I know nothing about him or what he has said about this scandal in the past. I do note, however, that he is a 25-year IRS veteran. That tells me he is no political hack. He came up though the ranks. Having someone like that in charge-acting or otherwise- has its advantages and disadvantages. One advantage is that they more readily identify with the field agents. The disadvantage is that people like that don't have the clout to resist pressure from above. Is this the situation here? I say this as a retired DEA agent who has seen DEA administrators (directors) come and go, some who came up through the ranks, and some who were people with clout and connections who were appointed.
Can it be that a career IRS agent who has advanced to the top-albeit in an acting position- would decide to abuse the agency for crass political purposes? Possibly, but not likely.
What is more likely is that such a person found himself or herself being pressured from above by the political types. Miller's boss was the Treasury Secretary, first Tim Geithner, later Jack Lew, both political hacks subservient to the President. And this guy (Miller) is supposed to take the fall for this?
These scandals all require an independent special prosecutor.
And on a related note: Yesterday, Julian Bond, the chairman of the NAACP, appeared on (where else?) MSNBC and blasted the Tea Party, one of the principal victims of this outrage. He characterized the Tea Party as "admittedly racist" in actually defending the IRS' actions.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/may/14/naacps-julien-bond-its-ok-irs-target-racist-tea-pa/
What an outrageous lie! The Tea Party is neither "admittedly racist" nor racist at all. This despicable man (Bond) owes millions of decent Americans an apology. He won't give it, of course. That is the type of liar he is. How low has the NAACP sunk from what was once a great organization?
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8 comments:
The Obama Administration is all about power and control. After all, this is the Saul Alinsky, Chicago way. Now, I agree with the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives who put this all into perspective by saying "it is not who is going to be fired, it is who is going to jail." The acts of the agents at the IRS committed felonies. With this said, prosecutors should use this as a bargaining chip with the offenders, to find out who delivered the message to get the "Conservatives". It would be very interesting to see where the trail ends.
Squid
It is a familiar pattern. First they are going to get to the bottom of this mess... find out all the facts. Then after 7 or 8 months they claim it is "old news" and nobody cares about it any more. They put as much effort into getting to the bottom of it as OJ Simpson did in finding the real killers of his wife and Ron Perlman.
Insofar as the actual people who refused the assistance to Bengahzi, the ones in the IRS who made life so difficult for the conservative organizations, or those involved in the AP scandal, it really isn't necessary to give them orders. They are apparatchiks and do what they know will please the boss. It is very much like Shakespeare's Henry V, who muses (out loud)"Will no one rid me of this (troublesome) priest?" (I've seen it both ways) The others know what to do without being asked.
The government is filled with these party loyal bureaucrats who believe just as Obama does. Of course they are going to hold up Tea Party applications for 3 years and give one in a day to Obama's half brother. He set up a charitable organization named "Barack H. Obama" to build madrases, etc. in Kenya and he was approved in a day. There is no evidence that anything was built but all contributions were tax deductions.
Obama should be impeached for any of these scandals, much less for all three.
.
After Obama's talk yesterday I had to check the calendar. For a moment I thought the year was 1973.
Julian Bond is well past his prime. He and the Tea Party deserve each other.
Gary--don't hold your breath for a special prosecutor or independent counsel or whatever their name is these days. Clinton/Reno went along with the idea and look what it got him. Never happen.
P.S.--Holder could not "investigate" his way out of a wet paper bag.
This IRS stuff is pretty small potatoes. First, the agency operates quasi-independently, as a direct result of Nixon's deliberate use of it to target his enemies. Second, vetting applicants for tax exempt status is a legitimate function of the IRS, and lower level employees do it every day. They adopted some dubious short cuts to deal with a rapid expansion in their work load, with no evidence of orders from on high. That's about all there is here folks.
John Boehner is neither a judge nor a prosecutor, so what he says about going to jail is supremely irrelevant.
As I've said all along, the real solution is to get the IRS out of the business of deciding who deserves to have tax exempt status bestowed upon them, but abolishing the status of tax exempt organization. Let people donate because they believe in the cause, not because they are going to get to reduce what part of their income is taxable.
Siarlys,
You should apply for Jay Carney's job. I suspect it will be open soon.
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