Who cares about Benghazi?
May 10, 2013 3:02 PM Subscribe
You thought the interminable hearings on Benghazi were bad? Wait until you hear what's next--the IRS just admitted that it improperly targeted conservative groups during the 2012 presidential election.
On Friday, the Internal Revenue Service admitted that it improperly targeted conservative "tea party" and "patriot" groups during the 2012 presidential election. In a "torturous" press conference, during which a senior IRS official admitted being bad at math, the IRS admitted that "between 2010 and 2012, about 75 of these groups were selected for extra screening as part of a broader review of political advocacy organizations that were seeking tax-exempt status. Front-line IRS employees working in the tax-exempt unit in Cincinnati selected groups with “tea party” or “patriot” in their names...as a shorthand because of the proliferation of these groups in recent years. The employees also requested donor lists from some of the groups and sent questionnaires seeking overly broad information."
At least one commentator thinks the IRS only erred in that it should have aggressively investigated all 501c4 nonprofit organizations, not just conservative ones.
Hearings will commence shortly, according to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA).
On Friday, the Internal Revenue Service admitted that it improperly targeted conservative "tea party" and "patriot" groups during the 2012 presidential election. In a "torturous" press conference, during which a senior IRS official admitted being bad at math, the IRS admitted that "between 2010 and 2012, about 75 of these groups were selected for extra screening as part of a broader review of political advocacy organizations that were seeking tax-exempt status. Front-line IRS employees working in the tax-exempt unit in Cincinnati selected groups with “tea party” or “patriot” in their names...as a shorthand because of the proliferation of these groups in recent years. The employees also requested donor lists from some of the groups and sent questionnaires seeking overly broad information."
At least one commentator thinks the IRS only erred in that it should have aggressively investigated all 501c4 nonprofit organizations, not just conservative ones.
Hearings will commence shortly, according to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA).
This post was deleted for the following reason: This is confusingly framed and not really the best way to make a post about the subject. -- restless_nomad
Welp, they're going to try to impeach Obama.
posted by vibrotronica at 3:14 PM on May 10, 2013
posted by vibrotronica at 3:14 PM on May 10, 2013
If they can connect this to the White House, they will. But eh, the Tea Party (especially fringe versions) is, in many ways, a scam. Hopefully some of that will come to light in these hearings as well.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 3:16 PM on May 10, 2013
posted by Potomac Avenue at 3:16 PM on May 10, 2013
Staff members at that office singled out the terms “Tea Party” and “patriot,” she said, but not out of political bias; it was “just their shortcut.” Only about a quarter of the 300 cases flagged for scrutiny were Tea Party-related, she said, but she called the singling out of those groups “absolutely inappropriate and not the way we should do things.”
I wonder if the IRS also uses shortcuts for investigating non-Tea Party groups with either 501c4 or 501c3 applications. I think they do. I bet Muslim Friends or Friends of Islam or stuff like that probably gets a closer look. Let's see a review of that.
posted by discopolo at 3:17 PM on May 10, 2013
I wonder if the IRS also uses shortcuts for investigating non-Tea Party groups with either 501c4 or 501c3 applications. I think they do. I bet Muslim Friends or Friends of Islam or stuff like that probably gets a closer look. Let's see a review of that.
posted by discopolo at 3:17 PM on May 10, 2013
These sentences stick out to me:
> Campaign finance watchdogs have said for years that 501(c)(4) tax exemptions are widely abused by conservative and liberal groups whose primary purpose is to influence elections, not to promote “social welfare,” as tax-exempt status mandates.
> Between 2010 and 2012, applications for 501(c)(4) tax exemptions nearly doubled, to more than 2,400. As the agency has done in the past, it centralized the processing of that surge at its Cincinnati office, where about 300 were flagged for further examination.
>Staff members at that office singled out the terms “Tea Party” and “patriot,” she said, but not out of political bias; it was “just their shortcut.” Only about a quarter of the 300 cases flagged for scrutiny were Tea Party-related.
>Lisa Gilbert, the director of Public Citizen’s Congress Watch division, said the I.R.S. should not be targeting any particular political ideology. But, she said, questioning applicants for tax exemption to determine whether they were primarily political was entirely proper and should be more widely pursued.
Sounds like many conservative groups are trying to become tax excempt so the IRS flagged the applications to check it out. Doesn't actually sound as bad as it initially did. But I guess we'll see.
posted by Rashomon at 3:18 PM on May 10, 2013 [4 favorites]
> Campaign finance watchdogs have said for years that 501(c)(4) tax exemptions are widely abused by conservative and liberal groups whose primary purpose is to influence elections, not to promote “social welfare,” as tax-exempt status mandates.
> Between 2010 and 2012, applications for 501(c)(4) tax exemptions nearly doubled, to more than 2,400. As the agency has done in the past, it centralized the processing of that surge at its Cincinnati office, where about 300 were flagged for further examination.
>Staff members at that office singled out the terms “Tea Party” and “patriot,” she said, but not out of political bias; it was “just their shortcut.” Only about a quarter of the 300 cases flagged for scrutiny were Tea Party-related.
>Lisa Gilbert, the director of Public Citizen’s Congress Watch division, said the I.R.S. should not be targeting any particular political ideology. But, she said, questioning applicants for tax exemption to determine whether they were primarily political was entirely proper and should be more widely pursued.
Sounds like many conservative groups are trying to become tax excempt so the IRS flagged the applications to check it out. Doesn't actually sound as bad as it initially did. But I guess we'll see.
posted by Rashomon at 3:18 PM on May 10, 2013 [4 favorites]
From the "senior IRS official admitted being bad at math" link:
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:19 PM on May 10, 2013
5. Lerner and her staff tried to get off the phone call after less than half an hour of questioning, but Columbia Journalism Review reporter (and Pulitzer Prize winner) David Cay Johnston informed them that they had better stay and answer everyone’s questions. They stayed on the call for another 20 minutes. By the end, they said Lerner had to get to some appointments and cited the “repetitive” line of questioning. Johnston informed them that it was because they weren’t answering the questions.It sounds like amateur hour in so many ways.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:19 PM on May 10, 2013
Christ, my uncle's never going to shut the fuck up about this.
posted by Optamystic at 3:22 PM on May 10, 2013 [11 favorites]
posted by Optamystic at 3:22 PM on May 10, 2013 [11 favorites]
It doesn't matter what it sounds like. It just doesn't matter.
They will continue to ask the same question time and time again, and they will disregard any answer, however truthful, or even however actually harmful to the government that answer might be.
They truly care only for the questions.
By they, I mean, of course, them.
posted by mule98J at 3:23 PM on May 10, 2013
They will continue to ask the same question time and time again, and they will disregard any answer, however truthful, or even however actually harmful to the government that answer might be.
They truly care only for the questions.
By they, I mean, of course, them.
posted by mule98J at 3:23 PM on May 10, 2013
Right-Wing Troll Notification System Test
posted by brundlefly at 3:25 PM on May 10, 2013 [7 favorites]
posted by brundlefly at 3:25 PM on May 10, 2013 [7 favorites]
Christ, my uncle's never going to shut the fuck up about this.
Prepare your facebook feed.
posted by atrazine at 3:25 PM on May 10, 2013 [3 favorites]
Prepare your facebook feed.
posted by atrazine at 3:25 PM on May 10, 2013 [3 favorites]
Also, it sounds like everyone (the press, white house and republicans) are in general agreement that these some heads should roll.
Curious to see how this will be connected to Benghazi.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:26 PM on May 10, 2013 [1 favorite]
Curious to see how this will be connected to Benghazi.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:26 PM on May 10, 2013 [1 favorite]
Did they also screen groups with words like, "progressive" or "liberal" in their name? That seems like a pretty pertinent question that I haven't seen addressed.
posted by muddgirl at 3:28 PM on May 10, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by muddgirl at 3:28 PM on May 10, 2013 [4 favorites]
Welp, they're going to try to impeach Obama.
That's been a GOP initiative for every Democratic President since Nixon resigned. Get one to resign in disgrace or impeach them out of office. To even things up.
posted by Thorzdad at 3:29 PM on May 10, 2013
That's been a GOP initiative for every Democratic President since Nixon resigned. Get one to resign in disgrace or impeach them out of office. To even things up.
posted by Thorzdad at 3:29 PM on May 10, 2013
If the words "progressive" or "liberal" appear in the name of your group, you don't have any donors to screen.
posted by Optamystic at 3:29 PM on May 10, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by Optamystic at 3:29 PM on May 10, 2013 [4 favorites]
Welp, they're going to try to impeach Obama.
See also: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012.
If they can connect this to the White House, they will.
They can't even connect it to anyone outside of the Cincinnati office at the moment, but regardless, pretty much everybody agrees that this was stupid and wrong (not necessarily in that order). Odd that only now will conservatives complain about 501c4s like liberals have since Citizens United.
posted by zombieflanders at 3:30 PM on May 10, 2013 [1 favorite]
See also: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012.
If they can connect this to the White House, they will.
They can't even connect it to anyone outside of the Cincinnati office at the moment, but regardless, pretty much everybody agrees that this was stupid and wrong (not necessarily in that order). Odd that only now will conservatives complain about 501c4s like liberals have since Citizens United.
posted by zombieflanders at 3:30 PM on May 10, 2013 [1 favorite]
Somehow, the end result of this will be that conservative 501c4s are exempt from auditing for the next decade or so. I look forward to that.
posted by feloniousmonk at 3:30 PM on May 10, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by feloniousmonk at 3:30 PM on May 10, 2013 [2 favorites]
What a tedious non-story.
posted by kaspen at 3:34 PM on May 10, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by kaspen at 3:34 PM on May 10, 2013 [1 favorite]
This is what happens when you don't have an entire generation read books like "Black Like Me". It's not even a great book, but is a great starter to exploring privilege.
The persecution complex that white (mostly) Christian conservatives is just staggering.
posted by iheijoushin at 3:34 PM on May 10, 2013
The persecution complex that white (mostly) Christian conservatives is just staggering.
posted by iheijoushin at 3:34 PM on May 10, 2013
Also:
Hearings will commence shortly, according to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA).
13 attacks on embassies, Operation Wide Receiver, and a Justice Department firing scandal that went at least as high as the Attorney General during the Bush Administration?
Meh.
Benghazi, Fast and Furious, and the DOJ Civil Rights division refusing to go after the New Black Panther Party because they're actually chasing down people violating the Voting Rights Act?
OMG WE'LL GET RIGHT ON IT AND IMPEACH THAT MOTHERFUCKER.
posted by zombieflanders at 3:35 PM on May 10, 2013 [4 favorites]
Hearings will commence shortly, according to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA).
13 attacks on embassies, Operation Wide Receiver, and a Justice Department firing scandal that went at least as high as the Attorney General during the Bush Administration?
Meh.
Benghazi, Fast and Furious, and the DOJ Civil Rights division refusing to go after the New Black Panther Party because they're actually chasing down people violating the Voting Rights Act?
OMG WE'LL GET RIGHT ON IT AND IMPEACH THAT MOTHERFUCKER.
posted by zombieflanders at 3:35 PM on May 10, 2013 [4 favorites]
Yeah, McConnell calling it "these thuggish practices" really just lowers the bar for thuggery. Remember when thugs actually had to strangle someone for Kali?
posted by klangklangston at 3:37 PM on May 10, 2013 [11 favorites]
posted by klangklangston at 3:37 PM on May 10, 2013 [11 favorites]
No, this will be an extension of the "Obama Coming For Our Guns" thing.
posted by sageleaf at 3:40 PM on May 10, 2013
posted by sageleaf at 3:40 PM on May 10, 2013
The same Mitch McConnell who was planning on going after a famous political rival by pointing out that she was suicidal in 6th grade, and said that the job of the Senate GOP was not to actually do anything but "make Obama a one-term President" is talking about thuggery? That's rich.
posted by zombieflanders at 3:44 PM on May 10, 2013
posted by zombieflanders at 3:44 PM on May 10, 2013
I bet Muslim Friends or Friends of Islam or stuff like that probably gets a closer look. Let's see a review of that.
Unfortunately, those would also count as "conservative groups"
posted by Renoroc at 3:45 PM on May 10, 2013
Unfortunately, those would also count as "conservative groups"
posted by Renoroc at 3:45 PM on May 10, 2013
Flagged as FOXfilter
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:46 PM on May 10, 2013
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:46 PM on May 10, 2013
Cool, time to avoid all news blogs and outlets for the next 3 months
posted by hellojed at 3:51 PM on May 10, 2013
posted by hellojed at 3:51 PM on May 10, 2013
I think if you look through my posting history, you'll find that I'm pretty much the opposite of a fan of Fox News. However, I do think this is going to be made into much more of a story than it deserves-even considering how inappropriate it appears to be at first glance-and so we should be aware of and have a conversation about it.
posted by postel's law at 3:52 PM on May 10, 2013
posted by postel's law at 3:52 PM on May 10, 2013
The partisan editorializing in this FPP would never be tolerated if it came from a conservative perspective.
posted by BobbyVan at 3:52 PM on May 10, 2013
posted by BobbyVan at 3:52 PM on May 10, 2013
Did they also screen groups with words like, "progressive" or "liberal" in their name? That seems like a pretty pertinent question that I haven't seen addressed.
According to the IRS' spokesperson during her comically incompetent press briefing
IRS officials claimed that there was no political bias behind the targeting of these conservative groups, but they failed to produce any examples of similar targeting of groups with non-conservative-sounding names. Initially, they suggested that other non-conservative-sounding names might have been targeted. By the end of the call, though, Lerner acknowledged: “I only said that because I never like to say ‘absolutely not.’ I don’t have any information on that.”
posted by atrazine at 3:55 PM on May 10, 2013 [1 favorite]
According to the IRS' spokesperson during her comically incompetent press briefing
IRS officials claimed that there was no political bias behind the targeting of these conservative groups, but they failed to produce any examples of similar targeting of groups with non-conservative-sounding names. Initially, they suggested that other non-conservative-sounding names might have been targeted. By the end of the call, though, Lerner acknowledged: “I only said that because I never like to say ‘absolutely not.’ I don’t have any information on that.”
posted by atrazine at 3:55 PM on May 10, 2013 [1 favorite]
The partisan editorializing in this FPP would never be tolerated if it came from a conservative perspective.
Not sure if Poe's Law?
posted by zombieflanders at 3:55 PM on May 10, 2013
Not sure if Poe's Law?
posted by zombieflanders at 3:55 PM on May 10, 2013
Shouldn't they get an exemption if they're taxed enough already?
posted by Obscure Reference at 4:13 PM on May 10, 2013
posted by Obscure Reference at 4:13 PM on May 10, 2013
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posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:13 PM on May 10, 2013 [4 favorites]