IRS targeting included Liberal groups: terms "occupy" "progressive"

[BlueWolf47]

The IRS has acknowledged that the Cincinnati field office, which reviews all tax-exempt applications, used a "be on the lookout" list — or BOLO list — that included words such as "tea party" and "patriot" to determine which groups should be subject to heightened scrutiny.

Werfel said Monday that an internal IRS probe has turned up other, similar lists, which were in use by tax-exempt screeners when he took over as IRS chief at the end of May. He suggested they cast a wide net. The Associated Press said that besides ''progressive," lists used by screeners to pick groups for close examination included the terms ''Israel'' and ''Occupy.'' The AP said an investigation into why specific terms were included was underway.

"There were a series of these types of lists being used in this part of the IRS as part of their review of tax-exempt applications," Werfel said in a conference call with reporters. "We believe there continued to be inappropriate or questionable criteria on these BOLO lists."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/06/24/irs-tea-party-targeting-report-werfel/2452935/

I guess this is why Issa didnt want to disclose his "precious" transcripts. I hope hes able to find a new scandal to tie to the white house. Otherwise he might have to actually work on legislation.

 

[boomerang]

We can't let progressives successfully derail one of the biggest issues of our day because their "team" is taking some very deserving heat for their fascist actions. Keep trying if it makes you sleep better at night but the rest of us know discrimination when we see it. This administration has declared war on conservatives. You're all for it, we get that. But we're not going to take it lying down.

 

[zanejohnson]

i think we all need to stop this partisanship... this isn't partisan, this is our regime, out of control, using it's tools, (irs, doj, nsa, ect) to target "defectors."


this is a call to unity, that's what we need now.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

i think we all need to stop this partisanship... this isn't partisan, this is our regime, out of control, using it's tools, (irs, doj, nsa, ect) to target "defectors."


this is a call to unity, that's what we need now.

No, my guy is best. Your guy is evil (insert whatever party).

Then we have "the system isn't broken just elect different candidates". Yeah because people can just bypass the party machines. Right.

The naivete of the populace is staggering and even now they won't get it.

 

[BlueWolf47]

I'm fine with the IRS investigating the political behavior of groups wanting to gain tax exempt status as social welfare organizations. But they should harass them all equally. I mean the whole 501c4 tax exempt status is complete bullshit and resulted from corporations wanting to influence public opinion through unlimited anonymous spending.

 

[thraashman]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/06/24/irs-tea-party-targeting-report-werfel/2452935/

I guess this is why Issa didnt want to disclose his "precious" transcripts. I hope hes able to find a new scandal to tie to the white house. Otherwise he might have to actually work on legislation.

I don't think anyone ever doubted for a second that Issa knew his witch hunt was bullshit but he was doing it anyway. This is a man who for political reasons twice divulged classified information. And I've known for weeks that liberal groups were also targeted. It has just barely been reported on because there's really only two types of media in this nation. Media that sensationalizes for monetary reasons and the conservative media that sensationalizes for political reasons. AKA liars (the main stream media) and liars who lie more than it should be physically possible to lie and for whom the truth is kryptonite (the conservative media).

 

[shadow9d9]

We can't let progressives successfully derail one of the biggest issues of our day because their "team" is taking some very deserving heat for their fascist actions. Keep trying if it makes you sleep better at night but the rest of us know discrimination when we see it. This administration has declared war on conservatives. You're all for it, we get that. But we're not going to take it lying down.

The administration declared war on itself? Obama is middle/right you buffoon.

 

[irishScott]

To play devil's advocate:

I'm wondering why this is coming out now. If I was head of the IRS, would seem common sense to say "hey, we did it to liberals too." on day one.

We also don't have hard numbers yet. If 96 Conservative groups were targeted and only 20 liberal groups, that's still pretty clear bias.


Still, would be nice to learn the IRS was at least playing it fair.

 

[irishScott]

The administration declared war on itself? Obama is middle/right you buffoon.

Coming from you, that doesn't mean much. Judging by your posts you likely think Lenin was only a few notches left of center.

 

[BlueWolf47]

Its more than likely more conservative groups were targeted. There were far less liberal superpacs during the election because most liberals disagree with their use. So just be shear number, the conservatives will have been targeted more.

 

[ModerateRepZero]

Its more than likely more conservative groups were targeted. There were far less liberal superpacs during the election because most liberals disagree with their use. So just be shear number, the conservatives will have been targeted more.

As long as the focus was non-conservative as well as conservative groups (which appears to be the case), conservatives can scream all they want about being targeted. But they can no longer convincingly argue that they were singled out solely for conservative politics if other political groups were also targeted.

 

[monovillage]

From your article:
"Werfel is scheduled to testify before the House Ways and Means Committee about the interim report Thursday. The GOP chairman of that panel, Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, said the IRS still needed to answer key questions about the scandal and enact "real reforms" to prevent it from happening again.

"Though the IRS report details some immediate first steps that have been taken to correct management flaws at the agency, the IRS still needs to provide clear answers to the most significant questions — who started this practice, why was it allowed to continue for so long and how widespread was it?" Camp said. "This culture of political discrimination and intimidation goes far beyond basic management failure, and personnel changes alone won't fix a broken IRS."

I'll wait and see how he answers tough questions while under oath before I give much credence to the "liberal" groups targeted and how long they were delayed as opposed to the conservative groups.

 

[Nebor]

The fact is that the IRS was targeting groups who were committed to destabilizing our government and our society. They were looking out for the interests of America. It doesn't matter if they're on the left or the right; if they're challenging the status quo that has made us the wealthiest country on the planet, they're automatically suspect.

 

[ivwshane]

I'll wait and see how he answers tough questions while under oath before I give much credence to the "liberal" groups targeted and how long they were delayed as opposed to the conservative groups.

Lol it hasn't stopped you yet!

 

[BlueWolf47]

From your article:
"Werfel is scheduled to testify before the House Ways and Means Committee about the interim report Thursday. The GOP chairman of that panel, Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, said the IRS still needed to answer key questions about the scandal and enact "real reforms" to prevent it from happening again.

"Though the IRS report details some immediate first steps that have been taken to correct management flaws at the agency, the IRS still needs to provide clear answers to the most significant questions — who started this practice, why was it allowed to continue for so long and how widespread was it?" Camp said. "This culture of political discrimination and intimidation goes far beyond basic management failure, and personnel changes alone won't fix a broken IRS."

I'll wait and see how he answers tough questions while under oath before I give much credence to the "liberal" groups targeted and how long they were delayed as opposed to the conservative groups.

Why wait, heres one of the "be on the look out" lists.
http://democrats.waysandmeans.house...use.gov/files/IRS0000001484-IRS0000001499.pdf

Page 3 is a good example.

 

[thraashman]

To play devil's advocate:

I'm wondering why this is coming out now. If I was head of the IRS, would seem common sense to say "hey, we did it to liberals too." on day one.

We also don't have hard numbers yet. If 96 Conservative groups were targeted and only 20 liberal groups, that's still pretty clear bias.


Still, would be nice to learn the IRS was at least playing it fair.

Actually no it isn't. But that's mostly just for those of us that know how to add all necessary variables when doing math.

 

[monovillage]

Why wait, heres one of the "be on the look out" lists.
http://democrats.waysandmeans.house...use.gov/files/IRS0000001484-IRS0000001499.pdf

Page 3 is a good example.

Thanks for proving my point.

 

[Agent11]

So conservatives should be happy that rather than tea party groups specifically being singled out there was a wider systemic use of the IRS to repress other non mainstream groups?

 

[sandorski]

oops

 

[IBMer]

So conservatives should be happy that rather than tea party groups specifically being singled out there was a wider systemic use of the IRS to repress other non mainstream groups?

So not gaining tax exempt status for political based activities which is actually what is supposed to happen is "repression"? When was their ability to express their view points taken away from them? Oh thats right... thats a spinned message they are trying to portray, that the IRS was used to suppress the voice of political groups when in fact that never happened. You'd think that most of these "conservative" groups would have preferred that the government not be used to subsidize political groups.

 

[BlueWolf47]

Thanks for proving my point.

I proved your point by pointing out the "progressive" group descriptions on the target lists?

Is this a jedi mind trick? You must have received an unlucky roll on the genetic dice because clearly your gene pool is severely lacking in cognitive development.

Or your dad banged his sister.

 

[monovillage]

I proved your point by pointing out the "progressive" group descriptions on the target lists?

Is this a jedi mind trick? You must have received an unlucky roll on the genetic dice because clearly your gene pool is severely lacking in cognitive development.

Or your dad banged his sister.

I'll wait till I see evidence given under oath.


Class act there.

 

[DominionSeraph]

We can't let progressives successfully derail one of the biggest issues of our day

But why is it an issue? I thought that conservatism eschewed naive liberal socialist ideals in favor of common sense approaches:

1. Stopping black males on suspicion of criminal offense is common sense. After all, they commit most crimes.
2. Singling out Arabs for enhanced searches only makes sense. After all, terrorists are overwhelmingly Muslim. The Israelis do it unflinchingly.
3. And of course we should target Latinos if we're looking for illegal immigrants.

So, why is it not good old hard-headed conservative sense to target conservative groups? You have your ingroup bias giving them the benefit of automatic defense (4) -- they are white and share your political beliefs so you wish to grant them every benefit that you would want them to confer back onto you -- but you don't think that conservatism is really that low and is really nothing but racistly self-serving, right? You think it's objectively right. But given (1), (2), (3), and (4), conservatism as how it is practiced by the Right is biased and moralistically self-serving. With self-serving morals they can justify behaviors to themselves that the wider population wouldn't grant them ("Why how dare the spending addicts in Washington ask me to supply their habit! This country was founded on freedom! If I can get away with it, it is my patriotic duty to have as little to do with Washington as I can!") So... if we remove the racism from conservatism and actually treat white conservatives equally without that nansy-pansy liberal socialist affirmative-action "Everyone's equal even though they're not" (meaning you can't raise that flag now that it supports your cause, in your moralistic cherry-picking way), why don't we come up with: "The far right should be targeted"?

 

[Atreus21]

Coming from you, that doesn't mean much. Judging by your posts you likely think Lenin was only a few notches left of center.

Dude, Lenin was a card carrying capitalist. How stupid are you?

 

[boomerang]

The administration declared war on itself? Obama is middle/right you buffoon.

You spout the same childish horseshit in every post you make. Get some new material.