Take just two minutes and watch Bill Murray demonstrate the IRS technic for judging applicants for tax-exempt status. Click here.
If Bill Murray were to later testify before Congress, and if he behaved as the IRS officials and their apologists have behaved, he would say that there was no real bias in his judgments. None at all.
It is clear that the powerful leftist union that runs the IRS has the same sense of fair play that Murray demonstrated. It is also clear that many Democrat leaders openly suggested that “tea party” types should be targeted.
On many occasions, President Obama made it clear that the “tea-baggers” were his enemies. On the campaign trail, Obama said, ”…we’re gonna punish our enemies and we’re gonna reward our friends”. He said, “voting is the best revenge”. Targeting conservatives with IRS intimidation and targeting Fox News reporters are two other forms of ‘revenge’. Are we now Venezuela?
In a story that broke last night, Kimberley Strassel reported on a 2008 Obama campaign strategy that was a precursor to using the IRS directly as a campaign tool. Read it all here. An excerpt:
The Bauer onslaught was a big part of a new liberal strategy to thwart the rise
of conservative groups. In early August 2008, the New York Times trumpeted the
creation of a left-wing group (a 501(c)4) called Accountable America. Founded by
Obama supporter and liberal activist Tom Mattzie, the group—as the story
explained—would start by sending “warning” letters to 10,000 GOP donors, “hoping
to create a chilling effect that will dry up contributions.” The letters would
alert “right-wing groups to a variety of potential dangers, including legal
trouble, public exposure and watchdog groups digging through their lives.” As
Mr. Mattzie told Mother Jones: “We’re going to put them at risk.”
Strassel wrote another great column a few days ago entitled, “The IRS Scandal Started at the Top”. If you missed it, you can read it here.
Peggy Noonan also has an informative column here. An excerpt:
All of these IRS actions took place in the years leading up to the 2012 election. They constitute the use of governmental power to intrude on the privacy and shackle the political freedom of American citizens. The purpose, obviously, was to overwhelm and intimidate—to kill the opposition, question by question and audit by audit.
It is not even remotely possible that all this was an accident, a mistake. Again, only conservative groups were targeted, not liberal. It is not even remotely possible that only one IRS office was involved.
The man who reads the teleprompter says he wants to “get to the bottom of this”. He is just pretending to be angry. Behind the curtain, he is the bottom of this.
