Poorest defense of Obama's IRS targeting tea party groups

Seattle Times is running the weakest defense of the IRS on its digital front page today - from the NY Times. There were so many applications that the poor IRS worker bees in Cincinnati had to reorganize their work. And by accident the applications of "tea party" groups sat on someone's desk. And it's a long story. But only blame Cincinnati. The DC people got them to stop. So says the NYT.


Look a little closer with another NYT source. Very few tea-party group applications were approved from March, 2010 to May, 2012 = two years. That wasn't a work load problem. It was a stoppage. When there was scrutiny in May, 2012, a flood of approvals followed. They got caught.  538 blog at NY Times See the graphic.

By coincidence in 2010 top Democrats were urging the IRS to investigate conservative groups. Senator Max Baucus wrote a letter about concern for 501©(4) groups. But he specifically mentioned only conservative and Republican-leaning groups. Sweetness and Light Blame that on low-level employees in Cincinnati?

And it was honchos in Washington who said to get detailed information. Washington Post

… IRS officials at the agency’s Washington headquarters sent queries to conservative groups asking about their donors and other aspects of their operations, while officials in the El Monte and Laguna Niguel offices in California sent similar questionnaires to tea-party-affiliated groups, the documents show. 

IRS employees in Cincinnati told conservatives seeking the status of “social welfare” groups that a task force in Washington was overseeing their applications, according to interviews with the activists.

When President Barak and FL Michelle talk about people getting involved remember what their government did to those who did. Here is the story of one person to focus on. Tom Zawistowski in Portage County, Ohio. News Day

Graphic: 538 Blog at NY Times. Click to enlarge.