Craziest @#$%ing thing I've ever seen in politics.

[MannyGoldstein]

Now it turns out that the IRS actually planted the question that caused the thing to go off like a pressure-cooker bomb filled with doggie poop. They lit the fuse on a stick of dynamite they taped to themselves.

I may be nuts, but this IRS thing is starting to look like a fully-fake scandal hatched by Democrats so they themselves can run around wailing, gnashing teeth, firing innocents, and power-apologizing to anyone who will listen.

It's crazy! I guess folding like a cheap lawn chair wasn't enough to get a Grand Bargain to cut Social Security, so they've invented a lawn chair with a 300hp motor and artificial intelligence that can power-fold itself for no reason whatsoever.

Am I nuts? I must be nuts. I must be.

[TheDebbieDee]

1. I think Lois Lerner, the IRS manager who asked the lawyer to ask the question

was working on her own in an attempt to embarrass the administration or her bosses or something.......

[wercal]

2. Its called getting ahead of a story.

The IG report was about to come out.

[Baitball Blogger]

21. Most logical explanation.

[dkf]

26. Without telling the Admin or Congress?

Shouldn't you let the Prez get ahead of the story? He is the boss after all.

[wercal]

31. well if the president tried to get ahead

of the story, it would have zero chance of being buried in the Friday news cycle. They were trying to get it 'out there' so if anyone else beought it up (after the IG report), they could say "oh yeah that's just old news'. In addition to shining a light on the story, the president's involvement in any announcement would make it seem like he was involved feom the beginning.

If the IRS wanted to notify the public properly, they should have gone to their oversight committee in congress. But I suspect these planted questions and other charases happen more than we could imagine.

[Control-Z]

3. Yes, you are.

If you honestly think:

"...this IRS thing is starting to look like a fully-fake scandal hatched by Democrats so they themselves can run around wailing, gnashing teeth, firing innocents, and power-apologizing to anyone who will listen."

[randome]

25. Yeah, that's some crazy talk there!

[hr]
[font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font]
[hr]

[ProSense]

4. Wait,

"I may be nuts, but this IRS thing is starting to look like a fully-fake scandal hatched by Democrats so they themselves can run around wailing, gnashing teeth, firing innocents, and power-apologizing to anyone who will listen."

...how did you come to the "hatched by Democrats" conclusion given that all the officials involved originated in the Bush administration? Miller just became acting commissioner.

<...>

Miller became acting commissioner in November, after Commissioner Douglas Shulman completed his five-year term. Shulman had been appointed by President George W. Bush.

On June 29, 2011, Lois G. Lerner, who heads the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt organizations, learned at a meeting that groups were being targeted, according to a draft of the report by the Treasury inspector general for tax administration...Lerner was told that groups with “Tea Party,” ”Patriot” or “9/12 Project” in their names were being flagged for additional and often burdensome scrutiny, the report says. Lerner instructed agents to change the criteria for flagging groups “immediately.”

- more -

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/irs-tea-party-targeting.php

Douglas H. Shulman (born 1967) was the U.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue. His nomination was confirmed by the full U.S. Senate on March 14, 2008 and he was sworn in on March 24, 2008. He formerly served as vice chairman of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) (successor to NASD) and sat on the board at the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC).

<...>

On November 11, 2012, Shulman finished his term as Commissioner.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Shulman

The head of the IRS is a Bush appointee
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022836081

Lerner's tenure with the IRS also dates back to the Bush administration.

Lois G. Lerner Selected as Director of IRS Exempt Organizations Division

IR-2005-148, Dec. 22, 2005

WASHINGTON — Lois G. Lerner has been selected as the director of the Exempt Organizations Division of the Internal Revenue Service. In this position, she will be responsible for administering and enforcing the tax laws that apply to more than 1.8 million organizations recognized by the IRS as exempt from tax.

“Protecting the integrity of tax-exempt organizations is an important part of our enforcement program,” said IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson. “Lois’s background, including her work for the Federal Election Commission, qualifies her for this new assignment.”

Before this appointment, Lerner had been the director of the Exempt Organizations Rulings & Agreements Division, where she was responsible for the EO determinations letter program, public guidance and technical assistance for IRS agents conducting examinations of tax-exempt organizations. Lerner came to the IRS in 2001 from the Federal Election Commission, where she was Associate General Counsel for Enforcement and Acting General Counsel. She replaces Martha Sullivan, who will retire from the IRS at the end of December.

“Lois is an integral part of the EO team and has successfully increased the IRS presence in the exempt community,” said Steven T. Miller, Commissioner of the IRS Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division, of which EO is a part. “Her integrity, skills and judgment are exceptional and will allow us to continue to provide improved service and enhanced enforcement of the tax laws.”

The tax-exempt sector of the economy had total assets of approximately $3.7 trillion in 2002, the latest year for which data are available, with revenues of $1.2 trillion.

Lerner will report to her new position in early January 2006. Joseph Urban, EO Senior Technical Advisor in Rulings & Agreements, will serve as acting director of EO Rulings & Agreements.

http://www.irs.gov/uac/Lois-G.-Lerner-Selected-as-Director-of-IRS-Exempt-Organizations-Division

The IRS Commissioner during that time was also a Bush appointee: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_W._Everson

Something smells really fishy, but I'm not sure what it is. Maybe it's the doctored Benghazi email clouding my thought process.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022857236

[MannyGoldstein]

5. But there's really no scandal here.

It's a flea-fart, not a nuke.

But the IRS started of with a "HOLEY COW, DID YOU SEE THE HORRIBLE THING WE DID???!!!" The the President did one of his "Make No Mistake... This is the most outrageous thing ever in the known Universe, I'm taking tough action, see how tough I am, yup tough."

And there's no "there" there.

[ProSense]

6. That

"But there's really no scandal here."

...still doesn't explain why you're claiming it's a "fully-fake scandal hatched by Democrats"?

[MannyGoldstein]

16. Well it's a fake scandal because it's not a scandal.

And Obama and Holder were showcasing it faster than you can say "Shirley Sherrod". They badly wanted to draw attention to it.

But that's my spidey-sense, I guess. Hopefully we'll get the real story soon.

[n2doc]

18. More n-dimentional chess

Mere mortals such as we cannot fully comprehend it. But other than providing fodder for RW talk shows and congressional hearings, I fail to see what the Admin or democrats in general get out of it. Maybe 5 years from now, with the advantage of time, we will figure it all out.

[patrice]

39. Some people's fake scandals are other people's LEAKS, maybe that's the real problem here, career

AMBITIONS for exclusives and, hence, click trails . . . so some are pitching a fit because leakers leaked themselves, a.k.a. a "fake scandal" that just happened to broaden "control" of the whole question and at least some public awareness, exponentially, a good thing.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

7. I've reread twice and I'm still reading it's a "fully-fake scandal hatched by Democrats"

Seriously? You meant to post that?

I don't care how disappointed a person is in the current administration, or how jaded they've become by politics, that claim is off the radar.

Thing is, if it's all about the 'money' as some say is their reason for being jaded, then how is this going to make Dems money? Or, even if "both sides are as corrupt," then how is this going to help the Dems in their bid for control of said corruption?

This is out in left field. Way the hell out there!

I don't usually stick my nose in silly stuff like this on the forums, but damn, this is really grasping.

[patrice]

40. There are no limits for what calls itself "the Left" will do. They need to be noticed, because they

are balkanizing THEMSELVES in most other regards.

[Poll_Blind]

8. And THIS revelation appears also to have been from a planted question!

And the kicker? The video is posted by "goprapidresponse".

What. The. Fuck?

PB

[MannyGoldstein]

12. I am open to this just being my first psychotic break from reality

But that video is nuts, in my perhaps-psychotically-broken opinion.

[Poll_Blind]

14. After reading your article I read a couple of other articles. I still don't quite get it.

And I suspect it's probably not over yet.

Sometimes I get the idea we should just give up numbering years and just refer from 2000 until it gets better as "The Troubles".

PB

[Skip Intro]

9. Didn't the admin also alert the AP to the phone records spying?

The only thing that makes sense, and I take off my partisan hat to help me see more clearly, the only thing that makes sense for the feds, admin, agencies to out themselves is to distract from something else.

What else explains it? What else comes close? Why out yourself on such things? Why purposely inflict such damage to yourself?

Only for timing. There has to be a timing element. The timing was everything.

And the only thing that explains that, as far as I can tell, is that it was meant to be some diversion.

From Bengazi?

Something we don't know about yet?

Something that flew under the radar?

I don't know.

It is baffling.

[Anansi1171]

41. This! But what move is the Headfake covering?

If its diversionary to the extent that the Administration, the opposition and the press are all down for the cover by virtue of helping stage the diversionary shenanigans, then im thinking its military such as an attack on Iran inclusive of an escalation in Syria.

[CJCRANE]

10. "Learner was appointed during the Bush Administration"

according to another post on the thread you linked to which makes your conclusion that this is a "a fully-fake scandal hatched by Democrats" seem unlikely.

[MannyGoldstein]

11. There was no scandal under Lerner.

This seems to be an imaginary scandal, declared by Democrats to attack themselves. It's so bizarre, I suspect I'm unable to put the correct words to it. I need a new vocabulary and grammar.

Or at least a second beer.

[BainsBane]

13. If it was hatched by anyone

It was Republicans. There is no reason for Democrats to have stirred this shit up. It could also just be turf wars within the IRS.

[GoneFishin]

15. May be a ruse to make changes to IRS.

I do think that it is a manufactured scandal, and I would suspect Republicans first.
Maybe the intent is to open the door for extensive changes to the IRS.

[DevonRex]

17. Laughable. nt

[rbrnmw]

19. indeed nt

[KoKo]

20. There's MORE! Lois Lerner hires Dominique Strauss Kahn's Lawyer

And if that Crazy isn't enough the weird "Gawker" says that Lerner approved Obama's Half-Brother's Charity, The Barack H. Obama Foundation." Apparently he was doing something with medical aid for Kenya.



-----------
Lois Lerner, Key IRS Official In Tea Party Scandal, Hasn't Agreed To Testify Before Congress

The Huffington Post | By Jon Ward Posted: 05/16/2013 6:21 pm EDT | Updated: 05/16/2013 6:33 pm EDT

While former IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, has agreed to testify before Congress next week, the senior manager who oversaw the division that targeted tea party groups has yet to commit to do so.

Lois G. Lerner, who managed the IRS exempt organizations unit that approved applications for nonprofit status, is in Montreal, according to her attorney, a congressional source said, and has not yet said if she will come to Washington for testimony next week. Lerner has hired William W. Taylor III, the lawyer who represented Dominique Strauss Kahn, the former International Monetary Fund head accused of sexual assault by a New York hotel housekeeper, the source said.

Shulman, who told a congressional committee in March 2012 that the IRS had conducted "absolutely no targeting" of conservative tea party groups, will appear before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee next Wednesday. Lerner's presence has been requested. Others who have agreed to appear include J. Russell George, the treasury inspector general for tax administration, and Neal S. Wolin, deputy treasury secretary.


=======================

IRS official Lerner speedily approved exemption for Obama brother’s ‘charity’

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/14/irs-official-lerner-approved-exemption-for-obama-brothers-charity/#ixzz2TfHV0xH7


Lois Lerner, the senior IRS official at the center of the decision to target tea party groups for burdensome tax scrutiny, signed paperwork granting tax-exempt status to the Barack H. Obama Foundation, a shady charity headed by the president’s half-brother that operated illegally for years.

According to the organization’s filings, Lerner approved the foundation’s tax status within a month of filing, an unprecedented timeline that stands in stark contrast to conservative organizations that have been waiting for more than three years, in some cases, for approval.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/14/irs-official-lerner-approved-exemption-for-obama-brothers-charity/#ixzz2TfHPk7BE

[MannyGoldstein]

24. An oil tanker filled to the brim with weird. nt

[DevonRex]

36. Trying to bring the Prez down from the RIGHT I see, Koko.

Careful. That's what got Better Believe It in trouble. Finally.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

22. This whole thing is beginning to look like a rejected script for a bad comedy.

[Egalitarian Thug]

23. The party's doing everything it can to ensure big losses in 2014.

We can speculate on the why, but the actions are perfectly clear.

[ProSense]

28. Are you

"The party's doing everything it can to ensure big losses in 2014."

...talking about Republicans?

Howard Dean: Republicans "doing everything they can to make sure Congress goes Democratic in 2014"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022790812

I mean, why on earth would the nonsense in the OP amount to Democrats "doing everything it can to ensure big losses in 2014"?

That 90s Show

I picked a good week to be away — and I am still away, mostly, although playing a bit of hooky on the notebook right now. For it has been the week of OBAMA SCANDALS, nonstop.

Except it seems that there weren’t actually any scandals, just the usual confusion and low-level mistakes that happen all the time, in any administration.

Does the evaporation of the scandals matter? I don’t know. Unfortunately, I remember the early Clinton years, when ridiculous stuff — restructuring at the White House travel office, for God’s sake, and a money-losing land deal — led to years of front-page headlines, endless investigations,and nothing at all in the form of proven Clinton wrongdoing. If the press decide that scandals are going to be the topic, the absence of actual scandals may not matter.

Oh, and the ongoing disaster of economic policy? Boooring.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/17/that-90s-show/

[Egalitarian Thug]

32. Happy to kick Manny's thread again.

You've declared the facts in the OP as nonsense, and "backed it up" with your usual non-sequitur, yet you offer no substance or refutation.

One might also point out that the Krugman article actually reinforces Manny's point.

[patrice]

38. Yeah, and those who have the most to lose from light on corporate personhood have nothing to do with

any of this condemnation of threats to their own subsidy streams.

[patrice]

34. So you think shining the light on corporate persons & TAX EXEMPTIONS will hurt us in 2014?

[Egalitarian Thug]

42. I think that neither of those issues have had any light shone on them

and certainly nothing of any consequence will be done it.

But legitimizing bad republican ideas by adopting them and running at full speed into the wall of social cuts and guns in America is going to act as the defibrillator for the dying republican party.

[MjolnirTime]

27. You are indeed nuts, Manny. At least you have gotten beyond denial.

[patrice]

35. MG is broken. nt

[treestar]

29. Hatched by Republicans and it might make some sense nt

[patrice]

37. because BUSHes hate unions using the same kind of organization$$$$$.

[ananda]

30. That reminds me of a seventh grader who ...

... turned in a test with a cheat sheet attached to his pants leg with bandaids.

True story.

(I know, I sound like Miss Marple, but hey..)

[patrice]

33. So, Dems are thralls of corporate persons, even when they out those corporate persons for your

inspection, or at least as much inspection as possible given the PROTECTIONS granted to these entities by means of Citizens United, and for some 50+ years before that too, according to Lawrence ODonnell.

I'm pretty tolerant of contradictions, MG, but lately I've been thinking I can't defend you anymore.

If you're against the exposure of corporate persons, you're done.