Note the the headline of this post does not say "IRS scandal investigation broadens," it says "IRS investigation scandal broadens," because the thing that's a scandal isn't the way the IRS treated conservative groups, but rather how Republicans in Congress have spent so much time and public resources investigating something that
never happened.
Now, as if to prove the point that the GOP investigation is nothing but a political freak show, House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa and Rep. Jim Jordan are asking the Department of Justice to launch an investigation into the person responsible for the DOJ's investigation of the IRS, not for anything connected in any way whatsoever to the substance of the investigation itself, but because the person leading the investigation contributed money to President Obama and attended a bill signing ceremony at the White House. You can read all about it on Fox News, naturally.
This is ridiculous in so many ways—the mere fact that somebody in D.C. made perfectly legal contributions to a campaign means absolutely nothing. Perhaps the story would be different if it were the case that the IRS had targeted Obama administration enemies while giving allies a pass, but it's abundantly clear that's not what happened.
The real story is that campaign finance laws are a complete mess thanks to Congress, the Supreme Court's Citizen's United ruling, and the regulatory approach taken by the FEC and IRS. But that issue has been completely ignored by rightwingers who are convinced that the Obama administration turned the IRS into a secret police force aimed at destroying the tea party.
C'mon, man. That's nuts. Does anybody in their right mind believe the Obama administration would have tried to eliminate tea partiers? That would be the dumbest political move ever. If anyone has an incentive to annihilate the tea party, it's the GOP establishment. I'd be more suspicious of the DOJ investigation if it were run by a Boehner lieutenant than if Obama put Bill Ayers himself in charge of it.
There is no IRS scandal. Obama is not using the government's tax-collecting authority to destroy his political enemies, Karl Rove's groups still get their preferential tax status, and Mitt Romney is still paying 9 percent or whatever it is that he pays on his income. Of course, none of that matters to the tin foil crowd on the right. In fact, to them, it probably means the scandal runs even deeper than anyone will admit.