The sooner the country understands that the IRS scandal is more like "The Office" than "House of Cards", the sooner truth can prevail and sanity return.
Who could blame overworked and under-budgeted administrators struggling with no clear guidance for taking notice of all the insanity that was the 2010 election season? The country had become a hateful armed camp with raucous voices demanding a rerun of some more legitimate past. Suddenly, every Talk Radio tin-foil artiste in the country realized that they needed tax-exempt money; not for political purposes, mind you, just to make Goddamn sure this country didn't elect any more progressives, moderates, or queers.
With little guidance to go on, IRS workers began the process of sifting the hugh increase in applications to get the review process done. I don't know about you, but I'd have had a hard time believing that all those Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Fox News-driven 'patriots' suddenly had a valid need for tax-favored anonymous funds that would have 'no impact' on partisan elections. I'd of been a miscreant of a public servant had I ignored such signs. It was bad enough I was being paid at all.
So the paperwork patois of Michael Savage and that asshole Mark Steyn shouldn't be flashing lights, along with all those moranic misspelllings, that something deserved just a bit more attention? I would have done the same thing myself. I'm not sure how my list would have differed.
The real irony of this whole stem-winder is the fact that there are no victims. None of the applicants, regardless of their level of distain for their personal experience with the IRS, were limited in any way from their objective; that sweet, sweet tax-exempt anonymous money. It's like Grover Norquist in a box. And the box is yours, Patriot!
Now. Having decided to turn this over to Fox rather than Ricky Gervais, we've lost a public moment to find and solve a problem and maybe figure out what this money is really for. Instead, the Excellence in Bullshit Broadcasting fraternity will continue to grind out their noisy, squalid shadow-play on America's cave wall.
Just turn it off. Forward.
Wed May 22, 2013 at 5:25 PM PT: Just a quick update, this will be Lerner's argument. I don't know how anyone with the responsobility to assure the black letter requirements of the law, including its lack of clarity, could have ignored the tea party and the rest of this ilk. It's not targeting, it's intelligent sorting and administration. I don't agree with all of the questions, but the mission was to split a hair between welfare and partisanship.
But you really can't hold rallies and carry around signs and then get pissed off when others wonder if you have political motives.