On Day 327, you might have thought there was light at the end of tunnel.
Paul Caron’s Day By Day IRS Scandal Has Jumped The Shark – Part 1
In a stunning bipartisan agreement, President Barack Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chair Darrell Issa and Ranking Member Elijah Cummings committed to aggressively pursue investigations into the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups in advance of the 2012 presidential election.
Sadly, it turns out that Day 327 was April 1, 2014.
The Things That Never Went Anywhere
On Day 336 a new wrinkle to the scandal narrative was unveiled as we start hearing about things that Lois Lerner wanted to do that never went anywhere with this Bloomberg story about her pursuit of Karl Rove’s Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies. Lois Lerner’s failed attempts to do something about political spending from here on in will be melded into the scandal narrative. Somehow it is missed that she was promoted to her position during the Bush administration by a Bush appointed IRS Commissioner and just about everything she tried to do during the Obama administration came to naught.
Day 342 brings up discussions of granting Lois Lerner immunity. Day 348 had stories about an actual conservative organization losing its exempt status over political activity -The Patrick Henry Center for Individual Liberty. It is worth noting that the IRS found “a pattern of deliberate and consistent intervention in political campaigns”, not a single anti-Clinton statement.
Day 355 we find Janet Novack writing about how the real IRS scandal is about the agency being too resource starved to perform its core mission.
On Day 357, George Will writes about civil forfeitures for structuring adding another scandal narrative, that will be enthusiastically embraced by the defenders of Kent Hovind then near the end of a long prison sentence in part for structuring.
Day 365, the first anniversary, is all about Lois Lerner being held in contempt of Congress. I think it is clear except for the odd bits here and there – veterans and conference expenses for example – the first year is mainly about the Tea Party targeting and Lois Lerner. Also, I think if you will spend the hours I just spent you will agree that Paul Caron’s coverage is pretty balanced.
A New Year Of Scandal Begins With Calls For Immunity For Lerner
Day 369 gives us a piece by Paul Caron, himself – The Media Ignore IRS Scandal – (As someone who took Greek in high school I have to admire the prof for knowing that the word “media” is plural)
Today’s news media are largely ignoring the IRS scandal, and it is impossible to have confidence in the current investigations by the FBI, Justice Department, and House committee. I am not suggesting that the current scandal in the end will rise to the level of Watergate. But the allegations are serious, and fair-minded Americans of both parties should agree that a thorough investigation needs to be undertaken to either debunk them or confirm them.
Step one should be to give Lois Lerner full immunity from prosecution in exchange for her testimony. And then let the chips fall where they may.
I’ve heard it said that Professor Caron’s continued coverage shows a conservative bias, but here he is clearly putting the ball in Issa’s court, a ball which will never be picked up.
On Day 378 we have Neil Buchanan who largely disapproves of Caron’s scandal day by day approach agreeing that offering Lerner immunity might be the way to go – A Conservative Law Professor Points The Way Out of the Scandal That Never Was
One would think that the lack of any new evidence, after a year of herculean efforts by conservative activists and elected Republicans, would cause all but the most committed scandal mongers to move on. Some activists, however, pointed for support to the TaxProf Blog, an “aggregator” website that provides links to tax-related news items (and items relevant to law professors at large), providing those links generally without comment, and thus without political spin or commentary.
Professor Caron used every political signal in the book, and permanently compromised his public reputation, to implore conservatives to prove what he suspects is surely true, but which only suppositions currently support. One must hope that his compatriots honor his sacrifice and listen to him.
And Then They Came For The Zionists
I appear again on Day 385 covering a decision that allows a suit by Z Street, a Zionist group to move forward . It is all about IRS having a “special Israel” policy. On Day 397 another element is added with revelations of IRS transmission of data to FBI. It does not appear that the FBI ever did anything substantive with all the data, but “No harm. No Foul.” is not operative in IRS Scandalland.
Day 502 was big as Lois Lerner opened up to Politico. He “I didn’t do anything wrong” would reverberate along with the President’s “smidgin”.
Getting Ready To Jump The Shark
On Day 509 we get a report on the purported documentary UnFair Exposing The IRS which while purporting to be a documentary was something of an infomercial for substituting the income tax with a 30% sales tax. Now the scandal narrative is becoming not so much a narrative about the scandal as a narrative about the scandal narrative.
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