I can just see the members of this administration sitting around a table discussing how to handle the inquiry into the IRS targeting of its opponents. David Axelrod says, “Just how dumb do I think Americans are? I say we just tell them we lost two years worth of emails around the time of the conservative groups targeting.”
Obama was so incensed about the IRS scandal that he ordered his Benghazi investigator to look into it. Then he said, “There’s not a smidgen of corruption in the IRS.” Case closed.
We are viewed by this administration as a nation riding the short bus it drives.
So far, the cost of not providing pertinent emails has been $10 million, 250 IRS employees’ time and, they say, 120,000 man hours. Do not kid yourself; the time spent was on covering up and circling the wagons, not complying with Congress.
This month is the anniversary of Watergate, where Nixon recorded himself with all the forethought of Donald Sterling. The IRS loses two years of damaging emails versus Watergate’s 18 minutes of lost Nixon tapes. No scandal here.
For the young people out there, the early 70’s were different. We were in a costly, unwinnable and poorly thought-out war about which our government lied. There were cover-ups and selective enforcements. The administration spied on reporters and used the IRS to go after opponents. Yep, I am glad Nixonian days are behind us.
The difference is that the media did not have Nixon’s back. The IRS scandal, Benghazi, NSA spying, wiretaps, ObamaCare, etc., are all stories that go away quickly. Only two major news channels covered the IRS email loss story. If Joe Namath had the offensive line protection the media give Obama, he could have played 30 years in the NFL.
Obama will continue to preen, posture, accuse, deflect, and label any accusations as "racist," his go-to mode.
The manpower Obama can marshal against political opponents is astonishing. He chose the IRS to go after his opponents, deploying the coercive intimidation of 90,000 IRS workers, 4,280 investigators, 13,000 revenue agents, 1,500 attorneys and 2,600 “special agents” — and there will be even more when ObamaCare fully kicks in. Not only does he have an enemies list, under ObamaCare he will have an enemas list.
IRS employees are overwhelmingly Democrats. Republicans and we Libertarians favor getting rid of the IRS, a flat tax and, at least, a less complex tax code (i.e., fewer IRS employees). They gladly do the bidding of Democrats. The main O-bots are life-long employees in management roles, like Lois Lerner.
Added to the NSA snooping, their willingness to destroy the reputations of even the most honorable men like Mitt Romney and John McCain should send chills down your spine.
The Obama administration knows Republicans work, make money, own businesses and file tax returns. They fear the IRS like a Democrat fears the DEA, EBT drug testing or a registered letter (which is probably a late notice on their rent-to-own, 60-inch, flat screen TV).
Lois Lerner gave up donor lists (presumably to target them) and shipped a 1.1 million-page database on 12,000 grass-roots, non-profit organizations to the FBI. All this was done illegally (including disclosure of confidential taxpayer information and donor details) before the presidential election — why? Are non-profits working in communities in our country a problem worthy of FBI investigation?
Lerner made a speech, took the Fifth, and then refused to testify. She so relied on our Constitution that she put herself at risk of an IRS audit.
Americans hate the IRS worse than fruit, vegetables and exercise. IRS employees (including Lois Lerner) gave each other bonuses ($70 million) and spent $50 million on lavish conferences in this two-year period, including $11,000 on a "happiness" expert. They spent $4million on a California conference where they got dance lessons. I guess that is where they learned to tap dance around the facts.
To wrap up the irony: The Tea Party folks, who say we need less government and who fear its overreach, tyranny and selective prosecution, were dismissed and derided by the media as kooks. Gosh, I wonder who has been borne out as correct? Obama could not have provided a more stark example of why a grass-roots Tea Party-like movement is needed.
Now if you will excuse me, I must go prepare for my inevitable audit.
Ron Hart, a libertarian syndicated op-ed humorist,award-winning author and TV/radio commentator can be reached at Ron@RonaldHart.com or visit www.RonaldHart.com
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: IRS Says It Lost Lois Lerner’s Emails. Right.