Bush IRS guy targeted Tea Party to protect current GOP lawmakers from primary challenges?

[blm]

Seems to me that no one in the media is relating the targeting of Tea Party groups to the very GOP lawmakers who feared them the MOST, and, especially considering the FACT that the head of the IRS up until the end of 2012 was a Bush appointee.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/03/17/which-politicians-are-in-the-tea-party-s-crosshairs.html

One by one, they have fallen. Bob Bennett in Utah. Richard Lugar in Indiana. Mike Castle in Delaware. Longtime pols, all of them, with long records in the halls of power, or handpicked by national leaders to run for office. And one by one, they and others found their profiles as electable lawmakers with the record to prove it used as a cudgel against them by Tea Party activists determined to purge the Republican Party of any kind of wishy-washy moderation.
>>>>
GOP machine has finally said enough, and enlisted Karl Rove and others to end the trend of far-right-wingers knocking off establishment-friendly candidates in Republican primaries. Those revolutionaries, you see, turned out to be weak general-election opponents against Democrats, and so the revolution was costing the GOP seats in statehouses and the Senate that were rightly theirs.
>>>>

Remember.....Lugar ad targeted Mourdock as tax cheat in his primary race.

[brooklynite]

1. That makes three new conspiracy theories since Friday...

West fertilizer plant explosion: setting up a patsy?

My take on 3D printed guns

Maybe we need a Conspiracy Theories forum just to keep them out of GD.

[blm]

2. How is it CT when headlines like this have been around for awhile?

Mitch McConnell Had Previously Floated Karl Rove Idea To Target Weak Tea Party Candidates

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/09/mitch-mcconnell-karl-rove_n_2652927.html
WASHINGTON -- A firestorm on the right has greeted a new Karl Rove-backed super PAC aimed at knocking off weak conservative Senate candidates and protecting strong incumbents in GOP primaries, but the new PAC may well prove to be a plus in the eyes of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

That’s not surprising: The model for the new super PAC, dubbed the Conservative Victory Project, is akin to one that McConnell has touted the need for at GOP events in recent years, two GOP fundraisers with good ties to the senator told Huffington Post. Both asked for anonymity to speak candidly about private events and discussions.

The two fundraisers explained that McConnell has several times lamented that, in the last two elections, weaker and unelectable Tea Party candidates have been winning more GOP primary battles, often with hefty financing from right-leaning groups like the Club for Growth. In some cases, the weaker candidates have also been backed by Democratic groups seeking to boost their own party’s prospects in the fall elections.

And the result wasn’t pretty for the GOP in either cycle. In 2012, two GOP Senate candidates with Tea Party backing lost their races last fall in Missouri and Indiana, helping Democrats expand their Senate majority. In the case of Missouri, McConnell strongly condemned Tea Party favorite Todd Akin for his incendiary comments about “legitimate rape,” and sent signals that Akin should consider dropping out before a candidate deadline passed last fall to avoid a debacle on Election Day. In 2010, Tea Party candidates in Delaware and Nevada lost races that more moderate Republicans may have been able to take.>>>

[brooklynite]

3. Political targeting of candidates and advocacy groups in campaigns is not uncommon

Having a Government Official abuse his authority by utilizing government powers to choose favorites in a Party Primary? Absent any actual evidence, I'll stick to my original opinion.

[blm]

4. Well, considering the guy who did it was a Bush official and GOP lawmakers are the ones

forming plans to combat Tea Party challenges, my speculation is more valid than the corpmedia and Tea Party trying to pin it on Obama. Have you challenged those headlines blaming Obama's IRS pick as CT?

[KoKo]

7. brooklynite: Here is the Bio of the guy who wrote article blm posted...

There's NO WAY this guy's creds make this a Conspiracy Theory post.


Peter H. Stone
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Peter Stone has covered money and politics and lobbying for over two decades at the National Journal and the Center for Public Integrity. He is the author of Heist: Superlobbyist Jack Abramoff, His Republican Allies and the Buying of Washington. Stone is currently working on a new book titled "The Billionaires Club" about super donors and American politics.

[rhett o rick]

5. I dont understand the fear of CT and the quest to ban them. One prominent CT hater

suggested that anyone caught posting CT in GD be PPR'd. Now that's some fear. The ability to trash threads exists. But apparently it's not enough to get it out of sight, it must be vanquished and/or punished.

I would hope everyone would understand that conspiracies do happen. And IMO they happen a lot in politics. Karl Rove's job is conspiring. When something happens like the bombing in Boston or 9/11, and we dont know the facts, we theorize. It isnt dangerous, well maybe dangerous to those that want to keep a lid on anything that might upset the applecart. The fact that our government is in the habit of lying to use doesnt help.

[KoKo]

6. +1...don't see how an article and proper link could be called "CT" either.

[rhett o rick]

8. Why would a theory of conspiracy be any less valid than a theory of no conspiracy?

If you believe that JFK's assassination involved a conspiracy, why should you be shunned anymore than if you believe that Oswald acted alone? And some CT are still in the public eye. For example, recently Thom Hartmann coauthored a book, "Legacy of Secrecy" which I think is to be a movie. The book attempts to elaborate on a huge CT and tries to show how the assassinations of RFK and MLK Jr. tie together with that of JFK. IMHO those that think that conspiracies were involved are no more crazy than those that dont think that.
"Politically liberal people" should have open minds and be open to theories. Those that, not only try to eliminate any discussion of CT, but try to have those that do, punished, are, IMHO not being open-minded. I think they feel comfortable when things are nicely tied up in a package with a bow. The idea that things are more complicated than we are told by our Elitist run government, makes them uncomfortable. And they are not happy with trashing the thread, they want the thread moved, and in some cases they want the poster punished.

I appreciate that the Admins are open-minded and let reasonable discussions stand.

[KoKo]

9. In an Open Society where all Theories or Alternative Theories are Debated and not Labeled!

This is what upsets me about our current culture (because it reminds me of when I was a little kid and listening to Joe McCarthy's Rants and Ravings on Radio)...and it got the whole of America into a Frenzy that Communists were under our bed, infiltrating our CHILDREN..causing Death and Destruction and who knows what else. It was the "Cold War" and we school kids had to do "Duck and Cover" and be prepared because the Communists were coming..and watch out that your neighbor or the kid next to you could be part of a "Communist Cell" and if you associated with them...then..You TOO could be ONE OF THEM."

It was a terrible time. It was on Radio/TV/Movies. All propaganda it turned out to be.

So...when folks start chiming "Conspiracy Theory...Conspiracy Theory...BAN THEM...THEY DON'T BELONG HERE! I get ants crawling all over my Psyche! I was Scarred growing up during the COLD WAR.

So...those here who carry on about "CT" and order banning make me very worried. I see the GHOST of Joe McCarthy COMING BACK!

This isn't Hyperbole from me...but experience. Believe it or not. The very people who claim "CT" about every bit of info that goes against THEIR OWN THOUGHTS or those who PAY THEM...cause me to wonder...since I lived through it before.

Liked What You SAID:

"Politically liberal people" should have open minds and be open to theories. Those that, not only try to eliminate any discussion of CT, but try to have those that do, punished, are, IMHO not being open-minded. I think they feel comfortable when things are nicely tied up in a package with a bow. The idea that things are more complicated than we are told by our Elitist run government, makes them uncomfortable. And they are not happy with trashing the thread, they want the thread moved, and in some cases they want the poster punished.

[kentuck]

10. That is as good a guess as any.

Perhaps better? I would not be surprised.

[KoKo]

11. Sorry to see DU'er "blm" being called a "CT" for her post which is verified and not some

Alex Jones site, though...isn't it a sad time that this happens?

[brooklynite]

13. For pity's sake: the CT is NOT that Karl Rove is trying to influence Republican candidate selection

...its the allegation in the OP that the IRS head used his position to help Rove. Nothing in the cited article suggests that. It's uncalled for speculation.

[blm]

14. It's a valid question, brook - more valid than MSM headlines blaming WH

I think you're over-reacting to the question posed.

[brooklynite]

12. Wait! Make that FOUR comspiracy theories!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251305478

[spanone]

15. YEP