The complicit media: still trying to push Republican scamdals.

[ProSense]

Putting 'IRS higher-ups' and 'conservative groups' in a headline doesn't make it news

by Jed Lewison

NBC appears to believe that this is some kind of scoop, but it actually isn't news:

Additional scrutiny of conservative organizations’ activities by the IRS did not solely originate in the agency’s Cincinnati office, with requests for information coming from other offices and often bearing the signatures of higher-ups at the agency, according to attorneys representing some of the targeted groups. At least one letter requesting information about one of the groups bears the signature of Lois Lerner, the suspended director of the IRS Exempt Organizations department in Washington.

Jay Sekulow, an attorney representing 27 conservative political advocacy organizations that applied to the Internal Revenue Service for tax-exempt status, provided some of the letters to NBC News. He said the groups’ contacts with the IRS prove that the practices went beyond a few “front line” employees in the Cincinnati office, as the IRS has maintained.

Here's two reasons this isn't news. First, The Washington Post already reported this information two weeks ago, albeit with a report that didn't read like a press release from Jay Sekulow.

Second, and more importantly, it's not a "scandal" if the IRS asks groups applying for special tax status to verify their eligibility. If you want special privileges, you're going to have to be willing to substantiate your claims. When the IRS asks a group applying for 501(c)(4) status to prove that it is entitled to that status, that's the IRS doing its job.

The problem comes if some groups are treated differently than other groups because of their political belief. But that doesn't mean the IRS should rubber-stamp the applications of political groups—it just means that left or right, all political groups should be on a level playing field.

There's no question that the laws here are a mess, and the regulations surrounding them aren't any better. But those laws and regulations require the IRS to ask these kinds of questions. As long as they are on the books, political groups that seek non-profit status are going to have to be prepared to provide answers. It's not surprising that lawyers like Jay Sekulow would try to blur the line between the IRS doing its job and its unacceptable targeting practices, but NBC really should know better than to be his stenographer.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/05/29/1212198/-Putting-IRS-higher-ups-and-conservative-groups-in-a-headline-doesn-t-make-it-news

There is a reason Republicans don't want a real investigation of Benghazi or the IRS incidents: They want to keep using their scamdals to score political points.

No IRS Special Prosecutor

Indictments are less important than political accountability.

Like dumber follows dumb, the scandal of politicized IRS tax enforcement has been followed by calls for a "special prosecutor." Republicans are predictably leading this call against a Democratic Administration, but this is one case in which the GOP should hope it doesn't get its way.

The case for a special counsel is that Attorney General Eric Holder can't be trusted to investigate his Administration, and that the Administration will stonewall Congress. We don't trust Mr. Holder either, but letting him pass the buck to a special prosecutor is doing him a favor. This scandal is best handled in Congressional hearings that educate the public in the next year rather than wait two or three years for potential indictments.

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323855804578511441999295924.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Boehner Still Opposes Special Committee To Investigate Benghazi

By Ben Armbruster

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said on Wednesday that he does not think there needs to be a special select committee to investigate the Obama administration’s handing of the terror attacks in Benghazi, Libya last year.

Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) is leading the House Republican effort for a select committee and Boehner has said in the past that the lower chamber’s established committees can handle Benghazi oversight. On Fox News Wednesday night, the Ohio Republican, despite pressure from his own caucus, said he continues to stand by that position:

http://thinkprogress.org/security/2013/05/24/2059331/boehner-committee-benghazi/

Issa Serves Kerry With Subpoena For Benghazi Docs
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014494378

The media/GOP went quiet for several days after it was revealed that the GOP manufactured evidence, now Issa is back to trying to hype Benghazi and the media goes back to pushing Republicans talking points on the IRS

The Lie Matters: What Did Sen Coburn Know about the Edited Benghazi Email and How Did He Know It
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022868542

WaPo fact checker gives WH claim that Repubs doctored email to smear the President three Pinocchios
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022877163

GOP Aides Mock House Republicans’ ‘Crazy’ Benghazi Witch-Hunt
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022878290

Looks like they found the source of the IRS cover-up: Darrell Issa
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022878900

What Boehner considers 'inconceivable'
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022889651

Internal Emails Indicate IRS Targeting Designed By Low-Level Staffers
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022889923

[clarice]

1. I find all of this very worrisome. nt