VolsNSkinsFan
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Motive matters on this one.
While it was wrong to treat them differently for any reason (even if legitimate concerns about safety), it is really bad to have done so out of political bias.
Motive matters on this one.
While it was wrong to treat them differently for any reason (even if legitimate concerns about fraud), it is really bad to have done so out of political bias.
Motives matter to be sure but we know that specific political groups were targeted. The "if" sounds like that part itself is in doubt.
It is worse if it was for punishment but even if not there is no way to say it's not political because the profiling was done on political affiliation.
I'd prefer him say this is absolutely wrong under any circumstances and especially egregious if it was to punish people for political views.
The donor list requests is wrong and there needs to be retraining and discipline over it. I would agree with that.
In terms of the bigger picture, don't forget that some part of this came from the Citizen's United decision. That the IRS might want to ensure that these were not used as conduits for illegal campaign contributions should come as no surprise.
As I say, however, even if their motivation was innocent, there seems little debate but that the mechanism they used was improper and needs to be fixed.[/
The request for the donors list leaves no doubt in my mind that the whole purpose of this was to flush out conservative backers and inflict as much misery on them as possible. It's BS LG and as goofy as hell liberal as you are you know this.....it also wasn't the idea of some low level staffers ...
Funny... I remember you saying the exact same thing bolded above regarding Bush's decision to invade Iraq (among many other examples).
Does "motive" over the actual "act" only apply to a certain party and not all?
It depends on the issue and, more important in this particular case, the point of the stampede by various TP groups to spin up outrage over this.
TP groups that complaint they had to fill out the form and deal with burdensome production requests have a legitimate gripe, but its not like if they are legit they wouldn't be prepared to respond to such an inquiry. That is, its a pain in the arse but its not a scandal.
However, Fox News and Issa et al are seixing on the word "targeted" to imply that the reason this was done was political bias against them.
They have made the charge. The IRS has responded that the motive was not political, but was instead to prevent fraud given the explosion in applications sporting to such names or buzz words.
The burden is now shifted back to the TPers to demonstrate proof of actual political bias. I assure you they will claim it, and they and their allies have blurred the distinction well so far. We'll see what the proof is on that as time wears on.
It already happened.
"He(Obama) added that anyone involved needs to be 'held fully accountable.' Obama says he has 'no patience for it' and will not tolerate a specific targeting of groups."
Obama: IRS Focus on Conservative Groups 'Outrageous' - Yahoo!
So everything Obama has said has then happened exactly how he said it? Link?
Internal Revenue Service officials in Washington and at least two other offices were involved in the targeting of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status, making clear that the effort reached well beyond the branch in Cincinnati that was initially blamed, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.
IRS officials in Washington were involved in targeting of conservative groups - The Washington Post
Officials in Washington? You don't say