Nice, race baiter! Lerner’s admission of IRS’s inappropriate behavior was pre-planned public disclosure 11:43 AM 05/17/2013 WASHINGTON – Last week, Lois Lerner, head of the tax exempt division of the Internal Revenue Service dropped a bombshell: The IRS had been applying extra scrutiny to conservative groups claiming tax exempt status. The revelation came seemingly out of the blue, in response to a question during a panel at an American Bar Association conference, leaving the audience baffled, according to reports. As it turns out, it was not a spontaneous revelation. The question, said outgoing IRS Commissioner Steven Miller in testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee Friday, was planted, as part of a prepared strategy for the IRS to release this information to the public. Under questioning from Republican Rep. Devin Nunes, Miller said it was a “prepared Q and A,” and the question, which came from tax lawyer Celia Roady had been discussed in advance as well. Later, Miller, questioned by Rep. Peter Roskam, explained that the disclosure had been made to coincide with the conclusion of the inspector general’s report. Miller said he and Lerner discussed, in a what he believed was a phone conversation, whether “now that the TIGTA report was finalized, now that we knew all of the facts … did it make sense for us to start talking about this in public.” Asked why he had not first reached out to the committee to tell them, Miller first said they had planned “to do that at the same time,” but that “did not happen.” He later said they “were reaching out to this committee at the same time,” and that they had “called to try to get on the calendar.” “Is that all you got?” Roskam scoffed. “It’s the truth,” Miller said. Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/17/lerners-admission-was-pre-planned-public-disclosure/#ixzz2TZXT9tFD
I cant believe some of you think there is nothing to this story I'm sorry to say, but they are just scratching the surface on this one. This one makes Benghazi and the AP story look like child's play. I believe this scandal will ultimately take down this administration.
What was preplanned? Was the preplanning to give all of the tea party and other groups their tax exempt status that every single one of them received? Was this preplanning against these conservative groups done by the Bush appointee to the IRS who was in charge of these operations at the time?
So are we saying they don't apply extra scrutiny to other groups claiming tax exempt status? I would hope that getting tax exempt status requires a certain amount of scrutiny.
I did initially think there might be something to this, because targeting groups for political reasons is authoritarian to say the least. But why would it take down this administration when it was done by an appointee from the Bush administration? Was the fact that there was a delay but all the conservative groups still had their requests fulfilled what the problem was, and that will somehow bring down this administration?
I think your response is a little dismissive. Certainly, there are those on the right who are looking for anything to attack Obama on and I'm certainly no tea party fan, but Miller's answers just were kind of baffling. He seemed to have no idea about anything. The guy did not get to the position he was in by not knowing anything. Further, this investigation has been going on for awhile now and he couldn't really answer anything in a straight forward fashion. So he says they were responsible for horrible customer service yet he promoted the lady who was in charge of the division who gave horrible customer service....makes sense to me. If Miller is trying to be the fall guy he is doing a really bad job of it. I could give a **** about this stuff, but I was listening to it because it was being broadcast on CNBC. Now I'm curious what in the world was really going on. Bad customer service is a joke of an answer.
I guess we will have just wait and see how high up this thing goes. Come on, you know it doesn't matter who appointed him, it's who ultimately gave the orders.
You keep trotting this pony out there like its the winning ticket. He was commissioner but isn't anymore. The lady who was in charge of the tax exempt status is still working and is now head of Obamacare enforcement. I think she is the one they need to talk to. I'm not trying to bring down the administration, I am trying to get straight answers, but it seems like some people are afraid to talk because it will cause a political poop storm. Most of the conservative organizations who were targeted are still waiting on exempt status. This dragging on just so happened right around the 2010 midterm elections and the 2012 elections also. Info has also come out that some of the execs are Obama campaign contributors.
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^^^ was any of that anything but posturing? I was hoping for more than conjecture and lambasting. Much of what he says and implies is true, but none of that was constructive to the issue besides posturing.
It was his five minutes to speak. If you see most of the congressman had already finished with their Q&A. Not much left to be asked it looked like.
Can you please reset that video so it doesn't automatically start playing? Very annoying, not everyone wants to watch your garbage.
Obama rejects calls for independent probe of IRS scandal Thursday, May 16, 2013 By: Hillary Chabot President Obama brushed off calls for a special independent investigator into the IRS scandal that has engulfed his administration during a press conference this afternoon, saying the internal audit and criminal investigation headed by Attorney General Eric Holder are “sufficient.” “Between those investigations I think we’re going to be able to figure out exactly what happened,” said Obama. “I think we’re going to be able to fix it.” The press conference comes after Obama scrambled last night to fend off growing concerns about his administration following the news that the IRS targeted conservative groups. He also has been battling other controversies, including questions about the deadly attacks in Benghazi and the Department of Justice secretly obtaining Associated Press phone records. Obama also downplayed growing comparisons to his administration and that of former President Richard Nixon, who was brought down by the Watergate scandal. “I’ll let you guys engage in those comparisons. You can go ahead and read the history I think and draw your own conclusions,” said Obama, who went on to say he “makes no apologies,” for the AP phone records probe. “Leaks related to national security can put people at risk, they can put men and women in uniform that I’ve sent into the battlefield at risk,” said Obama. The president also dismissed growing murmurs that Holder may be fired. “I have complete confidence in Eric Holder,” he said. “He does his job with integrity and I expect he will continue to do so.” Obama used the press conference to proactively call on Congress to work with him to increase security at U.S. embassies around the world following the deadly attacks in Benghazi. “I’m calling on Congress to work with us to support and fully fund our budget to increase security at embassies around the world,” he said. “That’s how we learn the lessons of Benghazi.” ------------------- Too bad Benghazi isn't an embassy. So what he wants done would never have helped them.
Years ago I was audited... now I know I was targeted by the IRS due to politics. Those dirty rotten IRS people...
Poll: How Damaging Is the IRS Controversy to Obama? By Michael Catalini, Naureen Khan and Peter Bell May 16, 2013 | 8:00 p.m. On a scale of 1 to 10, how politically damaging is the IRS controversy to President Obama, with 1 representing "no damage" and 10 representing "highly damaging?" DEMOCRATS (93 VOTES) Average: 6.2 1-3: 10% 4-6: 40% 7-10: 50% 1-3 "It hurts in Washington, but it won't have a huge impact on voters, who think everyone in D.C. is corrupt." "It gets him off message but won't stick to him personally." 4-6 "A lot will depend on how he handles it, and thus far he's been relatively flat-footed." "Too soon to tell. If the Republicans keep trying to make it a White House scandal versus the IRS scandal that it is, voters will put it in perspective and see it as a pure political play by the president's enemies." "Obama's greatest strength is that people like him. But those same people tend to dislike government overreach. This scandal attacks him at his strength, and that is never good." "It's not so much that any one controversy is damaging—it's that the Benghazi, IRS, and AP controversies are all happening at once, and all feed a similar 'Big Brother' narrative." "Silly, stupid, but not anywhere near fatal." 7-10 "Barack Obama won in 2008 because he vowed to change the political culture in D.C. His current problems demonstrate that he failed." "This will be a tar baby unless turpentine is applied quickly to the appropriate appendages." "This is real bad. The only reason it is not a 10 is because there is no evidence Obama ordered it." "Every taxpaying American is willing to believe the worse about the IRS, and if the White House knew, 10+." "Who is running the place? How are they countenancing these things?" " 'Obamacare' meets Watergate." "Bad issue, bad handling of it, bad optics." "It gives the R's something to focus on other than solving the nation's problems." On a scale of 1 to 10, how politically damaging is the IRS controversy to President Obama, with 1 representing "no damage" and 10 representing "highly damaging?" REPUBLICANS (93 VOTES) Average: 7.2 1-3: 9% 4-6: 14% 7-10: 77% 1-3 "This only spreads beyond the Republican base if the media gets angry." "Impacts in very negative way the president's already damaged reputation as an effective administrator." "Those most worked up already disliked the president; most others primed to assume the worst about the IRS anyway, and frankly, the 9/12 groups probably deserve a closer look anyway." 4-6 "This has potential to be a 10, depending on who knew what." 7-10 "The pain is inevitable; the suffering is optional. The longer Obama lets this linger out there, the more his administration will suffer." "This one hurts because there is no place to run for cover." "This gets right to the heart of every American taxpayer's basic fear that the IRS will be used for political purposes." "The diversion of attention is bad in the short term, and digging into agency behavior never yields good attention, especially as the health care law becomes front and center." "Distrust of government was already at an all-time high, and still climbing."
