Probably far more conservative groups, since far more conservative groups were being formed after the Citizens United ruling. The IRS is not part of the Justice Department. I find it fascinating that when there were a bunch of new (primarily conservative) organizations fraudulently requesting tax exemptions, people are opposed to additional scrutiny to make sure only legitimate ones get through. It's also amusing that people that generally support racial profiling because of its efficiency are opposed to the exact same thing when trying to find fraud.
I didn't even realize this one was out! <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/BbaR4SBAr4s" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Aside from sampling error - I've got a possible explanation: tea-party causes, which overwhelmingly favor the interests of, and are bankrolled overwhelmingly by, for-profit entities, were more likely to be fraudulently operating as or on behalf of for-profit entities than "liberal" causes which tend to be antithetical or antagonistic to many large for-profit entities. Crazy thought. Let me know when you do more research what you find. I am eager to read up on it.
The main job of Obama's AG is to provide as little information to Congress as possible, and to avoid FOIA requests as much and as long as possible (same qualification the IRS commissioner needs). So the replacement will be some loyalist that has worked inside the WH for awhile that can be counted on to protect the shield.
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/9jma-5dFThM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> I know it is Maddow but just watch.
Why? If you found that a specific subset of groups were filing more suspicious applications, then you'd want to focus your scrutiny on groups that have similar characteristics. No different than targeting Middle Easterners at the airport for more random testing.
Well .. . when I state that black people are disproportionately targeted by cops You guys usually chime in with. . . "well . . black do more crimes" or some BS like that SO I would have to feel . . in the need for consistency that you would have to admit . .. Right Leaning Groups are generally more shady and do more things the IRS should pay attention too That is. . . if your logic is consistant Rocket River
Lefties cracking on Holder should listen to his address to the Congressional Black Caucus from this AM, I caught it earlier on the radio, it was pretty good. He's now "unplugged", so to speak. http://www.c-span.org/video/?321674-2/discussion-voting-rights-attorney-general-eric-holder Righties should listen to it too - the resulting infuriation would likely serve as additional validation that we're losing a good one.
I'll listen to it later. However, Holder is basically a corporate shill who has been their boy his whole professional life. Since he grew up as a black man he does have some feeling for Civil Rights Issues, but otherwise it is harder to be more a corporate/WALL Street Bag guy than he has been.
This. Citizens United as a conservative movement that was opening the floodgates of money into politics. And it wouldn't surprise me to to see a far greater number of right wing groups being formed during this time. Right wing groups were making strategic moves to skirt campaign finance laws as much as possible to move (that Koch) money around. FoxNews made it a regular point to let the world know SuperPACs had money to spend. Any institution with the responsibility should have been looking doubly at those groups.
Holder oversaw the decay of a department that, relegated to the sidelines of the largest financial larceny in history due to "financial complexity" chose instead to focus its efforts on democracy advocates, and technologists online in order to score cheap victories. This is emblematic of his approach. Unable to deal with the excesses of power in a manner befitting their crimes---Holder's DOJ chose to excessively punish the powerless. The person replacing him will probably be on the same par, or worse. But let this be his legacy.
so you are admitting Conservatives are being targeted and aren't getting the same treatment as liberal groups? You just think this is appropriate. This is a different argument then say BaBa Booey made: who is 'you guys'? Please point me to my post you are referring to? Also one scenario (the IRS scandal) requires a few high placed figures to be immoral. Your scenario requires random juries (who are different for every case) to be racist. Otherwise it would be easy for you to prove your claim by simply showing African Americans being found innocent at a much higher rate. Good god no. I would never agree with that statement. Thats ****ing nuts. It is leftist groups that are often buddy buddy with the government.
Holder was far from perfect but he was put into a very difficult job and I don't think he was a complete disaster or saw the decay of the institution. My own opinion is that the criticism that he is getting from the Right and extreme Left shows how much of a tightrope he had to walk. Particularly in regard to leftist criticism regarding that he wasn't hard on financial institutions consider his DOJ has leveled record fines on banks. When he came in things like TARP were already in place so he isn't the one who invented too big too fail and to that extent he was handicapped already about how hard he could go to talking down Wall Street.
The IRS scandal, in the way that conservatives are framing it, is completely made up. The story was either half leaked or half reported when the initial story broke about the IRS specifically and solely targeting conservatives groups. Some days later, we find out that they are not solely targeting conservative groups. They are targeting TONS of groups because of the Citizens United ruling and the deluge of new files that that created. The tactics of the IRS in this issue lacked judgement and foresight, for sure, but that is it. If you want to believe Think Progress, who did a study on this issue, it looks like the IRS actually targeted more liberal groups than conservative groups. As long as the IRS was looking at everyone, which appears to be the case, then I have no problem with it. I do have a problem with the way they targeted the groups (with the BOLO lists and all), but I don't think it's that big of a deal. If the IRS was truly targeting just one side for political reasons, I would have a big problem with. The problem with this "scandal" is that it could have very easily been framed the opposite way, if only half of the story is told. And to the people that are against Holder because the administration didn't go after the bankers that screwed everything up...Obama originally wanted to. Axelrod wanted heads on stakes. Tim Geithner argued that the economy was in such a fragile state that going for blood was the wrong move. ANYTHING that could bring uncertainty to the markets must be avoided, according to Geithner. I can understand the administrations decision on this case. I wanted blood as well, but Obama chose to go with Geithner's advice. I cannot sit here and tell you he made a bad decision, either.
Story leaked? Story broke? Here is how the story came to light; Louis Lerner planted a question at a conference, to which she apologized for the targeting of conservative groups. She did this because an IG report was about to announce the bad behavior and Lerner wanted to get out in front of it. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/05/18/irs-scandal-planted-question/2216747/ Your argument is Louis Lerner half leaked the story and thus implicated herself (and the IRS)? makes sense.
Holder participated in a continuation of a trend that can be traced back to Reagan and the Randians who came to power with Greenspan. Let's not pin this on one guy. The financial class has been having its way since the greed is good movement.
Good riddance. By far the worst AG of my lifetime by a long shot. Probably the worst AG EVER!!!! The AG is charged with maintaining the laws on the books and Holder failed miserably at this. I hope he continues to be subpoenaed by Congress until all his "issues" come to light and I sincerely hope he ends up in jail one day.
