McCarthyism Alive And Well Among Liberals

Senate Dems Have as Much to Explain as the IRS

With Washington gripped by a trio of exploding scandals this week – from Benghazi to government spying on news outlets to thug tactics by the Internal Revenue Service – Senate Democrats seem to be hoping that if they just yell loud enough then voters will overlook a key role they played in at least one of them.

They quickly sensed the political toxicity associated with Friday's admission by the IRS that they selectively targeted conservative organizations for special government scrutiny, and so Democrats didn't waste any time springing into action. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus of Montana, for example, vowed congressional hearings and called the IRS actions "an outrageous abuse of power and a breach of the public's trust."

He was joined by a chorus of other Democrats including Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire who called it "completely unacceptable," Kay Hagan of North Carolina who called it "disturbing and troubling," and Mark Pryor of Arkansas who tweeted that he's "working to get to bottom of this so we can fire those responsible & ensure this never happens again."

Fortunately, voters won't need to look very far.The willful ignorance and revisionist history demonstrated by Senate Democrats on this issue has been breathtaking, even by Washington standards.

Over the last three years, Democratic senators repeatedly and publicly pressured the IRS to engage in the very activities that they are only now condemning today. At the same time, Republicans repeatedly and publicly warned against this abuse of government power and pointed to a series of red flags that strongly suggested conservative political organizations were being targeted by the IRS. Those warnings were deliberately ignored by the Obama administration and Democratic leaders in Congress.

As the New York Times reported back in 2010 :

With growing scrutiny of the role of tax-exempt groups in political campaigns, Congressional Republicans are pushing back against Democrats by warning about the possible misuse of the Internal Revenue Service to audit conservative groups….And the Republicans are also upset about an I.R.S. review requested by Senator Max Baucus, the Montana Democrat who leads the Finance Committee, into the political activities of tax-exempt groups. Such a review threatens to "chill the legitimate exercise of First Amendment rights," wrote two Republican senators, Orrin G. Hatch of Utah and Jon Kyl of Arizona, in a letter sent to the I.R.S. on Wednesday. ... Democrats dismissed the Republicans' complaints as groundless.​

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You read that correctly.

The same Democratic chairman of the Senate Finance Committee who this week is calling for hearings into IRS activities, specifically called on the IRS to engage in that very conduct back in 2010. And he wasn't the only one. Just last year, a group of seven Senate Democrats sent another letter to the IRS urging them to similarly investigate these outside political organizations.

As the New York Times also reported just one week before they sent this letter:

The Internal Revenue Service is caught in an election-year struggle between Democratic lawmakers pressing for a crackdown on nonprofit political groups and conservative organizations accusing the tax agency of conducting a politically charged witch hunt.​

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Voters in New Hampshire may be interested to learn that Jeanne Shaheen was among the signatories of that letter urging action by the IRS.

So lost amid the hubbub surrounding the news that the IRS engaged in McCarthyite tactics to target specific political groups, and their subsequent apology for those tactics, has been the fact that the lobbying campaign from Senate Democrats actually worked.

From Max Baucus to Chuck Schumer to Jeanne Shaheen, key Senate Democrats publicly pressured the IRS to target groups that held differing political views and who, in their view, had the temerity to engage in the political process. The IRS listened to them and acted. And other Democrat senators like Kay Hagan and Mark Pryor said and did nothing about it.

Perhaps their strategy of distraction may work in the short-term with a Washington press corps pulled in a multitude of different directions, but Senate Democrats have a serious political problem that will haunt them as they head into an already-difficult election cycle. When these Senate Finance Committee hearings come to pass it would be a remarkable act of bravery and candor for one of these IRS bureaucrats to appropriately ask Max Baucus and others why they're not sitting at the witness tables next to them, instead of continuing in their charade of faux outrage.

Because Senate Democrats today have just as much explaining to do as the IRS.

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs...-irs-tea-party-snooping-before-criticizing-it

 

I was looking for a reference to that, but could not find it quickly.

 

The IRS shouldn't audit churches based on their stance with social issues, nonprofit civil rights groups such as the NAACP because they don't support your agendas, environmental groups such as Greenpeace because the IRS was paid off by a group owned by Exxon, and the IRS denying 501(c) tax exemptions in states who vote the other way denying hospitals and schools tax exempt charity roles.

Oh, but wait....this all happened during George W Bush's presidency, and none of you went screaming bloody murder. Hypocrites to the end.

 

Oh, that's right... Benghazi, the IRS and AP phone records scandals are all Bush's fault. Got it.

The REAL hypocrisy is when we have someone like Max Baucus who abused the system being the same one who investigates it.

 

No, I was pointing out the same issues, just under Bush's watch. The IRS abuse occurs during every presidency. Doesn't make it right, but thats just a fact of life. And, of course we'll never hear the end of Benghazi because this admin doesn't have a genocidal war or two to place blame on, not that the right found any wrongdoing with two wars and millions of lives amounting to absolutely any fulfillment as a bad thing.

 

Ambassador Stevens twice said no to military offers of more security, U.S. officials say


CAIRO — In the month before attackers stormed U.S. facilities in Benghazi and killed four Americans, U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens twice turned down offers of security assistance made by the senior U.S. military official in the region in response to concerns that Stevens had raised in a still secret memorandum, two government officials told McClatchy.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/05/...-twice-said-no-to-military.html#storylink=cpy​

Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi....

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Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/05/...-twice-said-no-to-military.html#storylink=cpy​

 

From you attempt-at-smear article.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/05/14/191235/amb-stevens-twice-said-no-to-military.html#.UZUbDMqnfqI

And, BTW, Stevens repeated requests for additional security are fully documented in published email. Their innuendo is based on hearsay.

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It amuses me to see the left try so hard to carry BO's water. Media Matters tells them what to say everyday and they parrot it like good little liberals Mr Gosnell Nation has no independent thoughts of his own. Guy, didnt realize you were so hardcore left....

 

When you Right-wing extremists actually have something other than innuendo, lies, and conjecture to pin on our president, and I know that there is nothing on earth you would like more, I'd be happy to take you seriously. But as long you are simply parroting everything you hear of FOX, drudge, and Blaze, there is no point in doing anything else other than going along with the people that continue to be innocent of everything the crazy Right-wing fringe accuses them of. Maybe you freaks just want it a little too badly and jump at anything that moves. Darrell Issa sure had his convicted felon ass handed to him by Holder yesterday. Kind of amuses me to see how you fringe element types immediately toss out the concept of innocent until proven guilty when you jump on the rabid dog FOX bandwagon.

 

So it is "unknown" but that is proof enough for you? Got it.

 

I'm not hardcore left, Jack. I'm just trying to understand why the hardcore right is blind to the same injustices and are silent when their own side does the same thing. To be honest, I've voted right just as often as left in elections, not based on party lines or some justified party morality, but because the people I voted for had similar ideas. I did not vote for Obama, nor Romney, if that tells you anything.

 

Try reading your article again! The "unknown" you are referring to is part of the supposed proof that " Stevens twice said no to military offers of more security". Proof that he requested more security has been published and is open and obvious to everyone but you and Hillary.

 

Guy,
good. I am a conservative. It took me a while to discover what a POS W was. I'll go this far.
ROMNEY........scum
Paul Ryan.......scum
McCain...scum
w......scum
all the rino candidates are pond scum filth. I cannot fathom defending them.

 

And that's where I differ from the gang here.

 

You sound old school conservative, Jack, not all this scary neo-con stuff follower. Our rep we used to have for my region was an old school conservative republican and I had met with him on several occasions. The old party fundamentals were strong for a reason, and guys like him had support from all sides of the political spectrum, another thing we don't see today. I miss the old parties...all of them.

 

I definitely agree with your last sentence, Guy. I miss the old parties, too. The neo-libs are waaaaay too far left, socialistic and radical for my tastes. I can tolerate old-time Democrats in the vein of Truman, but we don't see them anymore. The party is populated by too many Obamas, Pelosis, Feinsteins, Leahys, Schumers and Boxers (to name a few).

 

Reagan was a huge supporter of McCarthy's bs. Reagan's actions destroyed people's careers, their lives.

Granted, the SU did have spies here, and still do today, but the rabid accusations during that period were completely out of line.

Sound familiar? Anyone? Rhymes with svengali? No? Don't worry, it'll come to you.

Anyway, and ironically, the SS agent that took a bullet for Reagan was a McCarthy.

 

Do you think he would agree with the underhanded, if not criminal, actions the IRS is engaged in today?

Do you really think the Soviet Union has spies in America today? Honestly?

Hmmm... svengali... let's see... By Golly?

Yep. And the president who took a bullet for all of us was a Reagan. Amazing.