As presidential scandals go, the recent IRS scandal is so, so ... Something you think you should care about but don't because it's about taxes. Isn't there a German word for that? Snoresenfreude? Anyway, it's ALL. SO. SCINTILLATING and it just keeps getting better. Here's the latest shocker: President Obama's lawyer learned about the IRS case weeks ago but didn't tell Obama about it because ____. (Fill in the blank. It's like Mad Libs!)
Well, we could speculate all day. Or we could watch SNL's Amy Poehler and Seth Meyer explain the IRS scandal on their segment, "Really?!? With Seth and Amy." Because Obama apparently gets his briefings from television. And I get my news from comedy shows. But I'll do a little fact checking on Amy and Seth just for fun.
The IRS unfairly targeted Tea Party groups: Starting in February 2010, the IRS Determination Unit based in Cincinnati was directed to look for political advocacy groups who use buzzwords like "Tea Party," "patriot," "we the people," etc. The Inspector General began reviewing this targeting in March 2012.
Last week IRS exempt organizations division director Lois G. Lerner apologized for "inappropriate" targeting of conservatives. She blamed backlog and low-level employees. President Obama fired Acting IRS chief Steve Miller, or as they say in Washington, his resignation was announced.
The IRS is more unpopular with Americans than exercise. True. Well, there's no investigation currently underway of this allegation, but I think we can all safely assume it's true.
Obama learned about the scandal on TV. Over the weekend, Obama aide Dan Pfeiffer said the president did not know the IRS was targeting Tea Party groups until he heard about it from the media, same way we did. And anyway, he said, "No president would get involved in an independent IRS investigation. It would be wholly inappropriate." I guess the reasoning is, keeping the president out of the loop protects him from this scandal, but I'm a little uncomfortable with that idea.
Obama probably knows how Breaking Bad ends. Unconfirmed.
Tea Party groups shouldn't be surprised they were targeted because they did name themselves after "a group of people who proudly and historically violated tax laws." Amy makes a good point there. If anyone is going to cheat on their taxes, wouldn't it be groups who actively and openly protest paying taxes?
Attention to detail isn't really the Tea Party's thing. Yeah. Check out these hilariously misspelled Tea Party protest signs. Now don't get mad! I didn't write these signs. I'm just saying.
Wesley Snipes is out of prison. Did you know he was sent to prison in 2010 for tax charges? Wait a minute! Wesley Snipes was sent to prison the same month that the IRS started targeting Tea Party groups. IS THERE A CONNECTION?!?
Do you think President Obama should have been briefed about the scandal long before the scandal broke out?
Image via NBC