There has been a no-holds barred assault on conservatives and the Tea Party movement by the Obama administration since day one.
Peaceful political protesters were called terrorists, political donors were bullied, tax records were leaked, secondary boycotts by supporters of the administration sought to deprive conservatives of platforms, industries were co-opted, there was an open campaign to intimidate the Supreme Court on Obamacare, and union-backers became co-strategists.
We have sensed it, but in light of the IRS targeting scandal, seemingly anecdotal facts finally are being gathered from disparate sources which previously felt the sting in isolation.
McClatchy reports, IRS may have targeted conservatives more broadly (h/t @jimgeraghty):
A group of anti-abortion activists in Iowa had to promise the Internal Revenue Service it wouldn’t picket in front of Planned Parenthood.Catherine Engelbrecht’s family and business in Texas were audited by the government after her voting-rights group sought tax-exempt status from the IRS.
Retired military veteran Mark Drabik of Nebraska became active in and donated to conservative causes, then found the IRS challenging his church donations.
While the developing scandal over the targeting of conservatives by the tax agency has largely focused to date on its scrutiny of groups with words such as “tea party” or “patriot” in their names, these examples suggest the government was looking at a broader array of conservative groups and perhaps individuals. Their collective experiences at a minimum could spread skepticism about the fairness of a powerful agency that should be above reproach and at worst could point to a secret political vendetta within the government against conservatives.
The emerging stories from real people raise questions about whether the IRS scrutiny extended beyond applicants for tax-exempt status and whether individuals who donated to these tax-exempt organizations or to conservative causes also were targeted.
Last generation we were one generation away. The overreach of government must be the theme for 2014.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
“We have sensed it, but in light of the IRS targeting scandal, seemingly anecdotal facts finally are being gathered from disparate sources which previously felt the sting in isolation.”
Well, maybe…kinda…sorta…
That makes it sound as if many of us had no hard, objective reasons to be sounding the collision alarms since the Obamic Decline began…or even before it began officially.
We always have had those objective reasons. Breitbart sure did. Anyone who read Obama and watched Obama knew he was a dangerous narcissist, and a dedicated Collectivist and advocate of critical race theory.
You’d have to be in a stupor to not see how EVERYTHING has been made political, and in service to the Obamabanana Republic. We’ve all addressed many times the amazing transformation of the press into an Obamic Pravda. And the entire REST of the administrative state into an instrument of Obamic “Forward”.
Who imagined the IRS would be left out of that?
This is a chilling but not unexpected development. FWIW, all who felt the POS was trying to destroy at least a portion of America have been vindicated. It’s still unbelievable the country allowed the POS free rein to insult, harangue and vilify everyone from major portions of America (the bitter clingers), specific news organizations (Fox and Rush Limbaugh) and even private individuals like the Koch Brothers.
And now we have proof the POS used federal agencies from the IRS to the EPA to ATTF and DOJ to intimidate and harass those who disagreed with him in any way.
Now that’s 1984 Big Brother territory.
His administration’s tactics have been breathtakingly intrusive and IMHO match those of Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Lenin.
I just hope there’s time to take the country back.
Drip, drip, drip. The only way to get out of this rut where the anecdotal pieces surface, little by little, is to move full steam ahead with legally binding testimony. What limits the number of subpoenas for as many IRS employees as is necessary to get testimony on the record?
The overreach of government must be the theme for 2014.
If it were only that simple.
Two things:
-“Limited government” translates into “no government/anti-government” in the ever articulate, super-smart minds of liberals.
-Liberals don’t suffer under a huge, powerful, authoritative government…again, in their ever articulate, super-smart minds.
C’mon, Eeyore! All polls on the various connected topics surrounding the IRS, DoJ vs Media, and Benghazi scandals show essentially all GOP-ers, most indies, and an increasing number of Dems favor special investigations and prosecutions, and these polls are rising every day. “The overreach of government must be the theme for 2014” because this many people will not be dissuaded without satisfaction. This is not political machination by the right happening here. These are genuine scandals, and once again the American people – on whom I place a large share of my optimism for the future of our country – have honored my faith in them by recognizing the difference between a cooked up scandal and the country-threatening real thing.
I was a young man in my twenties during Watergate, and a great many Republicans finally abandoned Nixon when they realized the depth of the deceptions and crookery. I believe we are seeing the beginning of that right now. Check out NRO’s The Corner for an article on how liberals are dropping out of the political media, not watching TV, not reading blogs, like they used to. I believe that’s the first symptom of their growing disillusionment with The One.
The overreach of government must be the theme for 2014. The growing bipartisan(!) disgust and alarm over the scandals, particularly the IRS scandal, is making for an organic, grassroots uprising among the people and they are beginning to make noise, others grabbing pitchforks. The IRS takes over Obamacare over the next 6 months! Government overreach will be the theme whether either party wants it to be or not (and many DC-GOP lifers don’t). What politician ever lost votes denigrating the IRS to the American people?
Obama & Holder have served up a massively big IRS scandal at exactly the wrong time: Just in time for 2014 midterms and just in time for Obamacare enforcement actions, certain to fan, not cool, the flames.
Obama & Holder will go down as the Laurel & Hardy of political history.
Thanks to them both! SMART POWER.
And cheer up, Browndog – blood is about to spill!
Every leftist government has failed. After they fail, they say “hey, they just did it wrong. We, the enlightened, know how to do it right.”
“Those damn republicans didn’t allow us to do it right!”…
So it goes…the only solution to failed leftist policies are more leftist policies….
I thought Christy and the POS were Laurel and Hardy.
😉
No, they’re Paul and Stevie singing Ebony & Ivory.
It was not just the under-the-counter attacks on the right that is chilling. There is examples of co-ordinated attacks by several Government Departments against Conservatives, Christians and other population segments that are known to lean Right. Veterans, Conservatives and Christians considered as dangerous and suspect by Homeland Security. The U.S. Army and State Department cozzying up to muslims while pointing to Conservatives and Christians as haters. This goes much deeper than just the IRS and it can be traced (if we look) to the corrupt and vengeful President of the United States.
To quote Chris Matthews “read a newspaper”.
It says right there that Obama has nothing to do with anything.
State Dept. “muslim and gay” outreach
Defense Dept. outlawing Christian expression
E.P.A. operating in secret, destroying “evidence”
shorter version…every single arm of the Executive Branch has gone totally and nearly openly full Alinsky/Marx/etc….and the Chief Executive has nothing to do with it! It’s in the paper!
(Yes, sarc tag applied)
[…] » Conservatives no longer suffering government intimidation in isolation – Le·gal… […]
I donate to Republicans, including Romney, and we tithe to our church. In January, 2009 we received an audit letter for our charitable donations in 2006. We received an audit letter for the next tax year before the 2009 letter was resolved. We then received an audit letter in 2013 for charitable donations in 2012. We had all the records to respond to the audits, but the IRS agents were not willing to accept routine records as proof of the donations. In the end the audits were closed without additional payment.
Why would they audit on donations to a church three times within five years? I think we are beginning to understand the quiet attack on conservatives.