◼ IRS Source: Lerner Placed On Administrative Leave - Eliana Johnson/National Review
◼ Convenient! IRS’ Lois Lerner placed on paid ‘administrative leave’; Ace smells a ‘pivot’ - Twitchy
Wow Lois Lerner placed on admin leave right after @ezraklein and @joshmarshall suggested something like that, right after WH visit.
— DepressiveBlogger69 (@AceofSpadesHQ) May 23, 2013
.@aceofspadeshq @ezraklein @joshmarshallO had the "Pundits" over to lay out the talking points/strategy to try to disappear the scandal!
— Matt Harrison (@MathewSHarrison) May 23, 2013
I was such a conspirasaurus to ask whether the WH had tipped them this was their next gambit, and asked them to "call for it"
— DepressiveBlogger69 (@AceofSpadesHQ) May 23, 2013
◼ Criminality Appears To Lie at the Heart of the IRS Scandal - Larry Kudlow/New York Sun
When you get right down to it, the political targeting and stalling of tax-exempt applications by the IRS was an effort to defund the Tea Party. Rick Santelli, one of the Tea Party founders and my CNBC colleague, was the first to make this point. I’ve taken it a step further: The IRS was taking the Tea Party out of play for the 2012 election, as it looked to avoid a repeat of 2010 and another Tea Party landslide.
There are a lot of numbers out there. Some say Tea Party applications for tax-exempt status averaged 27 months for approval, while applications from liberal groups averaged nine. In one extreme case, according to the Washington Post, the IRS granted the Barack H. Obama Foundation tax-exempt status in a speedy one-month timeframe. Yet some conservative groups waited up to three years, and some still haven’t received approval.
But there can be only one reason for the stalled-out approval process for conservative groups. The IRS was trying to put them out of business. Thus far, there’s not one wit of contradictory evidence.
◼ The IRS scandal and Obama’s culture of intimidation - Mitch McConnell/Washington Post
